PARAUK vs Hakka Chinese

Sound inventory comparison

Only in PARAUK

Shared

Only in Hakka Chinese

Only in PARAUK 67

l̪|l l̪̤|l̤ n̪|n n̪̤|n̤ d̪|d d̪̤|d̤ o ɔ ɔ̤ o̤ ṳ m̤ b b̤ v v̤ i̤ d̠ʒ d̠ʒ̤ l̠ l̠̤ n̠ n̠̤ ʒ ʒ̤ ɤ ɤ̤ a e ɯ ɛ iɛ ai au ɔi a̤ e̤ ɛ̤ ɯ̤ aɯ o̞i ia ui ua ɯi a̤i̤ a̤ṳ a̤ɯ̤ io̞ i̤a̤ i̤ṳ i̤ɛ̤ o̤i̤ ṳa̤ ṳi̤ ɔ̤i̤ ɤi ɤ̤i̤ ɯ̤i̤ ŋ̤ ɡ ɡ̤ t̪ʰ|tʰ t̪|t t̠ʃ t̠ʃʰ ʃ

Shared sounds 10

u m i iu ŋ p pʰ f k kʰ

Only in Hakka Chinese 37

˥˩ ˦ ˧ ˧˩ ˨ l n n̩ ɔ̽ m̩ ʋ j ɹ̩ ɲ e̞ ə e̞u ä äi äu̽ iäu̽ iɔ̽ i̞ä i̞e̞ u̽i ɔ̽i tsʰ ts s t tʰ h ç c cʰ kʷʰ kʷ

What this means for learners

PARAUK and Hakka Chinese share 10 sounds — roughly 13% of Hakka Chinese's inventory overlaps with PARAUK. Shared sounds are ones a speaker already knows from their native language and will generally produce and perceive accurately without explicit training.

The 37 sounds found only in Hakka Chinese represent the greatest pronunciation challenge for PARAUK 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, PARAUK has 67 sounds not used in Hakka Chinese. Native Hakka Chinese speakers learning PARAUK 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

PARAUK vs Lahu PARAUK vs Dafla PARAUK vs Yao PARAUK vs SEDANG PARAUK vs Kharia PARAUK vs Bhumij PARAUK vs Kota PARAUK vs Burushaski PARAUK vs Kabardian PARAUK vs Lak PARAUK vs Ket PARAUK vs Garo