Consonants
|
IPA |
Shan
|
Burmese
|
New Tai Lue |
English approximation
|
b
|
ၿ [1]
|
ဘ
|
ᦢ,ᦥ |
abash
|
d
|
ၻ,ꩨ [1]
|
ဒ
|
ᦡ,ᦤ |
ado
|
f
|
ၾ
|
ဖှ
|
ᦚ,ᦝ |
food
|
ɡ
|
ၷ [1]
|
ဂ
|
— |
good
|
h
|
ႁ
|
ဟ
|
ᦠ,ᦣ |
head
|
j
|
ယ
|
ယ
|
ᦊ,ᦍ |
yak
|
k
|
ၵ
|
က
|
ᦂ,ᦅ |
scan
|
kʰ[2]
|
ၶ
|
ခ
|
ᦃ,ᦆ |
can
|
l
|
လ,ꩮ
|
လ
|
ᦜ,ᦟ |
live
|
m
|
မ
|
မ
|
ᦖ,ᦙ |
much
|
n
|
ၼ
|
န
|
ᦐ,ᦓ |
not
|
ŋ
|
င
|
င
|
ᦄ,ᦇ |
bang
|
ɲ
|
ၺ[1]
|
ည
|
— |
canyon
|
p
|
ပ
|
ပ
|
ᦔ,ᦗ |
span
|
pʰ
|
ၽ
|
ဖ
|
ᦕ,ᦘ |
pan
|
r
|
ရ,꩹ [1]
|
ရ
|
ᦣ [1] |
roughly like water (American English)
|
s
|
ၸ [3]
|
စ
|
ᦉ,ᦌ |
sue
|
sʰ
|
သ
|
ဆ
|
— |
grasshopper
|
ʃ
|
သျ
|
ရှ
|
— |
shoe
|
t
|
တ,ꩦ
|
တ
|
ᦎ,ᦑ |
stable
|
tʰ
|
ထ,ꩧ,ꩪ,ꩩ
|
ထ
|
ᦏ,ᦒ |
table
|
ts
|
ၸ [3]
|
စ/ကျ
|
ᦈ,ᦋ |
Betsy
|
tsʰ
|
ၶျ
|
ချ
|
— |
chang
|
θ
|
ႀ [4]
|
သ
|
— |
thing
|
v[5]
|
—
|
ဝ
|
ᦛ,ᦞ |
village
|
w[5]
|
ဝ
|
ဝ
|
ᦛ,ᦞ |
way
|
x[2]
|
—
|
ခ
|
ᦃ,ᦆ |
loch in Scottish English
|
z
|
ၹ [4]
|
ဇ
|
— |
zebra
|
ʔ
|
ဢ
|
အ/ ဩ
|
ᦀ,ᦁ |
the catch in uh-oh
|
|
Tone
|
IPA |
Description
|
a or ā
|
mid [aː˧]
|
à
|
low [a˨˩] or [a˩]
|
â
|
falling [a˥˩] (Tai Lü only)
|
a̰
|
creaky falling [a̰˥˩] (Shan only)
|
á
|
high [a˥]
|
ǎ
|
rising [a˨˦] (Shan only)
|
a᷄
|
high rising [a˧˥] (Tai Lü only)
|
a᷅
|
low rising [a˩˧] (Tai Lü only)
|
|
Vowels
|
IPA |
Shan
|
Burmese
|
New Tai Lü |
English approximation
|
Short vowels
|
a
|
unmarked
|
အး
|
ᦰ |
cut
|
e
|
ေ,ဵ
|
ေ
|
ᦵ |
roughly like say
|
ɛ
|
ႄ, ႅ
|
ဲ
|
ᦶ |
roughly like bat
|
i
|
ီ
|
ီ
|
ᦲ |
happy
|
o
|
ူဝ်
|
ို
|
ᦷ |
go without u sound (shorter)
|
ɔ
|
ေႃ, ွ
|
ော
|
ᦸ |
off
|
u
|
ု, ူ
|
ူ
|
ᦳ |
loot (shorter)
|
ɯ or ɨ
|
ိုဝ်
|
ု
|
ᦹ |
good
|
ɤ or ə
|
ိူဝ်
|
ော်/ယ်
|
ᦵᦲ |
roughly like hurt (shorter)
|
Long vowels
|
aː
|
ၢ, ႃ
|
ာ, ါ
|
ᦱ |
bra
|
|