Update:
2004-04-02 08:59 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_f-g-h
F |
G |
GG |
GH |
GU |
H
Myanmar {ga.}
Index |
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p196. The consonant letter [f] is most often realised as /f/, and is given as a
double consonant ff at the ends of many words, e.g.:
However, in one of the most common words containing f it is pronounced /v/
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<of> |
/ɒv, əv/ |
(us) |
/ɑːv, əv/ |
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Index |
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p219. There are two main pronunciations for the consonant letter g: /ʤ/ and /g/, e.g.:
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<gem> |
/ʤem/ |
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<age> |
/eɪʤ/ |
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<geese> |
/giːs/ |
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<gig> |
/gɪg/ |
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A following vowel letter [e], [i] or [y] may lead to the
pronunciation /ʤ/. (See
UKT: Myanmar consonant {ga.}
corresponding to English [g].). However, as can be seen in the above examples, this is not
reliable as an indicator of which pronunciation to use. More reliably, before vowel letters [a], [o] or [u] the pronunciation is highly likely
to be /g/, although there are exceptions, e.g.:
UKT: <jail> has the same pronunciation.
In addition
g is often silent before a consonant letter m or n at the beginning and end of words, e.g.
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<gnat> |
/næt/ |
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<paradigm> |
/ˈpær.ə.daɪm/ |
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Index |
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p225. The main pronunciation for the consonant digraph gg is /g/, e.g.:
UKT: Compare the pronunciation of <rugged> with
• <mugged> /mʌgd/
• <hugged> /hʌgd/
In addition
gg may be pronounced as /ʤ/, e.g.:
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<exaggerate> |
/ɪgˈzæʤ.ər.eɪt/ |
us |
/-ə.reɪt/ |
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And in rare cases for American English as /gʤ/:
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<suggest> |
/səˈʤest/ |
us |
/səgˈʤest/ |
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Index |
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p225. The consonant digraph [gh]
can be pronounced as /g/, /f/ or may be silent.
In syllable-initial position (UKT:
see onset), [gh] is
always pronounced as /g/, e.g.:
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<ghost> |
/gəʊst/ |
us |
/goʊst/ |
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<aghast> |
/əˈgɑːst/ |
us |
/-ˈgæst/ |
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Following a vowel letter, the pronunciation may be silent. This is always the case
after i and ei, e.g.:
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<high> |
/haɪ/ |
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<height> |
/haɪt/ |
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<plough> |
/plaʊ/ |
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<caught> |
/kɔːt/ |
(us) |
/kɑːt/ |
Alternatively, the pronunciation may be /f/, e.g.:
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<rough> |
/rʌf/ |
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<laugh> |
/lɑːf/ |
(us) |
/læf/ |
In addition
A unique pronunciation of the consonant digraph [gh] is /p/, e.g.:
Index |
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p237. At the beginning of words, the consonant digraph [gu] is usually realised as /g/,
e.g.:
Word-finally, [gu] is usually followed by [e] in nouns and is pronounced /g/, e.g.:
[gu] may also be pronounced as /gw/,
e.g.:
Index |
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p240. There are two main pronunciations for the consonant letter
h: /h/ and silent.
h has a silent realisation at the end of a word, e.g.
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<oh> |
/əʊ/ |
us |
/oʊ/ |
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<loofah> |
/ˈluːfə/ |
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There is a group of words in which it is also silent initially: <heir>, <honour>
and <hour>, and their derivatives, and <herb> for American English.
UKT: the following table is my addition -- you are advised to check with the
original.
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<heir> |
/eəʳ/ |
us |
/er/ |
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<honour> |
/ˈɒn.əʳ/ |
us |
/ˈɑː.nɚ/ |
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<hour> |
/aʊəʳ/ |
us |
/aʊr , aʊɚ/ |
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UKT: Compare the pronunciations of <heir> and <our> with
• <air> /eəʳ/ (us) /er/
• <our> /aʊəʳ , ɑːʳ/ (us) /aʊr , aʊɚ , ɑːr/
Following an initial [r], [h] is silent, e.g.:
In weak forms, [h] is often not pronounced, e.g.
Index |
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by UKT
Points to remember In transcription of
the Myanmar (Burmese script):
• Myanmar is an abugida
similar to Indic scripts, and every consonant has an inherent vowel similar to
the English short [a.]
• Myanmar 
{ga.} is a member of IPA velar consonant group of
{ka.}
{ga.}
{nga.}. The corresponding
IPA consonants are
/k/ (vl) /g/ (vd) and /ŋ/ (nasal) -- (vl = voiceless, vd =
voiced). The velar sounds are produced with the tongue body touching or almost
touching the soft palate (velum). The places of articulation next to velum (to
the front of the mouth) is the hard palate and the uvular (to the rear of the
mouth). Thus, when we are looking for English consonants that could be used for
transliteration of Myanmar
{ka.} we should also take into consideration the palatal /c/ and
uvular /q/. For transliteration of
{ga.} the only IPA-English consonant available is /g/.
• Myanmar
{ga.}
corresponds to the English [g]. When
{ya.} corresponding
to English [ y ] or /j/ follows the Myanmar
{ ga.}, the resulting conjunct
{gya.}
comes to have the pronunciation /ʤ/.
{ ga.} +
{ya.} —>
+
—>
{gya.}
• Myanmar vowels
[é] and
[i]
following {ga.} do not alter the pronunciation of {ga.}.
{ ga.} +
[é]
—>
+
—>
{gé} /gaɪ/
usually pronounced as <gay>.
{gya.} +
[e]
—>
+
—>
{gyé} /ʤaɪ/ usually pronounced as <jay>
• English syllables are of the form
CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant), whereas the Burmese syllables are of the form
CV. However, a consonant may enter the coda of the syllable after the inherent
vowel of the entering consonant has been "killed" (Romabama {a'thut}.)
resulting in CVÇ (U00C7, Alt0199, Ç = Latin capital C with cedilla). Thus, if we
were to Burmanise the English word <gem>, [em] would be considered to be
the Burmese vowel {ma.thut}
resulting in a pronunciation
/gʌm/ and
not /ʤem/.
{ ga.} + (
{ma.} + virama ) —>
{ ga.} +
{m} —>
{gam}
English transcription is unnecessarily
complex because the English vowels keep on changing all the time. In Myanmar,
the inherent vowel short [a] remains unchanged throughout the whole process of
syllable formation.
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Introduction |
Information panels |
Pronouncing letters
End of TIL file