Languages have different phonetic inventories. Some languages use more sounds than others. A perceptually distinct sound unit is technically called a phoneme. Two sounds are different if they are perceived to constitute two distinct phonemes by native speakers. The following list ranks the most common languages by the number of sounds they use. It is important to note that this ranking disregards diphthongs for the simple reason that they are merely a combination of vowels that already exist in a language.
1. Lithuanian
Vowels: 12
Consonants: 47
Total number of sounds: 59
2. Danish
Vowels: 32
Consonants: 20
Total number of sounds: 52
3. Hindustani
Vowels: 11
Consonants: 37
Total number of sounds: 48
4. Welsh
Vowels: 14
Consonants: 31
Total number of sounds: 45
5. German
Vowels: 20
Consonants: 25
Total number of sounds: 45
6. Belarusian
Vowels: 6
Consonants: 39
Total number of sounds: 45
7. Norwegian
Vowels: 19
Consonants: 25
Total number of sounds: 44
8. Irish Gaelic
Vowels: 11
Consonants: 33
Total number of sounds: 44
9. Bulgarian
Vowels: 8
Consonants: 36
Total number of sounds: 44
10. Hungarian
Vowels: 14
Consonants: 27
Total number of sounds: 41
11. Ukranian
Vowels: 6
Consonants: 34
Total number of sounds: 40
12. Russian
Vowels: 6
Consonants: 34
Total number of sounds: 40
13. Slovak
Vowels: 10
Consonants: 29
Total number of sounds: 39
14. Latvian
Vowels: 12
Consonants: 27
Total number of sounds: 39
15. French
Vowels: 17
Consonants: 22
Total number of sounds: 39
16. Estonian
Vowels: 9
Consonants: 30
Total number of sounds: 39
17. Dutch
Vowels: 16
Consonants: 23
Total number of sounds: 39
18. Icelandic
Vowels: 16
Consonants: 22
Total number of sounds: 38
19. Portuguese
Vowels: 14
Consonants: 23
Total number of sounds: 37
20. Polish
Vowels: 6
Consonants: 31
Total number of sounds: 37
21. Czech
Vowels: 10
Consonants: 27
Total number of sounds: 37
22. Albanian
Vowels: 7
Consonants: 30
Total number of sounds: 37
23. English
Vowels: 12
Consonants: 24
Total number of sounds: 36
24. Catalan
Vowels: 8
Consonants: 28
Total number of sounds: 36
25. Swedish
Vowels: 17
Consonants: 18
Total number of sounds: 35
26. Mandarin
Vowels: 9
Consonants: 26
Total number of sounds: 35
27. Finnish
Vowels: 16
Consonants: 18
Total number of sounds: 34
28. Arabic
Vowels: 6
Consonants: 28
Total number of sounds: 34
29. Hausa
Vowels: 10
Consonants: 24
Total number of sounds: 34
30. Esperanto
Vowels: 5
Consonants: 27
Total number of sounds: 32
31. Persian
Vowels: 6
Consonants: 26
Total number of sounds: 32
32. Turkish
Vowels: 8
Consonants: 23
Total number of sounds: 31
33. Serbo-Croatian
Vowels: 5
Consonants: 25
Total number of sounds: 30
34. Italian
Vowels: 7
Consonants: 23
Total number of sounds: 30
35. Basque
Vowels: 6
Consonants: 24
Total number of sounds: 30
36. Romanian
Vowels: 7
Consonants: 22
Total number of sounds: 29
37. Galician
Vowels: 7
Consonants: 19
Total number of sounds: 26
38. Spanish
Vowels: 5
Consonants: 20
Total number of sounds: 25
39. Greek
Vowels: 5
Consonants: 18
Total number of sounds: 23
40. Japanese
Vowels: 5
Consonants: 17
Total number of sounds: 22
Was expecting Thai and Vietnamese, Nvm. LMAO
whoever wrote this left out dine. no way in hell any language on earth can match their enormous sound inventory.
Oh dear oh dear. Well, I shan’t be revisiting this site in a hurry. This list seems to me not only not of the ‘most common languages’ (Welsh? Seriously?) But also somewhat amiss in its counting of phonemes per language. Have a nice day.