ABSTRACT
The basic principle of phonemics is contrast: two sounds are in contrast if they can occur in the same environment and are not generally in free variation (e.g., Ball & Müller, 2005). According to Maddieson (1984), the smallest number of phonemic vowels in any of the languages listed in the UCLA Phonological Segment Inventory Database (UPSID) is three and the largest is 24, with the most common number being five.
