MLC Transcription System

The Myanma Language Commission Transcription System, 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 Pali romanisation system, has some similarities to the ALA-LC Romanization, and was devised by the Myanma Language Commission. This system is used in many linguistic publications regarding Burmese, and is used in all MLC publications as the primary form of transcription for 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

Features of the MLC Transcription System include:
*Usage of coalesced letters in transcribing stacked consonants
*Consonantal transcriptions (for initials) similar to those of Pali
*Transcription of finals as consonants rather than as glottal stops
*Usage of : and . to transcribe two tones, heavy and creaky respectively
*Special transcriptions for abbreviated syllables used in literary Burmese

Transcription system

Initials and finals

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

Nasalised finals, with most pronounced IPA| [N] , are transcribed differently. Transcriptions of the following diacritical combinations in Burmese for nasalised finals are as follows:¹ Oral vowels are shown with _my. -.

² Nasal vowels are shown with _my. -န် (-an).

Medial consonants

A medial is a semivowel that comes before the vowel. Combinations of medials (such as "h-" and "-r-") are possible. They follow the following order in transcription: "h-", "-y-" or "-r-", and "-w-". In standard Burmese, there are three pronounced medials. The following are medials in the MLC Transcription System:

^†The two medials are pronounced the same in standard Burmese. In dialects such as Rakhine (Arakanese), the latter is pronounced IPA| [r] .

^‡When this the medial _my. ှ is spelt with ra. ( _my. ရ), its sound becomes hra. IPA| [ʃa̰] ( _my. ရှ), which was once represented by hsya. ( _my. သျှ).

Abbreviated Syllables

Formal Burmese has four abbreviated symbols, which are typically used in literary works. They are listed below:

External links

* [http://www.sil.org/~hopplep/dissertation/Appendix/Transcription_into_Roman.pdf Appendix on MLCTS from Paulette Hopple's Doctoral Thesis]
* [http://www.tuninst.net/Romabama/RBM/txt-intro/intro.HTM Romabama transcription system by U Kyaw Tun]
* [http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/burmese.pdf Library of Congress ALA-LC romanization tables]