Wiktionary:Burmese transliteration
These are the rules concerning transliteration in Burmese entries.
Burmese transliteration
editThere are four systems of romanizing Burmese in use at Wiktionary. Two of these put more emphasis on the orthography in the Burmese script (transliterations), and two put more emphasis on the pronunciation of the Burmese word (transcriptions).
The two transliterations are the MLC Transcription System (see also the Wikipedia article) and the ALA-LC Romanization. The two transcriptions are the BGN/PCGN romanization (in slightly modified form) and the system used by John Okell in A Reference Grammar of Colloquial Burmese.
The MLCTS transliteration is added automatically by templates such as {{l}}, {{m}}, {{t}}, and the etymology templates {{der}}, {{bor}}, {{inh}}, {{cog}}, and {{affix}}. There is therefore no need to add transliterations manually. For example, in the entry cat, under "Translations" the Burmese line should read:
(input as: Burmese: {{t+|my|ကြောင်}}).
Similarly, where Burmese words occur in the "Etymology" section of entries in other languages, the transliteration appears automatically. For example, in the entry longyi, under "Etymology" it should read:
(input as: {{bor|en|my|လုံချည်}}).
In Burmese-language entries, the pronunciation template {{my-IPA}} also automatically generates romanizations in all four systems. In a few cases, however, automatic romanization is not possible; in such cases, the romanization template {{my-roman}} is used. It shows all four romanizations, specified manually. For example, at ဘတ်စ်ကား, the unusual spelling does not permit automatic romanization; therefore under the "Pronunciation" header we have:
===Pronunciation===
* Phonetic respelling: {{l|my||ဗတ်စ'ကား}}
* {{IPA|/baʔsəká/|lang=my}}
* {{my-roman|mlc=bhatcka:|ala=bhat‘c‘kā″|bgn=batsăka:|okell=baʔsăkà}}
The romanization box will render as:
- Romanization: MLCTS: bhatcka: • ALA-LC: bhat‘c‘kā″ • BGN/PCGN: batsăka: • Okell: baʔsăkà
The details of these four romanization systems are described below.
Syllable onsets
editSyllable onsets (also called "initials") are romanized as follows:
| Burmese | IPA | MLCTS | ALA-LC | BGN-PCGN | Okell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| က | /k/ | k | k | k | k |
| ကျ | /tɕ/ | ky | ky | ky | c |
| ကြ | /tɕ/ | kr | kr | ky | c |
| ကျွ | /tɕw/[1] | kyw | kyv | kyw | cw |
| ကြွ | /tɕw/[1] | krw | krv | kyw | cw |
| ကွ | /kw/[1] | kw | kv | kw | kw |
| ခ | /kʰ/ | kh | kh | hk | hk |
| ချ | /tɕʰ/ | hky | khy | ch | hc |
| ခြ | /tɕʰ/ | hkr | khr | ch | hc |
| ချွ | /tɕʰw/[1] | hkyw | khyv | chw | hcw |
| ခြွ | /tɕʰw/[1] | hkrw | khrv | chw | hcw |
| ခွ | /kʰw/[1] | hkw | khv | hkw | hkw |
| ဂ | /ɡ/ | g | g | g | g |
| ဂျ | /dʑ/ | gy | gy | gy | j |
| ဂျွ | /dʑw/[1] | gyw | gyv | gyw | jw |
| ဂွ | /ɡw/[1] | gw | gv | gw | gw |
| ဃ | /ɡ/ | gh | gh | g | g |
| င | /ŋ/ | ng | ṅ | ng | ng |
| ငှ | /ŋ̊/ | hng | ṅh | hng | hng |
| ငြ | /ɲ/ | ngr | ṅr | ny | ny |
| ငြှ | /ɲ̊/ | hngr | ṅrh | hny | hny |
| ငွ | /ŋw/[1] | ngw | ṅv | ngw | ngw |
| ငွှ | /ŋ̊w/[1] | hngw | ṅvh | hngw | hngw |
| စ | /s/ | c | c | s | s |
| စွ | /sw/[1] | cw | cv | sw | sw |
| ဆ | /sʰ/ | hc | ch | hs | hs |
| ဆွ | /sʰw/[1] | hcw | chv | hsw | hsw |
| ဇ | /z/ | j | j | z | z |
| ဇွ | /zw/[1] | jw | jv | zw | zw |
| ဈ | /z/ | jh | jh | z | z |
| ဉ ည |
/ɲ/ | ny | ñ ññ |
ny | ny |
| ဉှ ညှ |
/ɲ̊/ | hny | ñh ññh |
hny | hny |
| ညွ | /ɲw/[1] | nyw | ñv | nyw | nyw |
| ညွှ | /ɲ̊w/[1] | hnyw | ñvh | hnyw | hnyw |
| ဋ | /t/ | t | ṭ | t | t |
| ဌ | /tʰ/ | ht | ṭh | ht | ht |
| ဍ | /d/ | d | ḍ | d | d |
| ဎ | /d/ | dh | ḍh | d | d |
| ဏ | /n/ | n | ṇ | n | n |
| တ | /t/ | t | t | t | t |
| တွ | /tw/[1] | tw | tv | tw | tw |
| ထ | /tʰ/ | ht | th | ht | ht |
| ထွ | /tʰw/[1] | htw | thv | htw | htw |
| ဒ | /d/ | d | d | d | d |
| ဒွ | /dw/[1] | dw | dv | dw | dw |
| ဓ | /d/ | dh | dh | d | d |
| န | /n/ | n | n | n | n |
| နှ | /n̥/ | hn | nh | hn | hn |
| နွ | /nw/[1] | nw | nv | nw | nw |
| နွှ | /n̥w/[1] | hnw | nvh | hnw | hnw |
| ပ | /p/ | p | p | p | p |
| ပျ | /pj/ | py | py | py | py |
| ပြ | /pj/ | pr | pr | py | py |
| ပြွ | /pw/[1] | prw | prv | pw | pw |
| ပွ | /pw/[1] | pw | pv | pw | pw |
| ဖ | /pʰ/ | hp | ph | hp | hp |
| ဖျ | /pʰj/ | hpy | phy | hpy | hpy |
| ဖြ | /pʰj/ | hpr | phr | hpy | hpy |
| ဖွ | /pʰw/[1] | hpw | phv | hpw | hpw |
| ဗ | /b/ | b | b | b | b |
| ဗျ | /bj/ | by | by | by | by |
| ဗြ | /bj/ | br | br | by | by |
| ဗွ | /bw/[1] | bw | bv | bw | bw |
| ဘ | /b/ /pʰ/ |
bh | bh | b hp |
b hp |
| ဘွ | /bw/[1] | bhw | bhv | bw | bw |
| မ | /m/ | m | m | m | m |
| မှ | /m̥/ | hm | mh | hm | hm |
| မျ | /mj/ | my | my | my | my |
| မျှ | /m̥j/ | hmy | myh | hmy | hmy |
| မြ | /mj/ | mr | mr | my | my |
| မြှ | /m̥j/ | hmr | mrh | hmy | hmy |
| မြွ | /mw/[1] | mrw | mrv | mw | mw |
| မွ | /mw/[1] | mw | mv | mw | mw |
| မွှ | /m̥w/[1] | hmw | mvh | hmw | hmw |
| ယ | /j/ | y | y | y | y |
| ယှ | /ʃ/ | hy | yh | sh | hy |
| ယွ | /jw/[1] | yw | yv | yw | yw |
| ရ | /j/ /ɹ/[2] |
r | r | y r |
y r |
| ရှ | /ʃ/ | hr | rh | sh | hy |
| ရွ | /jw/[1] | rw | rv | yw | yw |
| ရွှ | /ʃw/[1] | hrw | rvh | shw | hyw |
| လ | /l/ | l | l | l | l |
| လှ | /l̥/ | hl | lh | hl | hl |
| လျ | /lj/ /j/ |
ly | ly | ly y |
ly y |
| လျှ | /l̥j/ /ʃ/ |
hly | lyh | hly sh |
hly hy |
| လွ | /lw/[1] | lw | lv | lw | lw |
| လွှ | /l̥w/[1] | hlw | lvh | hlw | hlw |
| ဝ | /w/[1] | w | v | w | w |
| ဝှ | /ʍ/[1] | hw | vh | hw | hw |
| သ | /θ/ /ð/ |
s | s | th dh |
th |
| သွ | /θw/[1] | sw | sv | thw | thw |
| သျှ | /ʃ/ | hsy | syh | sh | hy |
| ဟ | /h/ | h | h | h | h |
| ဟွ | /hw/[1] | hw | hv | hw | hw |
| ဠ | /l/ | l | ḷ | l | l |
| အ | /ʔ/ | (none) | ’ | (none) | (none) |
- Footnotes
Syllable rhymes
editSyllable rhymes (also called "finals") are romanized as follows. The following table uses the letter က /k/ as a basis, but of course any other syllable onset could be substituted.
| Burmese | IPA | MLCTS | ALA-LC | BGN-PCGN | Okell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| က | /ka̰/ | ka. | ka | ka. | ká |
| ကက် | /kɛʔ/ | kak | kak‘ | ket | keʔ |
| ကင် | /kɪ̀ɴ/ | kang | kaṅ‘ | kin | kiñ |
| ကစ် | /kɪʔ/ | kac | kac’ | kit | kiʔ |
| ကည် | /kì/ /kè/ /kɛ̀/ |
kany | kaññ‘ | ki ke kè |
ki kei ke |
| ကဉ် | /kɪ̀ɴ/ | kañ‘ | kin | kiñ | |
| ကတ် | /kaʔ/ | kat | kat‘ | kat | kaʔ |
| ကန် | /kàɴ/ | kan | kan‘ | kan | kañ |
| ကပ် | /kaʔ/ | kap | kap‘ | kat | kaʔ |
| ကမ် | /kàɴ/ | kam | kam‘ | kan | kañ |
| ကယ် | /kɛ̀/ | kai | kay‘ | kè | ke |
| ကံ | /kàɴ/ | kam | kaṃ | kan | kañ |
| ကာ | /kà/ | ka | kā | ka | ka |
| ကိ | /kḭ/ | ki. | ki | ki. | kí |
| ကိတ် | /keɪʔ/ | kit | kit‘ | keik | keiʔ |
| ကိန် | /kèɪɴ/ | kin | kin‘ | kein | keiñ |
| ကိပ် | /keɪʔ/ | kip | kip‘ | keik | keiʔ |
| ကိမ် | /kèɪɴ/ | kim | kim‘ | kein | keiñ |
| ကိံ | /kèɪɴ/ | kim | kiṃ | kein | keiñ |
| ကီ | /kì/ | ki | kī | ki | ki |
| ကု | /kṵ/ | ku. | ku | ku. | kú |
| ကုတ် | /koʊʔ/ | kut | kut‘ | kok | kouʔ |
| ကုန် | /kòʊɴ/ | kun | kun‘ | kon | kouñ |
| ကုပ် | /koʊʔ/ | kup | kup‘ | kok | kouʔ |
| ကုမ် | /kòʊɴ/ | kum | kum‘ | kon | kouñ |
| ကုံ | /kòʊɴ/ | kum | kuṃ | kon | kouñ |
| ကူ | /kù/ | ku | kū | ku | ku |
| ကေ | /kè/ | ke | ke | ke | kei |
| ကဲ | /kɛ́/ | kai: | kai | kè: | kè |
| ကော | /kɔ́/ | kau: | ko | kaw: | kò |
| ကောက် | /kaʊʔ/ | kauk | kok‘ | kauk | kauʔ |
| ကောင် | /kàʊɴ/ | kaung | koṅ‘ | kaung | kauñ |
| ကော် | /kɔ̀/ | kau | ko‘ | kaw | ko |
| ကို | /kò/ | kui | kui | ko | kou |
| ကိုက် | /kaɪʔ/ | kuik | kuik‘ | kaik | kaiʔ |
| ကိုင် | /kàɪɴ/ | kuing | kuiṅ‘ | kaing | kaiñ |
ဿ
editThe letter ဿ, which appears only after a vowel in the same word, is used in words of Pali origin to represent ss in that language, e.g. သောမနဿ (sau:ma.na.ssa.) from Pali somanassa. In Burmese, it is pronounced /-ʔθ-/ as if it were spelled တ်သ (tsa.), thus သောမနဿ (sau:ma.na.ssa.) is pronounced /θɔ́mənaʔθa̰/.
| Burmese | IPA | MLCTS | ALA-LC | BGN-PCGN | Okell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| အဿ | /aʔθa̰/ | assa. | ’assa | attha. | aʔthá |
ကွတ်, ဝတ်, etc.
editIn sequences with ွ or ဝ before တ်, န်, ပ်, မ် or together with ံ, the vowel pronounced is /u/ rather than the expected /(w)a/. This is reflected in the BGN/PCGN and Okell transcriptions, but not in the MLCTS and ALA-LC transliterations.
| Burmese | IPA | MLCTS | ALA-LC | BGN-PCGN | Okell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ကွတ် | /kʊʔ/ | kwat | kvat‘ | kut | kuʔ |
| ကွန် | /kʊ̀ɴ/ | kwan | kvan‘ | kun | kuñ |
| ကွပ် | /kʊʔ/ | kwap | kvap‘ | kut | kuʔ |
| ကွမ် | /kʊ̀ɴ/ | kwam | kvam‘ | kun | kuñ |
| ကွံ | /kʊ̀ɴ/ | kwam | kvaṃ | kun | kuñ |
| ဝတ် | /wʊʔ/ | wat | vat‘ | wut | wuʔ |
| ဝန် | /wʊ̀ɴ/ | wan | van‘ | wun | wuñ |
| ဝပ် | /wʊʔ/ | wap | vap‘ | wut | wuʔ |
| ဝမ် | /wʊ̀ɴ/ | wam | vam‘ | wun | wuñ |
| ဝံ | /wʊ̀ɴ/ | wam | vaṃ | wun | wuñ |
Independent vowel letters
editThe independent vowel letters are transcribed the same as the vowels formed with အ, except in ALA-LC, where those formed with အ take a preposed apostrophe (’):
| Burmese | IPA | MLCTS | ALA-LC | BGN-PCGN | Okell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| အိ ဣ |
/ḭ/ | i. | ’i i |
i. | í |
| အီ ဤ |
/ì/ | i | ’ī ī |
i | i |
| အု ဥ |
/ṵ/ | u. | ’u u |
u. | ú |
| အူ ဦ |
/ù/ | u | ’ū ū |
u | u |
| အေ ဧ |
/è/ | e | ’e e |
e | ei |
| အော ဩ |
/ɔ́/ | au: | ’o o |
aw: | ò |
| အော် ဪ |
/ɔ̀/ | au | ’o‘ o‘ |
aw | o |
Tones
editThe low tone and checked tone are represented as shown in the table above. The representation of the high tone and creaky tone varies depending on the respective syllable rhyme: sometimes they are inherent in the vowel symbol used, and sometimes they are indicated by a diacritic mark. The ALA-LC romanization indicates these two tones explicitly only in cases where diacritic marks are used; the other three romanizations indicate them regardless of how they are spelled. Examples:
| Tone | Burmese | IPA | MLCTS | ALA-LC | BGN-PCGN | Okell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | ကဲ | /kɛ́/ | kai: | kai | kè: | kè |
| ကော | /kɔ́/ | kau: | ko | kaw: | kò | |
| ကား | /ká/ | ka: | kā″ | ka: | kà | |
| ကန်း | /káɴ/ | kan: | kan‘″ | kan: | kàñ | |
| Creaky | က | /ka̰/ | ka. | ka | ka. | ká |
| ကိ | /kḭ/ | ki. | ki | ki. | kí | |
| ကု | /kṵ/ | ku. | ku | ku. | kú | |
| ကဲ့ | /kɛ̰/ | kai. | kai′ | kè. | ké | |
| ကန့် | /ka̰ɴ/ | kan. | kan‘′ | kan. | káñ |
Minor syllables
editMinor syllables in Burmese contain only the vowel /ə/ in the rhyme and do not bear tone. They are always followed by a major syllable (any other kind of syllable). In the orthography, they are most commonly spelled as if their rhyme was /a̰/ (i.e. with no vowel diacritic at all), but are often spelled in other ways. In the MLCTS and ALA-LC systems, minor syllables are romanized exactly as they are spelled in Burmese orthography. In the modified BGN/PCGN system and in the Okell system, minor syllables are indicated by the letter ă regardless of the Burmese orthography. Examples:
| Burmese | IPA | MLCTS | ALA-LC | BGN-PCGN | Okell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ခလုတ် | /kʰəloʊʔ/ | hka.lut | khalut‘ | hkălok | hkălouʔ |
| စာရေး | /səjé/ | care: | cāre″ | săye: | săyeì |
| ငါးဥ | /ŋəʔṵ/ | nga:u. | ṅā″u | ngău. | ngăú |
| သူငယ် | /θəŋɛ̀/ | su-ngai | sūṅay‘ | thăngè | thănge |
Syllable division
editWhere two consonants appear next to each other between two vowels in a romanization, use hyphens as necessary to avoid ambiguity. For example (the following are not necessarily real words of Burmese):
| Burmese | IPA | MLCTS | ALA-LC | BGN-PCGN | Okell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| အက်ယန် အာကျန် |
/ʔɛʔjàɴ/ /ʔàtɕàɴ/ |
ak-yan a-kyan |
’ak‘yan‘ ’ākyan‘ |
et-yan a-kyan |
eʔyañ acañ |
| ကတ်ဝက် ကာတွက် |
/kaʔwɛʔ/ /kàtwɛʔ/ |
kat-wak ka-twak |
kat‘vak‘ kātvak‘ |
kat-wet ka-twet |
kaʔweʔ katweʔ |
| တန်ဂါ တာငါ |
/tàɴɡà/ /tàŋà/ |
tan-ga ta-nga |
tan‘gā tāṅā |
tan-ga ta-nga |
tañga tanga |
Consonant voicing
editIn many words, a written voiceless (aspirated or unaspirated) consonant is pronounced voiced when it appears after a vowel or /ɴ/. This is indicated in the BGN-PCGN and Okell transcriptions, but not in the MLCTS and ALA-LC transliterations. In BGN-PCGN, the letter for the voiced consonant is used; in Okell, the letter for the voiceless consonant is used but underlined. Examples:
| Burmese | IPA | MLCTS | ALA-LC | BGN-PCGN | Okell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ဆီပုံး | /sʰìbóʊɴ/ | hcipum: | chīpuṃ″ | hsibon: | hsipoùñ |
| အုန်းဆီ | /ʔóʊɴzì/ | un:hci | ’un‘″chī | on:zi | oùñhsi |
| အညာသား | /ʔəɲàðá/ | a.nyasa: | ’aññāsā″ | ănyadha: | ănyathà |
Note on the modifications to BGN-PCGN
editThe modifications to the BGN-PCGN system are necessary because the original version does not represent all meaningful contrasts found in the Burmese language. For example, Burmese contrasts the unaspirated sounds /p, t, k, s/ from the aspirated sounds /pʰ, tʰ, kʰ, sʰ/, but the original BGN-PCGN uses just p, t, k, s to represent both series. The modified version transcribes the aspirated /pʰ, tʰ, kʰ, sʰ/ as hp, ht, hk, hs, like the MLCTS and Okell systems.
The original version of the BGN-PCGN does not distinguish between low tone (e.g. /à/), high tone (e.g. /á/), and creaky tone (e.g. /a̰/), so the modified version uses the colon (:) to indicate high tone and the period/full stop (.) to indicate creaky tone, like the MLCTS system.
The original version of the BGN-PCGN has no dedicated character for /ə/, so the modified version uses ă, like the Okell system.
The original version of the BGN-PCGN indicates voicing of word-internal consonants in all contexts except after the checked tone (e.g. /aʔ/), but in fact word-internal consonants are not always voiced in pronunciation. This modified version indicates consonant voicing only in cases where the word is actually pronounced with a voiced consonant.
Finally, the modified version replaces ô with o in the sequences ok (/oʊʔ/) and on (/oʊɴ/), since the circumflex serves no purpose there.