/ˈaɪ.pə/

Arabic vs SEDANG

Sound inventory comparison

27
Only in Arabic
10
Shared
45
Only in SEDANG

Only in Arabic 27

d̪ʒ ð̪ ð̪̙ˤ l lˤ n̪ z d̪ d̙ˤ r uu̯ b ii̯ ʕ̙ aː ai au ɣ θ̪ s s̙ˤ t̪ʰ t̪̙ˤ f ħ q xʀ̥

Shared sounds 10

w u m j i a h ʔ ʃ kʰ

Only in SEDANG 45

l̪̥|l̥ n̪̥|n̥ r̪̥|r̥ m̥ j̥ ɲ̥ ŋ̥ l̪|l l̪̰|l̰ n̪|n n̪̰|n̰ n̪d̪|nd d̪̰|d̰ r̪|r r̪̰|r̰ o ɔ o̰ ṵ ɔ̰ w̰ m̰ mb b̰ ḭ j̰ n̠d̠ʒ ɲ ɲ̰ e ɛ a̰ ḛ ɛ̰ ŋ ŋ̰ ŋɡ s̪|s t̪ʰ|tʰ t̪|t ʍ p pʰ t̠ʃ k

What this means for learners

Arabic and SEDANG share 10 sounds — roughly 18% of SEDANG's inventory overlaps with Arabic. Shared sounds are ones a speaker already knows from their native language and will generally produce and perceive accurately without explicit training.

The 45 sounds found only in SEDANG represent the greatest pronunciation challenge for Arabic speakers. The adult brain tends to map unfamiliar sounds onto the closest native equivalent — a process that produces the characteristic "accent" of a second-language speaker. Learning to hear and produce these sounds as distinct requires focused ear training, not just repetition.

Conversely, Arabic has 27 sounds not used in SEDANG. Native SEDANG speakers learning Arabic will face the mirror-image challenge with these sounds.

Phoneme inventories from PHOIBLE. Data reflects one documented inventory per language; some variation exists across dialects and sources.

Compare with another language

Arabic vs Lahu Arabic vs Dafla Arabic vs Yao Arabic vs Hakka Chinese Arabic vs Kharia Arabic vs Bhumij Arabic vs Kota Arabic vs Burushaski Arabic vs Kabardian Arabic vs Ket Arabic vs Lak Arabic vs Garo