List of languages by number of phonemes

This partial list of languages is sorted by a partial count of phonemes (generally ignoring tone, stress, and diphthongs). Languages in this list cannot be directly compared: Counts of the phonemes in the inventory of a language can differ radically between sources, occasionally by a factor of several hundred percent. For instance, Received Pronunciation of English has been claimed to have anywhere between 11 and 27 vowels, whereas West ǃXoon has been analyzed as having anywhere from 87 to 164[citation needed] consonants. List This list features standard dialects of languages. The languages are classified under primary language families, which may be hypothesized, marked in italics, but do not include ones discredited by mainstream scholars (e.g. Niger–Congo but not Altaic). DarkLight-shaded cells indicate extinct languages. The parenthesized righthand side of expressions indicates marginal phonemes. List of languages Language Language family Numbers of phonemes Notes Ref Total Consonants Vowels,[clarification needed]tones andstress Arabic (Standard) Afroasiatic 34 28 6 Number of phonemes in Modern Standard Arabic, without counting the long vowels /eː/ and /oː/ which are phone