/ˈaɪ.pə/

Lebanese Arabic vs SEDANG

Sound inventory comparison

38
Only in Lebanese Arabic
12
Shared
43
Only in SEDANG

Only in Lebanese Arabic 38

ð ðˠ l̪ l̪ˠ n̪ z̪ zˠ d̪ dˠ ɾ̪ ɾ̪ˠ ʊ ʊu mˠ b v ɪ ɪi ʒ ʁ ʕ æ ai au ui æi eu æu ɡ θ s̪ sˠ t̪ tˠ f ħ χ q

Shared sounds 12

w o u m j i a e h ʔ ʃ k

Only in SEDANG 43

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 ɔ o̰ ṵ ɔ̰ w̰ m̰ mb b̰ ḭ j̰ n̠d̠ʒ ɲ ɲ̰ ɛ a̰ ḛ ɛ̰ ŋ ŋ̰ ŋɡ s̪|s t̪ʰ|tʰ t̪|t ʍ p pʰ t̠ʃ kʰ

What this means for learners

Lebanese Arabic and SEDANG share 12 sounds — roughly 22% of SEDANG's inventory overlaps with Lebanese Arabic. Shared sounds are ones a speaker already knows from their native language and will generally produce and perceive accurately without explicit training.

The 43 sounds found only in SEDANG represent the greatest pronunciation challenge for Lebanese 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, Lebanese Arabic has 38 sounds not used in SEDANG. Native SEDANG speakers learning Lebanese 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

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