1304: Dense Phoneme-inventories: Archi Jul 6, 2018

In general, languages tend to not have too many similar sounding phonemes, because it makes sounds difficult to differentiate. However, some languages have a lot of phonemes; Rokotas has 11, English has 45—though this can vary when including different accents—and Archi has between 100 and 108, which is not the most of any language, but it is a lot. What separates Archi from !Xóõ which is considered to have the most phonemes is that !Xóõ has tones and clicks, which increases the variety for what is allowed in words, and therefore would lower confusion. For instance, Archi has a strangely high amount of velar lateral fricatives, which is essentially an L but pronounced with your tongue in the position to produce a K; if you aren't used to it it may be an uncomfortable feeling. Moreover, there are either 6 and 6 of these depending upon if one also counts the similar ejectives, and these only differ very slightly, though it will affect the meaning of a word. So, with its over 1.5 million derivations from each verb, and unusually large phoneme inventory, Archi is not a language you might want to try to pick up quickly before a holiday.