/ˈaɪ.pə/

Gujarati

Family: Indo-European · Eurasia · ISO guj · Glottolog · 52,000,000 speakers
35
Consonants
25
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Gujarati — a Indo-European language spoken in Eurasia . With 60 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

ɟʝ ~ ɟ̤ʝ ~ cçʰ ~ cç ~

approximant

w ~ j ~

fricative

h ~ v ~ ç ~

lateral fricative

l ~ ɭ ~

nasal

n̪ ~ m ~ ɲ ~ ɳ ~ ŋ ~

sibilant fricative

s ~ ʂ ~

stop

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

tap

ɾ ~ ɽ ~

Vowels

ṳː ~ o̤ ~ ɔ̤ ~ o ~ ʊ ~ u ~ ɔ ~ i ~ ɪ ~ i̤ː ~ ɑ̤ ~ e ~ ɛ ~ a ~ ə ~ e̤ ~ ɛ̤ ~ ə̤ ~ ũ ~ õ ~ ũː ~ õː ~ ɑ̃ ~ ã ~ ẽ̞ ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
60
phonemes

Gujarati has 60 phonemes, placing it in the 93th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

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

In Gujarati, not in English (45)

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

ɟʝ ɟ̤ʝ cçʰ cç ç ɭ n̪ ɲ ɳ ʂ t̪ d̪ t̪ʰ d̪̤ b̤ p ʈ ɖ ɖ̤ ʈʰ k kʰ ɾ ɽ ṳː o̤ ɔ̤ o u ɔ ɪ i̤ː ɑ̤ a ə e̤ ɛ̤ ə̤ ũ õ ũː õː ɑ̃ ã ẽ̞

In English, not in Gujarati (30)

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

n t̠ʃ iː oː d z ʃ ʒ f 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 Gujarati →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Kumauni 65%
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Oriya 56%
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Kannada 55%
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Bhumij 52%
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Awadhi 50%
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Compare Gujarati 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