/ˈaɪ.pə/

MBA-NE

Family: Atlantic-Congo · Africa · ISO mfc · Glottolog
24
Consonants
7
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in MBA-NE — a Atlantic-Congo language spoken in Africa . With 31 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

n̠d̠ʒ ~ d̠ʒ ~ t̠ʃ ~

approximant

w ~ j ~

fricative

v ~ f ~

lateral fricative

l̪|l ~

nasal

n̪|n ~ n̠ ~

stop

t̪|t ~ n̪d̪|nd ~ d̪|d ~ ɗ̪|ɗ ~ ɓ ~ ɡb ~ ŋmɡb ~ b ~ p ~ mb ~ kp ~ k ~ ɡ ~ ŋɡ ~

Vowels

u ~ ɔ * o ~ i ~ a ~ e ~ ɛ *

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
31
phonemes

MBA-NE has 31 phonemes, placing it in the 35th percentile of languages by inventory size — smaller than most languages.

Compared to English

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

In MBA-NE, not in English (20)

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

n̠d̠ʒ l̪|l n̪|n n̠ t̪|t n̪d̪|nd d̪|d ɗ̪|ɗ ɓ ɡb ŋmɡb p mb kp k ŋɡ u ɔ o a

In English, not in MBA-NE (34)

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

h l m n pʰ s ŋ iː oː d ʊ z ʃ ʒ ts ɒ ɐ ð θ ɘ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː iə eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs MBA-NE →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Tiv 45%
Compare →
Dioula 37%
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Hiligaynon 37%
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Mambila 37%
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Fɔn 35%
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Compare MBA-NE 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