Voiced dental, alveolar and postalveolar lateral approximants

Consonantal sounds represented by ⟨l⟩ in IPA

The voiced alveolar lateral approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in many 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, /l̥/ 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 [ɬ].

In a number of languages, including most varieties of English, the phoneme /l/ becomes velarized ("dark l") in certain contexts. By contrast, the non-velarized form is the "clear l" (also known as: "light l"), which occurs before and between vowels in certain English standards.^[1] Some languages have only clear l.^[2] Others may not have a clear l at all, or have them only before front vowels (especially [i]).

Features

Features of the voiced 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.
• There are four specific variants of [l]:
  • 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.
• 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 intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

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.^[3] However, a true dental generally occurs allophonically before /θ/ in languages that have it, as in English health.

Dental or denti-alveolar

Alveolar

Postalveolar

Variable

Velarized alveolar lateral approximant

The voiced velarized alveolar approximant (a.k.a. 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 ⟨lˠ⟩ (for a velarized lateral) and ⟨lˤ⟩ (for a pharyngealized lateral), though the dedicated letter ⟨ɫ⟩, which covers both velarization and pharyngealization, is perhaps more common. The latter should not be confused with belted ⟨ɬ⟩, which represents the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative. However, some scholars use that symbol to represent the velarized alveolar lateral approximant anyway^[53] – though such usage is considered non-standard.

If the sound is dental or denti-alveolar, one could use a dental diacritic to indicate so: ⟨l̪ˠ⟩, ⟨l̪ˤ⟩, ⟨ɫ̪⟩.

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.^[54]

The term dark l is often synonymous with hard l, especially in Slavic languages. (Cf. Hard consonants)

Features

Features of the dark l:

• 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.
• There are four specific variants of [ɫ]:
  • 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,^[54] 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.
• 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 intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Dental or denti-alveolar

Alveolar

Variable

See also

• Index of phonetics articles
• Lateral consonant
• Velarization
• L-vocalization
• Ł

Notes

1. Adjaye, Sophia (2005). Ghanaian English Pronunciation. Edwin Mellen Press. p. 198. ISBN 978-0-7734-6208-3. realization of /l/ is similar to that of RP: a 'clear' or non-velarized /l/ = [l] pre-vocalically and intervocalically; and a 'dark' or velarized /l/ = [ɫ] pre-consonantally and pre-pausally
2. Celce-Murcia, Marianne; et al. (2010). Teaching Pronunciation. Cambridge U. Press. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-521-72975-8. the light /l/ used in all environments in [standard] German (e.g., Licht "light," viel "much, many") or in French (e.g., lit "bed", île "island")
3. Schirmer's pocket music dictionary
4. Qafisheh (1977), pp. 2, 14.
5. Siptár & Törkenczy (2000), pp. 75–76.
6. Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004), p. 117.
7. Canepari (1992), p. 89.
8. Bertinetto & Loporcaro (2005), p. 133.
9. Lunt (1952), p. 1.
10. Sadowsky et al. (2013), pp. 88–89.
11. Kristoffersen (2000), p. 25.
12. Martínez-Celdrán (2003), p. 255-259. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFMartínez-Celdrán2003 (help)
13. Engstrand (2004), p. 167.
14. Keane (2004), p. 111.
15. Sjoberg (1963), p. 13.
16. Thompson (1959), pp. 458–461.
17. Thelwall (1990), p. 38.
18. Dum-Tragut (2009), p. 20.
19. Wheeler (2005), pp. 10–11.
20. "Voiced Alveolar Lateral - Central". Els Sons del Català.
    "Voiced Alveolar Lateral - Nord Occidental". Els Sons del Català.
21. Recasens & Espinosa (2005), pp. 1, 20.
22. Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 197, 222.
23. Collins & Mees (2003), p. 197.
24. Wells (1982), p. 515.
25. Jones, Mark. "Sounds & Words Week 4 Michaelmas 2010 Lecture Notes" (PDF). Retrieved 7 March 2015.
26. Bertinetto & Loporcaro (2005), p. 132.
27. Canepari (1992), pp. 88–89.
28. Labrune (2012), p. 92.
29. Jerzy Treder. "Fonetyka i fonologia". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
30. Kara (2003), p. 11.
31. Masica (1991), p. 107.
32. Rocławski (1976), p. 130.
33. Chițoran (2001), p. 10.
34. "The guide to reading Scottish Gaelic" (PDF).
35. Hanulíková & Hamann (2010), p. 374.
36. Pretnar & Tokarz (1980), p. 21.
37. Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003), p. 255.
38. Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 10.
39. Ikekeonwu (1999), p. 108.
40. Zimmer & Orgun (1999), pp. 154–155.
41. Göksel & Kerslake (2005), p. 8.
42. Merrill (2008), p. 108.
43. Árnason (2011), p. 115.
44. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), p. 192.
45. Mangold (2005), p. 49.
46. Kristoffersen (2000), pp. 24–25.
47. Depalatalization and consequential iotization in the speech of Fortaleza Archived 2011-11-01 at the Wayback Machine. Page 2. (in Portuguese)
48. Barbosa & Albano (2004), p. 229.
49. (in Italian) Accenti romanze: Portogallo e Brasile (portoghese) – The influence of foreign accents on Italian language acquisition Archived 2012-03-30 at the Wayback Machine
50. Finley, Sara; Rodrigues, Susana; Martins, Fernando; Silva, Susana; Jesus, Luis M. T. (2019). "/l/ velarisation as a continuum". PLOS ONE. 14 (3): e0213392. Bibcode:2019PLoSO..1413392R. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0213392. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 6411127. PMID 30856195.
51. Runaround generator
52. Cruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 92.
53. For example Beal (2004).
54. Recasens & Espinosa (2005), p. 4.
55. Padluzhny (1989), pp. 50–51.
56. Bulgarian phonology
57. Rafel (1999), p. 14. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFRafel1999 (help)
58. Scholten (2000), p. 22.
59. Mathiassen (1996), p. 23.
60. Lunt (1952), pp. 11–12.
61. Endresen (1990:177), cited in Kristoffersen (2000:25)
62. Jones & Ward (1969), p. 168.
63. Ó Dochartaigh (1997).
64. Dahlstedt & Ågren (1954). sfnp error: no target: CITEREFDahlstedt_&_Ågren1954 (help)
65. Donaldson (1993), p. 17.
66. Lass (1987), p. 117.
67. Watson (2002), p. 16.
68. Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 58, 197, 222.
69. Roca & Johnson (1999), p. 73.
70. Northern Greek Dialects Portal for the Greek Language
71. Pop (1938), p. 30.
72. Gick et al. (2006), p. ?.
73. Cruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 93.
74. On /l/ velarization in European Portuguese Amália Andrade, 14th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, San Francisco (1999)
75. (in Portuguese) The process of Norm change for the good pronunciation of the Portuguese language in chant and dramatics in Brazil during 1938, 1858 and 2007 Archived 2016-02-06 at the Wayback Machine Page 36.
76. TEYSSIER, Paul. "História da Língua Portuguesa", Lisboa: Livraria Sá da Costa, pp. 81-83.
77. Bisol (2005), p. 211.
78. "Um caso de português tonal no Brasil?" – Centro de Comunicação e Expressão – Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (in Portuguese). Page 49.
79. "Um caso de português tonal no Brasil?" – Centro de Comunicação e Expressão – Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (in Portuguese). Page 52.
80. MELO, Gladstone Chaves de. "A língua do Brasil". 4. Ed. Melhorada e aum., Rio de Janeiro: Padrão, 1981
81. Português do sul do Brasil – variação fonológica Archived 2019-12-16 at the Wayback Machine Leda Bisol and Gisela Collischonn. Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, 2009. Pages 153–156.

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External links

• Dark L
• List of languages with [l] on PHOIBLE
• List of languages with [ɫ] on PHOIBLE