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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
[kʰ] kʰ (kh) kh hk k
[g] g g g g
[g] gʰ (gh) gh gh g
[ŋ] ṅ (ng) ng ng
[s] ṡ (s) c c s
[sʰ] ṡʰ (ṡh) ch hc s
[z] ż (z) j j z
[z] żʰ (żh) jh jh z
[ɲ] ñ (ny) ñ (ny) (ny)
[ɲ] ññ (nny) ññ ny ny
[t] t (t)
  IPA 1 MMArch 2 ALA-LC MLC BGN
[tʰ] ṭʰ (ṭh) ṭh ht (t)
[d] d (d)
[d] ḍʰ (ḍh) ḍh dh (d)
[n] n n
[t] t t t t
[tʰ] tʰ (th) th ht t
[d] d d d d
[d] dʰ (dh) dh dh (d)
[n] n n n n
[p] p p p p
[pʰ] pʰ (ph) ph hp p
[b] b b b b
  IPA 1 MMArch 2 ALA-LC MLC BGN
[b] bʰ (bh) bh bh b
[m] m m m m
[j] y y y y
[j, (r)] r r y
[l] l l l l
[w] w v w w
[θ, ɾ̪] ṫh s s th
[h] h h h h
[l] l (l)
[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)
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 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
[ḭ] í i i. i, -i
[ṵ] ú u u. u, -u
ဧ့ [ḛ] é ei. e, -e
ဩ့ [ɔ̰] áu 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]
[ù] u ū u u, -u
[è] e e ei e, -e
[ɔ̀] au 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
[í] ì ī i: i, -i
ဦး [ú] ù ūʺ u: u, -u
ဧး [é] è ei: e, -e
[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).