Ľ
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Template:Distinguish2 Ľ/ľ is a grapheme found only in the Slovak alphabet. It is an L with a caron diacritical mark, more normally ˇ but simplified to look like an apostrophe with L, and is pronounced as palatal lateral approximant [ʎ], similar to the "lj-" sound in Ljubljana or million.[1]
Examples:
- podnikateľ: "businessman"
- Ján Figeľ, Slovak politician who was European Commissioner for Education, Training and Culture from 2004 to 2009
Note that an approximation using an ' apostrophe is sometimes found in some English texts, for example "L'udovit Stur" (sic) for correct Slovak Ľ-caron in Ľudovít Štúr (1812-1856). This incorrect usage is sometimes the result of an OCR error.
References
- ^ Háček (Caron) - Diacritics Project @ Typo.cz "In Czech and Slovak, the caron has a special vertical form used on tall characters (ď, ť, ľ, Ľ). Its introduction was no doubt a solution to the limited vertical space available on the body of a piece of metal type. The regular caron (ě, š, č, ň, …) ..."