| 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 |
|