MLC Transcription System

Features

• Coalesced letters transcribe stacked consonants.
• Consonantal transcriptions (for initials) are similar to those of Pali.
• Finals are transcribed as consonants (Mymr, Mymr, Mymr, Mymr) rather than glottal stops
• Nasalized finals are transcribed as consonants (Mymr, Mymr, Mymr, Mymr) rather than as a single Mymr final.
• The anunasika (ံ) and Mymr final (မ်) are not differentiated.
• The colon (:) and the period (.) transcribe two tones: heavy and creaky respectively.
• Special transcriptions are used for abbreviated syllables used in literary Burmese.

Transcription system

Initials and finals

The following initials are listed in the traditional ordering of the Burmese script, with the transcriptions of the initials listed before their IPA equivalents:

1Sometimes used as a final, but preceding diacritics determine its pronunciation.

The Burmese alphabet is arranged in groups of five, and within each group, consonants can stack one another. The consonant above the stacked consonant is the final of the previous vowel. Most words of Sino-Tibetan origin are spelt without stacking, but polysyllabic words of Indo-European origin (such as Pali, Sanskrit, and English) are often spelt with stacking. Possible combinations are as follows:

1Mymr is uncommonly spelt Mymr (အင်္ဂလိတ်).

All consonantal finals are pronounced as glottal stops (), except for nasal finals. All possible combinations are as follows, and correspond to the colors of the initials above:

Nasalised finals are transcribed differently. Transcriptions of the following diacritical combinations in Burmese for nasalised finals are as follows:

Monophthongs are transcribed as follows:

Tones

1 Oral vowels are shown with -.

2 Nasal vowels are shown with -န် (Mymr).

Medial consonants

A medial is a semivowel that comes before the vowel. Combinations of medials (such as Mymr and Mymr) are possible. They follow the following order in transcription: Mymr, Mymr or Mymr, and Mymr. In Standard Burmese, there are three pronounced medials. The following are medials in the MLC Transcription System:

†The two medials are pronounced the same in Standard Burmese. In dialects such as Rakhine (Arakanese), the latter is pronounced .

‡When the medial ှ is spelt with Mymr (ရ), its sound becomes Mymr (ရှ), which was once represented by Mymr (သျှ).

Abbreviated syllables

Formal Burmese has four abbreviated symbols, which are typically used in literary works:

References

References

1. J. Okell A Guide to the Romanization of Burmese 2002- Page 7 "3. SURVEY OF THE THREE METHODS OF ROMANIZATION 3.l Transliteration The Burmese use for writing their language a script which is also used for Pali, and as there is a widely accepted romanization system for Pali this can be applied ..."