/ˈaɪ.pə/

Sindhi

Family: Indo-European · Eurasia · ISO snd · Glottolog · 30,000,000 speakers
47
Consonants
17
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Sindhi — a Indo-European language spoken in Eurasia . With 64 phonemes, it has a relatively large 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 ~ d̠̤ʒ̤ ~ t̠ʃʰ ~ t̠ʃ ~

approximant

j ~

fricative

h ~ v ~ f ~ ɣ ~ x ~

lateral fricative

l̤ ~ l ~

nasal

n̤ ~ n ~ m ~ ɲ ~ ɳ ~ ɳ̤ ~ ŋ ~

sibilant fricative

z ~ s ~ ʃ ~

stop

d̪̤ ~ t̪ ~ d̪ ~ t̪ʰ ~ pʰ ~ p ~ b ~ b̤ ~ ɓ ~ ʔ ~ ʄ ~ ʈʰ ~ ɖ̤ ~ ᶑ ~ ɖ ~ ʈ ~ ɠ ~ ɡ ~ ɡ̤ ~ kʰ ~ k ~

tap

ɽ ~ ɽ̤ ~

trill

r̤ ~ r ~

Vowels

ʊ̆ ~ u ~ o ~ ɐ̆ ~ ɔ ~ ɪ̆ ~ i ~ ɑ ~ æ ~ e ~ ũ ~ ɔ̃ ~ õ ~ ĩ ~ ɑ̃ ~ æ̃ ~ ẽ ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
64
phonemes

Sindhi has 64 phonemes, placing it in the 94th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

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

In Sindhi, not in English (46)

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

d̠̤ʒ̤ t̠ʃʰ ɣ x l̤ n̤ ɲ ɳ ɳ̤ d̪̤ t̪ d̪ t̪ʰ p b̤ ɓ ʔ ʄ ʈʰ ɖ̤ ᶑ ɖ ʈ ɠ ɡ̤ kʰ k ɽ ɽ̤ r̤ r ʊ̆ u o ɐ̆ ɔ ɪ̆ ɑ æ ũ ɔ̃ õ ĩ ɑ̃ æ̃ ẽ

In English, not in Sindhi (27)

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

w iː oː d ʊ ʒ ts 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 Sindhi →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Awadhi 49%
Compare →
Maithili 49%
Compare →
Bhojpuri 44%
Compare →
Magahi 44%
Compare →
Siraiki 39%
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Compare Sindhi 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