The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Burmese-language pronunciations in Wiktionary entries.
See Burmese phonology for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Burmese.
| Vowels
|
| IPA
|
Burmese example
|
Approximate English equivalent
|
| a
|
နား /ná/ |
father
|
| ai ~ aɪ
|
နိုင် /nàiɴ/, [nã̀ɪ̃ɰ̃] |
might[6]
|
| au ~ aʊ
|
နောက် /nauʔ/, [naʊʔ] |
mouth[6]
|
| e
|
နေ /nè/ |
Scottish English mate
|
| ei ~ eɪ
|
နိပ် /neiʔ/, [neɪʔ] |
may[6]
|
| ɛ
|
နယ် /nɛ̀/ |
met
|
| ə
|
ခလုတ် /kʰəlouʔ/ |
comma
|
| i
|
နီး /ní/ |
meet
|
| ɪ
|
နင်း /níɴ/, [nɪ̃́ɰ̃] |
mit[6]
|
| o
|
နို့ /no̰/ |
Scottish English note
|
| ou ~ oʊ
|
နုန်း /nóuɴ/, [nṍʊ̃ɰ̃] |
mow[6]
|
| ɔ
|
နော် /nɔ̀/ |
bought
|
| u
|
နှူး /n̥ú/ |
moot
|
| ʊ
|
နွမ်း /núɴ/, [nʊ̃́ɰ̃] |
foot[6]
|
| Tones
|
| IPA
|
Burmese example
|
Explanation
|
| ◌̀
|
ငါ /ŋà/ |
Normal phonation, medium duration, low intensity, low (often slightly rising) pitch
|
| ◌́
|
ငါး /ŋá/ |
Sometimes slightly breathy, relatively long, high intensity, high pitch; often with a fall before a pause
|
| ◌̰
|
ငါ့ /ŋa̰/ |
Tense or creaky phonation (sometimes with lax glottal stop), medium duration, high intensity, high (often slightly falling) pitch
|
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Unaspirated, like /p t k/ etc. in Romance or Slavic languages.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Heavily aspirated.
- ^ The vowel before the /ɴ/ is always nasalized, and if a consonant follows /ɴ/, then the /ɴ/ becomes homorganic with the following consonant.
- ^ A marginal consonant in Burmese, /ɹ/ occurs only in foreign words, and even there is often replaced by /j/ or /l/.
- ^ In accents without the wine–whine merger, e.g. Scottish English, Irish English, and some varieties of American English.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 The sounds [aɪ], [aʊ], [eɪ], [ɪ], [oʊ], and [ʊ] are allophones of /ai/, /au/, /ei/, /i/, /ou/, and /u/ respectively, occurring in closed syllables, i.e. before /ɴ/ and /ʔ/.
