/ˈaɪ.pə/

Ojibwa

Family: Algic · North America · ISO ojg · Glottolog
16
Consonants
11
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Ojibwa — a Algic language spoken in North America . With 27 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

t̠ʃ ~ t̠͈ʃː ~

lateral fricative

l ~

nasal

n ~ m ~

sibilant fricative

s͈ː ~ s ~ ʃ ~ ʃ͈ː ~

stop

t͈ː ~ t ~ p͈ː ~ p ~ ʔ ~ k ~ k͈ː ~

Vowels

oː ~ ʊ ~ ɪ ~ iː ~ a ~ ɛː ~ aː ~ õː ~ ĩː ~ ɛ̃ː ~ ãː ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
27
phonemes

Ojibwa has 27 phonemes, placing it in the 23th percentile of languages by inventory size — smaller than most languages.

Compared to English

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

In Ojibwa, not in English (18)

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

t̠͈ʃː s͈ː ʃ͈ː t͈ː t p͈ː p ʔ k k͈ː ɪ a ɛː aː õː ĩː ɛ̃ː ãː

In English, not in Ojibwa (36)

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

h j pʰ w ŋ e i b d z ɡ ʒ f v ts 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 Ojibwa →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Tagalog 34%
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Bemba 33%
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Navaho 33%
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Nasioi 32%
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Hawaiian 31%
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Compare Ojibwa 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