Burmese alphabet
Encyclopedia
The Burmese script is an abugida
in the Brahmic family
used for writing Burmese
. Furthermore, various other scripts share some aspect and letters of the Burmese script, though they should not be considered strictly Burmese, including Mon
, Shan
, S'gaw Karen
, Eastern and Western Pwo Karen
and Geba Karen languages, Rumai Palaung
, Kayah
(all of which are included in the latest Unicode standard). The Burmese script is also used as a script for the liturgical languages of Pali
and Sanskrit
. The characters are rounded in appearance because the traditional palm leaves used for writing on with a stylus would have been ripped by straight lines. It is written from left to right and requires no spaces between words, although modern writing usually contains spaces after each clause to enhance readability.
The Burmese script was adapted from the Old Mon script, which also gave rise to related scripts like the Northern Tai Tham script (Lanna). The earliest evidence of Burmese script is dated to 1058. Burmese orthography originally followed a square format but the cursive format took hold from the 17th century when popular writing led to the wider use of palm leaves and folded paper known as parabaiks. The script has undergone considerable modifications to suit the evolving phonology of the Burmese language. The Burmese script has been altered from language to language, including Shan and Pwo Karen. One major difference is the existence of explicit tone markers in the Shan and Karen scripts, which do not exist in the Burmese script, since Burmese diacritics include implicit tones joined to the sound change.
The Burmese script may be transliterated into the Latin alphabet with the MLC Transcription System
.
s, the Burmese alphabet is arranged into different groupings of 5 letters called wek based on articulation. Within each group, the first letter is an unaspirated consonant
, the second is the aspirated consonant
version, the third and fourth are equivalent voiced consonant
versions, and the fifth is a nasal consonant
. This is true of the first 25 letters in the Burmese alphabet, which are called grouped together as wek byi . The remaining eight letters are grouped together as a wek , as they are not arranged in any particular pattern.
or consonant cluster
that appears before the vowel
of a syllable
. The Burmese script has 33 letters to indicate the initial consonant of a syllable and four diacritic
s to indicate additional consonants in the onset. Like other abugida
s, including the other members of the Brahmic family
, vowels are indicated in Burmese script by diacritics, which are placed above, below or beside the consonant character. A consonant letter with no vowel diacritic has the inherent vowel
[a̰] (often reduced to [ə] when another syllable follows in the same word).
The following table provides the letter, the syllable onset in IPA, and the way the letter is referred to in Burmese, which may be either a descriptive name or just the sound of the letter, arranged in the traditional alphabet:
, , , , , , , , and are primarily used in words of Pāli origin. and are exclusively used in Sanskrit words, as they have merged to in Pali. has an alternate form , used with the vowel diacritic as a syllable onset and alone as a final.
Consonant letters may be modified by one or more medial diacritics (three at most), indicating an additional consonant before the vowel. These diacritics are:
A few Burmese dialects
use an extra diacritic to indicate the /l/ medial, which has merged to /y/ in standard Burmese:
All the possible diacritic combinations are listed below:
s and any consonants that may follow them within the same syllable) are indicated in Burmese by a combination of diacritic marks and consonant letters marked with the virama
character which suppresses the inherent vowel
of the consonant letter. This mark is called Asat in Burmese , which means nonexistence (see Sat (Sanskrit)).
One or more of these accents can be added to a consonant to change its sound. In addition, other modifying symbols are used to differentiate tone and sound, but are not considered diacritics.
s or stacked consonants, but are not found in native Burmese words, except for the purpose of abbreviation. For example, the Burmese word for "daughter" is sometimes abbreviated as , even though the stacked consonants don't belong to the same group. Similarly, "tea" is commonly abbreviated .
Instead, stacked consonants are primarily confined to polysyllabic borrowings from languages like Pali, Sanskrit and occasionally English. For instance, the Burmese word for "paper" (a Pali loan word), is spelt , not , although both have equivalent pronunciations.
numbering system is used, and numbers are written in the same order as Hindu-Arabic numeral
s.
The numerals from zero to nine are: (Unicode
1040 to 1049). The number 1945 would be written as . Separators, such as commas, are not used to group numbers.
Another set of digits from zero to nine, , is used in the Shan language. However, the most languages that use the modified Burmese script, including Sgaw Karen, Pwo Karen and Mon all use the same digits as the Burmese language.
and a full stop
. Other abbreviations used in literary Burmese are: -- used as a full stop if the sentence immediately ends with a verb. -- used as a sentence connector to connect two trains of thought. -- locative ('at'). --
Standard in September, 1999 with the release of version 3.0. It was extended in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2.
The rest of the chart contains extensions for other languages:
websites used an image-based dynamically generated method to display Burmese characters
, often in GIF
or JPEG
. At the end of 2005, the Burmese NLP Research Lab announced a Myanmar OpenType
font named Myanmar1. This font
contains not only Unicode
code points and glyphs but also the OpenType Layout (OTL) logic and rules. Their research center is based in Myanmar ICT Park, Yangon
. Padauk, which was produced by SIL International
, is Unicode compliant. Initially, it required a Graphite
engine, though now OpenType tables for Windows are in the current version of this font. Since the release of the Unicode 5.1 Standard on 4 April 2008, three Unicode 5.1 compliant fonts have been available under public license, including Myanmar3, Padauk and Parabaik.
Many Burmese font makers have created Burmese fonts including Win Innwa, CE Font, Myazedi, Zawgyi, Ponnya, Mandalay. It is important to note that these Burmese fonts are not Unicode compliant, because they use unallocated code points (including those for the Latin script) in the Burmese block to manually deal with shaping that would normally be done by the Uniscribe engine
and they are not yet supported by Microsoft
and other major software vendors. However, there are few Burmese language websites that have switched to Unicode rendering, with many websites continuing to use a pseudo-Unicode font called Zawgyi (which uses codepoints allocated for minority languages and does not intelligently render diacritics, such as the size of ya-yit) or the GIF/JPG display method.
Abugida
An abugida , also called an alphasyllabary, is a segmental writing system in which consonant–vowel sequences are written as a unit: each unit is based on a consonant letter, and vowel notation is obligatory but secondary...
in the Brahmic family
Brahmic family
The Brahmic or Indic scripts are a family of abugida writing systems. They are used throughout South Asia , Southeast Asia, and parts of Central and East Asia, and are descended from the Brāhmī script of the ancient Indian subcontinent...
used for writing Burmese
Burmese language
The Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Although the constitution officially recognizes it as the Myanmar language, most English speakers continue to refer to the language as Burmese. Burmese is the native language of the Bamar and related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar, as well as...
. Furthermore, various other scripts share some aspect and letters of the Burmese script, though they should not be considered strictly Burmese, including Mon
Mon language
The Mon language is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Mon, who live in Burma and Thailand. Mon, like the related language Cambodian—but unlike most languages in Mainland Southeast Asia—is not tonal. Mon is spoken by more than a million people today. In recent years, usage of Mon has...
, Shan
Shan language
The Shan language is the native language of Shan people and spoken mostly in Shan State, Burma. It is also used in pockets of Kachin State in Burma, in northern Thailand, and in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China. Shan is a member of the Tai–Kadai language family, and...
, S'gaw Karen
S'gaw Karen language
S'gaw, also known as S'gaw Karen and S'gaw Kayin, is a Karen language spoken by over one million S'gaw Karen people in Burma, and 200,000 in Thailand. S'gaw Karen is spoken in Tanintharyi Region's Ayeyarwady Delta, Yangon Division, Bago Division and Kayin State. The two main dialects of S'gaw Karen...
, Eastern and Western Pwo Karen
Pwo Karen languages
The Pwo Karen languages are the second largest group of the Karen languages.There are four languages in this branch: Eastern Pwo Karen, Northern Pwo Karen, Western Pwo Karen, and Phrae Pwo Karen. They are not mutually intelligible....
and Geba Karen languages, Rumai Palaung
Palaung language
Palaung is a Mon–Khmer language, or actually a dialect cluster, spoken by over half a million people in Burma and neighboring countries. There are three distinct varieties, Shwe , Ruching , and Rumai, each with their own dialects...
, Kayah
Kayah languages
The Kayah languages of Burma are spoken by the Kayah people. They are:*Manumanaw Karen*Yinbaw Karen*Yintale Karen*Eastern Kayah*Western Kayah...
(all of which are included in the latest Unicode standard). The Burmese script is also used as a script for the liturgical languages of Pali
Páli
- External links :* *...
and Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
. The characters are rounded in appearance because the traditional palm leaves used for writing on with a stylus would have been ripped by straight lines. It is written from left to right and requires no spaces between words, although modern writing usually contains spaces after each clause to enhance readability.
The Burmese script was adapted from the Old Mon script, which also gave rise to related scripts like the Northern Tai Tham script (Lanna). The earliest evidence of Burmese script is dated to 1058. Burmese orthography originally followed a square format but the cursive format took hold from the 17th century when popular writing led to the wider use of palm leaves and folded paper known as parabaiks. The script has undergone considerable modifications to suit the evolving phonology of the Burmese language. The Burmese script has been altered from language to language, including Shan and Pwo Karen. One major difference is the existence of explicit tone markers in the Shan and Karen scripts, which do not exist in the Burmese script, since Burmese diacritics include implicit tones joined to the sound change.
The Burmese script may be transliterated into the Latin alphabet with the MLC Transcription System
MLC Transcription System
The Myanma Language Commission Transcription System, also known as the MLC Transcription System , is a transliteration system for rendering Burmese in the Latin alphabet. It is loosely based on the Pali romanisation system, has some similarities to the ALA-LC Romanization, and was devised by the...
.
Arrangement
As with other Brahmi scriptBrāhmī script
Brāhmī is the modern name given to the oldest members of the Brahmic family of scripts. The best-known Brāhmī inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-central India, dated to the 3rd century BCE. These are traditionally considered to be early known examples of Brāhmī writing...
s, the Burmese alphabet is arranged into different groupings of 5 letters called wek based on articulation. Within each group, the first letter is an unaspirated consonant
Tenuis consonant
In linguistics, a tenuis consonant is a stop or affricate which is unvoiced, unaspirated, and unglottalized. That is, it has a "plain" phonation like , with a voice onset time close to zero, as in Spanish p, t, ch, k, or as in English p, t, k after s .In transcription, tenuis consonants are not...
, the second is the aspirated consonant
Aspiration (phonetics)
In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ...
version, the third and fourth are equivalent voiced consonant
Voice (phonetics)
Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate...
versions, and the fifth is a nasal consonant
Nasal consonant
A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...
. This is true of the first 25 letters in the Burmese alphabet, which are called grouped together as wek byi . The remaining eight letters are grouped together as a wek , as they are not arranged in any particular pattern.
Letters
A syllable onset is the consonantConsonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
or consonant cluster
Consonant cluster
In linguistics, a consonant cluster is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word splits....
that appears before the vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
of a syllable
Syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
. The Burmese script has 33 letters to indicate the initial consonant of a syllable and four diacritic
Diacritic
A diacritic is a glyph added to a letter, or basic glyph. The term derives from the Greek διακριτικός . Diacritic is both an adjective and a noun, whereas diacritical is only an adjective. Some diacritical marks, such as the acute and grave are often called accents...
s to indicate additional consonants in the onset. Like other abugida
Abugida
An abugida , also called an alphasyllabary, is a segmental writing system in which consonant–vowel sequences are written as a unit: each unit is based on a consonant letter, and vowel notation is obligatory but secondary...
s, including the other members of the Brahmic family
Brahmic family
The Brahmic or Indic scripts are a family of abugida writing systems. They are used throughout South Asia , Southeast Asia, and parts of Central and East Asia, and are descended from the Brāhmī script of the ancient Indian subcontinent...
, vowels are indicated in Burmese script by diacritics, which are placed above, below or beside the consonant character. A consonant letter with no vowel diacritic has the inherent vowel
Inherent vowel
An inherent vowel is part of an abugida script. It is the vowel sound which is used with each unmarked or basic consonant symbol....
[a̰] (often reduced to [ə] when another syllable follows in the same word).
The following table provides the letter, the syllable onset in IPA, and the way the letter is referred to in Burmese, which may be either a descriptive name or just the sound of the letter, arranged in the traditional alphabet:
| Group name | | Grouped consonants | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unaspirated | Aspirated | Voiced | Nasal | |||||||
| Gutturals |
/k/ | /kʰ/ | /ɡ/ | /ɡ/ | /ŋ/ | |||||
| [ka̰ dʑí] | [kʰa̰ ɡwé] | [ɡa̰ ŋɛ̀] | [ɡa̰ dʑí] | [ŋa̰] | ||||||
| Palatals |
/s/ | /sʰ/ | /z/ | /z/ | /ɲ/ | |||||
| [sa̰ lóuɴ] | [sʰa̰ lèiɴ] | [za̰ ɡwɛ́] | [za̰ mjɪ̀ɴ zwɛ́] | [ɲa̰ dʑí] | ||||||
| Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... s |
/t/ | /tʰ/ | /d/ | /d/ | /n/ | |||||
| [ta̰ təlɪ́ɴ dʑeiʔ] | [tʰa̰ wʊ́ɴ bɛ́] | [da̰ jɪ̀ɴ ɡauʔ] | [da̰ jè m̥ouʔ] | [na̰ dʑí] | ||||||
| Dentals |
/t/ | /tʰ/ | /d/ | /d/ | /n/ | |||||
| [ta̰ wʊ́ɴ bù] | [tʰa̰ sʰɪ̀ɴ dú] | [da̰ dwé] | [da̰ ʔauʔ tɕʰaiʔ] | [na̰ ŋɛ̀] | ||||||
| Labial Labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals... s |
/p/ | /pʰ/ | /b/ | /b/ | /m/ | |||||
| ([pa̰ zauʔ]) | ([pʰa̰ ʔóuʔ tʰouʔ]) | ([ba̰ lɛʔ tɕʰaiʔ]) | ([ba̰ ɡóuɴ]) | [ma̰] | ||||||
| Miscellaneous consonants | ||||||||||
| Without group |
/j/ | /j/ | /l/ | /w/ | /θ/ | |||||
| [ja̰ pɛʔ lɛʔ] | [ja̰ ɡauʔ] | [la̰ ŋɛ̀] | [wa̰] | [θa̰] | ||||||
| /h/ | /l/ | /ʔ/ | ||||||||
| [ha̰] | [la̰ dʑí] | [ʔa̰] | ||||||||
- With regard to pronunciation, the corresponding letters of the dentals and alveolars are phonetically equivalent. is often pronounced /ɹ/ in words of Pali or foreign origin. is nominally treated as a consonant in the Burmese alphabet; it represents an initial glottal stop in syllables with no other consonant.
Consonant letters may be modified by one or more medial diacritics (three at most), indicating an additional consonant before the vowel. These diacritics are:
- Ya pin - Written (MLCTS -y-, indicating /j/ medial or palatalizationPalatalizationIn linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate....
of a velar consonantVelar consonantVelars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....
) - Ya yit - Written (MLCTS -r-, indicating /j/ medial or palatalizationPalatalizationIn linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate....
of a velar consonantVelar consonantVelars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....
) - Wa hswe - Written (MLCTS -w-, usually indicating /w/ medial)
- Ha hto - (MLCTS h-, indicating that a sonorant consonant is voicelessVoicelessIn linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the lack of...
)
A few Burmese dialects
Burmese dialects
There are a number of mutually intelligible Burmese dialects in the Burmese language, with a largely uniform standard dialect used by most Burmese speakers, who live throughout the Irrawaddy River valley and more distinctive non-standard dialects that emerge as one toward peripheral areas of the...
use an extra diacritic to indicate the /l/ medial, which has merged to /y/ in standard Burmese:
- La hswe - Written (MLCTS -l, indicating /l/ medial
All the possible diacritic combinations are listed below:
| Base | Letter | IPA | MLCTS | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
ya pin |
[mj] | my | Generally only used on bilabial Bilabial consonant In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... and velar consonant Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... s . Palatalizes Palatalization In linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate.... velar consonant Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... s: (ky), (hky), (gy) are pronounced [tɕ], [tɕʰ], [dʑ]. |
|
| [m̥j] | hmy | (hsy) and (hly) are pronounced [ʃ]. | ||
| [mw] | myw | |||
| [m̥w] | hmyw | |||
ya yit |
[mj] | mr | Generally only used on bilabial Bilabial consonant In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... and velar consonant Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... s . (but in Pali and Sanskrit loanwords, can be used for other consonants as well e.g. ဣန္ဒြေ ) Palatalizes Palatalization In linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate.... velar consonant Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... s: (kr), (hkr), (gr), (ngr) are pronounced [tɕ], [tɕʰ], [dʑ], [ɲ]. |
|
| [m̥j] | hmr | |||
| [mw] | mrw | |||
| [m̥w] | hmrw | |||
wa hswe |
[mw] | mw | ||
| [m̥w] | hmw | |||
ha hto |
[m̥] | hm | Used only in (hng) [ŋ̊], (hny) [ɲ̥], (hn) [n̥], (hm) [m̥], (hl) [ɬ], (hw) [ʍ]. (hy) and (hr) are pronounced [ʃ]. |
Syllable rhymes
Syllable rhymes (i.e. vowelVowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
s and any consonants that may follow them within the same syllable) are indicated in Burmese by a combination of diacritic marks and consonant letters marked with the virama
Virama
Virama is a generic term for the diacritic in many Brahmic scripts, including Devanagari and East Nagari, that is used to suppress the inherent vowel that otherwise occurs with every consonant letter. The name is Sanskrit for "cessation, termination, end"...
character which suppresses the inherent vowel
Inherent vowel
An inherent vowel is part of an abugida script. It is the vowel sound which is used with each unmarked or basic consonant symbol....
of the consonant letter. This mark is called Asat in Burmese , which means nonexistence (see Sat (Sanskrit)).
| Symbol | IPA | MLCTS | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| [ka̰], [kə] | ka. | [a̰] is the inherent vowel Inherent vowel An inherent vowel is part of an abugida script. It is the vowel sound which is used with each unmarked or basic consonant symbol.... , and is not indicated by any diacritic. In theory, virtually any written syllable that is not the final syllable of a word can be pronounced with the vowel [ə] (with no tone and no syllable-final [-ʔ] or [-ɴ]) as its rhyme. In practice, the bare consonant letter alone is the most common way of spelling syllables whose rhyme is [ə]. |
|
| [kà] | ka | Takes the alternative form (called ) with certain consonants, e.g. (called ) ga [ɡà].The consonant letters that take the long form are , , , , , and . | |
| [ká] | ka: | Takes the alternative form with certain consonants, e.g. (called ) ga: [ɡá]. | |
| [kɛʔ] | kak | ||
| [kɪ̀ɴ] | kang | ||
| [kɪ̰ɴ] | kang. | ||
| [kɪ́ɴ] | kang: | ||
| [kɪʔ] | kac | ||
| [kì], [kè], [kɛ̀] | kany | ||
| [kɪ̀ɴ] | |||
| [kḭ], [kḛ], [kɛ̰] | kany. | ||
| [kɪ̰ɴ] | |||
| [kí], [ké], [kɛ́] | kany: | ||
| [kɪ́ɴ] | |||
| [kaʔ] | kat | ||
| [kàɴ] | kan | ||
| [ka̰ɴ] | kan. | ||
| [káɴ] | kan: | ||
| [kaʔ] | kap | ||
| [kàɴ] | kam | ||
| [ka̰ɴ] | kam. | ||
| [káɴ] | kam: | ||
| [kɛ̀] | kai | ||
| [kàɴ] | kam | ||
| [ka̰ɴ] | kam. | ||
| [káɴ] | kam: | ||
| [kḭ] | ki. | As an open vowel, [ʔḭ] is represented by . | |
| [keiʔ] | kit | ||
| [kèiɴ] | kin | ||
| [kḛiɴ] | kin. | ||
| [kéiɴ] | kin: | ||
| [keiʔ] | kip | ||
| [kèiɴ] | kim | ||
| [kḛiɴ] | kim. | ||
| [kéiɴ] | kim: | ||
| [kèiɴ] | kim | ||
| [kḛiɴ] | kim. | ||
| [kéiɴ] | kim: | ||
| [kì] | ki | As an open vowel, [ʔì] is represented by . | |
| [kí] | ki: | ||
| [kṵ] | ku. | As an open vowel, [ʔṵ] is represented by . | |
| [kouʔ] | kut | ||
| [kòuɴ] | kun | ||
| [ko̰uɴ] | kun. | ||
| [kóuɴ] | kun: | ||
| [kouʔ] | kup | ||
| [kòuɴ] | kum | ||
| [ko̰uɴ] | kum. | ||
| [kóuɴ] | kum: | ||
| [kòuɴ] | kum | ||
| [ko̰ɴ] | kum. | ||
| [kóuɴ] | kum: | ||
| [kù] | ku | As an open vowel, [ʔù] is represented by . | |
| [kú] | ku: | As an open vowel, [ʔú] is represented by . | |
| [kè] | ke | As an open vowel, [ʔè] is represented by . | |
| [kḛ] | ke. | ||
| [ké] | ke: | As an open vowel, [ʔé] is represented by . | |
| [kɛ́] | kai: | ||
| [kɛ̰] | kai. | ||
| [kɔ́] | kau: | Takes an alternative long form with certain consonants, e.g. (called ) gau: [ɡɔ́]. As an open vowel, [ʔɔ́] is represented by . | |
| [kauʔ] | kauk | Takes an alternative long form with certain consonants, e.g. (called ) gauk [ɡauʔ]. | |
| [kàuɴ] | kaung | Takes an alternative long form with certain consonants, e.g. (called ) gaung [ɡàuɴ]. | |
| [ka̰uɴ] | kaung. | Takes an alternative long form with certain consonants, e.g. (called ) gaung. [ɡa̰uɴ]. | |
| [káuɴ] | kaung: | Takes an alternative long form with certain consonants, e.g. (called ) gaung: [ɡáuɴ]. | |
| [kɔ̰] | kau. | Takes an alternative long form with certain consonants, e.g. (called ) gau. [ɡɔ̰]. | |
| [kɔ̀] | kau | Takes an alternative long form with certain consonants, e.g. (called ) gau [ɡɔ̀]. As an open vowel, [ʔɔ̀] is represented by . | |
| [kò] | kui | ||
| [kaiʔ] | kuik | ||
| [kàiɴ] | kuing | ||
| [ka̰iɴ] | kuing. | ||
| [káiɴ] | kuing: | ||
| [ko̰] | kui. | ||
| [kó] | kui: | ||
| [kʊʔ] | kwat | ||
| [kʊ̀ɴ] | kwan | ||
| [kʊ̰ɴ] | kwan. | ||
| [kʊ́ɴ] | kwan: | ||
| [kʊʔ] | kwap | ||
| [kʊ̀ɴ] | kwam | ||
| [kʊ̰ɴ] | kwam. | ||
| [kʊ́ɴ] | kwam: |
Diacritics and symbols
| Symbol | Burmese name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| , | Virama Virama Virama is a generic term for the diacritic in many Brahmic scripts, including Devanagari and East Nagari, that is used to suppress the inherent vowel that otherwise occurs with every consonant letter. The name is Sanskrit for "cessation, termination, end"... ; Combined to form , which changes inherent vowel to /ɔ̰ ɔ̀ ɔ́/ respectively Creates a consonant final when used with |
|
| Superscripted miniature version of ; phonetic equivalent of nasalized ([ìɴ]) final. Found mainly in Pali and Sanskrit loans (e.g. "Tuesday," spelt and not ) |
||
| Anusvara Anusvara Anusvara is the diacritic used to mark a type of nasalization used in a number of Indic languages. Depending on the location of the anusvara in the word and the language within which it is used, its exact pronunciation can vary greatly.... , creates creaky tone, but only used with a consonant final (open vowels have an inherent creaky tone) |
||
| , , | Creates low tone; called if used with Combined to form , which changes inherent vowel to /ɔ̰ ɔ̀ ɔ́/ respectively |
|
| , , | Visarga Visarga Visarga is a Sanskrit word meaning "sending forth, discharge". In Sanskrit phonology , is the name of a phone, , written as IAST , Harvard-Kyoto , Devanagari . Visarga is an allophone of and in pausa... ; creates high tone, but cannot be used alone |
|
| Changes inherent vowel to /e/ Combined to form , which changes inherent vowel to /ɔ̰ ɔ̀ ɔ́/ respectively |
||
| Changes inherent vowel to /ɛ/ and creates high tone | ||
| Changes inherent vowel to /u/ and creates creaky tone Combined to form , which changes inherent vowel to /o/ |
||
| Changes inherent vowel to /u/ | ||
| Changes inherent vowel to /i/ and creates creaky tone Combined to form , which changes inherent vowel to /o/ |
||
| Changes inherent vowel to /i/ | ||
| Changes inherent vowel to /ɛ/ and adds /-w-/ medial | ||
| Anunaasika, creates nasalised /-n/ final Combined to form , which changes rhyme to /o̰uɴ òuɴ óuɴ/ |
||
| used exclusively for Pali and Sanskrit | ||
| used exclusively for Pali and Sanskrit | ||
| "tall a", used to denote "" in some letters to avoid confusion with . | ||
| used to denote "" in some letters to avoid confusion for . |
One or more of these accents can be added to a consonant to change its sound. In addition, other modifying symbols are used to differentiate tone and sound, but are not considered diacritics.
History
La hswe used in old Burmese from the Bagan to Innwa periods (12th century - 16th century), and could be combined with other diacritics (ya pin, ha hto and wa hswe) to form . Similarly, until the Innwa period, ya pin was also combined with ya yit. From the early Bagan period to the 19th century, was used instead of for the rhyme /ɔ̀/. Early Burmese writing also used , not the high tone marker , which came into being in the 16th century. Moreover, , which disappeared by the 16th century, was subscripted to represent creaky tone (now indicated with ). During the early Bagan period, the rhyme /ɛ́/ (now represented with the diacritic ) was represented with ). The diacritic combination disappeared in the mid 1750s (typically designated as Middle Burmese), having been replaced with the combination, introduced in 1638. The standard tone markings found in modern Burmese can be traced to the 19th century.Stacked consonants
Specific consonants (a final and the following consonant), when placed next to one another, may be stacked, provided that they are of the same consonant group (a row of 5 letters in the traditional arrangement of the Burmese alphabet, called in Burmese), with the final placed underneath the consonant, instead of the use of a virama . They are considered ligatureLigature (typography)
In writing and typography, a ligature occurs where two or more graphemes are joined as a single glyph. Ligatures usually replace consecutive characters sharing common components and are part of a more general class of glyphs called "contextual forms", where the specific shape of a letter depends on...
s or stacked consonants, but are not found in native Burmese words, except for the purpose of abbreviation. For example, the Burmese word for "daughter" is sometimes abbreviated as , even though the stacked consonants don't belong to the same group. Similarly, "tea" is commonly abbreviated .
Instead, stacked consonants are primarily confined to polysyllabic borrowings from languages like Pali, Sanskrit and occasionally English. For instance, the Burmese word for "paper" (a Pali loan word), is spelt , not , although both have equivalent pronunciations.
| Group | Possible combinations | Transcriptions | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ka. | , , , , | kk, khk, gg, ggh, and ng g respectively | dukkha (), meaning "suffering" |
| Ca. | , , , , , , , | cc, chc, jj, jjh, nyc, nych, nyj | wijja , meaning "knowledge" |
| Ta. | , , , , , | tt, tht, dd, ddh, nd | kanta , meaning "section" |
| Ta. | , , , , , , , , | tt, tht, dd, nt, nht, nd, ndh, nn | manta. le: , Mandalay Mandalay Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of one million, and is the capital of Mandalay Region .... , a city in Burma |
| Pa. | , , , , , , , , | pp, php, bb, bbh, mp, mb, mbh, mm | kambha , meaning "world" |
| - | , , | ss, ll, ll | pissa , meaning viss, a traditional Burmese unit of weight measurement |
Digits
A decimalDecimal
The decimal numeral system has ten as its base. It is the numerical base most widely used by modern civilizations....
numbering system is used, and numbers are written in the same order as Hindu-Arabic numeral
Hindu-Arabic numeral system
The Hindu–Arabic numeral system or Hindu numeral system is a positional decimal numeral system developed between the 1st and 5th centuries by Indian mathematicians, adopted by Persian and Arab mathematicians , and spread to the western world...
s.
The numerals from zero to nine are: (Unicode
Unicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
1040 to 1049). The number 1945 would be written as . Separators, such as commas, are not used to group numbers.
Another set of digits from zero to nine, , is used in the Shan language. However, the most languages that use the modified Burmese script, including Sgaw Karen, Pwo Karen and Mon all use the same digits as the Burmese language.
Punctuation
There are two primary break characters in Burmese, drawn as one or two downward strokes: (called , , , or ) and (called , , or ), which respectively act as a commaComma
A comma is a type of punctuation mark . The word comes from the Greek komma , which means something cut off or a short clause.Comma may also refer to:* Comma , a type of interval in music theory...
and a full stop
Full stop
A full stop is the punctuation mark commonly placed at the end of sentences. In American English, the term used for this punctuation is period. In the 21st century, it is often also called a dot by young people...
. Other abbreviations used in literary Burmese are: -- used as a full stop if the sentence immediately ends with a verb. -- used as a sentence connector to connect two trains of thought. -- locative ('at'). --
Unicode
Burmese script was added to the UnicodeUnicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
Standard in September, 1999 with the release of version 3.0. It was extended in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2.
Blocks
The Unicode blocks for Burmese, called Myanmar, are U+1000–U+109F and U+AA60–U+AA7B. Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points:Languages
For writing the basic Burmese language, only U+1000–U+104F is needed:- the basic abugida for Burmese and other languages of Myanmar:
- U+1000–U+1020: the 33 base consonants.
- U+1021–U+102A: the 10 independent vowels (including 1 variant needed for Shan and 1 variant needed for Mon).
- U+102B–U+1035: the 11 dependent vowels (diacriticDiacriticA diacritic is a glyph added to a letter, or basic glyph. The term derives from the Greek διακριτικός . Diacritic is both an adjective and a noun, whereas diacritical is only an adjective. Some diacritical marks, such as the acute and grave are often called accents...
s combining on the right, above, below, or left of the base consonant). - U+1036–U+103A: the 5 diacritic signs (anusvara, tone mark, visarga, virama, visible virama).
- U+103B–U+103E: the 4 medial consonant signs (diacritics combining on the right, around, or below).
- U+103F: the Myanmar letter "Great Sa" (ss).
- U+1040–U+1049: the 10 digits.
- U+104A–U+104B: the 2 punctuation signs (section signs).
- U+104C–U+104F: the 4 symbols (locative, completed, aforementioned, genitive).
The rest of the chart contains extensions for other languages:
|
|
Websites using Unicode
Until 2005, most Burmese languageBurmese language
The Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Although the constitution officially recognizes it as the Myanmar language, most English speakers continue to refer to the language as Burmese. Burmese is the native language of the Bamar and related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar, as well as...
websites used an image-based dynamically generated method to display Burmese characters
Character (computing)
In computer and machine-based telecommunications terminology, a character is a unit of information that roughly corresponds to a grapheme, grapheme-like unit, or symbol, such as in an alphabet or syllabary in the written form of a natural language....
, often in GIF
GIF
The Graphics Interchange Format is a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability....
or JPEG
JPEG
In computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
. At the end of 2005, the Burmese NLP Research Lab announced a Myanmar OpenType
OpenType
OpenType is a format for scalable computer fonts. It was built on its predecessor TrueType, retaining TrueType's basic structure and adding many intricate data structures for prescribing typographic behavior...
font named Myanmar1. This font
Font
In typography, a font is traditionally defined as a quantity of sorts composing a complete character set of a single size and style of a particular typeface...
contains not only Unicode
Unicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
code points and glyphs but also the OpenType Layout (OTL) logic and rules. Their research center is based in Myanmar ICT Park, Yangon
Yangon
Yangon is a former capital of Burma and the capital of Yangon Region . Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of over four million, continues to be the country's largest city and the most important commercial...
. Padauk, which was produced by SIL International
SIL International
SIL International is a U.S.-based, worldwide, Christian non-profit organization, whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, in order to expand linguistic knowledge, promote literacy, translate the Christian Bible into local languages,...
, is Unicode compliant. Initially, it required a Graphite
Graphite (SIL)
Graphite is a programmable Unicode-compliant smart-font technology and rendering system developed by SIL International. It is free software, distributed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License and the Common Public License....
engine, though now OpenType tables for Windows are in the current version of this font. Since the release of the Unicode 5.1 Standard on 4 April 2008, three Unicode 5.1 compliant fonts have been available under public license, including Myanmar3, Padauk and Parabaik.
Many Burmese font makers have created Burmese fonts including Win Innwa, CE Font, Myazedi, Zawgyi, Ponnya, Mandalay. It is important to note that these Burmese fonts are not Unicode compliant, because they use unallocated code points (including those for the Latin script) in the Burmese block to manually deal with shaping that would normally be done by the Uniscribe engine
Uniscribe
Uniscribe is the Microsoft Windows set of services for rendering Unicode-encoded text, especially complex text layout. They are implemented in the DLL USP10.DLL. USP10.dll became available to the public with Windows 2000 and Internet Explorer 5.0...
and they are not yet supported by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
and other major software vendors. However, there are few Burmese language websites that have switched to Unicode rendering, with many websites continuing to use a pseudo-Unicode font called Zawgyi (which uses codepoints allocated for minority languages and does not intelligently render diacritics, such as the size of ya-yit) or the GIF/JPG display method.
External links
- Burmese/Myanmar script and pronunciation at Omniglot
- Myanmar Unicode Character Picker
- Myanmar Unicode Implementation Public Awareness
- Myanmar3 keyboard layout
- myWin2.2
- ALA-LC romanization system for Burmese
- BGN/PCGN romanization system for Burmese
- Myanmar Language SIG
Fonts supporting Burmese characters
- Burmese Wikipedia:Font page
- Burmese Unicode & NLP Research Centre
- Parabaik Myanmar Unicode Project GPLed and OFLed