/ˈaɪ.pə/

Central Khmer

Family: Austroasiatic · Eurasia · ISO khm · Glottolog · 16,000,000 speakers
17
Consonants
29
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Central Khmer — a Austroasiatic language spoken in Eurasia . With 46 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 ~

fricative

h ~ f ~

lateral fricative

l ~

nasal

n ~ m ~ ɲ ~ ŋ ~

sibilant fricative

s ~

stop

t ~ ɗ ~ ɓ ~ p ~ ʔ ~ k ~

trill

r ~

Vowels

o ~ oː ~ u ~ uː ~ ɔ ~ ɔː ~ ou ~ iː ~ ɪ ~ i ~ ə ~ əː ~ ɛ ~ e ~ aː ~ a ~ ie ~ əɨ ~ aɛ ~ uə ~ ɨə ~ ea ~ oa ~ ao ~ oə ~ ɨ ~ aə ~ ɨː ~ eː ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
46
phonemes

Central Khmer has 46 phonemes, placing it in the 77th percentile of languages by inventory size — larger than most languages.

Compared to English

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

In Central Khmer, not in English (32)

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

ɲ t ɗ ɓ p ʔ k r o u uː ɔ ɔː ou ɪ ə əː aː a ie əɨ aɛ uə ɨə ea oa ao oə ɨ aə ɨː eː

In English, not in Central Khmer (31)

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

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

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Lao 49%
Compare →
Khasi 46%
Compare →
Kimeru 46%
Compare →
Bemba 45%
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Mambila 44%
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Compare Central Khmer 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