(http://wals.

info/)
Home(http://wals.info/)

Features(http://wals.info/feature)

Chapters(http://wals.info/chapter)

Languages(http://wals.info/languoid)

References(http://wals.info/refdb)

Authors(http://wals.info/author)

(http%3A%2F%2Fwals.info%2Fchapter%2F1)

ChapterConsonantInventories
byIanMaddieson(http://wals.info/author/maddiesoni) cite

1.Introduction
Thischapterandthenextfewchapterswilllookatvariousaspectsof
thecomplexityofthesoundresourcesusedintheworldslanguages
andexaminehowthiscomplexityisdistributedgeographically.The
firstaspecttobeexaminedisthesizeofthesetofconsonantsused
inthelanguage,usuallyreferredtoastheconsonantinventory.
Thisisoneelementofwhatiscalledthephonologyofthelanguage.
ValuesofMap1A.ConsonantInventories
Gotomap(http://wals.info/feature/1A)

Relatedmap(s)
ConsonantInventories
(http://wals.info/feature/1A)

Comments

By:LucaNobile
(http://blog.wals.info/consonant
inventories/comment
page1/#comment
52369)
Wed,14Sep201103:42:070700

Value

Representation

Small

89

Moderatelysmall

122

Average

201

Moderatelylarge

94

Large

57
Total:

563

Itisusuallypossibletoagreeforanygivenlanguageonasetof
elementswhichareconsideredtobethespeechsoundsusedin
thatlanguage.Themostimportantconsiderationindecidingonthis
setistofindgroupsofwordswhichsounddifferentfromeachother
bythesmallestdegreesufficienttomakethemdistinctwordsofthe
language.Forexample,theEnglish
(http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_eng)onesyllablewordspin,
tin,kin,fin,thin,sin,shinarepartofasetwhichdifferbybeginningin
differentways,dim,din,ding,did,dig,disharepartofasetwhich
differbyendingindifferentwaysandpin,pen,pan,pun,pain,pine,

Theprsentationofdata
couldbemoreclearputting
theaveragenumberof
consonantsinthelegenda,
neartothenumberof...

By:MartinHaspelmath
(http://blog.wals.info/consonant
inventories/comment
page1/#comment12)
Wed,04Jun200807:48:540700

Yes,thisisanerrorthatwill
becorrectedinthe2009
versionofWALSOnline.

By:OliverLenz
(http://blog.wals.info/consonant
inventories/comment
page1/#comment10)
Sun,04May200812:37:390700

pawnarepartofasetwhichdifferinthemiddleofthesyllable.From
aseriesofsuchcomparisonsalistofcandidatespeechsoundsfor
thelanguagewillemerge.Generallythesetofthosewhichcan
appearatthebeginningsandendsofsyllableswillbeunlikethose
whichcanoccurinthemiddle,henceadistinctionismadebetween
consonants(soundstypicallyoccurringatthesyllablemargins)and
vowels(soundstypicallyoccurringinthesyllablecenters).Inthis
chapteronlyconsonantswillbediscussed.
Severalfurtherdecisionsmustbemade,suchaswhichconsonantsin
differentpositionsshouldbeconsideredtobethesameaseach
other.Forexample,speakersofEnglish
(http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_eng)generallyconsiderthat
wordssuchaspip,tit,kick,bib,did,gigbeginandendwiththesame
consonanteventhoughtherearesomeeasilyrecognizable
differencesbetweenthesoundsatthebeginningandthoseatthe
end.Itisalsonecessarytoresolvequestionsaboutwhethercertain
beginningsorendingsofsyllablesshouldbeconsideredtobeone
soundorasequenceoftwoormoresoundswhenanalyzedfromthe
pointofviewofthestructureoftheparticularlanguage.Forexample,
theEnglish(http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_eng)wordchip
beginsinawaythatissimilartothebeginningoftipfollowedbythe
beginningofship(comparesayinggreychipandgreatship),andthe
English(http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_eng)wordquick
beginsinawaythatissimilartothebeginningofkickfollowedbythe
beginningofwick(comparesayingliequickandlikewick).These
syllablebeginningswouldbothbenotedinaphonetictranscription
withtwosymbols,as/t/and/kw/respectively.However,whenwe
considerthepossibilitiesoffindingrelatedsequencesinEnglish
(http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_eng),adifferencebetween
thetwobecomesapparent.Nothingexcept/t/canprecede//atthe
beginningofanEnglish(http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_eng)
syllable,whereasothersoundscanprecede/w/,asintwin,swim,
dwell,thwart.Alsoseveralothersoundscanfollow/k/,asinclick,
crick,suggestingthat/k/and/w/inthe/kw/sequenceare
independentelements.Althoughwordsliketrip,twinmightsuggest
independenceoftheparts/t/and//inchip,thesequences/tw,tr/are
notsimilarto/t/inanimportantway.ThisisbecausenoEnglish
(http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_eng)syllablecanendwith
/tw,tr/(orwith/kw,kl,kr/),whereassyllablescanendwith/t/,asin
rich,pitch,kitsch.Theseconsiderationssuggestthat/t/isbehaving
likeasingleconsonantinEnglish
(http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_eng),whereas/kw/isa
sequenceoftwoseparateconsonants.
Whensuchdecisionshavebeenmade,alistoftheconsonantsused
inthelanguagecanbecompiledandthetotalofdistinctonesadded
up.ForEnglish(http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_eng),there
isgeneralagreementthattheconsonantinventorycontains24
consonants,thoughsomelinguistsmightdecidethereareoneortwo
moreorlessthanthis.Inthesurveyof566languagesreportedhere
astrongefforthasbeenmadetoapplyconsistentcriteriain
determiningtheconsonantinventorysize.Thissometimesleadsto
somedifferencefromtheconclusionsinpublisheddescriptionsofthe

Abkhazhavingonlyasmall
consonantinventorysounds
wrongtome,tomy
knowledgethatshouldbe
large.

References
Louw1975
(http://wals.info/refdb/record/Louw
1975)
LindblomandMaddieson
1988
(http://wals.info/refdb/record/Lindblom
andMaddieson1988)

languagesconcerned.Formostlanguagesrelativelystraightforward
decisionscanbereached,butothersaremoreproblematic.Adifficult
choiceoftenconcernswhethertoincludeconsonantsfoundonlyin
wordsborrowedfromotherlanguagesgenerallythosesounds
introducedjustinthelastfewgenerationsastheresultofthespread
ofworldlanguagessuchasEnglish
(http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_eng),Spanish
(http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_spa),Russian
(http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_rus),Mandarin
(http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_mnd),andModernStandard
Arabic(http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_ams)havebeen
excluded.
Therangeofresultinginventoriesextendsfromalowof6
consonantstoahighof122.Rotokas
(http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_rtk)(WestBougainville
(http://wals.info/languoid/family/westbougainville)PapuaNewGuinea
(http://wals.info/country/PG))hasonlysixconsonants.Thesemight
berepresentedinasimplifiedtranscriptionwiththeletters/p,t,k,b,
d,g/althoughtherangeofpronunciationsheardindifferentword
positionscoversaconsiderablywiderrangeofsoundsthanthese
letterssuggest.!X(http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_xoo)
(SouthernKhoisan(http://wals.info/family/khoisan#southernkhoisan)
Botswana(http://wals.info/country/BW))has122consonants,mainly
becauseithasaverylargenumberofdifferentclicksoundswith
whichawordmaybegin.Themoretypicalconsonantinventorysize
isinthelowtwenties,withthemeanforthe562languagesbeing
22.7,themodalvalue22andthemedian21.Consonantinventories
closetothissize(223)havebeencategorizedasaverage,andthe
remainderdividedintothecategoriessmall(from6to14
consonants),moderatelysmall(1518),moderatelylarge(2633),
andlarge(34ormoreconsonants).AsFigure1illustrates,the
particularcutoffvaluesforthecategorieswerechosensoasto
approximateahistogramwithanormaldistribution,althoughthere
aresomewhatmorelanguageswithinventoriessmallerthantheband
definedasaveragethanwithlargerthanaverageinventories.

Figure1:Histogramoflanguagesinthesample
accordingtocategoriesofconsonantinventorysize

2.Geographicaldistribution

Languageswithaveragesizeconsonantinventoriesarefoundin
mostareasoftheworld,suggestingthatthissizetrulyisa
representativeofsomethingtypicalforspokenhumanlanguages.
Thelanguageswithlargerorsmallerinventoriesontheotherhand
displayquitemarkedregionaldisparitiesintheirdistribution.
Thosewithsmallerthanaverageconsonantinventoriespredominate
inthePacificregion(includingNewGuinea),inSouthAmericaandin
theeasternpartofNorthAmerica,withparticularconcentrationsof
smallinventoriesinNewGuineaandtheAmazonbasin.Thedegree
oftypologicalsimilaritywithrespecttoconsonantinventorysize
betweenthelanguagesofNewGuineaandAustraliaisintriguing.
Thereceivedideaisthatthepopulationancestraltospeakersof
todaysAustralian(http://wals.info/languoid/family/australian)
languagesreachedthecontinentwhenNewGuineaandAustralia
wereconnectedbydrylandinthenowpartlysubmergedlandmass
knowntogeologistsastheSahulshelf.Sincethelandbridgelinking
NewGuineaandAustraliawasseveredaround7000yearsago,
contactbetweenAustralianandNewGuineapeoplesisbelievedto
havebeenstrictlylimitedexceptintheimmediateregionoftheTorres
Straits.Couldthissimilarityrepresenttheconservationofatrait
commontolanguagesspokenlongagowhenthelandswerejoined?
Thosewithlargerthanaverageconsonantinventoriesareparticularly
stronglyrepresentedinAfrica,especiallysouthoftheequator,aswell
asinanareaintheheartoftheEurasianlandmass,butaremost
spectacularlyconcentratedinthenorthwestofNorthAmerica.The
languagesinthislatterareabelongtoanumberofdifferentlanguage
familieswithnodemonstrablegenealogicalrelationship,including
EskimoAleut(http://wals.info/languoid/family/eskimoaleut),NaDene
(http://wals.info/languoid/family/nadene),Salishan
(http://wals.info/languoid/family/salishan),Tsimshianic
(http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_tsi)andWakashan
(http://wals.info/languoid/family/wakashan),amongothers.Thereis
noevidencethatthepredominanceoflargeconsonantinventoriesin
thisareaisaconsequenceofdirectborrowingofwordsbetween
theselanguagesalthoughculturalcontactsbetweenthepeoples
concernedareinmanycasesintenseanddeeprooted.Thesituation
isclearlydifferentinonepartoftheAfricanzonewherelarge
consonantinventoriesoccur.SeveralBantulanguages(partofthe
largerNigerCongo(http://wals.info/languoid/family/nigercongo)
family)inthesouthernpartofthecontinent,suchasZulu
(http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_zul)andYeyi
(http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_yey),areknowntohave
enlargedtheirconsonantinventorybyborrowingclicksandother
soundswhichtheydidnotpreviouslyusefromlanguagesofthe
Khoisangroup,whichalreadyhadmanyconsonants(see,for
exampleLouw1975)(http://wals.info/refdb/record/Louw1975).

3.Theoreticalissues
Mappingthesizeofconsonantinventoriespreparesthewayto
investigatetwoconnectedissues.Thefirstconcernshowcomplexity
ofdifferentaspectsofthesoundpatternsoflanguagesisrelated.All

humanlanguagesarecapableofexpressingtherangeofhuman
needsitmightthereforebeassumedthattheywouldbesimilarin
theirlevelofcomplexity.Wehaveseenthatbyonesimplemeasure
oftheirphonologicalcomplexity,thesizeoftheconsonantinventory,
languagescoverquiteawiderange.Butcomplexityinoneaspect
mightbebalancedoutbysimplicityinanother,sothatinaggregate
alllanguagesaresimilarlycomplex.Ifthisisso,mappingdifferent
aspectsofphonologicalcomplexityshouldtendtoshowinverse
relationshipsbetweenoneaspectandanotherinlevelofcomplexity.
Ifthisisnotfound,itisreasonabletoconcludethatlanguagesarenot
constrainedtobesimilarinthisparticularway,butthatlanguages
withquitedifferentlevelsofcomplexityfunctionjustaswellaseach
other.Severalofthemapsthatfollowwillcontributetoconsidering
thisquestion,bymappingpropertiesofthevowelinventory(chapter2
(http://wals.info/chapter/2)),thesyllablestructure(chapter12
(http://wals.info/chapter/12))andthepresenceandcomplexityoftone
systems(chapter13(http://wals.info/chapter/13)).
Thesecondissueconcernsthehypothesisthatthereisanoverall
relationshipbetweenthesizeofaconsonantinventoryandthekind
ofconsonantsitincludes.Accordingtothesizeprinciple(Lindblom
andMaddieson1988)(http://wals.info/refdb/record/Lindblomand
Maddieson1988)smallerconsonantinventorieswilltendtocontain
onlythoseconsonantswhichareinvariouswaysinherentlysimpler
(perhapsbecausetheyinvolvesmallermovementstopronounce
them,orareeasierforalistenertodistinguishfromothersounds).
Consonantswhichareinherentlymorecomplexwillbefoundinlarger
inventories.Ifthishypothesisiscorrectthenthegeographical
distributionofinherentlycomplexconsonantsshouldmirrorthe
distributionoflargerconsonantinventories.Inthreeofthefollowing
chapters,6(http://wals.info/chapter/6),7(http://wals.info/chapter/7)
and19(http://wals.info/chapter/19),theoccurrenceofsomeselected
classesofcomplexconsonantswillbemappedasatestofthis
hypothesisaswellasfortheinherentinterestofseeingthe
distributionconcerned.

(http://www.eva.mpg.de)

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
WALSOnlineeditedbyDryer,MatthewS.&
Haspelmath,Martin
islicensedunderaCreativeCommons
Attribution4.0InternationalLicense
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

disclaimer
(http://wals.info/about/legal)
Applicationsource
on

(https://github.com/clld/wals3)