Voiced dental and alveolar lateral approximants are a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. It is familiar to English-speakers as the "l" sound in "lift". The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents them is .
As a sonorant, lateral approximants are nearly always voiced. Voiceless lateral approximants, are common in Sino-Tibetan languages, but uncommon elsewhere. In such cases, voicing typically starts about halfway through the hold of the consonant. No language is known to contrast such a sound with a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative .
In a number of languages, including most varieties of English, the phoneme becomes velarized ("dark l") in certain contexts. By contrast, the non-velarized form is the "clear l" (also called "light l"), which occurs before and between vowels in certain English standards. Some languages have only clear l. Others may not have a clear l at all, or have it only before front vowels (especially ).
Features Features of voiced alveolar lateral approximants:
There are four specific place of articulation variants of : Dental, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the upper teeth, termed respectively apical and laminal. Denti-alveolar, which means it is articulated with the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, and the tip of the tongue behind upper teeth. Alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal. Postalveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
Occurrence Languages may have clear apical or laminal alveolars, laminal denti-alveolars (such as French), or true dentals, which are uncommon. Laminal denti-alveolars tend to occur in continental European languages.Schirmer's pocket music dictionary However, a true dental generally occurs allophonically before in languages that have it, as in English health.
Coronal laterals are often colored by surrounding vowels in their articulation, as the main portion of the tongue body remains free. If necessary, this coloring can be transcribed with superscript vowels, such as .
Dental or denti-alveolar
Language Word IPA Meaning Notes Arabic Gulf / 'when' Laminal denti-alveolar. See Arabic phonologyChineseCantonese /[l̪an˨˩]'orchid'Mandarin/[l̪an˨˥] Hungarian 'battery' Laminal denti-alveolar. See Hungarian phonology Italian 'much, a lot' Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of before . See Italian phonology Macedonian / 'left' Laminal denti-alveolar. See Macedonian phonology Mapudungun 'sea, lake' Interdental. Norwegian Urban East 'plant (industrial)' Allophone of after . See Norwegian phonologySpanish 'altar' Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of before . See Spanish phonology Swedish Central Standard 'everything' Laminal denti-alveolar. See Swedish phonology Uzbek 'future' Laminal denti-alveolar. Velarized between a non-front rounded vowel and a consonant or juncture phoneme. Vietnamese Hanoi 'fire' See Vietnamese phonology
Alveolar Language Word IPA Meaning Notes Arabic Standard / 'no' See Arabic phonology Armenian Eastern / 'moon' Assyrian / 'bread'Bengali'long'See Bengali phonologyBreton'eye' Catalan Some dialects 'fabric' Apical front alveolar. More frequently velarized (dark l). See Catalan phonologyChuvash[хu'la]'city' Czech 'white' See Czech phonologyDutch Standard 'to let' Laminal. Some Standard Belgian speakers use the clear in all positions. See Dutch phonology Some Eastern accents 'mold'Laminal; realization of in all positions. See Dutch phonologyDhivehi/ 'song' English Most accents let 'to let' Varies between apical and laminal, with the latter being predominant. Irish, Geordie tell 'to tell' Esperanto 'moon' See Esperanto phonology Filipino 'to cook' See Filipino phonologyGeorgianლექსი/leksi 'verse/poetry'See Georgian phonologyრბილი/rbili 'soft'Greek / 'word' See Modern Greek phonologyHebrew/'night'See Modern Hebrew phonology. Italian 'bed' Apical. See Italian phonology Japanese / 'six' Apical. More commonly . See Japanese phonology Kashubian Khmer / 'music' See Khmer phonology Korean / 'one' or 'work' Realized as alveolar tap ɾ in the beginning of a syllable. See Korean phonology. Kyrgyz / 'butterfly' Velarized in back vowel contexts. See Kyrgyz phonologyLaghu'Laghu language'LaghuuNậm Sài, Sa Pa Town'Laghuu language'Malayalam'head'See Malayalam phonology Mapudungun 'to give'Nepali 'long'See Nepali phonologyOdia 'good'Persian/ 'llama' See Persian phonology Polish 'field' Contrasts with () for a small number of speakers. When it does, it might be palatalized to . See Polish phonology Romanian 'hazelnut' Apical. See Romanian phonology Scottish Gaelic 'headland' Apical. Contrasts with and . See Scottish Gaelic phonology Slovak 'silent' Syllabic form can be long or short. See Slovak phonology Slovene 'airplane' See Slovene phonology Spanish 'to speak' See Spanish phonology Tamil / 'tiger' See Tamil phonologyWelsh [djavɔl]'devil'See Welsh phonology Ukrainian / 'face' Contrasts with palatalized form. See Ukrainian phonology
Postalveolar
Language Word IPA Meaning Notes Catalan 'Elche' Allophone of before (), may be alveolo-palatal instead. See Catalan phonology Igbo Standard 'bury' Italian 'the deer' Palatalized laminal; allophone of before . See Italian phonology Turkish 'tulip' Palatalized; contrasts with a velarized dental lateral . May be devoiced elsewhere. See Turkish phonology Zapotec Tilquiapan 'soot'
Variable Language Word IPA Meaning Notes Faroese 'soft' Varies between dental and alveolar in initial position, whereas the postvocalic may be postalveolar, especially after back vowels. See Faroese phonology French 'he' Varies between laminal denti-alveolar and apical alveolar, with the latter being predominant. See French phonology Gbe All lects 'to lie down' Occurs syllable-initially or as second element of syllable-initial cluster; nasalized is always followed by a nasal vowel. See Gbe phonology German Standard 'love' Varies between denti-alveolar, laminal alveolar and apical alveolar. Norwegian Urban East 'life' In process of changing from laminal denti-alveolar to apical alveolar, but the laminal denti-alveolar is still possible in some environments, and is obligatory after . See Norwegian phonology Portuguese Most Brazilian dialects,Depalatalization and consequential iotization in the speech of Fortaleza . Page 2. Accenti romanze: Portogallo e Brasile (portoghese) – The influence of foreign accents on Italian language acquisition some EP speakers 'runaround'Runaround generator Clear, dental to sometimes alveolar. Only occurs in syllable onset, with l-vocalization widely occurring in coda. Sometimes found before front vowels only in the European variety. See Portuguese phonology. 'Lithuania'
Velarized or pharyngealized alveolar lateral approximant
A voiced velarized or pharyngealized alveolar lateral approximant (also known as dark l) is a type of consonantal sound used in some languages. It is an alveolar, denti-alveolar, or dental lateral approximant, with a secondary articulation of velarization or pharyngealization. The regular symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represent this sound are (for a velarized lateral) and (for a pharyngealized lateral), though the dedicated letter , which covers both velarization and pharyngealization, is perhaps more common. The latter should not be confused with belted , which represents the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative. However, some scholars use that symbol to represent the velarized alveolar lateral approximant anywayFor example . – though such usage is considered non-standard.
If the sound is dental or denti-alveolar, one could use a dental diacritic to indicate so: , , .
Velarization and pharyngealization are generally associated with more dental articulations of coronal consonants, so dark l tends to be dental or denti-alveolar. Clear (non-velarized) l tends to be retracted to an alveolar position.
The term dark l is often synonymous with hard l, especially in Slavic languages. (s)
Features Features of a dark l:
There are four specific place of articulation variants of : Dental, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the upper teeth. Denti-alveolar, which means it is articulated with the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, and the tip of the tongue behind upper teeth. Alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or, more rarely, the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal. Postalveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal. It has a secondary articulation of velarization or pharyngealization, meaning that the back or root of the tongue approaches the soft palate (velum), or the back of the throat, respectively.
Occurrence Dental or denti-alveolar Language Word IPA Meaning Notes Bashkir /قاڵـا / 'city' Velarized dental lateral; occurs in back vowel contexts. Belarusian / 'Belarus' Laminal denti-alveolar; contrasts with palatalized form. See Belarusian phonology BulgarianBulgarian phonology / 'chair' Laminal denti-alveolar. See Bulgarian phonology Catalan 'tall' Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of before . See Catalan phonology Classical Armenian / 'games' in modern Armenian. Icelandic 'sailed' Laminal denti-alveolar; rare. See Icelandic phonology Kashubian Older southeastern speakers kôłbasa Laminal denti-alveolar; realized as by other speakers. Lithuanian 'hi' Laminal denti-alveolar; contrasts with palatalized form. See Lithuanian phonology Macedonian / 'garlic' Laminal denti-alveolar. Present only before back vowels () and syllable-finally. See Macedonian phonology Norwegian Urban East 'speech' Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of after , and sometimes also after . However, according to , this allophone is not velarized., cited in See Norwegian phonology Polish Eastern dialects 'paw' Laminal denti-alveolar. Corresponds to in other varieties. See Polish phonology Russian / 'small' Pharyngealized laminal denti-alveolar. See Russian phonology Scottish Gaelic 'Mallaig' Apical dental, occasionally laminal. In certain dialects manifests as or . Contrasts with and . See Scottish Gaelic phonologySwedishNorthern Västerbottenkall'cold'Allophone of /lː/ Turkish 'servant' Laminal denti-alveolar; contrasts with a palatalized postalveolar lateral . May be devoiced elsewhere. See Turkish phonology
Alveolar