thumb|Silbe "''ya''" in birmanischer Schrift
thumb|Ziffern in birmanischer Schrift
thumb|Schriftbeispiel: 'Myanmar'
Die '''Birmanische Schrift''' hat sich aus der indischen Brahmi-Schrift entwickelt. Vermittler der Schrift ist das mit den Khmer verwandte Volk der Mon. Die ältesten schriftlichen Dokumente stammen aus dem 12. Jahrhundert n.&nbsp;Chr.

== Schriftbild ==

Das Schriftbild besteht aus überwiegend gerundeten Symbolen, weswegen die birmanische Schrift mitunter auch als 'Blasen- oder Brezelschrift' bezeichnet wird. Die runde Schriftform hat ihren Ursprung darin, dass als Medium zu Beginn Palmblätter verwendet wurden, die bei Verwendung von geradlinigen Schriftsymbolen beschädigt (gespalten) worden wären.

Birmanisch wird horizontal von links nach rechts geschrieben. Einzelne Worte werden ohne Leerstelle aneinander gereiht. Leerstellen im Text trennen Satzteile voneinander. Eine Pause innerhalb eines Satzes wird durch einen einfach vertikalen Strich, das Satzende durch einen doppelten vertikalen Strich markiert.

== Romanisierung ==

{{Infobox WS
|name=Burmese
|time=c. 1050&ndash;present
|languages=Burmese
|type=Abugida
|fam1=Proto-Canaanite alphabet
|fam2=Phoenician alphabet
|fam3=Aramaic alphabet
|fam4=Brāhmī
|fam5=Pallava
|fam6=Mon
|unicode=[http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1000.pdf U+1000&ndash;U+109F]
|iso15924=Mymr
|sample=Mranmacaka.svg
}}

The '''Burmese abugida''' (Burmese: ; ) is a script in the Burmese, Mon, Shan and several palm leaves used for writing on with a stylus would have been ripped by straight lines. Like English, it is written from left to right. There are no spaces between words, although informal writing often contains spaces after each clause.

The script  originated in southern Indian script. Burmese  adapted from the Mon script , has undergone considerable modifications to suit the phonology of Burmese, and to fit its word order of Subject Object Verb. The script is altered from language to language (e.g. Shan, Mon, etc.)

==Alphabet==
There are 33 consonants  (''ka.'' ) to  (''a.'' ) and 23 unique sounds. Consonants are separated into groups of 5, with the exception of the last three letters. The first two letters of each group, except for the ''ya''-group are the aspirated and unaspirated sounds. Six letters are designated specifically for Pāli. The last letter in the alphabet,  (''a.'' ), although recognized as a consonant, is actually a vowel. Since  is the only lettered vowel, when used with diacritics, is used to create other vowels. Like other members of the Brahmic family, the sounds of these are modified by diacritics put above, below or beside the character.

The following names are transliterated in contemporary Burmese.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Letter !! Name !! IPA !! Pāli !! Remarks
|-
| ||  () ||  ||k|| Also used as a final (- )
|-
| ||  () ||  || kh || 
|-
| ||  () ||  || g ||
|-
| ||  () ||  || gh || 
|-
| || none ||  ||   || Also used as a final (- )
|-
| ||  () ||  || c || Also used as a final (- )
|-
| ||  () ||  || ch || 
|-
| ||  () ||  || j || 
|-
| ||  () ||  || jh || 
|-
| || none ||  || ñ || Also used as a final (-), but representing an open vowel ()
|-
| ||  () ||  ||   || Used primarily for Pāli (Burmese uses  as an alternative)
|-
| ||  () ||  ||  || Used primarily for Pāli (Burmese uses  as an alternative)
|-
| ||  () ||  ||  || Used primarily for Pāli (Burmese uses  as an alternative)
|-
| ||  () ||  ||  || Used primarily for Pāli (Burmese uses  as an alternative)
|-
| ||  () ||  ||  || Used primarily for Pāli (Burmese uses  as an alternative); also used as a final ()
|-
| ||  () ||  || t || Also used as a final (- )
|-
| ||  () ||  || th || 
|-
| ||  () ||  || d || 
|-
| ||  () ||  || dh || 
|-
| ||  () ||  || n || Also used as a final (- )
|-
| ||  () ||  || p || Also used as a final (- )
|-
| ||  () ||  || ph || 
|-
| ||  () ||  || b || 
|-
| ||  () ||  || bh || 
|-
| || none ||  || m || Also used as a final (-)
|-
| ||  () ||  || y || Also used as a final (-) but representing an open vowel ()
|-
| ||  () ||  || r || Represents  in Rakhine dialect and in certain contexts of modern Burmese.
|-
| || none ||  || l || Also used as a final (-), but unpronounced
|-
| || none ||  || v || 
|-
| || none ||  || s || 
|-
| || none ||  || h || 
|-
| ||  () ||  ||  || Used primarily for Pāli (Burmese uses  as an alternative)
|-
| || none ||  || a || Used with diacritics to form other vowels
|-
|}

==Diacritics==
There are several diactric marks that alter the vowel sound of a letter. Two diacritics are used exclusively for Pali and are rarely seen elsewhere.
thumb|right|The thirty-three consonants of the Burmese abugida, without diacritics.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Diacritic !! Name !! Remarks
|-
| ||  || creates low tone
|-
| () ||  || creates an ''i'' sound at creaky tone ( e.g. English ''s'''ea'''t'')
|-
| () ||  || creates an ''i'' sound at low tone
|-
| () ||  || creates a ''u'' sound at creaky tone (e.g. English ''tr'''u'''ce'')
|-
| () ||  || creates a ''u'' sound at low tone
|-
| () ||  || creates an ''ei'' sound at high tone (e.g. English ''c'''a'''ne'')
|-
| () ||  || creates an ''è'' sound at high tone (e.g. English ''p'''e'''t'')
|-
| ||   || Virama; modifies the sound quality of a letter and varies with letters (usually creates a consonant final)
|-
| ||   || Visarga; creates high tone, but cannot be used alone
|-
| ||  || Anunaasika, creates nasalised ''-n'' final
|-
| ||  || Anusvara, creates short tone
|-
| ||  || used exclusively for Pali
|-
| ||  || used exclusively for Pali
|}

One or more of these accents can be added to a consonant to change its sound. In addition, other modifiying symbols are used to differentiate tone and sound, but are not considered diacritics.

===Ligatures===
Specific consonants (a final and the following consonant), when placed next to one another, may be stacked, with the final placed underneath the consonant. They are considered ligatures, and are typically used to abbreviate, but are not necessary and are primarily used to denote Pali or Sanskrit origin.

==Digits==
A Hindu-Arabic numerals.

The numerals from zero to nine are: 150px (50px. separators (such as commas) to group digits are not used.

Another set of digits from zero to nine is used in the Shan language.

==Punctuation==
There are two primary break characters in Burmese, drawn as one or two downward strokes ( or ), which respectively act as a comma and a full stop .  is used as a full stop if the sentence immediately ends with a verb.  is roughly the equivalent of a comma and is used to connect two trains of thought.