/ˈaɪ.pə/

Bhumij

Family: Austroasiatic · Eurasia · ISO unr · Glottolog
33
Consonants
21
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Bhumij — a Austroasiatic language spoken in Eurasia . With 54 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

cç ~ cçʰ ~ ɟʝ ~ ɟ̤ʝ ~

approximant

w ~ j ~

lateral fricative

l ~

nasal

n̪ ~ n ~ m ~ ɲ ~ ɳ ~ ŋ ~

sibilant fricative

s ~

stop

d̪ ~ d̪̤ ~ t̪ ~ t̪ʰ ~ b̤ ~ p ~ pʰ ~ b ~ ʔ ~ ʈʰ ~ ɖ ~ ʈ ~ ɖ̤ ~ k ~ ɡʱ ~ ɡ ~ kʰ ~

tap

ɾ ~ ɽ ~

Vowels

o ~ ʊ ~ ɔ ~ uː ~ u ~ u̞ ~ oː ~ iː ~ i ~ ɪ ~ ʌ ~ a ~ e̞ ~ eː ~ e ~ aː ~ ũː ~ õ̞ ~ ʊ̃ ~ ɪ̃ ~ æ̞̃ ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
54
phonemes

Bhumij has 54 phonemes, placing it in the 87th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

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

In Bhumij, not in English (39)

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

cç cçʰ ɟʝ ɟ̤ʝ n̪ ɲ ɳ d̪ d̪̤ t̪ t̪ʰ b̤ p ʔ ʈʰ ɖ ʈ ɖ̤ k ɡʱ kʰ ɾ ɽ o ɔ uː u u̞ ɪ ʌ a e̞ eː aː ũː õ̞ ʊ̃ ɪ̃ æ̞̃

In English, not in Bhumij (30)

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

h t̠ʃ d 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 Bhumij →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Kannada 66%
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Kumauni 66%
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Oriya 64%
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Sanskrit 62%
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Kota 61%
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Compare Bhumij with another language

See which sounds are shared and which are unique.

vs Yao vs Hakka Chinese vs SEDANG vs Kharia vs Kota vs Burushaski vs Kabardian vs Lak vs Ket vs Dafla