/ˈaɪ.pə/

KALA LAGAW YA

Family: Pama-Nyungan · Australia · ISO mwp · Glottolog
18
Consonants
6
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in KALA LAGAW YA — a Pama-Nyungan language spoken in Australia . With 24 phonemes, it has a relatively small 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

approximant

w ~ j ~

lateral fricative

l ~

nasal

n ~ m ~ n̠ ~ ŋ ~

sibilant fricative

z ~ s ~

stop

t ~ d ~ t̪ ~ d̪ ~ b ~ p ~ k ~ ɡ ~

trill

r ~

Vowels

u ~ o̞ ~ i ~ a ~ ə ~ e̞ ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
24
phonemes

KALA LAGAW YA has 24 phonemes, placing it in the 14th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably small inventory.

Compared to English

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

In KALA LAGAW YA, not in English (12)

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

n̠ t t̪ d̪ p k r u o̞ a ə e̞

In English, not in KALA LAGAW YA (33)

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

h pʰ t̠ʃ e iː oː ʊ ʃ ʒ f v ts d̠ʒ 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 KALA LAGAW YA →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

BODO 61%
Compare →
Cebuano 61%
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Balinese 60%
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Bugis 58%
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Makassar 57%
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Compare KALA LAGAW YA 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