/ˈaɪ.pə/

KLAO

Family: Kru · Africa · ISO klu · Glottolog
11
Consonants
16
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in KLAO — a Kru language spoken in Africa . With 27 phonemes, it has an average-sized 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 ~ cç ~

approximant

w ~

fricative

f ~

sibilant fricative

s̪|s ~

stop

d̪|d ~ t̪|t ~ p ~ b ~ kp ~ ɡb ~

Vowels

ɔ ~ u ~ o ~ o̞ ~ i ~ ɛ ~ e ~ a ~ e̞ ~ õ̞ ~ ũ ~ ɔ̃ ~ ĩ ~ ɛ̃ ~ ã ~ ẽ̞ ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
27
phonemes

KLAO has 27 phonemes, placing it in the 23th percentile of languages by inventory size — smaller than most languages.

Compared to English

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

In KLAO, not in English (21)

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

ɟʝ cç s̪|s d̪|d t̪|t p kp ɡb ɔ u o o̞ a e̞ õ̞ ũ ɔ̃ ĩ ɛ̃ ã ẽ̞

In English, not in KLAO (39)

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

h j l m n pʰ s t̠ʃ ŋ iː oː d ʊ z ɡ ʃ ʒ v 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 KLAO →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Dioula 38%
Compare →
Fɔn 35%
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TETUN 35%
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Ewe 31%
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Yorouba 31%
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Compare KLAO 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