so ['fɔɪ.bɫ] (phoible) has a list of phonetic segments (sounds) used in all the world's languages. There's approximately 2,160 segments.

1,800 of them are in less than 1% of the world's languages.

Only 19 of them are in more than 50% of languages.

phoible.org/parameters

request for help 

I'm trying to find somewhere that will tell me the average number of segments in a language, but I can't seem to find anything.

Does anyone know of a database or resource that has an answer to this? I don't need it to be an accurate answer, but I do need it to be justified

request for help 

Actually, I'm more interested in the average number of *phonemes* in a language, which should be much easier to know

request for help 

I think I can actually use phoible's database for this...

Follow

the average number of segments in a language 

I downloaded the phoible database of language inventory sizes, and wrote some code to calculate the average number of segments in a language:

35.2125

the average number of segments in a language 

it's important to note: this is only according to what's in phoible's database, it's not a definitive answer (especially since defining segments is.... harder than it seems)

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