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Myanmar: Notes

Transliteration

Abbreviations:

General rules:

  • consonants: inherent vowel 'a' (+ tone mark), exc. when accompanied by dependent vowel or end-of-syllable mark (killer)
  • consonant voicing (BGN only): k/s/t/p/ch→g/z/d/b/gy after any roman script vowel, n, or ng, except when first in stack
  • consonant stacks (mostly in polysyllabic loans from Pali, Sanskrit, English, etc.) according to components, upper consonant romanized first
  • ambiguous sequences hyphenated (BGN; syllable final n followed by g/y, syllable final t followed by h)
  • independent vowels: with prefixed hyphen if non-initially (BGN)
  • word division: syllables separately (ALA-LC; in loan words separate as in original)
  • capitalization: as appropriate (ALA-LC: in PN capitalize each syllable)
  • common abbreviations (ligatures):
    • ၍ (ရုယ္အ်) [jwḛ] conjunction joining two predicates
    • ၌ (နှိုက်) [n̥aɪʔ] locative particle acting as postposition after nouns (at, in, on)
    • ၎င်း,၎ (လည်းကောင်း) [ləɡáʊɰ̃] demonstrative noun (this or that) when preceding a noun & connecting nouns within a clause (as well as)
    • ၏ (ဧအ်) [ḭ] genitive particle (follows possessor, precedes possessed) & sentence-final affirmative particle

Tables of comparison:

Consonants

  IPA 1 MMArch 2 ALA-LC MLC BGN
က [k] k k k k
ခ [kʰ] kʰ (kh) kh hk k
ဂ [g] g g g g
ဃ [g] gʰ (gh) gh gh g
င [ŋ] ṅ (ng) ṅ ng ng
စ [s] ṡ (s) c c s
ဆ [sʰ] ṡʰ (ṡh) ch hc s
ဇ [z] ż (z) j j z
ဈ [z] żʰ (żh) jh jh z
ဉ [ɲ] ñ (ny) ñ (ny) (ny)
ည [ɲ] ññ (nny) ññ ny ny
ဋ [t] ṭ ṭ t (t)
  IPA 1 MMArch 2 ALA-LC MLC BGN
ဌ [tʰ] ṭʰ (ṭh) ṭh ht (t)
ဍ [d] ḍ ḍ d (d)
ဎ [d] ḍʰ (ḍh) ḍh dh (d)
ဏ [n] ṇ ṇ n n
တ [t] t t t t
ထ [tʰ] tʰ (th) th ht t
ဒ [d] d d d d
ဓ [d] dʰ (dh) dh dh (d)
န [n] n n n n
ပ [p] p p p p
ဖ [pʰ] pʰ (ph) ph hp p
ဗ [b] b b b b
  IPA 1 MMArch 2 ALA-LC MLC BGN
ဘ [b] bʰ (bh) bh bh b
မ [m] m m m m
ယ [j] y y y y
ရ [j, (r)] ẏ r r y
လ [l] l l l l
ဝ [w] w v w w
သ [θ, ɾ̪] ṫh s s th
ဟ [h] h h h h
ဠ [l] ḷ ḷ l (l)
အ [ə, a] ʾ, - 3 ’ - - 3

Special conjunct shapes
  IPA 1 MMArch 2 ALA-LC MLC BGN
င်္ 4 ṅ◌ ṅ◌ ng◌ ng◌
ဉ္ဈ ñżʰ ñjh (nyjh) (nyz)
ဍ္ဎ ḍḍʰ ḍḍh ddh (dd)
ဏ္ဍ ṇḍ ṇḍ nd (nd)
ဇ္ဈ żżʰ jjh jjh zz
ဋ္ဌ ṭṭʰ ṭṭh tht (tt)
ဏ္ဌ ṇṭʰ ṇṭh nht (nt)
ဿ ṫṫʰ ss ss (tth)
Medials
  IPA 1 MMArch 5 ALA-LC MLC BGN 5
◌ျ [j] ◌y ◌y ◌y ◌y
◌ြ [j] ◌ẏ ◌r ◌r ◌y
◌ွ [u̯] ◌w ◌v ◌w ◌w
◌ျွ [ju̯] ◌yw ◌yv ◌yw ◌yw
◌ြွ [ju̯] ◌ẏw ◌rv ◌rw ◌yw
◌ှ [◌̥] h◌ ◌h h◌ h◌
Special clusters
  IPA 1 MMArch 2 ALA-LC MLC BGN
ကျ [tɕ] c ky ky ky
ချ [tɕʰ] cʰ (ch) khy hky ch
ဂျ [dʑ] j gy gy gy
ကြ [tɕ] ċ (c) kr kr ky
ခြ [tɕʰ] ċh (ch) khr hkr ch
ယှ [ʃ] š (sh) yh yh yh
ရှ … ṧ rh rh sh

Diacritics
  IPA MMArch ALA-LC MLC BGN comment
◌် [ʔ] - - - - syllable final
◌ံ [ɴ] ◌ṃ ◌ṃ ◌m ◌n nasal final
◌့ [◌̰] ◌́ ◌ʹ ◌. - shorter tone
◌း [◌́] ◌̀ ◌ʺ ◌: - longer tone
  1. lax
  2. simplified/normalized form in (), not repeated below
  3. 'a' when followed by C with inherent vowel or killer, not romanized else
  4. င်္ marks change a→in in preceding syllable (BGN)
  5. cf. special cases listed separately

Vowels (1)

in open syllables
short IPA 1 MMArch 2 ALA-LC MLC BGN
◌ [a̰] ◌á ◌a ◌a. ◌a
◌ိ [ḭ] ◌í ◌i ◌i. ◌i
◌ု [ṵ] ◌ú ◌u ◌u. ◌u
◌ဲ့ [ɛ̰] ◌ǽ ◌aiʹ ◌ai. ◌è
◌ေ့ [ḛ] ◌é ◌eʹ ◌e. ◌e
◌ော့ [ɔ̰] ◌áu ◌oʹ ◌au. ◌aw
◌ေါ့ [ɔ̰] ◌áu ◌oʹ ◌au. ◌aw
◌ို့ [o̰] ◌ó ◌uiʹ ◌ui. ◌o
◌ွ [u̯a̰] ◌wá ◌va ◌wa. ◌wa
◌ွဲ့ [u̯ɛ̰] ◌wǽ ◌vaiʹ ◌wai. ◌wè
◌ွေ့ [u̯ḛ] ◌wé ◌veʹ ◌we. ◌we
ဣ [ḭ] í i i. i, -i
ဥ [ṵ] ú u u. u, -u
ဧ့ [ḛ] é eʹ ei. e, -e
ဩ့ [ɔ̰] áu oʹ au. aw, -aw
in open syllables
medium IPA 1 MMArch 2 ALA-LC MLC BGN
◌ာ,◌ါ [à] ◌a ◌ā ◌a ◌a
◌ီ [ì] ◌i ◌ī ◌i ◌i
◌ူ [ù] ◌u ◌ū ◌u ◌u
◌ယ် [ɛ̀] ◌æ ◌ay ◌ai ◌è
◌ေ [è] ◌e ◌e ◌e ◌e
◌ော် [ɔ̀] ◌au ◌oʻ ◌au ◌aw
◌ေါ် [ɔ̀] ◌au ◌oʻ ◌au ◌aw
◌ို [ò] ◌o ◌ui ◌ui ◌o
◌ွာ, ◌ွါ [u̯à] ◌wa ◌vā ◌wa ◌wa
◌ွယ် [u̯ɛ̀] ◌wæ ◌vay ◌wai ◌wè
◌ွေ [u̯è] we ◌ve ◌we ◌we
[ì]
ဦ [ù] u ū u u, -u
ဧ [è] e e ei e, -e
ဪ [ɔ̀] au oʻ au aw, -aw

in open syllables
long IPA 1 MMArch 2 ALA-LC MLC BGN
◌ား,◌ါး [á] ◌à ◌āʺ ◌a: ◌a
◌ီး [í] ◌ì ◌īʺ ◌i: ◌i
◌ူး [ú] ◌ù ◌ūʺ ◌u: ◌u
◌ဲ [ɛ́] ◌æ̀ ◌ai ◌ai: ◌è
◌ေး [é] ◌è ◌eʺ ◌e: ◌e
◌ော [ɔ́] ◌àu ◌o ◌au: ◌aw
◌ေါ [ɔ́] ◌àu ◌o ◌au: ◌aw
◌ိုး [ó] ◌ò ◌uiʺ ◌ui: ◌o
◌ွား,◌ွါး [u̯á] ◌wà ◌wāʺ ◌wa: ◌wa
◌ွဲ [u̯ɛ́] ◌wæ̀ ◌vai ◌wai: ◌wè
◌ွေး [u̯é] ◌wè ◌veʺ ◌we: ◌we
ဤ [í] ì ī i: i, -i
ဦး [ú] ù ūʺ u: u, -u
ဧး [é] è eʺ ei: e, -e
ဩ [ɔ́] àu o au: aw, -aw
in checked syllables 6
checked IPA 1 MMArch 2 ALA-LC MLC BGN condit.
◌ပ် [aʔ] ◌aC ◌aC ◌aC at _p|t|ṭ
◌ိပ် [eɪʔ] ◌eiC ◌iC ◌iC ◌eik _k|p|t|ṭ
◌ုပ် [ɔʊʔ] ◌ouC ◌uC ◌uC ◌ôk _k|p|t|ṭ
◌က် [ɛʔ] ◌æC ◌aC ◌aC ◌et _k
◌စ် [ɪʔ] ◌iC ◌aC ◌ac ◌it _ṡ
◌ောက် [aʊʔ] ◌auC ◌oC ◌auk ◌auk _k
◌ေါက် [aʊʔ] ◌auC ◌oC ◌auk ◌auk _k
◌ိုက် [aɪʔ] ◌aiC ◌uiC ◌uik ◌aik _k
◌ွပ် [u̯a~ʊʔ] ◌waC ◌vaC ◌waC ◌ut _k|p|t|ṭ
             
             
ဣပ် [eɪʔ] eiC iC iC eik _k|p|t|ṭ
ဥပ် [ɔʊʔ] ouC uC uC ôk, -ôk _k|p|t|ṭ
             
             
  1. C = final consonant (incl. killer), depicted (in the native script forms) are only examples of the conditions.

Vovwels (2)

in nasal syllables 7
short IPA 1 MMArch 2 ALA-LC MLC BGN
◌န့်, ◌ံ့ [a̰ɴ] ◌áC ◌a ◌aC. ◌an
◌င့် [ɪ̰ɴ] ◌íC ◌aCʹ ◌aC. ◌in 7
◌ိန့်, ◌ိံ့ [ḛɪɴ] ◌éiC ◌iCʹ ◌iC. ◌ein
◌ုန့်, ◌ုံ့ [ɔ̰ʊɴ] ◌óuC ◌uCʹ ◌uC. ◌ôn
◌ောင့် [a̰ʊɴ] ◌áuC ◌oCʹ ◌aung. ◌aung
◌ိုင့် [a̰ɪɴ] ◌áiC ◌uiCʹ ◌uing. ◌aing
◌ွန့်, ◌ွံ့ [a̰ɴ~ʊ̰ɴ] ◌wáC ◌vaCʹ ◌waC. ◌un
ဝန့်, ဝံ့ [a̰ɴ~ʊ̰ɴ] wáC vaCʹ ◌waC. wun
◌ွင့် [u̯ɪ̰ɴ] ◌wíC ◌vaCʹ ◌waC. …
in nasal syllables 7
mid IPA 1 MMArch 2 ALA-LC MLC BGN
◌န်, ◌ံ [àɴ] ◌aC ◌aC ◌aC ◌an
◌င် [ɪ̀ɴ] ◌iC ◌aC ◌aC ◌in 7
◌ိန်, ◌ိံ [èɪɴ] ◌eiC ◌iC ◌iC ◌ein
◌ုန်, ◌ုံ [ɔ̀ʊɴ] ◌ouC ◌uC ◌uC ◌ôn
◌ောင် [àʊɴ] ◌auC ◌oC ◌aung ◌aung
◌ိုင် [àɪɴ] ◌aiC ◌uiC ◌uing ◌aing
◌ွန်, ◌ွံ [àɴ~ʊ̀ɴ] ◌waC ◌vaC ◌waC ◌un
ဝန်, ဝံ [àɴ~ʊ̀ɴ] waC ◌vaC waC wun
◌ွင် [u̯ɪ̀ɴ] ◌wiC ◌vaC ◌waC …
in nasal syllables 7
long IPA 1 MMArch 2 ALA-LC MLC BGN condit.
◌န်း, ◌ံး [áɴ] ◌àC ◌aCʺ ◌aC: ◌an _m|ṃ|n|ṇ
◌င်း [ɪ́ɴ] ◌ìC ◌aCʺ ◌aC: ◌in 7 _ṅ|ñ|ññ
◌ိန်း,◌ိံး [éɪɴ] ◌èiC ◌iCʺ ◌iC: ◌ein _m|ṃ|n|ṇ|ṅ
◌ုန်း,◌ုံး [ɔ́ʊɴ] ◌òuC ◌uCʺ ◌uC: ◌ôn _m|ṃ|n|ṇ|ṅ
◌ောင်း [áʊɴ] ◌àuC ◌eCʺ ◌e ◌aung _ṅ
◌ိုင်း [áɪɴ] ◌àiC ◌uiCʺ ◌uiC: ◌aing _ṅ
◌ွန်း,◌ွံး [áɴ~ʊ́ɴ] ◌wàC ◌vaCʺ ◌waC: ◌un _m|ṃ|n|ṇ
ဝန်း, ဝံး [áɴ~ʊ́ɴ] wàC vaCʺ waC: wun _m|ṃ|n|ṇ
◌ွင်း [u̯ɪ́ɴ] ◌wiC ◌vaCʺ ◌waC: … _ṅ
  1. C = final consonant (incl. killer), depicted (in the native script forms) are only examples of the conditions.
  2. ◌ည် = i, in, e depending on pronunciation (BGN; per reference source).
Last update: 01 Feb 2024
https://www.archontology.org/nations/myanmar/01_note.php