Komi-Zyrian vs Makassar
Sound inventory comparison
What this means for learners
Komi-Zyrian and Makassar share 14 sounds — roughly 38% of Makassar's inventory overlaps with Komi-Zyrian. Shared sounds are ones a speaker already knows from their native language and will generally produce and perceive accurately without explicit training.
The 9 sounds found only in Makassar represent the greatest pronunciation challenge for Komi-Zyrian 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, Komi-Zyrian has 23 sounds not used in Makassar. Native Makassar speakers learning Komi-Zyrian 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.