/ˈaɪ.pə/

Portuguese (European) vs Lak

Sound inventory comparison

37
Only in Portuguese (European)
10
Shared
59
Only in Lak

Only in Portuguese (European) 37

l̪ˠ n̪ d̪ ɾ o ɔ ɐ ɐ̃u̜ ũ õ ɐ̃ v ĩ ʎ ɲ ʁ e ɯ ɛ ai ɔi ɛi ui oi ɐi au̜ eu̜ iu̜ õi ũi ɐ̃i ɛu̜ ẽ t̪ p f k

Shared sounds 10

z u m b i ʒ a ɡ s ʃ

Only in Lak 59

l n d r w uː ø̞ˤ j iː ɢ ɢʷ aː e̞ˤ æˤ tsʰ tsʷʰ tsʷʼ tsʼ t͈s t͈sʷ s͈ tʰ tʼ t͈ pʰ pʼ p͈ h ʔ t̠ʃʰ t̠ʃʷʰ t̠ʃʷʼ t̠ʃʼ t̠͈ʃ t̠͈ʃʷ ʃʷ ʃ͈ ʃ͈ʷ ħ χ χʷ χ͈ χ͈ʷ qʰ qʷʰ qʷʼ qʼ q͈ q͈ʷ x xʷ x͈ x͈ʷ kʰ kʷʰ kʷʼ kʼ k͈ k͈ʷ

What this means for learners

Portuguese (European) and Lak share 10 sounds — roughly 14% of Lak's inventory overlaps with Portuguese (European). Shared sounds are ones a speaker already knows from their native language and will generally produce and perceive accurately without explicit training.

The 59 sounds found only in Lak represent the greatest pronunciation challenge for Portuguese (European) 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, Portuguese (European) has 37 sounds not used in Lak. Native Lak speakers learning Portuguese (European) 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

Portuguese (European) vs Lahu Portuguese (European) vs Dafla Portuguese (European) vs Yao Portuguese (European) vs Hakka Chinese Portuguese (European) vs SEDANG Portuguese (European) vs Kharia Portuguese (European) vs Bhumij Portuguese (European) vs Kota Portuguese (European) vs Burushaski Portuguese (European) vs Ket Portuguese (European) vs Kabardian Portuguese (European) vs Garo