/ˈaɪ.pə/

Bhojpuri

Family: Indo-European · Eurasia · ISO bho · Glottolog · 52,000,000 speakers
35
Consonants
16
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Bhojpuri — a Indo-European language spoken in Eurasia . With 51 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 ~

lateral fricative

l̤ ~ l ~

nasal

n̤ ~ n ~ m ~ m̤ ~ ŋʰ ~ ŋ ~

sibilant fricative

s ~

stop

d̪ ~ d̪̤ ~ t̪ ~ t̪ʰ ~ pʰ ~ p ~ b ~ b̤ ~ ɟ ~ c ~ ɟ̤ ~ cʰ ~ ɖ ~ ʈ ~ ʈʰ ~ ɖ̤ ~ kʰ ~ ɡ̤ ~ k ~ ɡ ~

tap

ɽ̤ ~ ɽ ~

trill

rʰ ~ r ~

Vowels

o ~ u ~ i ~ ʌ ~ a ~ e ~ ai ~ au ~ ũ ~ õ ~ ĩ ~ ʌ̃ ~ ẽ ~ ã ~ ãũ ~ ãĩ ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
51
phonemes

Bhojpuri has 51 phonemes, placing it in the 85th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

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

In Bhojpuri, not in English (39)

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

l̤ n̤ m̤ ŋʰ d̪ d̪̤ t̪ t̪ʰ p b̤ ɟ c ɟ̤ cʰ ɖ ʈ ʈʰ ɖ̤ kʰ ɡ̤ k ɽ̤ ɽ rʰ r o u ʌ a ai au ũ õ ĩ ʌ̃ ẽ ã ãũ ãĩ

In English, not in Bhojpuri (33)

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

h t̠ʃ iː oː d ʊ z ʃ 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 Bhojpuri →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Magahi 80%
Compare →
Awadhi 48%
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Maithili 48%
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Sindhi 44%
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Madurese 43%
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Compare Bhojpuri 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