/ˈaɪ.pə/

Wolof

Family: Atlantic-Congo · Africa · ISO wol · Glottolog · 5,500,000 speakers
38
Consonants
16
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Wolof — a Atlantic-Congo language spoken in Africa . With 54 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 ~ d̠ʒː ~ t̠ʃ ~ n̠d̠ʒ ~ n̠t̠ʃ ~

approximant

w ~ j ~

fricative

f ~ x ~

lateral fricative

lː ~ l ~

nasal

nː ~ n ~ m ~ mː ~ ɲː ~ ɲ ~ ŋː ~ ŋ ~

sibilant fricative

s ~

stop

dː ~ t ~ nd ~ d ~ nt ~ b ~ p ~ bː ~ mb ~ mp ~ ɴq ~ q ~ ŋɡ ~ k ~ ɡ ~ ɡː ~ ŋk ~

tap

ɾ ~

Vowels

ɔ ~ uː ~ u ~ oː ~ o ~ ɐ ~ ɔː ~ i ~ iː ~ ɛː ~ aː ~ ɛ ~ a ~ e ~ eː ~ ə ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
54
phonemes

Wolof has 54 phonemes, placing it in the 87th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

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

In Wolof, not in English (35)

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

d̠ʒː n̠d̠ʒ n̠t̠ʃ x lː nː mː ɲː ɲ ŋː dː t nd nt p bː mb mp ɴq q ŋɡ k ɡː ŋk ɾ ɔ uː u o ɔː ɛː aː a eː ə

In English, not in Wolof (26)

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

h pʰ ʊ z ʃ ʒ v ts ɒ ð θ ɘ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː iə eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs Wolof →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Mambila 56%
Compare →
fulfulde (NGA) 50%
Compare →
Slovene 47%
Compare →
Luganda 45%
Compare →
Kabiyɛ 44%
Compare →

Compare Wolof 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