Alveolar lateral approximant

Alveolar lateral approximant
l
Image
IPA number	155
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	l
Unicode (hex)	U+006C
X-SAMPA	l
Kirshenbaum	l
Sound

The alveolar lateral approximant, also known as clear l, is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar lateral approximants is ⟨l⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is l.

As a sonorant, lateral approximants are nearly always voiced. Voiceless lateral approximants are common in Tibeto-Burman languages, but uncommon elsewhere. In such cases, voicing typically starts about halfway through the hold of the consonant.

In a number of languages, including most varieties of English, the phoneme /l/ becomes velarized in certain contexts, a sound often called "dark l."

Features

Features of the alveolar lateral approximant:

• Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce a turbulent airstream.
• Its place of articulation is 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.
• Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
• It is a lateral consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream over the sides of the tongue, rather than down the middle.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abkhaz		мгьал	[mɡʲal]	'bread'	See Abkhaz phonology
Adyghe		лы	[lə]	'meat'
Albanian		lis	[lɪs]	'tree'
Arabic	Standard	لا	[laː]	'no'	See Arabic phonology
Armenian		լուսին	[lusin]	'moon'
Basque		lan	[lan]	'work'
Bulgarian		лимон	[limɔn]	'lemon'
Catalan		tela	[ˈtɛlə]	'fabric'	May also be velarized. See Catalan phonology
Chechen		лам/lam	[laːm]	'mountain'
Chinese	Cantonese	老/lou5	[lou˩˧˦]	'old'	See Cantonese phonology
	Mandarin	老/lǎo	[lɑʊ˨˩˦]	'old'	See Mandarin phonology
Czech		lis	[lɪs]	'press'	See Czech phonology
Dutch		leven	[leːvə(n)]	'to live'	See Dutch phonology
English		let	[lɛt]	'let'	See English phonology
Finnish		illalla	[ilːɑlːɑ]	'at evening'	See Finnish phonology
French		il	[il]	'he'	See French phonology
Georgian		ლუდი	[ludi]	'beer'
German		Liebe	[liːbə]	'love'	See German phonology
Greek		άλμα/álma	[ˈalma]	'jump'	See Modern Greek phonology
Hebrew		לא	[lo̞]	'no'	See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hungarian		elem	[ɛlɛm]	'battery'	See Hungarian phonology
Innu-aimun	Western dialect	iñnu	[i:lnu]	'human being'
Italian		letto	[ˈlɛtto]	'bed'	See Italian phonology
Kabardian		лы	[lə]	'meat'
Kagayanen		?	[sala]	'living room'
Korean		물집/muljip	[mult͡ɕ̤ip̚]	'blister'	See Korean phonology
Malay		lagi	[laɡi]	'again'
Melpa		[lola]		'speak improperly'
Ngwe	Njoagwi dialect	[lɛ̀rɛ́]		'eye'
Norwegian		liv	[liːv]	'life'	See Norwegian phonology
Pashto		لس	[ləs]	'ten'
Polish		pole	[ˈpɔlɛ]	'field'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese	Brazilian	lua	[ˈluɐ]	'moon'	See Portuguese phonology
Romanian		alună	[aˈlu.nə]	'hazelnut'	See Romanian phonology
Russian		ключ	[klʲʉtɕ]	'key'	Contrasts palatalized and velarized variants. See Russian phonology
Slovak		mľkvy	[ˈml̩ːkʋɪ]	'silent'	Syllabic form can be long or short
Spanish		hablar	[aˈβ̞laɾ]	'to speak'	See Spanish phonology
Swedish		allt	[alt]	'everything'	See Swedish phonology
Tamil		புலி	[puli]	'tiger'	See Tamil phonology
Tibetan		ལྷ་ས་	[l̥ásə]	'Lhasa'	Contrasts voiced and voiceless lateral approximants
Ukrainian		обличчя	[ɔˈblɪt͡ʃʲːɑ]	'face'	See Ukrainian phonology
Vietnamese		lửa	[lɨə˧˩˧]	'fire'	See Vietnamese phonology
West Frisian		lyts	[lit͡s]	'small'	In complementary distribution with [ɫ]; occurs before [i] and [y]
Yi		ꇁ/la	[la˧]	'come'
Zapotec	Tilquiapan	lan	[laŋ]	'soot'
Zulu		lala	[lálà]	'sleep'

See also

• List of phonetics topics
• velarized alveolar lateral approximant

Bibliography

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• Ladefoged, Peter (2005), Vowels and Consonants (Second ed.), Blackwell 
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