/ˈaɪ.pə/

Telugu

Family: Dravidian · Eurasia · ISO tel · Glottolog · 82,000,000 speakers
47
Consonants
21
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Telugu — a Dravidian language spoken in Eurasia . With 68 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

dz ~ dzː ~ tsː ~ ts ~ t̠ʃ ~

approximant

β̞ ~ β̞ː ~ j ~

fricative

ɦ ~ f ~

lateral fricative

l ~ lː ~ ɭ ~ ɭː ~

nasal

n ~ nː ~ mː ~ m ~ ɳ ~

sibilant fricative

s ~ ʃ ~ ʂ ~

stop

dː ~ d̤ ~ d ~ tː ~ t ~ bː ~ b̤ ~ b ~ pʰ ~ p ~ pː ~ ɖ̤ ~ ɖ ~ ʈ ~ ʈʰ ~ ɖː ~ ʈː ~ ɡː ~ ɡ̤ ~ k ~ kʰ ~ ɡ ~ kː ~

tap

ɾ ~

trill

rː ~

Vowels

o̞ ~ ɒː ~ ʊ ~ ʊː ~ ɔː ~ uː ~ u ~ oː ~ o ~ ɪ ~ ɪː ~ iː ~ i ~ ɑ ~ e ~ eː ~ ɛ ~ ɛː ~ æː ~ aː ~ ə ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
68
phonemes

Telugu has 68 phonemes, placing it in the 96th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

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

In Telugu, not in English (49)

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

dz dzː tsː β̞ β̞ː ɦ lː ɭ ɭː nː mː ɳ ʂ dː d̤ tː t bː b̤ p pː ɖ̤ ɖ ʈ ʈʰ ɖː ʈː ɡː ɡ̤ k kʰ kː ɾ rː o̞ ɒː ʊː ɔː uː u o ɪ ɪː ɑ eː ɛː æː aː ə

In English, not in Telugu (26)

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

h w ŋ z ʒ v d̠ʒ ɒ ɐ ð θ ɘ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː iə eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs Telugu →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Sinhalese 44%
Compare →
Hungarian 39%
Compare →
Malayalam 39%
Compare →
Somali 38%
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Wolof 37%
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Compare Telugu 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