/ˈaɪ.pə/

Seneca

Family: Iroquoian · North America · ISO see · Glottolog
11
Consonants
16
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Seneca — a Iroquoian 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

dz ~

approximant

w ~ j ~

fricative

h ~

nasal

n ~ m ~

sibilant fricative

s̻ ~

stop

t ~ b ~ ʔ ~ k ~

Vowels

u ~ o̞ː ~ o̞ ~ uː ~ iː ~ i ~ æː ~ æ ~ eː ~ e ~ aː ~ a ~ ɔ̃ ~ ɔ̃ː ~ ɛ̃ ~ ɛ̃ː ~

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

How large is this inventory?

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

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

In Seneca, not in English (18)

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

dz s̻ t ʔ k u o̞ː o̞ uː æː æ eː aː a ɔ̃ ɔ̃ː ɛ̃ ɛ̃ː

In English, not in Seneca (36)

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

l pʰ s t̠ʃ ŋ oː d ʊ z ɡ ʃ 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 Seneca →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Hawaiian 39%
Compare →
Kimeru 38%
Compare →
Telefol 38%
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Bemba 37%
Compare →
Mandingo 36%
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Compare Seneca 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