What this means for learners
KHMU? and Khasi share 21 sounds — roughly 51% of Khasi's inventory overlaps with KHMU?. Shared sounds are ones a speaker already knows from their native language and will generally produce and perceive accurately without explicit training.
The 19 sounds found only in Khasi represent the greatest pronunciation challenge for KHMU? 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, KHMU? has 20 sounds not used in Khasi. Native Khasi speakers learning KHMU? 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.