/ˈaɪ.pə/

Acehnese

Family: Austronesian · Eurasia · ISO ace · Glottolog · 3,500,000 speakers
21
Consonants
34
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Acehnese — a Austronesian language spoken in Eurasia . With 55 phonemes, it has a relatively large inventory compared to the world's languages. Sounds marked with a dashed border (*) are marginal: they appear only in loanwords or highly specialized contexts and are not part of the core phonological system.

Consonants

approximant

w ~ j ~

fricative

h ~ f *

lateral fricative

l ~

nasal

n ~ m ~ ɲ ~ ŋ ~

sibilant fricative

s ~ ʃ ~

stop

t ~ d ~ b ~ p ~ ʔ ~ ɟ ~ c ~ k ~ ɡ ~

trill

r ~

Vowels

ɔ ~ o ~ u ~ i ~ ʌ ~ ʌə ~ ãi ~ ĩə ~ ũə ~ ɔə ~ ɛə ~ ɛ̃ə ~ ɯ̃ə ~ ə ~ ɛ ~ ɯ ~ e ~ a ~ ai ~ ɔi ~ iə ~ uə ~ ɯə ~ əi ~ ui ~ oi ~ ʌi ~ ɔ̃ ~ ũ ~ ĩ ~ ʌ̃ ~ ã ~ ɛ̃ ~ ɯ̃ ~

* Marginal phoneme — occurs only in loanwords or rare contexts.

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
55
phonemes

Acehnese has 55 phonemes, placing it in the 88th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

For English speakers learning Acehnese, these are the sounds that will require the most focused practice.

In Acehnese, not in English (38)

These sounds don't exist in English — English speakers will need to learn them from scratch.

ɲ t p ʔ ɟ c k r ɔ o u ʌ ʌə ãi ĩə ũə ɔə ɛə ɛ̃ə ɯ̃ə ə ɯ a ai ɔi uə ɯə əi ui oi ʌi ɔ̃ ũ ĩ ʌ̃ ã ɛ̃ ɯ̃

In English, not in Acehnese (28)

English speakers learning Acehnese won't use these sounds — they'll need to suppress them.

pʰ t̠ʃ iː oː ʊ z ʒ v ts d̠ʒ ɒ ɐ ð θ ɘ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs Acehnese →

Most phonologically similar languages

Ranked by Jaccard similarity — the proportion of phonemes shared relative to the combined inventory of both languages.

Santali 47%
Compare →
Dioula 45%
Compare →
Javanese 42%
Compare →
Makassar 42%
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Minangkabau 42%
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Compare Acehnese with another language

See which sounds are shared and which are unique.

vs Hakka Chinese vs SEDANG vs Kharia vs Bhumij vs Kota vs Burushaski vs Kabardian vs Lak vs Ket vs Yao