/ˈaɪ.pə/

Marathi

Family: Indo-European · Eurasia · ISO mar · Glottolog · 83,000,000 speakers
42
Consonants
13
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Marathi — a Indo-European language spoken in Eurasia . With 55 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

ts ~ dz ~ tsʰ ~ d̤z ~ cçʰ ~ ɟ̤ʝ ~ cç ~ ɟʝ ~

approximant

w ~ w̤ ~ j ~

fricative

h ~ f ~ ç ~

lateral fricative

l̤ ~ l ~

nasal

n̪̤ ~ n̪ ~ m̤ ~ m ~ ɳ̤ ~ ɳ ~

sibilant fricative

s ~ ʂ ~

stop

t̪ ~ d̪̤ ~ d̪ ~ t̪ʰ ~ b̤ ~ p ~ pʰ ~ b ~ ʈʰ ~ ɖ ~ ʈ ~ ɖ̤ ~ ɡ ~ ɡʱ ~ kʰ ~ k ~

tap

ɾ̤ ~ ɾ ~

Vowels

o ~ uː ~ ɔ ~ u ~ i ~ iː ~ əː ~ e ~ a ~ ɨː ~ ɨ ~ ə ~ æ ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
55
phonemes

Marathi has 55 phonemes, placing it in the 88th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

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

In Marathi, not in English (41)

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

dz tsʰ d̤z cçʰ ɟ̤ʝ cç ɟʝ w̤ ç l̤ n̪̤ n̪ m̤ ɳ̤ ɳ ʂ t̪ d̪̤ d̪ t̪ʰ b̤ p ʈʰ ɖ ʈ ɖ̤ ɡʱ kʰ k ɾ̤ ɾ o uː ɔ u əː a ɨː ɨ ə æ

In English, not in Marathi (31)

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

n t̠ʃ ŋ oː d ʊ z ʃ ʒ v 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 Marathi →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Kannada 65%
Compare →
Kumauni 56%
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Awadhi 54%
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Oriya 53%
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Sanskrit 52%
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Compare Marathi 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