/ˈaɪ.pə/

Toba-Batak

Family: Austronesian · Papunesia · ISO bbc · Glottolog
18
Consonants
9
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Toba-Batak — a Austronesian language spoken in Papunesia . 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

d̠ʒ ~ t̠ʃ ~

approximant

w ~ j ~

fricative

h ~

lateral fricative

l ~

nasal

n ~ m ~ ŋ ~

sibilant fricative

s ~

stop

t ~ d ~ b ~ p ~ ʔ ~ ɡ ~ k ~

trill

r ~

Vowels

u ~ o ~ ɔ ~ i ~ ɛ ~ a ~ e ~ æ ~ ə ~

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

How large is this inventory?

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

Toba-Batak 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 Toba-Batak, these are the sounds that will require the most focused practice.

In Toba-Batak, not in English (11)

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

t p ʔ k r u o ɔ a æ ə

In English, not in Toba-Batak (29)

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

pʰ iː oː ʊ z ʃ ʒ f v ts ɒ ɐ ð θ ɘ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː iə eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs Toba-Batak →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Bugis 86%
Compare →
Balinese 82%
Compare →
Kapampangan 81%
Compare →
Hiligaynon 79%
Compare →
Cebuano 78%
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Compare Toba-Batak 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