Velarized alveolar lateral approximant

The velarized alveolar lateral approximant, also known as dark l, is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The regular symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨lˠ⟩, though the dedicated letter ⟨ɫ⟩ is perhaps more common.

Depending on language and dialect, this sound may instead be pharyngealized. Velarization and pharyngealization are generally associated with more dental articulations of coronal consonants so that dark l tends to be dental or denti-alveolar while clear l tends to be retracted to an alveolar position.^[1]

Features

Features of the velarized 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 dental or alveolar, which means it is articulated with the tip (or, more rarely,^[2] the blade of the tongue) against the alveolar ridge. It also 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 lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Notes

References

• Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 25 (2): 90–94 
• Daniel, Jones; Dennis, Ward (1969), The Phonetics of Russian, Cambridge University Press 
• Recasens, Daniel; Espinosa, Aina (2005), "Articulatory, positional and coarticulatory characteristics for clear /l/ and dark /l/: evidence from two Catalan dialects", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 35 (1): 1–25 
• Roca, Iggy; Johnson, Wyn (1999), A Course in Phonology, Essex: Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 0-631-21346-5 
• Verhoeven, Jo (2005), "Belgian Standard Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 35 (2): 243–247 
• Watson, Janet (2002), The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic, Oxford University Press 

See also

• Lateral consonant
• Velarization
• l-vocalization
• Ł