/ˈaɪ.pə/

HADZA

Family: Language isolate · Africa · ISO hts · Glottolog
57
Consonants
5
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in HADZA — a Language isolate language spoken in Africa . With 62 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

tsʰ ~ ndz ~ dz ~ ts ~ tsʼ ~ t̠ʃ ~ t̠ʃʰ ~ t̠ʃʼ ~ d̠ʒ ~ n̠d̠ʒ ~

approximant

w ~ j ~

click

ŋ̥ǃ̠ˀ ~ kǀ͓ ~ ŋǀ͓ ~ kǀ͓ʰ ~ kǁ͓ ~ kǁ͓ʰ ~ kǃ̠ ~ kǃ̠ʰ ~ ŋǁ͓ ~ ŋǃ̠ ~ ŋ̥ǀ͓ˀ ~ ŋ̥ǁ͓ˀ ~

fricative

h ~ f ~

lateral fricative

l ~ ɬ ~

nasal

n̪ ~ m ~ ɲ ~ ŋ ~

sibilant fricative

s ~ ʃ ~

stop

tɬʼ ~ n̪t̪ʰ ~ n̪d̪ ~ tɬ ~ tɬʰ ~ d̪ ~ t̪ ~ t̪ʰ ~ pʼ * p ~ mb ~ pʰ ~ b ~ mpʰ ~ ʔ ~ k ~ ɡ ~ kʰ ~ ŋɡ ~ kʷ ~ kʷʰ ~ kʷʼ ~ kʼ ~

Vowels

o̞ ~ u ~ i ~ e̞ ~ a ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
62
phonemes

HADZA has 62 phonemes, placing it in the 93th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

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

In HADZA, not in English (46)

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

tsʰ ndz dz tsʼ t̠ʃʰ t̠ʃʼ n̠d̠ʒ ŋ̥ǃ̠ˀ kǀ͓ ŋǀ͓ kǀ͓ʰ kǁ͓ kǁ͓ʰ kǃ̠ kǃ̠ʰ ŋǁ͓ ŋǃ̠ ŋ̥ǀ͓ˀ ŋ̥ǁ͓ˀ ɬ n̪ ɲ tɬʼ n̪t̪ʰ n̪d̪ tɬ tɬʰ d̪ t̪ t̪ʰ pʼ p mb mpʰ ʔ k kʰ ŋɡ kʷ kʷʰ kʷʼ kʼ o̞ u e̞ a

In English, not in HADZA (29)

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

n e iː oː d ʊ z ʒ v 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 HADZA →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Tiv 32%
Compare →
Salish 31%
Compare →
Armenian 30%
Compare →
Sesotho 30%
Compare →
Indonesian 29%
Compare →

Compare HADZA 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