/ˈaɪ.pə/

fulfulde (NGA)

Family: Atlantic-Congo · Africa · ISO fuv · Glottolog · 16,000,000 speakers
47
Consonants
10
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in fulfulde (NGA) — a Atlantic-Congo language spoken in Africa . With 57 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

d̠ʒ ~ n̠d̠ʒ ~ t̠ʃː ~ t̠ʃ ~ d̠ʒː ~

approximant

w ~ j ~

fricative

h ~ f ~

lateral fricative

lː ~ l ~

nasal

n ~ nː ~ mː ~ m ~ ɲ ~ ɲː ~ ŋː ~ ŋ ~

sibilant fricative

s ~

stop

ɗ ~ t ~ ɗː ~ dː ~ nd ~ ndː ~ d ~ tː ~ mb ~ p ~ b ~ pː ~ bː ~ ɓ ~ ɓː ~ mbː ~ ʔ ~ ʔʲ ~ ʔʲː ~ ɡ ~ ɡː ~ ŋɡ ~ k ~ ŋɡː ~ kː ~

trill

r ~ rː ~

Vowels

ɔ ~ oː ~ uː ~ ʊ ~ iː ~ ɪ ~ ɑː ~ ɛ ~ a ~ eː ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
57
phonemes

fulfulde (NGA) has 57 phonemes, placing it in the 90th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

For English speakers learning fulfulde (NGA), these are the sounds that will require the most focused practice.

In fulfulde (NGA), not in English (39)

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

n̠d̠ʒ t̠ʃː d̠ʒː lː nː mː ɲ ɲː ŋː ɗ t ɗː dː nd ndː tː mb p pː bː ɓ ɓː mbː ʔ ʔʲ ʔʲː ɡː ŋɡ k ŋɡː kː r rː ɔ uː ɪ ɑː a eː

In English, not in fulfulde (NGA) (27)

English speakers learning fulfulde (NGA) won't use these sounds — they'll need to suppress them.

pʰ e i z ʃ ʒ v ts ɒ ɐ ð θ ɘ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː iə eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs fulfulde (NGA) →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Wolof 50%
Compare →
Mambila 43%
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Hungarian 40%
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Finnish 39%
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Sinhalese 38%
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Compare fulfulde (NGA) 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