/ˈaɪ.pə/

Sirionó

Family: Tupian · South America · ISO srq · Glottolog
18
Consonants
12
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Sirionó — a Tupian language spoken in South America . With 30 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 ~

approximant

w ~ j ~

fricative

h ~

nasal

n̥ ~ n ~ m ~ ɲ ~ ŋ ~

sibilant fricative

s ~ ʃ ~

stop

t ~ p ~ b ~ kʲ ~ k ~ kʷ ~

tap

ɾ ~

Vowels

o ~ u ~ i ~ a ~ e ~ ɨ ~ ũ ~ õ ~ ĩ ~ ẽ ~ ɨ̃ ~ ã ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
30
phonemes

Sirionó has 30 phonemes, placing it in the 33th percentile of languages by inventory size — smaller than most languages.

Compared to English

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

In Sirionó, not in English (18)

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

n̥ ɲ t p kʲ k kʷ ɾ o u a ɨ ũ õ ĩ ẽ ɨ̃ ã

In English, not in Sirionó (33)

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

l pʰ iː oː d ʊ 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 Sirionó →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Balinese 50%
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Dioula 50%
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Bugis 49%
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Makassar 47%
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Sundanese 47%
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Compare Sirionó 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