/ˈaɪ.pə/

NANAI

Family: Tungusic · Eurasia · ISO gld · Glottolog
18
Consonants
6
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in NANAI — a Tungusic language spoken in Eurasia . With 24 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

d̠ʒ ~ t̠ʃ ~

fricative

β ~ ʝ ~ x ~

lateral fricative

l̪|l ~

nasal

n̪|n ~ m ~ ɲ ~ ŋ ~

sibilant fricative

s̪|s ~

stop

t̪|t ~ d̪|d ~ b ~ p ~ ɡ ~ k ~

trill

r̪|r ~

Vowels

u ~ o ~ ɪ ~ i ~ ɘ ~ a ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
24
phonemes

NANAI has 24 phonemes, placing it in the 14th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably small inventory.

Compared to English

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

In NANAI, not in English (16)

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

β ʝ x l̪|l n̪|n ɲ s̪|s t̪|t d̪|d p k r̪|r u o ɪ a

In English, not in NANAI (37)

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

h j l n pʰ s w e iː oː d ʊ z ʃ ʒ f v ts ɛ ɒ ɐ ð θ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː iə eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs NANAI →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

TETUN 43%
Compare →
Balinese 37%
Compare →
Bugis 36%
Compare →
Evenki 36%
Compare →
MANCHU 36%
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Compare NANAI 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