Velar lateral approximant
|Velar lateral approximant|
The velar lateral approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in a very small number of spoken languages in the world. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ʟ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is L\.
Features of the velar 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 velar, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue at the soft palate.
- 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.
|English||some dialects||milk||[mɪʟk] (help·info)||'milk'||May occur before velar and labial consonants. See English phonology|
|Hiw||r̄evr̄ov||[ɡ͡ʟəβɡ͡ʟɔβ]||'evening'||The velar lateral of Hiw is prestopped [ɡ͡ʟ]|
- Velarized alveolar lateral approximant, [ɫ] – an acoustically similar but articulatorily distinct sound
- Voiceless alveolar lateral fricative, [ɬ]
- Velar lateral flap, [ʟ̆]
- Voiced velar lateral fricative, [ʟ̝]
- Voiceless velar lateral fricative, [ʟ̝̊]
- Index of phonetics articles
- François, Alexandre (2010), "Phonotactics and the prestopped velar lateral of Hiw: resolving the ambiguity of a complex segment", Phonology 27 (3): 393–434, doi:10.1017/s0952675710000205
- Ladefoged, Peter (2005), Vowels and Consonants (2nd ed.), Blackwell
- Roca, Iggy; Johnson, Wyn (1999), A Course in Phonology, Blackwell Publishing