Update: 2004-04-02 07:14 PM -0500

TIL

Pronouncing the letters

ENGLISH PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY

Daniel Jones. Edited by Peter Roach, James Hartman and Jane Setter. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Scanned by Maung Kan Tun and edited by U Kyaw Tun, M.S. (I.P.S.T., U.S.A.). Not for sale. Prepared for students of TIL Computing and Language Center, Yangon, MYANMAR .
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pronounce_b-c-d
B
C | CC | CCH | CH | CK | CQU
D
Phonetics [b] | [c]
Myanmar {ba.} | {cha.} | {da.}

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letter B

p45. The consonant [b] is most often realised as /b/, e.g.:

UKT: <boy> and <buoy> have the same pronunciation /bɔɪ/. See Pronouncing OI/OY

In addition

[b] can be silent, or have a zero realization. There are two combinations in which this can occur: [bt] and [mb].

[bt] is either word medial or word final, e.g.:

UKT: The word <subtle> has an "l" with a diacritical mark to show that it is a syllabic consonant -- See l cedilla.

Words containing [mb] in which [b] is silent have the [mb] in word final position, except where an inflection is added, e.g.:

However, the appearance of [bt] and [mb] does not necessarily indicate a silent [b]. In case of [mb], the [b] is pronounced if it occurs inside a morpheme or unit of meaning. Compare:

For [bt], the [b] is not silent, if part of a prefix. Compare:

UKT: The word <subtle> has an "l" with a diacritical mark to show that it is a syllabic consonant -- See l cedilla.

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Phonetics [ b ]

by UKT

[p] and [b] are both bilabial stops. [p] is voiceless (without vibration of vocal cords) and [b] is voiced (with vibration of vocal cords). They are always considered together in phonetics. The lips are pressed tightly together. There exists corresponding lax articulations for both: [ ɸ ] and [ β ] -- spirants. According to UNIL "The IPA uses the same symbol [ ɸ ] for the spirant and the fricative. If there is a great deal of muscular tension, the sound is a fricative; if not, the result is a spirant."

The corresponding bilabial nasal [ m ] is usually voiced as well. This is the reason why Myanmar abugida places {pa.}, {ba.} and {ma.} in row 5:

{pa.} {hpa.} {ba.} {Ba} {ma.}

Myanmar {ba.}

letter C

p77. The consonant letter [c] has four pronunciations: /s, k, ʃ/ and /ʧ/.

UKT: Some American authors use /č/  in place of /ʧ/.

Before the vowel letters [i], [e] or [y] (when functioning as vowel letter), it is pronounced as /s/, e.g.:

UKT: The word <cycle> has an "l" with a diacritical mark to show that it is a syllabic consonant -- See l cedilla.

In suffixes -cial, -cious, -ciate, -cient and their derivatives, [c] is realised as /ʃ/ , e.g.:

In most other situations, [c] is pronounced as /k/ , e.g.:

In addition

[c] can be silent. There are two occasions when this can occur: the combination [ct] in some words, and in British place names such as Leicester, e.g.:

An exceptional pronunciation for [c] is /ʧ/ in some words borrowed from Italian, e.g. :

A final exception:

by UKT

[ c ] is not present in English phonetics (See English consonants). However [c] is present in some other languages. The following is part of the IPA table of Consonants (Pulmonic) (IPA (revised to 1993, corrected 1996). See table given by IPA.). Of course, the rows with Myanmar characters are my additions. I am giving this table to show what [ c ] sounds like.

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Plosive	p b		t d			ʈ ɖ	c ɟ	k g	q ɢ		ʔ
Nasal	m	ɱ	n			ɳ	ɲ	ŋ	ɴ
Plosive
Nasal

If you are a Myanmar you will notice that: • {pa.} {ba.} pair is produced in the very front part of the mouth ("bilabial" refers to both lips or labia). • {ta.} {da.} pair is produced just behind the upper front teeth with the tip of tongue touching the alveolar ridge (the bony part with alveoli or teeth sockets). • {ka.}  {ga.} pair is produced still towards the interior (soft palate or velum). The left member of each pair is voiceless and the right member is voiced (i.e. with vibration of vocal cords.). You might feel that the voiceless member is produced a little bit in front of the place where the voiced member is produced. Notice that palatal sound is produced in the palate (hard palate) region, velar sound in the soft palate region, and uvular sound in the uvular region.

[ c ] (U0063) is voiceless palatal plosive (or stop) and it is produced with the tongue tip is directed down towards the lower teeth, while the tongue body makes contact with the hard palate. Fig.3.4. (It is important to distinguish between the true palatal articulation and that of a dental + [ j ].) (UNIL)
[ ɟ ] (U025F) is voiced palatal plosive (or stop) and is the same as [ c ], but with vibration of the vocal cords. The corresponding palatal nasal [ ɲ ] (U0272) is usually voiced as well. (UNIL)

Myanmars can now imagine that [ c ] would be very close to {ka.}. I will be using the same argument to show that [ q ] is also very near {ka.}. In fact the holy book of Muslims, the Koran is now spelled with a [ q ] instead of [ k ] -- Qu'ran.

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letters CC

p88. The consonant diagraph [cc] has two pronunciations: /ks/ and /k/ .

In most other situations, [cc] is pronounced as /k/ , e.g.:

In addition

The word <flaccid> has two possible pronunciations,

Words borrowed from Italian may have /ʧ/ , e.g.:

letters CCH

p88. The consonant letter combination [cch] only has one possible realisation: /k/ , e.g.:

letters CH

p91. The consonant digraph [ch] has three main pronunciations: /ʧ , k/ and /ʃ/. Before the letter [r], [ch] is always realised as /k/, e.g.:

However, there is no reliable way of predicting whether [ch] will be pronounced as  /ʧ , k/ or /ʃ/ in most other situations by looking at the spelling alone, e.g.:

In general, /k/ words are those originating from Greek (e.g. <chaos>, <chorus>. Words containing /ʃ/ are usually late borrowing from French (e.g. <champagne>, <chauffeur>).

The remainder, pronounced /ʧ/, are more long-established, often being common everyday words (e.g. <lunch>, <chew>).

In addition

Occasionally, [ch] is pronounced /ʤ/ , as in the British place name <Greenwich>.

Words from Scots ending [ch] may be pronounced /χ/ (Greek Small Letter Chi, U03C7), but can also have the realisation /k/, e.g.:

UKT: Choice of Chi U03C7 is my guess based on the shape of the character given in the original panel in the printed book.

In the case of <yacht> [ch] is silent:

Before we deal with Myanmar {cha.}, we shall give parts of the Myanmar traditional table of abugida, in which the characters have been arranged on phonological principles.

		column 1	column 2	column 3	column 4	column 5
	row 1	{ka.}	{hka.}	{ga.}	{Ga.}	{nga.}
	row 2	{sa.}	{hsa.}	{za.}	{Za.}	{ña.}
	row 6	{ya.}	{ra.}	{la.}	{wa.}	{tha.}

• {cha.} is not a primary consonant. It is derived from {hka.} combining with {ya.}. For combination (or conjunct formation) {ya.} is transformed into {ya.pin.} and the final conjunct is {cha.}
• The Myanmar r2c1 character is {sa.} and the corresponding Devanagari character is च [ca]. Myanma-Pali {sanda} and English-Pali [canda] both mean <the moon>. In Sanskrit, the pronunciation is [chandra].
• The Myanmar r6c5 character {tha.} which is very similar to English [th] ( /θ/ in <thin> and /ð/ in <that>) is absent in English-Pali and its place is taken up by [s]. This results in the wrong transcription (pronunciation) of Myanmar and Myanmar-Pali {tha.} as [sa].

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letters CK

p99. The consonant digraph [ck] only has one possible realisation in English words; /k/, e.g.:

letters CQU

p126. The letter combination [cqu] has two possible pronunciations: /kw/ and /k/. Generally speaking, /kw/ is used where the combination begins a stressed syllable, e.g.:

The realisation /k/ tends to appear before unstressed syllables, e.g.: