Most phonemically diverse language?
May 6, 2010 11:14 PM Subscribe
What language has the most phonemes?
I've seen some good discussions on individual languages and the range of phonemes within them (phonemes being, according to a definition I saw on a previous post, "the set of sounds used in a language"). So English has got a few ones that, say, Korean doesn't have: r, l, th, v, z, etc. But then Korean has a few that English doesn't have (ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ, etc.). Hebrew and Arabic have some gutturals that aren't present in either, Russian has the myakiy znak, and Japanese has the final nasal "n" consonant. It's like playing some Pokemon game where each has certain aspects but lacks others.
Anyway, my question is, what languages might one suggest are the MOST phonemically diverse?
I've seen some good discussions on individual languages and the range of phonemes within them (phonemes being, according to a definition I saw on a previous post, "the set of sounds used in a language"). So English has got a few ones that, say, Korean doesn't have: r, l, th, v, z, etc. But then Korean has a few that English doesn't have (ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ, etc.). Hebrew and Arabic have some gutturals that aren't present in either, Russian has the myakiy znak, and Japanese has the final nasal "n" consonant. It's like playing some Pokemon game where each has certain aspects but lacks others.
Anyway, my question is, what languages might one suggest are the MOST phonemically diverse?
The Khoisan languages and the Northwest Caucasian family are the best places to look for huge inventories.
(The Taa language that Dee mentions is one of the Khoisan languages. The champion among the Northwest Caucasian family used to be Ubykh, with 86 or so phonemes, but it's no longer spoken — its last speakers died in the 1990s.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 11:33 PM on May 6, 2010
(The Taa language that Dee mentions is one of the Khoisan languages. The champion among the Northwest Caucasian family used to be Ubykh, with 86 or so phonemes, but it's no longer spoken — its last speakers died in the 1990s.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 11:33 PM on May 6, 2010
Er, make that "huge phoneme inventories."
posted by nebulawindphone at 11:36 PM on May 6, 2010
posted by nebulawindphone at 11:36 PM on May 6, 2010
This question got me wondering about the "official" number of phonemes in English (though quite dubious about the reality of it) and was pleased to see little agreement, and numbers from the ridiculously small 38 to a more hefty 46. Clearly, a language like Taa is going to have loads that English doesn't (including so-called "clicks"), but I'd guess that English has a couple not found in Taa.
I don't speak any tonal languages, and I wonder how tonality is perceived in terms of phoneme count.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 11:37 PM on May 6, 2010
I don't speak any tonal languages, and I wonder how tonality is perceived in terms of phoneme count.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 11:37 PM on May 6, 2010
Best answer: The largest phoneme inventory in UPSID (the UCLA Phonological Segment Inventory Database) belongs to !Xũ, a Khoisan language, with 141 phonemes.
UPSID does not contain all known languages, but that's the number to beat. :)
As for tonal languages, the simplest method is to consider each tone as a phoneme.
posted by zompist at 11:56 PM on May 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
UPSID does not contain all known languages, but that's the number to beat. :)
As for tonal languages, the simplest method is to consider each tone as a phoneme.
posted by zompist at 11:56 PM on May 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
Mikael Parkvall, in Limits of Language, agrees about !Xũ, and adds that it also has the highest number of consonants (117) and clicks (48).
posted by languagehat at 12:55 PM on May 7, 2010
posted by languagehat at 12:55 PM on May 7, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 11:25 PM on May 6, 2010