The Myanmar Language Commission Transcription System (1980), also known as the MLC Transcription System (MLCTS), is a transliteration system for rendering Burmese in the Latin alphabet. It is loosely based on the common system for romanization of Pali,[1] has some similarities to the ALA-LC romanization and was devised by the Myanmar Language Commission. The system is used in many linguistic publications regarding Burmese and is used in MLC publications as the primary form of romanization of Burmese.
The transcription system is based on the orthography of formal Burmese and is not suited for colloquial Burmese, which has substantial differences in phonology from formal Burmese. Differences are mentioned throughout the article.
The following initials are listed in the traditional ordering of the Burmese script, with the transcriptions of the initials listed before their IPA equivalents:
(pronounced as /[k]/) | (pronounced as /[kʰ]/) | (pronounced as /[ɡ]/) | (pronounced as /[ɡ]/) | (pronounced as /[ŋ]/) |
(pronounced as /[s]/) | (pronounced as /[sʰ]/) | (pronounced as /[z]/) | (pronounced as /[z]/) | (pronounced as /[ɲ]/) |
(pronounced as /[t]/) | (pronounced as /[tʰ]/) | (pronounced as /[d]/) | (pronounced as /[d]/) | (pronounced as /[n]/) |
(pronounced as /[t]/) | (pronounced as /[tʰ]/) | (pronounced as /[d]/) | (pronounced as /[d]/) | (pronounced as /[n]/) |
(pronounced as /[p]/) | (pronounced as /[pʰ]/) | (pronounced as /[b]/) | (pronounced as /[b]/) | (pronounced as /[m]/) |
(pronounced as /[j]/) | (pronounced as /[j] or [r]/) | 1 (pronounced as /[l]/) | (pronounced as /[w]/) | (pronounced as /[θ] or [ɾ̪]/) |
(pronounced as /[h]/) | (pronounced as /[l]/) | (pronounced as /[ə] or [a]/) | ||
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:
| Group | Burmese | Transcriptions | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| ,,,, | ,,,, and respectively | ()1, meaning "English" | |
| ,,,,,, | ,,,,, | , meaning "knowledge" | |
| ,,,, | ,,,, | , meaning "section" | |
| ,,,,,,, | ,,,,,,, | , Mandalay, a city in Myanmar | |
| ,,,,,,, | ,,,,,, | , meaning "world" | |
| , | , | , meaning viss, a traditional Burmese unit of weight measurement | |
All consonantal finals are pronounced as glottal stops (pronounced as /[ʔ]/), except for nasal finals. All possible combinations are as follows, and correspond to the colors of the initials above:
| Consonant | Transcription (with IPA) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| (pronounced as /[-eʔ]/), (pronounced as /[-weʔ]/), pronounced as /[-auʔ]/), pronounced as /[-aiʔ]/) | |||
| (pronounced as /[-iʔ]/) | |||
| ( pronounced as /[-aʔ]/), (pronounced as /[-waʔ]/ or pronounced as /[uʔ]/), (pronounced as /[-ouʔ]/), (pronounced as /[-eiʔ]/) | |||
| (pronounced as /[-aʔ]/ or pronounced as /[-ɛʔ]/), ( pronounced as /[-waʔ]/ or pronounced as /[-uʔ]/), pronounced as /[-ouʔ]/, (pronounced as /[-eiʔ]/) | |||
Nasalised finals are transcribed differently. Transcriptions of the following diacritical combinations in Burmese for nasalised finals are as follows:
| Consonant | Transcription (with IPA) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| (pronounced as /[-iɰ̃]/), (pronounced as /[-wiɰ̃]/), (pronounced as /[-auɰ̃]/), (pronounced as /[-aiɰ̃]/) | |||
| (pronounced as /[-e]/ or pronounced as /[-ei]/), (pronounced as /-iɰ̃]/) | |||
| (pronounced as /[-aɰ̃]/), ( pronounced as /[-waɰ̃]/ or pronounced as /[-uɰ̃]/), (pronounced as /[-ouɰ̃]/), (pronounced as /[-eiɰ̃]/) | |||
| ( pronounced as /[-aɰ̃]/), (pronounced as /[-waɰ̃]/ or pronounced as /[-uɰ̃]/), (pronounced as /[-ouɰ̃]/), (pronounced as /[-eiɰ̃]/) | |||
| (pronounced as /[-aɰ̃]/), (pronounced as /[-ouɰ̃]/) (equivalent to, but spelt with an anunaasika) | |||
Monophthongs are transcribed as follows:
| Burmese | Transcription | IPA | Remarks | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | High | Creaky | Low | High | Creaky | Low | High | Creaky | |
| pronounced as /[à]/ | pronounced as /[á]/ | pronounced as /[a̰]/ | Can be combined with medial . | ||||||
| | pronounced as /[ɛ̀]/ | pronounced as /[ɛ́]/ | pronounced as /[ɛ̰]/ | ||||||
| | pronounced as /[ɔ̀]/ | pronounced as /[ɔ́]/ | pronounced as /[ɔ̰]/ | As a full vowel in the high tone, it is written and transcribed . As a full vowel in the low tone, it is written and is transcribed . | |||||
| pronounced as /[ù]/ | pronounced as /[ú]/ | pronounced as /[ṵ]/ | As a full vowel in the creaky tone, it is written and is transcribed . As a vowel in low tone, it is written and transcribed . | ||||||
| pronounced as /[ò]/ | pronounced as /[ó]/ | pronounced as /[o̰]/ | |||||||
| pronounced as /[ì]/ | pronounced as /[í]/ | pronounced as /[ḭ]/ | As a full vowel in the creaky tone, it is written and is transcribed . As a full vowel in the high tone, it is written and transcribed . | ||||||
| pronounced as /[è]/ | pronounced as /[é]/ | pronounced as /[ḛ]/ | As a full vowel in the high tone, it is written and is transcribed . It can be combined with medial . | ||||||
| Tone name | Burmese | Transcribed tone mark | Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral vowels1 | IPA | Nasal vowels2 | IPA | ||||
| Low | pronounced as /à/ | pronounced as /àɰ̃/ | none | ||||
| High | pronounced as /á/ | pronounced as /áɰ̃/ | Colon | In both cases, the colon-like symbol is used to denote the high tone. | |||
| Creaky | pronounced as /a̰/ | pronounced as /a̰ɰ̃/ | Full stop | Nasalised finals use the anusvara to denote the creaky tone in Burmese. | |||
2 Nasal vowels are shown with .
A medial is a semivowel that comes before the vowel. Combinations of medials (such as and) are possible. They follow the following order in transcription:, or, and . In Standard Burmese, there are three pronounced medials. The following are medials in the MLC Transcription System:
| Burmese | Transcription | Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /[j]/ | † | Its possible combinations are with consonants,,,,,,,, and . The medial is possible with other finals and vowels. | ||
| pronounced as /[j]/ | † | The aforementioned remarks apply to this medial as well. | ||
| pronounced as /[w]/ | Its possible combinations are with consonants,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and . The medial is possible with other finals and vowels, using the already mentioned consonants. | |||
| 1 | Its possible combinations are with consonants,,),, ‡, ‡, and . |
‡When the medial is spelt with, its sound becomes pronounced as /[ʃa̰]/, which was once represented by .
Formal Burmese has four abbreviated symbols, which are typically used in literary works:
| Burmese | IPA | Transcription | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modern abbreviation | Historic spelling | |||
| pronounced as /[jwḛ]/ | It is a conjunction joining two predicates. | |||
| pronounced as /[n̥aɪʔ]/ | It is a locative particle that acts as a postposition after nouns (at, in, on). It is equivalent to in colloquial Burmese. | |||
| , | pronounced as /[ləɡáʊɰ̃]/ | It acts as a demonstrative noun (this or that) when it precedes a noun. It is also used as a connecting phrase (as well as) between two nouns within a clause. | ||
| | pronounced as /[ḭ]/ | It is a genitive particle that marks possession of a preceding noun. It follows the possessor and precedes the possessed noun. It is also used as a sentence-final particle at the end of an affirmative sentence, typically in literary or written Burmese. | ||