/ˈaɪ.pə/

Lithuanian

Family: Indo-European · Eurasia · ISO lit · Glottolog · 2,800,000 speakers
45
Consonants
15
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Lithuanian — 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

tsʲ ~ t̪s̪ ~ d̪z̪ ~ dzʲ ~ d̠ʒ ~ t̠ʃ ~ d̠ʒʲ ~ t̠ʃʲ ~

approximant

j ~

fricative

fʲ ~ v ~ f ~ vʲ ~ ɣʲ ~ x ~ ɣ ~ xʲ ~

lateral fricative

ɫ ~ lʲ ~

nasal

n̪ ~ nʲ ~ mʲ ~ m ~

sibilant fricative

z̪ ~ s̪ ~ zʲ ~ sʲ ~ ʒ ~ ʃ ~ ʃʲ ~ ʒʲ ~

stop

dʲ ~ t̪ ~ tʲ ~ d̪ ~ pʲ ~ b ~ bʲ ~ p ~ ɡ ~ k ~ kʲ ~ ɡʲ ~

trill

r ~ rʲ ~

Vowels

ɔ ~ ɐ ~ ʊ ~ uː ~ oː ~ ʊ̯ ~ ɪ̯ ~ iː ~ ɪ ~ uə ~ æː ~ äː ~ eː ~ ɛ ~ iə ~

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

How large is this inventory?

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

Lithuanian 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 Lithuanian, these are the sounds that will require the most focused practice.

In Lithuanian, not in English (44)

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

tsʲ t̪s̪ d̪z̪ dzʲ d̠ʒʲ t̠ʃʲ fʲ vʲ ɣʲ x ɣ xʲ ɫ lʲ n̪ nʲ mʲ z̪ s̪ zʲ sʲ ʃʲ ʒʲ dʲ t̪ tʲ d̪ pʲ bʲ p k kʲ ɡʲ r rʲ ɔ uː ʊ̯ ɪ̯ ɪ uə æː äː eː

In English, not in Lithuanian (29)

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

h l n pʰ s w ŋ e i d z ts ɒ ð θ ɘ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs Lithuanian →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Romanian 46%
Compare →
Ukrainian 38%
Compare →
Kurdish 34%
Compare →
Bulgarian 31%
Compare →
Russian 31%
Compare →

Compare Lithuanian 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