MLC Transcription System

Template:Short description Template:Contains special characters The Myanmar Language Commission Transcription System (1980), also known as the MLC Transcription System (MLCTS), is a transliteration system for rendering Burmese in the Latin alphabet. It is loosely based on the common system for romanization of Pali, has some similarities to the ALA-LC romanization and was devised by the Myanmar Language Commission. The system is used in many linguistic publications regarding Burmese and is used in MLC publications as the primary form of romanization of Burmese.

The transcription system is based on the orthography of formal Burmese and is not suited for colloquial Burmese, which has substantial differences in phonology from formal Burmese. Differences are mentioned throughout the article.

Features

• Coalesced letters transcribe stacked consonants.
• Consonantal transcriptions (for initials) are similar to those of Pali.
• Finals are transcribed as consonants (Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration) rather than glottal stops
• Nasalized finals are transcribed as consonants (Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration) rather than as a single Template:Transliteration final.
• The anunasika () and Template:Transliteration final () are not differentiated.
• The colon () and the period () transcribe two tones: heavy and creaky respectively.
• Special transcriptions are used for abbreviated syllables used in literary Burmese.

Transcription system

Initials and finals

The following initials are listed in the traditional ordering of the Burmese script, with the transcriptions of the initials listed before their IPA equivalents:

Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()
Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()
Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()
Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()
Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()
Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration1 ()	Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()
	Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()	Template:Transliteration ()

¹Sometimes used as a final, but preceding diacritics determine its pronunciation.

The Burmese alphabet is arranged in groups of five, and within each group, consonants can stack one another. The consonant above the stacked consonant is the final of the previous vowel. Most words of Sino-Tibetan origin are spelt without stacking, but polysyllabic words of Indo-European origin (such as Pali, Sanskrit, and English) are often spelt with stacking. Possible combinations are as follows:

Group	Burmese	Transcriptions	Example
Template:Transliteration	, , , ,	Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, and Template:Transliteration respectively	Template:Transliteration (‌)1, meaning "English"
Template:Transliteration	, , , , , ,	Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration (), meaning "knowledge"
Template:Transliteration	, , , ,	Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration (), meaning "section"
Template:Transliteration	, , , , , , ,	Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration (), Mandalay, a city in Myanmar
Template:Transliteration	, , , , , , ,	Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration (), meaning "world"
Template:Transliteration	,	Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration (), meaning viss, a traditional Burmese unit of weight measurement

¹Template:Transliteration is uncommonly spelt Template:Transliteration ().

All consonantal finals are pronounced as glottal stops (), except for nasal finals. All possible combinations are as follows, and correspond to the colors of the initials above:

Consonant	Transcription (with IPA)
Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration ( ), Template:Transliteration ( ), Template:Transliteration ), Template:Transliteration )
Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration ( )
Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration (‌ ), Template:Transliteration ( or ), Template:Transliteration ( ), Template:Transliteration ( )
Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration ( or ), Template:Transliteration (‌ or ), Template:Transliteration () , Template:Transliteration ( )

Nasalised finals are transcribed differently. Transcriptions of the following diacritical combinations in Burmese for nasalised finals are as follows:

Consonant	Transcription (with IPA)
Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration ( ), Template:Transliteration ( ‌), Template:Transliteration ( ), Template:Transliteration ( )
Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration ( or ), Template:Transliteration ( )
Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration ( ), Template:Transliteration (‌ or ), Template:Transliteration ( ), Template:Transliteration ( )
Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration (‌ ), Template:Transliteration ( or ), Template:Transliteration ( ), Template:Transliteration ( )
	Template:Transliteration ( ), Template:Transliteration ( ) (equivalent to Template:Transliteration, but spelt with an anunaasika)

Monophthongs are transcribed as follows:

Burmese			Transcription			IPA			Remarks
Low	High	Creaky	Low	High	Creaky	Low	High	Creaky
			Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration				Can be combined with medial Template:Transliteration.
‌			Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
‌			Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration				As a full vowel in the high tone, it is written and transcribed Template:Transliteration. As a full vowel in the low tone, it is written and is transcribed Template:Transliteration.
			Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration				As a full vowel in the creaky tone, it is written and is transcribed Template:Transliteration. As a vowel in low tone, it is written and transcribed Template:Transliteration.
			Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
			Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration				As a full vowel in the creaky tone, it is written and is transcribed Template:Transliteration. As a full vowel in the high tone, it is written and transcribed Template:Transliteration.
			Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration				As a full vowel in the high tone, it is written and is transcribed Template:Transliteration. It can be combined with medial Template:Transliteration.

Tones

Tone name	Burmese				Transcribed tone mark	Remarks
	Oral vowels1	IPA	Nasal vowels2	IPA
Low					none
High					Colon ()	In both cases, the colon-like symbol (Template:Transliteration) is used to denote the high tone.
Creaky					Full stop ()	Nasalised finals use the anusvara to denote the creaky tone in Burmese.

¹ Oral vowels are shown with .

² Nasal vowels are shown with (Template:Transliteration).

Medial consonants

A medial is a semivowel that comes before the vowel. Combinations of medials (such as Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration) are possible. They follow the following order in transcription: Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration or Template:Transliteration, and Template:Transliteration. In Standard Burmese, there are three pronounced medials. The following are medials in the MLC Transcription System:

Burmese	IPA	Transcription	Remarks
		Template:Transliteration†	Its possible combinations are with consonants Template:Transliteration, (), Template:Transliteration, (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), and Template:Transliteration (). The medial is possible with other finals and vowels.
		Template:Transliteration†	The aforementioned remarks apply to this medial as well.
		Template:Transliteration	Its possible combinations are with consonants Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), and Template:Transliteration (). The medial is possible with other finals and vowels, using the already mentioned consonants.
1		Template:Transliteration	Its possible combinations are with consonants Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration ), Template:Transliteration (), Template:Transliteration ()‡, Template:Transliteration ()‡, and Template:Transliteration ().

^†The two medials are pronounced the same in Standard Burmese. In dialects such as Rakhine (Arakanese), the latter is pronounced .

^‡When the medial is spelt with Template:Transliteration (), its sound becomes Template:Transliteration (), which was once represented by Template:Transliteration ().

Abbreviated syllables

Formal Burmese has four abbreviated symbols, which are typically used in literary works:

Burmese		IPA	Transcription
Modern abbreviation	Historic spelling
				It is a conjunction joining two predicates.
			Template:Transliteration	It is a locative particle that acts as a postposition after nouns (at, in, on). It is equivalent to Template:Transliteration () in colloquial Burmese.
‌,			Template:Transliteration	It acts as a demonstrative noun (this or that) when it precedes a noun. It is also used as a connecting phrase (as well as) between two nouns within a clause.
	‌		Template:Transliteration	It is a genitive particle that marks possession of a preceding noun. It follows the possessor and precedes the possessed noun. It is also used as a sentence-final particle at the end of an affirmative sentence, typically in literary or written Burmese.

See also

• Burmese script
• Burmese language

External links

• Appendix on MLCTS from Paulette Hopple's Doctoral Thesis
• Romabama transcription system by U Kyaw Tun (archived 18 November 2008)
• Library of Congress ALA-LC romanization tables