/ˈaɪ.pə/

IRISH

Family: Indo-European · Eurasia · ISO gle · Glottolog
45
Consonants
24
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in IRISH — a Indo-European language spoken in Eurasia . With 69 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 ~ t̠ʃ ~

approximant

w ~ j ~

fricative

ɸʲ ~ βʲ ~ ɸʷˠ ~ h ~ ç ~ x ~ ɣ ~

lateral fricative

l̥ˠ * l̪ˠ ~ lʲ ~ lˠ ~ l̥ʲ * l̠ ~

nasal

nʲ ~ n̪ ~ nˠ ~ n̥ʲ * n̥ˠ * mʷˠ ~ mʲ ~ n̠ ~ ŋʲ ~ ŋ ~

sibilant fricative

s ~ ʃ ~

stop

tʰ ~ t̪ʰ ~ d̪ ~ d ~ bʷˠ ~ pʷˠʰ ~ pʲʰ ~ bʲ ~ kʰ ~ kʲʰ ~ ɡʲ ~ ɡ ~

tap

ɾ̥ˠ * ɾʲ ~ ɾˠ ~ ɾ̥ʲ *

Vowels

ʊ ~ o̞ ~ uː ~ oː ~ iː ~ ɪ ~ ɑː ~ uə ~ əu ~ əi ~ a ~ iə ~ e̞ ~ eː ~ õː ~ ʊ̃ ~ õ̞ ~ ũː ~ ɪ̃ ~ ĩː ~ ɑ̃ː ~ ẽː ~ ã ~ ẽ̞ ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
69
phonemes

IRISH has 69 phonemes, placing it in the 97th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

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

In IRISH, not in English (55)

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

ɸʲ βʲ ɸʷˠ ç x ɣ l̥ˠ l̪ˠ lʲ lˠ l̥ʲ l̠ nʲ n̪ nˠ n̥ʲ n̥ˠ mʷˠ mʲ n̠ ŋʲ tʰ t̪ʰ d̪ bʷˠ pʷˠʰ pʲʰ bʲ kʰ kʲʰ ɡʲ ɾ̥ˠ ɾʲ ɾˠ ɾ̥ʲ o̞ uː ɪ ɑː uə əu əi a e̞ eː õː ʊ̃ õ̞ ũː ɪ̃ ĩː ɑ̃ː ẽː ã ẽ̞

In English, not in IRISH (31)

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

l m n pʰ e i b z ʒ f v ts ɛ ɒ ɐ ð θ ɘ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs IRISH →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Bhumij 21%
Compare →
Lithuanian 21%
Compare →
Urdu 20%
Compare →
Kurdish 19%
Compare →
Bulgarian 18%
Compare →

Compare IRISH 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