/ˈaɪ.pə/

Arabela

Family: Zaparoan · South America · ISO arl · Glottolog
19
Consonants
10
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Arabela — a Zaparoan language spoken in South America . With 29 phonemes, it has an average-sized 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 ~ hʷ ~ hʲ ~

nasal

nʲ ~ n ~ mʲ ~ m ~

sibilant fricative

s ~ ʃ ~

stop

tʲ ~ t ~ p ~ k ~ kʷ ~ kʲ ~

tap

ɾʲ ~ ɾ ~

Vowels

uː ~ oː ~ o ~ u ~ i ~ iː ~ ɪ ~ ɪː ~ aː ~ a ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
29
phonemes

Arabela has 29 phonemes, placing it in the 29th percentile of languages by inventory size — smaller than most languages.

Compared to English

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

In Arabela, not in English (19)

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

hʷ hʲ nʲ mʲ tʲ t p k kʷ kʲ ɾʲ ɾ uː o u ɪ ɪː aː a

In English, not in Arabela (35)

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

l pʰ t̠ʃ ŋ e b d ʊ z ɡ ʒ f v ts d̠ʒ ɛ ɒ ɐ ð θ ɘ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː iə eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs Arabela →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Bemba 46%
Compare →
Hawaiian 45%
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Kimeru 44%
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Nasioi 42%
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Telefol 40%
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Compare Arabela 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