/ˈaɪ.pə/

Chipewyan

Family: Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit · North America · ISO chp · Glottolog
39
Consonants
18
Vowels
4
Tones

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Chipewyan — a Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit language spoken in North America . With 61 phonemes, it has a relatively large inventory compared to the world's languages. Like many languages in its region, Chipewyan is tonal — the pitch at which a syllable is spoken changes its meaning. 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

t̪θʼ ~ tsʼ ~ tsʰ ~ ts ~ t̪θ ~ t̪θʰ ~ t̠ʃʼ ~ t̠ʃ ~ t̠ʃʰ ~ kxʷ ~ kx ~

approximant

j ~

fricative

θ ~ ð ~ h ~ xʷ ~ ɣ ~ ɣʷ ~ x ~

lateral fricative

l̥ ~ l ~

nasal

n ~ m ~

sibilant fricative

z ~ s ~ ʃ ~

stop

t ~ tʼ ~ tɬ ~ tɬʼ ~ tɬʰ ~ p ~ ʔ ~ kʷ ~ kʷʼ ~ kʼ ~ k ~ tx ~

trill

r ~

Vowels

o ~ uː ~ u ~ iː ~ i ~ aː ~ a ~ ɛː ~ ɛ ~ e ~ ũ ~ ũː ~ ĩː ~ ĩ ~ ɛ̃ː ~ ã ~ ãː ~ ɛ̃ ~

Tones

˩˨ ˥˦ ˥ ˩

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
61
phonemes

Chipewyan has 61 phonemes, placing it in the 93th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

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

In Chipewyan, not in English (40)

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

t̪θʼ tsʼ tsʰ t̪θ t̪θʰ t̠ʃʼ t̠ʃʰ kxʷ xʷ ɣ ɣʷ x l̥ t tʼ tɬ tɬʼ tɬʰ p ʔ kʷ kʷʼ kʼ k tx r o uː u aː a ɛː ũ ũː ĩː ĩ ɛ̃ː ã ãː ɛ̃

In English, not in Chipewyan (28)

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

pʰ w ŋ oː b d ʊ ɡ ʒ f v d̠ʒ ɒ ɐ ɘ ɹ ɐː ʉː iə eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs Chipewyan →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Navaho 49%
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Chasta Costa 48%
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Nootka 37%
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Squamish 36%
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Hausa 32%
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Compare Chipewyan 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