Only in EYAK 29
What this means for learners
EYAK and Nootka share 16 sounds — roughly 34% of Nootka's inventory overlaps with EYAK. Shared sounds are ones a speaker already knows from their native language and will generally produce and perceive accurately without explicit training.
The 31 sounds found only in Nootka represent the greatest pronunciation challenge for EYAK 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, EYAK has 29 sounds not used in Nootka. Native Nootka speakers learning EYAK 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.