<p>I speak Finnish, which is one of the more vowel-oriented languages.  Considering the 8 vowels, diphthongs, double-vowel (long) sounds... there's probably 2-3 dozen vowel sounds.  90 not only feels like overkill, but I wonder how effectively anyone could distinguish that many sounds.  It's like asking someone to involve all the sounds in 5-6 U.S. dialects all at once.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-04-07T05:51:37.337Z
2019-04-07T05:51:37.337Z
JBH
<p>90 different vowels sounds a lot, but you include tone as a distinguishing feature. I don't know how many tone/length distinctions you have, but some natural languages have 6 tones. This brings the number of different vowel qualities down to 15 which is still a large number, but in the range of natural languages (German and Norwegian are in that range).</p>

<p>14 consonants is a rather moderate size for a consonant system.</p>

<p>For more information on consonant and vowel inventories of natural languages you can consult the <a href="https://wals.info/chapter" rel="nofollow noreferrer">World Atlas of Linguistic Structures</a> specially chapters 1 and 2.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-04-08T11:51:18.407Z
2019-05-29T09:00:53.940Z
2019-05-29T09:00:53.940Z
Sir Cornflakes
<p>If you have ninety vowels (including diphthongs), I'd say your invented language is already above average. English is probably at the higher end of the vowel spectrum with twentyish; but there are plenty of languages with far fewer (as few as two or three!).</p>

<p>Since your title question references invented languages specifically, you might consider trawling the <a href="http://cals.conlang.org" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CALS</a> to find an approximation. Not every invented language is listed, so naturally the data &amp; results can not be seen as accurate.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-04-06T14:23:27.263Z
2019-04-06T14:23:27.263Z
elemtilas
<p>At the moment I have 90 unique vowel/diphthong sounds that use tonal and length distinction in my conlang. In addition I've chosen 14 consonants, making my total of unique sounds 104.</p>

<p>I don't particularly want to drop any of them, but this seems a lot higher than the usual amount of unique sounds in a language. High enough to consider a more selective approach maybe.</p>

<p>I do want the language to have more vowel sounds than consonant, but how many unique vowel sounds does it have to have to be considered above average?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-04-06T04:43:56.597Z
I've edited this question to bring it on-topic here, though you could do with editing it again. It's not really clear if the average you want to learn about is for natlangs or conlangs.
curiousdannii
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-21T01:51:34.853Z
This question seems quite subjective and should be closed (in my opinion).
MilkyWay90
<conlang-creation><phonology><phonetics>
How many unique sounds does the average conlang have?
# How many unique sounds does the average conlang have?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-04-05)

At the moment I have 90 unique vowel/diphthong sounds that use tonal and length distinction in my conlang. In addition I've chosen 14 consonants, making my total of unique sounds 104.

I don't particularly want to drop any of them, but this seems a lot higher than the usual amount of unique sounds in a language. High enough to consider a more selective approach maybe.

I do want the language to have more vowel sounds than consonant, but how many unique vowel sounds does it have to have to be considered above average?

**Tags:** conlang-creation, phonology, phonetics

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I've edited this question to bring it on-topic here, though you could do with editing it again. It's not really clear if the average you want to learn about is for natlangs or conlangs.  
> **username_2**: This question seems quite subjective and should be closed (in my opinion).  

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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2019-04-07. Score: 2

I speak Finnish, which is one of the more vowel-oriented languages. Considering the 8 vowels, diphthongs, double-vowel (long) sounds... there's probably 2-3 dozen vowel sounds. 90 not only feels like overkill, but I wonder how effectively anyone could distinguish that many sounds. It's like asking someone to involve all the sounds in 5-6 U.S. dialects all at once.


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### Answer by username_4 on 2019-04-08. Score: 1

90 different vowels sounds a lot, but you include tone as a distinguishing feature. I don't know how many tone/length distinctions you have, but some natural languages have 6 tones. This brings the number of different vowel qualities down to 15 which is still a large number, but in the range of natural languages (German and Norwegian are in that range).

14 consonants is a rather moderate size for a consonant system.

For more information on consonant and vowel inventories of natural languages you can consult the [World Atlas of Linguistic Structures](https://wals.info/chapter) specially chapters 1 and 2.


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### Answer by username_5 on 2019-04-06. Score: 1

If you have ninety vowels (including diphthongs), I'd say your invented language is already above average. English is probably at the higher end of the vowel spectrum with twentyish; but there are plenty of languages with far fewer (as few as two or three!).

Since your title question references invented languages specifically, you might consider trawling the [CALS](http://cals.conlang.org) to find an approximation. Not every invented language is listed, so naturally the data & results can not be seen as accurate.


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