Burmese is a tonal language from Myanmar. It is most closely related to the Tibetan-like languages. The earliest evidence of the Burmese alphabet is from 1035, about 1000 years ago. Burmese adopted words primarily from Pali, the language of the Buddha, instead of Sanskrit. urmese calligraphy 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.
Here are the 25 fundamental consonants used when speaking Burmese.
For a complete list of possible consonants a human voice might make while speaking a natural language, check out the consonants page.
This language has aspirated consonants.
| bilabial | labiodental | dental | alveolar | postalveolar | retroflex | velar | uvular | pharyngeal | glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| quiet nasal | |||||||||||
| voiced nasal | |||||||||||
| voiced palatalized nasal | |||||||||||
| quiet plosive | |||||||||||
| quiet aspirated plosive | |||||||||||
| voiced plosive | |||||||||||
| quiet sibilant fricative | |||||||||||
| quiet aspirated sibilant fricative | |||||||||||
| voiced sibilant fricative | |||||||||||
| quiet non-sibilant fricative | |||||||||||
| voiced non-sibilant fricative | |||||||||||
| voiced lateral approximant |
These are the 11 base vowels used when speaking Burmese. Burmese is one of the languages which uses nasal vowels.
Also, a complete list of possible vowels a human voice might make while speaking can be found here.
| manner | front unrounded | front rounded | front central unrounded | front central rounded | central unrounded | central rounded | back central unrounded | back central rounded | back unrounded | back rounded | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| close | |||||||||||
| close nasal | |||||||||||
| close-mid | |||||||||||
| mid | |||||||||||
| open-mid | |||||||||||
| open | |||||||||||
| open nasal |