/ˈaɪ.pə/

NAHUATL

Family: Uto-Aztecan · North America · ISO ncj · Glottolog
16
Consonants
4
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in NAHUATL — a Uto-Aztecan language spoken in North America . 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

affricate

ts ~ t̠ʃ ~

approximant

β̞ ~ j ~

fricative

ɸ̞ ~

lateral fricative

l ~

nasal

n̪ ~ m ~

sibilant fricative

s ~ ʃ ~

stop

t̪ ~ tɬ ~ p ~ ʔ ~ k ~ kʷ ~

Vowels

o̞ ~ i ~ ɛ ~ a ~

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

How large is this inventory?

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

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

In NAHUATL, not in English (11)

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

β̞ ɸ̞ n̪ t̪ tɬ p ʔ k kʷ o̞ a

In English, not in NAHUATL (36)

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

h n pʰ w ŋ e iː oː b d ʊ z ɡ ʒ f v 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 NAHUATL →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Ilocano 36%
Compare →
Sundanese 35%
Compare →
Cebuano 32%
Compare →
FIJIAN 32%
Compare →
MANCHU 32%
Compare →

Compare NAHUATL 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