/ˈaɪ.pə/

WEST MAKIAN

Family: North Halmahera · Papunesia · ISO mqs · Glottolog
17
Consonants
6
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in WEST MAKIAN — a North Halmahera language spoken in Papunesia . With 23 phonemes, it has a relatively small 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 ~ d̠ʒ ~

fricative

ɸ ~ h ~

lateral fricative

l̪|l ~

nasal

n̪ ~ m ~ n̠ ~ ŋ ~

sibilant fricative

s̪|s ~

stop

d̪ ~ t̪ ~ p ~ b ~ k ~ ɡ ~

trill

r̪|r ~

Vowels

o̞ ~ u ~ i ~ ə * e̞ ~ a ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
23
phonemes

WEST MAKIAN has 23 phonemes, placing it in the 11th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably small inventory.

Compared to English

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

In WEST MAKIAN, not in English (15)

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

ɸ l̪|l n̪ n̠ s̪|s d̪ t̪ p k r̪|r o̞ u ə e̞ a

In English, not in WEST MAKIAN (37)

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

j l n pʰ s w e iː oː d ʊ z ʃ ʒ f v 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 WEST MAKIAN →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

MANCHU 55%
Compare →
TETUN 45%
Compare →
Evenki 41%
Compare →
Ilocano 41%
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Sundanese 40%
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Compare WEST MAKIAN 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