/ˈaɪ.pə/

YANYUWA

Family: Pama-Nyungan · Australia · ISO jao · Glottolog
29
Consonants
3
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in YANYUWA — a Pama-Nyungan language spoken in Australia . With 32 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

approximant

w ~ j ~

lateral fricative

l̪ ~ l ~ l̠ ~ ɭ ~

nasal

n̪ ~ n ~ m ~ n̠ ~ ɳ ~ ŋ ~ ŋʲ ~

stop

nt ~ n̪t̪ ~ t̪ ~ t ~ mp ~ p ~ t̠ ~ n̠t̠ ~ ɳʈ ~ ʈ ~ ŋkʲ ~ kʲ ~ k ~ ŋk ~

tap

ɽ ~

trill

r ~

Vowels

ʊ ~ ɪ ~ a ~

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

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
32
phonemes

YANYUWA has 32 phonemes, placing it in the 37th percentile of languages by inventory size — smaller than most languages.

Compared to English

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

In YANYUWA, not in English (25)

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

l̪ l̠ ɭ n̪ n̠ ɳ ŋʲ nt n̪t̪ t̪ t mp p t̠ n̠t̠ ɳʈ ʈ ŋkʲ kʲ k ŋk ɽ r ɪ a

In English, not in YANYUWA (38)

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

h pʰ s t̠ʃ e i iː oː b d z ɡ ʃ 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 YANYUWA →

Most phonologically similar languages

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

Wubuy 43%
Compare →
Maung 37%
Compare →
Nyangumata 37%
Compare →
Kota 35%
Compare →
Western Desert 34%
Compare →

Compare YANYUWA 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