Voiced dental, alveolar and postalveolar lateral approximants

The voiced dental, alveolar, and postalveolar lateral approximants are 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 Template:Angbr IPA, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is l.

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 known as: "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 them only before front vowels (especially Template:IPAblink).

Features

Features of the voiced alveolar lateral approximant:

• There are four specific 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. However, a true dental generally occurs allophonically before in languages that have it, as in English health.

Dental or denti-alveolar

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Arabic	GulfTemplate:Sfnp	/Template:Transliteration		'when'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Arabic phonology
Chinese	Cantonese	/Template:Transliteration	[l̪an˨˩]	'orchid'
	Mandarin	/Template:Transliteration	[l̪an˨˥]
HungarianTemplate:Sfnp				'battery'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Hungarian phonology
ItalianTemplate:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp				'much, a lot'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of before .Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp See Italian phonology
MacedonianTemplate:Sfnp		/Template:Transliteration		'left'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Macedonian phonology
Malayalam				'Salty'	See Malayalam phonology
MapudungunTemplate:Sfnp				'sea, lake'	Interdental.Template:Sfnp
Norwegian	Urban EastTemplate:Sfnp			'plant (industrial)'	Allophone of after .Template:Sfnp See Norwegian phonology
SpanishTemplate:Sfnp				'altar'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of before . See Spanish phonology
Swedish	Central StandardTemplate:Sfnp			'everything'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Swedish phonology
TamilTemplate:Sfnp		/Template:Transliteration		'tiger'	See Tamil phonology
UzbekTemplate:Sfnp				'future'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Velarized between a non-front rounded vowel and a consonant or juncture phoneme.Template:Sfnp
Vietnamese	HanoiTemplate:Sfnp			'fire'	See Vietnamese phonology

Alveolar

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Arabic	StandardTemplate:Sfnp	/Template:Transliteration		'no'	See Arabic phonology
Armenian	EasternTemplate:Sfnp	/Template:Transliteration	{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "lusin.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'moon'
Assyrian		/Template:Transliteration		'bread'
CatalanTemplate:Sfnp				'hair spray'	Apical 'front alveolar'.Template:Sfnp May also be velarized.Template:Sfnp See Catalan phonology
Chuvash			[хu'la]	'city'
Dutch	StandardTemplate:Sfnp			'to let'	Laminal. Some Standard Belgian speakers use the clear in all positions.Template:Sfnp See Dutch phonology
	Some Eastern accentsTemplate:Sfnp			'mold'	Laminal; realization of in all positions.Template:Sfnp See Dutch phonology
Dhivehi		/		'song'
English	Most accentsTemplate:Sfnp	let		'to let'	Varies between apical and laminal, with the latter being predominant.Template:Sfnp
	Irish, Geordie	tell		'to tell'
Esperanto				'moon'	See Esperanto phonology
Filipino				'to cook'	See Filipino phonology
Georgian		ლექსი/leksi		'verse/poetry'	See Georgian phonology
		რბილი/rbili		'soft'
Greek		/Template:Transliteration		'word'	See Modern Greek phonology
Hebrew		/		'night'	See Modern Hebrew phonology.
ItalianTemplate:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp				'bed'	Apical.Template:Sfnp See Italian phonology
Japanese		/Template:Transliteration		'six'	Apical.Template:Sfnp More commonly Template:IPAblink. See Japanese phonology
Kashubian		Template:Example needed
Khmer		/Template:Transliteration		'music'	See Khmer phonology
Korean		/Template:Transliteration		'one' or 'work'	Realized as alveolar tap ɾ in the beginning of a syllable. See Korean phonology.
KyrgyzTemplate:Sfnp		/Template:Transliteration		'butterfly'	Velarized in back vowel contexts. See Kyrgyz phonology
Laghu				'Laghu language'
Laghuu	Nậm Sài, Sa Pa Town			'Laghuu language'
MapudungunTemplate:Sfnp				'to give'
Nepali				'long'	See Nepali phonology
OdiaTemplate:Sfnp				'good'
Persian		/Template:Transliteration		'llama'	See Persian phonology
PolishTemplate:Sfnp			{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "Pl-pole-2.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'field'	Contrasts with () for a small number of speakers. When it does, it might be palatalized to . See Polish phonology
RomanianTemplate:Sfnp				'hazelnut'	Apical. See Romanian phonology
Scottish Gaelic				'headland'	Apical.Template:Sfnp Contrasts with and . See Scottish Gaelic phonology
SlovakTemplate:Sfnp			{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "SK-mlkvy.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'silent'	Syllabic form can be long or short. See Slovak phonology
SloveneTemplate:Sfnp				'airplane'	See Slovene phonology
SpanishTemplate:Sfnp				'to speak'	See Spanish phonology
Welsh			[djavɔl]	'devil'	See Welsh phonology
UkrainianTemplate:Sfnp		/Template:Transliteration		'face'	Contrasts with palatalized form. See Ukrainian phonology

Postalveolar

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Igbo	StandardTemplate:Sfnp			'bury'
ItalianTemplate:Sfnp				'the deer'	Palatalized laminal; allophone of before .Template:Sfnp See Italian phonology
TurkishTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp			{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "Tur-lale.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'tulip'	Palatalized; contrasts with a velarized dental lateral Template:IPAblink.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp May be devoiced elsewhere. See Turkish phonology
Zapotec	TilquiapanTemplate:Sfnp			'soot'

Variable

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
FaroeseTemplate:Sfnp				'soft'	Varies between dental and alveolar in initial position, whereas the postvocalic may be postalveolar, especially after back vowels.Template:Sfnp See Faroese phonology
FrenchTemplate:Sfnp				'he'	Varies between laminal denti-alveolar and apical alveolar, with the latter being predominant.Template:Sfnp See French phonology
German	StandardTemplate:Sfnp			'love'	Varies between denti-alveolar, laminal alveolar and apical alveolar.Template:Sfnp
Norwegian	Urban EastTemplate:Sfnp			'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 .Template:Sfnp See Norwegian phonology
Portuguese	Most Brazilian dialects,Template:Sfnp some EP speakers			'runaround'	Clear, dental to sometimes alveolar.Template:Sfnp 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.
			{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "Pt-br-lituânia.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'Lithuania'

Velarized or pharyngealized alveolar lateral approximant

The voiced velarized or pharyngealized alveolar 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 Template:Angbr IPA (for a velarized lateral) and Template:Angbr IPA (for a pharyngealized lateral), though the dedicated letter Template:Angbr IPA, which covers both velarization and pharyngealization, is perhaps more common. The latter should not be confused with belted Template:Angbr IPA, which represents the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative. However, some scholars use that symbol to represent the velarized alveolar lateral approximant anyway – though such usage is considered non-standard.

If the sound is dental or denti-alveolar, one could use a dental diacritic to indicate so: Template:Angbr IPA, Template:Angbr IPA, Template:Angbr IPA.

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.Template:Sfnp

The term dark l is often synonymous with hard l, especially in Slavic languages. (Template:Cf.s)

Features

Features of the dark l:

• There are four specific 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,Template:Sfnp 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		/Template:Transliteration	{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "Ba-ҡала.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'city'	Velarized dental lateral; occurs in back vowel contexts.
BelarusianTemplate:Sfnp		/Template:Transliteration		'Belarus'	Laminal denti-alveolar; contrasts with palatalized form. See Belarusian phonology
BulgarianTemplate:Better source needed		/Template:Transliteration		'chair'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Bulgarian phonology
CatalanTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp				'tall'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of before .Template:Sfnp See Catalan phonology
Classical ArmenianTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp		/Template:Transliteration		'games'	Template:IPAslink Template:Transliteration in modern Armenian.
IcelandicTemplate:Sfnp				'sailed'	Laminal denti-alveolar; rare. See Icelandic phonology
Kashubian	Older southeastern speakers	kôłbasa			Laminal denti-alveolar; realized as Template:IPAblink by other speakers.
LithuanianTemplate:Sfnp				'hi'	Laminal denti-alveolar; contrasts with palatalized form. See Lithuanian phonology
MacedonianTemplate:Sfnp		/Template:Transliteration		'garlic'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Present only before back vowels () and syllable-finally. See Macedonian phonology
Norwegian	Urban EastTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp			'speech'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of after , and sometimes also after .Template:Sfnp However, according to Template:Harvcoltxt, this allophone is not velarized. See Norwegian phonology
Polish	Eastern dialectsTemplate:Sfnp			'paw'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Corresponds to in other varieties. See Polish phonology
RussianTemplate:Sfnp		/Template:Transliteration		'small'	Pharyngealized laminal denti-alveolar. See Russian phonology
Scottish GaelicTemplate:Sfnp				'Mallaig'	Apical dental, occasionally laminal.Template:Sfnp In certain dialects manifests as Template:IPAblink or . Contrasts with and . See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Swedish	Northern VästerbottenTemplate:Sfnp	kall		'cold'	Allophone of /lː/
TurkishTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp				'servant'	Laminal denti-alveolar; contrasts with a palatalized postalveolar lateral Template:IPAblink.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp May be devoiced elsewhere. See Turkish phonology

Alveolar

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans	StandardTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp			'table'	Velarized in all positions, especially non-prevocalically.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp See Afrikaans phonology
Albanian	Standard			'smoking pipe'
Arabic	StandardTemplate:Sfnp	/Template:Transliteration		'God'	Also transcribed as Template:Angbr IPA. Many accents and dialects lack the sound and instead pronounce . See Arabic phonology
CatalanTemplate:Sfnp	Eastern dialects			'cell'	Apical. Can be always dark in many dialects. See Catalan phonology
	Western dialects			'to the'
Dutch	StandardTemplate:Sfnp			'molds'	Laminal; pharyngealized in northern accents, velarized or post-palatalised in southern accents. It is an allophone of before consonants and pauses, and also prevocalically when after the open back vowels . Many northern speakers realize the final as a strongly pharyngealised vocoid , whereas some Standard Belgian speakers use the clear in all positions.Template:Sfnp See Dutch phonology
	Some Netherlandic accentsTemplate:Sfnp			'to let'	Pharyngealized laminal; realization of in all positions.Template:Sfnp See Dutch phonology
EnglishTemplate:Sfnp	Australian	feel	{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "en-us-feel.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler	'feel'	Most often apical; can be always dark in Australia and New Zealand. See Australian English phonology, New Zealand English phonology, and English phonology
	Canadian
	Dublin
	General American
	New Zealand
	Received Pronunciation
	South African
	Scottish	loch		'loch'	Can be always dark except in some borrowings from Scottish Gaelic
Greek	Northern dialects	/Template:Transliteration		'ball'	Allophone of before . See Modern Greek phonology
Georgian		/Template:Transliteration	[ˈʒo̞ɫo̞]	'raspberry'	An allophone of /l/ before /o u/ and /a/. See Georgian phonology
Kurdish	Sorani			'joke'	See Kurdish phonology
Romanian	Bessarabian dialectTemplate:Sfnp			'horse'	Corresponds to non-velarized Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Serbo-CroatianTemplate:Sfnp		/		'easy'	Apical; may be syllabic; contrasts with Template:IPAslink. See Serbo-Croatian phonology
UzbekTemplate:Sfnp		Template:Example needed			Apical; between a non-front rounded vowel and a consonant or juncture phoneme. Non-velarized denti-alveolar elsewhere.Template:Sfnp

Variable

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Portuguese	EuropeanTemplate:Sfnp			'thousand'	Dental and strongly velarized in all environments for most speakers, though less so before front vowels.
	Older and conservative BrazilianTemplate:Sfnp			'alcohol, ethanol'	When , most often dental. Coda is now vocalized to in most of Brazil (as in EP in rural parts of Alto Minho and Madeira). Stigmatized realizations such as , the range, Template:IPAblink and even (zero) are some other coda allophones typical of Brazil. See Portuguese phonology

See also

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

References

• Template:SOWL

External links

• Dark L
• Template:Phoible
• Template:Phoible