How many consonants and vowels do languages have?

By Chase Morgan · Published 27 October 2026 · Data: WALS Online 2013 edition (CLDF release v2020.4)

Most languages fall in the middle. WALS sorts 563 languages by the size of their consonant inventory, and the largest group, 201 (36%), has an average inventory of 19 to 25 consonants. For vowels, 287 of 564 (51%) have five or six vowel qualities, the size of the vowel system of Spanish or Japanese.

An inventory is the set of distinct sounds a language uses to keep words apart. WALS counts consonants and vowel qualities separately and groups languages into bands. In the consonant chapter, by Ian Maddieson, languages close to the typical size (22, plus or minus 3) are average, and the others are small (6 to 14), moderately small (15 to 18), moderately large (26 to 33) or large (34 or more).

Small and large systems

Small consonant inventories are concentrated in Papunesia and South America. In Papunesia, 43 of 93 coded languages (46%) have a small inventory, and in South America 47 of 76 (62%) are small or moderately small. Eurasia sits at the other end, with 57 of 146 (39%) moderately large or large. The languages with large inventories that are most fully coded in the atlas include Lezgian, Abkhaz, Hindi, Burushaski, Ingush and Hunzib.

Vowels go their own way

A large consonant inventory does not predict a small vowel system, or the reverse. Among the languages coded for both, 13 of those with large consonant inventories have a small vowel inventory, and the table shows the same mix in every row.

The vowel chapter compares vowel qualities, defined by height, front-to-back position and lip position, because vowel length, nasalization and diphthongs can be analysed in different ways. English is coded with a large vowel inventory.

Sounds that set languages apart

Some consonants are rare enough in the atlas to be a language’s signature. The WALS chapter on uncommon consonants, by Ian Maddieson, covers four classes:

• Clicks, such as ǀ ǃ ǁ: 10 languages, all in Africa, including Zulu and Nama.
• Labial-velar plosives: 45 languages, 43 of them in Africa, including Yoruba and Ewe.
• Pharyngeals, such as ħ and ʕ: 24 languages, among them Abkhaz, Arabic (Egyptian), Berber (Middle Atlas) and Ingush.
• “Th” sounds, which the chapter describes as sounds like the th of English “this” or “thing”: 43 languages.

Other features add detail. The velar nasal ŋ is present in 234 of the 469 languages coded for it. Front rounded vowels such as y and ø occur in only 37 of 562, and 29 of those are in Eurasia.

Languages without fricatives

A related feature records common consonants that a language lacks. The most frequent gap is the absence of fricatives, sounds such as f, s and ʃ: 49 of the 567 languages coded have none. Australia stands out again, with 29 of its 32 coded languages lacking fricatives. Missing nasals are much rarer, at 12 languages, and missing lip sounds such as p, b and m at 5.

Familiar languages

In the consonant bands, English, Spanish and Mandarin are average, Russian and Swahili moderately large, and Hindi large. Japanese and Finnish are moderately small, and Hawaiian is small. For vowels, French, German, Korean and Vietnamese have large inventories.

Syllables

Inventories are only half of a sound system; the other half is how sounds combine. WALS codes 486 languages for syllable structure. Only 61 have simple syllables, essentially a consonant followed by a vowel; 274 are moderately complex and 151 complex, allowing clusters such as English “strengths”. Complex syllables are most frequent in Eurasia (68 of 130) and North America (33 of 64), while simple ones are spread through Africa (18), Papunesia (20) and South America (20). English is coded as complex and Hawaiian as simple.

Reading the sound section of a language page

Each language page lists its coded sound features in one group, with the number of languages in the atlas that share each value. A value shared by few languages, such as clicks or a large consonant inventory, also appears near the top of the page if it is rare enough. The feature pages for Consonant Inventories and Vowel Quality Inventories map every coded language.