/ˈaɪ.pə/

Balinese

Family: Austronesian · Papunesia · ISO ban · Glottolog · 3,800,000 speakers
18
Consonants
6
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Balinese — a Austronesian language spoken in Papunesia . With 24 phonemes, it has a relatively small 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

d̠ʒ ~ t̠ʃ ~

approximant

w ~ j ~

fricative

h ~

lateral fricative

l ~

nasal

n ~ m ~ ɲ ~ ŋ ~

sibilant fricative

s ~

stop

t ~ d ~ b ~ p ~ k ~ ɡ ~

trill

r ~

Vowels

u ~ o ~ i ~ a ~ e ~ ə ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
24
phonemes

Balinese has 24 phonemes, placing it in the 14th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably small inventory.

Compared to English

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

In Balinese, not in English (9)

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

ɲ t p k r u o a ə

In English, not in Balinese (30)

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

pʰ iː oː ʊ z ʃ ʒ f v ts 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 Balinese →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Bugis 96%
Compare →
Kapampangan 84%
Compare →
Toba-Batak 82%
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Hiligaynon 81%
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Makassar 81%
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Compare Balinese 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