The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Burmese language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.
See Burmese phonology for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Burmese.
Consonants
IPA
Burmese example
English approximation
b
ဘဲ [b ɛ́]
b at
d
ဓာတ် [d aʔ]
d ye
dʑ
ဂျင် [dʑ ɪ̀ɴ]
J ew
ð
အညာသား [ʔəɲàð á]
th is
ɡ
ဂုဏ် [ɡ òʊ̯ɴ]
g ate
h
ဟုတ် [h oʊ̯ʔ]
h one
j
ယား [j á]
y ield
k
ကုန် [k òʊ̯ɴ]
sk ate[1]
kʰ
ခုန် [kʰ òʊ̯ɴ]
K ate[2]
l
လုပ် [l oʊ̯ʔ]
l ay
l̥
လှုပ် [l̥ oʊ̯ʔ]
pl ay; like /l/ but voiceless
m
မတ် [m aʔ]
m uch
m̥
မှတ် [m̥ aʔ]
None; like /m/ but voiceless
n
နမ်း [n áɴ]
n ot
n̥
နှမ်း [n̥ áɴ]
None; like /n/ but voiceless
ɴ
ခံ [kʰàɴ ]
somewhat like long [3]
ɲ
ညစ် [ɲ ɪʔ]
cany on
ɲ̥
ညှစ် [ɲ̥ ɪʔ]
None; like /ɲ/ , but voiceless
ŋ
ငါး [ŋ á]
sing
ŋ̊
ငှါး [ŋ̊ á]
None; like /ŋ/ , but voiceless
p
ပဲ [p ɛ́]
sp at[1]
pʰ
ဖဲ [pʰ ɛ́]
p at[2]
ɹ
တိရစ္ဆာန် [təɹ eɪ̯ʔsʰàɴ] [4]
r ock
s
စာ [s à]
gas
sʰ
ဆာ [sʰ à]
grass h ut[2]
ʃ
ရှာ [ʃ à]
sh oe
t
တတ် [t aʔ]
st y[1]
tʰ
ထပ် [tʰ aʔ]
t ie[2]
tɕ
ကြဉ် [tɕ ɪ̀ɴ]
itch [1]
tɕʰ
ချင် [tɕʰ ɪ̀ɴ]
ch ew[2]
θ
သတ် [θ aʔ]
th in
w
ဝါး [w á]
w ield
z
ဇာ [z à]
z oo
ʔ
အုတ် [ʔ oʊ̯ʔ ]
uh- oh, Cockney bott le
Vowels
IPA
Burmese example
English approximation
a
နား [ná ]
fa ther
aɪ̯
နိုင် [nàɪ̯ ɴ]
migh t
aʊ̯
နောက် [naʊ̯ ʔ]
mou th[5]
e
နေ [nè ]
Scottish English ma te
eɪ
နိပ် [neɪ ʔ]
may [5]
ɛ
နယ် [nɛ̀ ]
me t
ə
ခလုတ် [kʰə loʊ̯ʔ]
comma
i
နီး [ní ]
mee t
ɪ
နင်း [nɪ́ ɴ]
mi t[5]
o
နို့ [no̰ ]
Scottish English no te
oʊ̯
နုန်း [nóʊ̯ ɴ]
mow [5]
ɔ
နော် [nɔ̀ ]
bough t
u
နှူး [n̥ú ]
moo t
ʊ
နွမ်း [nʊ́ ɴ]
foo t[5]
Tones
IPA
Burmese examples
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
^ a b c d Unaspirated , like /p t k/ etc. in Romance or Slavic languages.
^ a b c d e 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. It is never uvular, more functioning as a nasal approximant, either alveolar or velar. See here for more details.
^ A marginal consonant in Burmese, /ɹ/ occurs only in foreign words, and even there is often replaced by /j/ or /l/ .
^ a b c d e The sounds [aʊ̯] , [eɪ̯] , [ɪ] , [oʊ̯] , and [ʊ] are allophones of /ɔ/ , /e/ , /i/ , /o/ , and /u/ respectively, occurring in closed syllables , i.e. before /ɴ/ and /ʔ/ .