/ˈaɪ.pə/

Apinaye

Family: Nuclear-Macro-Je · South America · ISO apn · Glottolog
14
Consonants
35
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Apinaye — a Nuclear-Macro-Je language spoken in South America . With 49 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

affricate

t̠ʃ ~

fricative

h ~ v ~

sibilant fricative

s ~ ʒ ~

stop

nd ~ t ~ p ~ mb ~ ʔ ~ ɲɟ ~ k ~ ŋɡ ~

tap

ɽ ~

Vowels

ɔː ~ o ~ oː ~ u ~ uː ~ ɔ ~ i ~ iː ~ ɤː ~ ɤ ~ ʌ ~ ʌː ~ a ~ e ~ eː ~ aː ~ ɯː ~ ə ~ ɛ ~ ɛː ~ ɯ ~ ũː ~ ũ ~ õ ~ õː ~ ĩ ~ ĩː ~ ʌ̃ː ~ ʌ̃ ~ ɯ̃ː ~ ã ~ ɛ̃ ~ ɛ̃ː ~ ãː ~ ɯ̃ ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
49
phonemes

Apinaye has 49 phonemes, placing it in the 82th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

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

In Apinaye, not in English (39)

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

nd t p mb ʔ ɲɟ k ŋɡ ɽ ɔː o u uː ɔ ɤː ɤ ʌ ʌː a eː aː ɯː ə ɛː ɯ ũː ũ õ õː ĩ ĩː ʌ̃ː ʌ̃ ɯ̃ː ã ɛ̃ ɛ̃ː ãː ɯ̃

In English, not in Apinaye (35)

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

j l m n pʰ w ŋ b d ʊ z ɡ ʃ f ts d̠ʒ ɒ ɐ ð θ ɘ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː iə eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs Apinaye →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Lao 36%
Compare →
Kikuyu 35%
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Bamana 34%
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Mambila 33%
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Moore 33%
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Compare Apinaye 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