Santali vs Lak

Sound inventory comparison

Only in Santali

Shared

Only in Lak

Only in Santali 42

d̤ o ɔ ũ ɔ̃ b̤ ĩ ɲ ɟ ɟ̤ ɖ ɖ̤ ɽ e ə ɛ iə uə əu əi ui iu oi ei ea oa ao ae oe eo io ɛo ɔe ŋ ã ɛ̃ ə̃ t p c ʈ k

Shared sounds 15

l n d r w u m b j i a ɡ s tʰ h

Only in Lak 54

z uː ø̞ˤ iː ʒ ɢ ɢʷ aː e̞ˤ æˤ tsʰ tsʷʰ tsʷʼ tsʼ t͈s t͈sʷ s͈ tʼ t͈ pʰ pʼ p͈ ʔ t̠ʃʰ t̠ʃʷʰ t̠ʃʷʼ t̠ʃʼ t̠͈ʃ t̠͈ʃʷ ʃ 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

Santali and Lak share 15 sounds — roughly 22% of Lak's inventory overlaps with Santali. Shared sounds are ones a speaker already knows from their native language and will generally produce and perceive accurately without explicit training.

The 54 sounds found only in Lak represent the greatest pronunciation challenge for Santali 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, Santali has 42 sounds not used in Lak. Native Lak speakers learning Santali 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

Santali vs Lahu Santali vs Dafla Santali vs Yao Santali vs Hakka Chinese Santali vs SEDANG Santali vs Kharia Santali vs Bhumij Santali vs Kota Santali vs Burushaski Santali vs Kabardian Santali vs Ket Santali vs Garo