Dan vs Luganda

Sound inventory comparison

Only in Dan

Shared

Only in Luganda

Only in Dan 62

˥ ˥˨˧ ˧˥˨ ˧˨ ˩ nʲ nʷ zʲ zʷ dʲ ɗ ɗʲ ɔ ɔː ɒː ɒ ɵ wʲ ɵː ũː ũ ɔ̃ ɔ̃ː mʲ ɒ̃ ɒ̃ː ɓ ɡb bʲ ɓʲ ɡbʲ vʲ ĩ ĩː ᶑ æ æː ɨ ɨː ə əː ɛ ɛː ãː ã ɛ̃ æ̃ ɛ̃ː æ̃ː ə̃ː ə̃ ɡʷ ɡʲ sʲ sʷ tʲ pʲ kp kpʲ fʲ kʷ kʲ

Shared sounds 30

˦ ˧ ˨ l n z d w o oː u uː m b v j i iː ɲ a aː e eː ŋ ɡ s t p f k

Only in Luganda 3

˦˨ d̠ʒ t̠ʃ

What this means for learners

Dan and Luganda share 30 sounds — roughly 33% of Luganda's inventory overlaps with Dan. Shared sounds are ones a speaker already knows from their native language and will generally produce and perceive accurately without explicit training.

The 3 sounds found only in Luganda represent the greatest pronunciation challenge for Dan 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, Dan has 62 sounds not used in Luganda. Native Luganda speakers learning Dan 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

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