/ˈaɪ.pə/

Maori

Family: Austronesian · Papunesia · ISO mri · Glottolog · 185,000 speakers
10
Consonants
10
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Maori — a Austronesian language spoken in Papunesia . With 20 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 ~

fricative

h ~ f ~

nasal

n ~ m ~ ŋ ~

stop

t ~ p ~ k ~

tap

ɾ ~

Vowels

oː ~ u ~ uː ~ o̞ ~ iː ~ i ~ ɑ ~ ɑː ~ ɛ ~ ɛː ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
20
phonemes

Maori has 20 phonemes, placing it in the 5th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably small inventory.

Compared to English

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

In Maori, not in English (10)

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

t p k ɾ u uː o̞ ɑ ɑː ɛː

In English, not in Maori (35)

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

j l pʰ s t̠ʃ e b 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 Maori →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Nasioi 52%
Compare →
Hawaiian 44%
Compare →
Sentani 42%
Compare →
Telefol 42%
Compare →
Bemba 41%
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Compare Maori 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