/ˈaɪ.pə/

BETE

Family: Kru · Africa · ISO bev · Glottolog
24
Consonants
13
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in BETE — a Kru language spoken in Africa . With 37 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 ~ ɰ ~

fricative

v ~ f ~

lateral fricative

l ~

nasal

n ~ m ~ ɲ ~ ŋʷ ~ ŋ ~

sibilant fricative

z ~ s ~

stop

t ~ d ~ b ~ kp ~ ɡb ~ p ~ ɓ ~ c ~ ɟ ~ k ~ ɡ ~

Vowels

u ~ o ~ ɔ ~ ʊ ~ ɪ ~ i ~ ɨ̞ ~ a ~ e ~ ɨ ~ ɜ ~ ɛ ~ ɘ ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
37
phonemes

BETE has 37 phonemes, placing it in the 52th percentile of languages by inventory size — roughly average for a human language.

Compared to English

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

In BETE, not in English (19)

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

ɰ ɲ ŋʷ t kp ɡb p ɓ c ɟ k u o ɔ ɪ ɨ̞ a ɨ ɜ

In English, not in BETE (27)

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

h pʰ t̠ʃ iː oː ʃ ʒ ts d̠ʒ ɒ ɐ ð θ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː iə eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs BETE →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Lingala 59%
Compare →
Makassar 54%
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Dholuo 53%
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Dioula 52%
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Bikol (Bicolano) 51%
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Compare BETE 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