Tones
Burmese tones are largely a matter of relative
stress between adjoining syllables. They exist in English too – think about the
different stresses, and hence meaning, between ‘He’s thought less’ and ‘He’s
thoughtless’.
There are three tones, plus two other possibilities,
for any syllable. Every syllable has one of these five alternatives.
Three Tones
1) Creaky High Tone
This is made with the voice tense, producing a
high-pitched and relatively short creaky sound, such as occurs with the English
words ‘heart’ and ‘squeak’. It is indicated by an acute accent above the vowel,
for example, ká, က ‘dance’.
For example: dance က ká
2) Plain High Tone
The pitch of the
voice starts quite high, then falls for a fairly long time, similar to the
pronunciation words like ‘squeal’, ‘car’ and ‘way’. It is indicated by a grave
accent above the vowel, for example kà which, conveniently, is also the Burmese
word for ‘car’.
For example: car ကား kà
3) Low Tone
The voice is relaxed,
stays at a low pitch for a fairly long time, and does not rise or fall in
pitch. It is indicated by no accent above the vowels, for example ka, ‘shield’.
For example: shield ကာ ka
Two other possibilities
1. Stopped Syllable
This is a very short
syllable, on a high pitch, cut off at the end by a sharp catch in the voice (a
glottal stop); this is like the sound in the middle of the exclamation used in
a dangerous situation, ‘uh-oh’, or the Cockney pronunciation of ‘t’ in a word
like ‘bottle’. If you have trouble with this sound, try replacing it with a ‘t’;
but keep the syllable short. It is indicated in this book by a ‘q’ after vowel,
for example kaq, ‘join’. However the ‘q’ is not pronounced.
For example: join ကပ် kaq
2. Reduced (Weak)
Syllable
This is a shortened
syllable, usually the first syllable of a two-syllable word, which is said
without stress, like the first syllable of ‘again’ in English. Only the vowel ‘a’,
sometimes preceded by a consonant, occurs in a reduced syllable; this is
indicated by ă above the vowel. For example ălouq, ‘work’. Any syllable but the last in a word
can be reduced.
For example: work အလုပ် ălouq
Extracted from Burmese Phrasebook published by Lonely Planet Publications in January 1997
