| Ipa Symbol: | l |
| Ipa Number: | 155 |
| Decimal: | 108 |
| X-Sampa: | l |
| Kirshenbaum: | l |
| Braille: | l |
| Above: | Voiced postalveolar lateral approximant |
| Ipa Symbol: | l̠ |
| Above: | Voiced dental lateral approximant |
| Ipa Symbol: | l̪ |
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 (IPA|l), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is l.
As a sonorant, lateral approximants are nearly always voiced. Voiceless lateral approximants, pronounced as //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 pronounced as /[ɬ]/.
In a number of languages, including most varieties of English, the phoneme pronounced as //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 pronounced as /link/).
Features of the voiced alveolar lateral approximant:
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 pronounced as //θ// in languages that have it, as in English health.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic | Gulf | '''لـ'''ين/ | pronounced as /[l̪eːn]/ | 'when' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Arabic phonology | |
| Chinese | Cantonese | 蘭/ | [l̪an˨˩] | 'orchid' | ||
| Mandarin | 蘭/ | [l̪an˨˥] | ||||
| Hungarian | Hungarian: [[Hungarian orthography|e'''l'''em]] | pronounced as /[ˈɛl̪ɛm]/ | 'battery' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Hungarian phonology | ||
| Italian | Italian: [[Italian alphabet|mo'''l'''to]] | pronounced as /[ˈmol̪ːt̪o]/ | 'much, a lot' | Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of pronounced as //l// before pronounced as //t, d, s, z, t͡s, d͡z//. See Italian phonology | ||
| Macedonian | Macedonian: [[Macedonian alphabet|'''л'''ево]]/ | pronounced as /[l̪e̞vo̞]/ | 'left' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Macedonian phonology | ||
| Malayalam | pronounced as /[läːʋɐɳɐm]/ | 'Salty' | ||||
| Mapudungun | Mapudungun; Mapuche: [[Mapudungun alphabet|'''ḻ'''afkeṉ]] | pronounced as /[l̪ɐ̝fkën̪]/ | 'sea, lake' | Interdental. | ||
| Norwegian | Urban East | Norwegian: [[Norwegian orthography|an'''l'''egg]] | pronounced as /[²ɑnːl̪ɛg]/ | 'plant (industrial)' | Allophone of pronounced as //l// after pronounced as //n, t, d//. See Norwegian phonology | |
| Spanish | Spanish; Castilian: [[Spanish orthography|a'''l'''tar]] | pronounced as /[äl̪ˈt̪äɾ]/ | 'altar' | Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of pronounced as //l// before pronounced as //t/, /d//. See Spanish phonology | ||
| Swedish | Central Standard | Swedish: [[Swedish alphabet|a'''ll'''t]] | pronounced as /[äl̪t̪]/ | 'everything' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Swedish phonology | |
| Tamil | Tamil: [[Tamil script|புலி]]/ | pronounced as /[pul̪i]/ | 'tiger' | See Tamil phonology | ||
| Uzbek | Uzbek: [[Uzbek alphabet|ke'''l'''ajak]] | pronounced as /[kel̪ædʒæk]/ | 'future' | Laminal denti-alveolar. Velarized between a non-front rounded vowel and a consonant or juncture phoneme. | ||
| Vietnamese | Hanoi | Vietnamese: [[Vietnamese alphabet|'''l'''ửa]] | pronounced as /[l̪ɨə˧˩˧]/ | 'fire' | See Vietnamese phonology | |
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic | Standard | Arabic: [[Arabic alphabet|لا]]|rtl=yes/ | pronounced as /[laʔ]/ | 'no' | See Arabic phonology | |
| Armenian | Eastern | Armenian: [[Armenian alphabet|'''լ'''ուսին]]/ | 'moon' | |||
| Assyrian | Syriac: ܠܚܡܐ/ | pronounced as /[lεxma]/ | 'bread' | |||
| Catalan[4] | Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan orthography|'''l'''aca]] | pronounced as /[ˈlɑkɐ]/ | 'hair spray' | Apical 'front alveolar'. May also be velarized. See Catalan phonology | ||
| Chuvash | Chuvash: [[Cyrillic script|ху'''л'''а]] | [хu'la] | 'city' | |||
| Dutch | Standard | Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch orthography|'''l'''aten]] | pronounced as /[ˈl̻aːt̻ə]/ | 'to let' | Laminal. Some Standard Belgian speakers use the clear pronounced as //l// in all positions. See Dutch phonology | |
| Some Eastern accents | Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch orthography|ma'''l''']] | pronounced as /[mɑl̻]/ | 'mold' | Laminal; realization of pronounced as //l// in all positions. See Dutch phonology | ||
| Dhivehi | Divehi; Dhivehi; Maldivian: [[Thaana|ލަވަ]]/Divehi; Dhivehi; Maldivian: [[Malé Latin|'''l'''ava]] | pronounced as /[laʋa]/ | 'song' | |||
| English | Most accents | let | align=center | pronounced as /[lɛt]/ | 'let' | Varies between apical and laminal, with the latter being predominant. |
| Irish, Geordie[5] | tell | pronounced as /[tʰɛl]/ | 'tell' | |||
| Esperanto: [[Esperanto orthography|'''l'''uno]] | align=center | pronounced as /[ˈluno]/ | 'moon' | See Esperanto phonology | ||
| Tagalog: [[Tagalog orthography|'''l'''uto]] | align=center | pronounced as /[ˈluto]/ | 'cook' | See Filipino phonology | ||
| Greek | Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Greek orthography|'''λ'''έξη]]/ | align=center | pronounced as /[ˈleksi]/ | 'word' | See Modern Greek phonology | |
| Italian | Italian: [[Italian alphabet|'''l'''etto]] | pronounced as /[ˈlɛt̪ːo]/ | 'bed' | Apical. See Italian phonology | ||
| Japanese | Japanese: [[Kanji|六]]/ | pronounced as /[lo̞kɯ̟ᵝ]/ | 'six' | Apical. More commonly pronounced as /link/. See Japanese phonology | ||
| Kashubian[6] | ||||||
| Khmer | Central Khmer: [[Khmer script|ភ្លេង]]/ | pronounced as /[pʰleːŋ]/ | 'music' | See Khmer phonology | ||
| Korean | Korean: [[Hangul|일]]/ | pronounced as /[il]/ | 'one' or 'work' | Realized as alveolar tap ɾ in the beginning of a syllable. See Korean phonology. | ||
| Kyrgyz | Kirghiz; Kyrgyz: [[Kyrgyz alphabet|көпө'''л'''өк]]/ | pronounced as /[køpøˈløk]/ | 'butterfly' | Velarized in back vowel contexts. See Kyrgyz phonology | ||
| Laghu | pronounced as /[lagu]/ | 'Laghu language' | ||||
| Laghuu | Nậm Sài, Sa Pa Town | pronounced as /[la˧˨ ɣɯ˥]/ | 'Laghuu language' | |||
| Mapudungun | Mapudungun; Mapuche: [[Mapudungun alphabet|e'''l'''un]] | pronounced as /[ëˈlʊn]/ | 'to give' | |||
| Nepali | pronounced as /[lämo]/ | 'long' | See Nepali phonology | |||
| Odia | pronounced as /[bʰɔlɔ]/ | 'good' | ||||
| Persian | Persian: [[Persian orthography|لاما]]|rtl=yes/ | pronounced as /[lɒmɒ]/ | 'llama' | See Persian phonology | ||
| Polish | Polish: [[Polish orthography|po'''l'''e]] | 'field' | Contrasts with pronounced as /[ɫ̪]/ (pronounced as //w//) for a small number of speakers. When it does, it might be palatalized to pronounced as /[lʲ]/. See Polish phonology | |||
| Romanian | Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: [[Romanian alphabet|a'''l'''ună]] | pronounced as /[äˈlun̪ə]/ | 'hazelnut' | Apical. See Romanian phonology | ||
| Scottish Gaelic[7] | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: [[Scottish Gaelic orthography|mao'''il''']] | pronounced as /[mɯːl]/ | 'headland' | Contrasts with pronounced as //ɫ̪// and pronounced as //ʎ//. See Scottish Gaelic phonology | ||
| Slovak | Slovak: [[Slovak alphabet|m'''ĺ'''kvy]] | 'silent' | Syllabic form can be long or short. See Slovak phonology | |||
| Slovene | Slovenian: [[Slovene orthography|'''l'''eta'''l'''o]] | pronounced as /[lɛˈt̪àːlɔ]/ | 'airplane' | See Slovene phonology | ||
| Spanish | Spanish; Castilian: [[Spanish orthography|hab'''l'''ar]] | pronounced as /[äˈβ̞läɾ]/ | 'to speak' | See Spanish phonology | ||
| Welsh | Welsh: diafo'''l''' | [djavɔl] | 'devil' | See Welsh phonology | ||
| Ukrainian | Ukrainian: [[Ukrainian alphabet|об'''л'''иччя]]/ | pronounced as /[oˈblɪt͡ʃːɐ]/ | 'face' | Contrasts with palatalized form. See Ukrainian phonology | ||
See also: Retroflex lateral approximant.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Igbo | Standard | Igbo: '''l'''ì | pronounced as /[l̠ì]/ | 'bury' | ||
| Italian | Italian: [[Italian alphabet|i'''l''' cervo]] | pronounced as /[il̠ʲ ˈt͡ʃɛrvo]/ | 'the deer' | Palatalized laminal; allophone of pronounced as //l// before pronounced as //ʃ, t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ//. See Italian phonology | ||
| Turkish | Turkish: [[Turkish alphabet|'''l'''a'''l'''e]] | 'tulip' | Palatalized; contrasts with a velarized dental lateral pronounced as /link/.May be devoiced elsewhere. See Turkish phonology | |||
| Zapotec | Tilquiapan | '''l'''an | pronounced as /[l̠an]/ | 'soot' | ||
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Faroese | Faroese: [[Faroese orthography|'''l'''inur]] | pronounced as /[ˈliːnʊɹ]/ | 'soft' | Varies between dental and alveolar in initial position, whereas the postvocalic pronounced as //l// may be postalveolar, especially after back vowels. See Faroese phonology | |
| French | French: [[French orthography|i'''l''']] | pronounced as /[il]/ | 'he' | Varies between laminal denti-alveolar and apical alveolar, with the latter being predominant. See French phonology | |
| German | Standard | German: [[German orthography|'''L'''iebe]] | pronounced as /[ˈliːbə]/ | 'love' | Varies between denti-alveolar, laminal alveolar and apical alveolar. |
| Norwegian | Urban East | Norwegian: [[Norwegian alphabet|'''l'''iv]] | pronounced as /[liːʋ]/ | '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 pronounced as //n, t, d//. See Norwegian phonology |
| Portuguese | Most Brazilian dialects,[8] [9] some EP speakers[10] | Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|'''l'''ero-'''l'''ero]] | pronounced as /[ˈlɛɾʊ ˈlɛɾʊ]/ | 'runaround'[11] | Clear, dental to sometimes alveolar. 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. |
| Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|'''L'''ituânia]] | 'Lithuania' | ||||
| Above: | Velarized L |
| Ipa Symbol: | lˠ |
| Ipa Symbol2: | lˤ |
| Ipa Symbol3: | ɫ |
| Ipa Number: | 209 |
| Decimal: | 108 |
| Decimal2: | 736 |
| X-Sampa: | 5 or l_G or l_?\ |
| Kirshenbaum: | l |
| Imagefile: | IPA Unicode 0x026B.svg |
The voiced velarized alveolar approximant (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 (IPA|lˠ) (for a velarized lateral) and (IPA|lˤ) (for a pharyngealized lateral), though the dedicated letter (IPA|ɫ), which covers both velarization and pharyngealization, is perhaps more common. The latter should not be confused with belted (IPA|ɬ), which represents the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative. However, some scholars use that symbol to represent the velarized alveolar lateral approximant anyway[12] – though such usage is considered non-standard.
If the sound is dental or denti-alveolar, one could use a dental diacritic to indicate so: (IPA|l̪ˠ), (IPA|l̪ˤ), (IPA|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.
The term dark l is often synonymous with hard l, especially in Slavic languages. (Cf. Hard consonants)
Features of the dark l:
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bashkir | Bashkir: ҡа'''л'''а/ | 'city' | Velarized dental lateral; occurs in back vowel contexts. | |||
| Belarusian | Belarusian: Бе'''л'''арусь/ | pronounced as /[bʲɛɫ̪äˈrusʲ]/ | 'Belarus' | Laminal denti-alveolar; contrasts with palatalized form. See Belarusian phonology | ||
| Bulgarian[13] | Bulgarian: [[Bulgarian alphabet|сто'''л''']]/ | pronounced as /[stoɫ̪]/ | 'chair' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Bulgarian phonology | ||
| Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan orthography|a'''l'''t]] | pronounced as /[ˈäɫ̪(t̪)]/ | 'tall' | Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of pronounced as //l// before pronounced as //t, d//. See Catalan phonology | |||
| [[Armenian alphabet|խա'''ղ'''եր]]/ | pronounced as /[χɑɫɛɹ]/ | 'games' | pronounced as /link/ in modern Armenian. | |||
| Icelandic | Icelandic: [[Icelandic orthography|si'''gl'''di]] | pronounced as /[s̺ɪɫ̪t̪ɪ]/ | 'sailed' | Laminal denti-alveolar; rare. See Icelandic phonology | ||
| Kashubian | Older southeastern speakers | Laminal denti-alveolar; realized as pronounced as /link/ by other speakers. | ||||
| Lithuanian | Lithuanian: [[Lithuanian alphabet|'''l'''abas]] | pronounced as /[ˈɫ̪äːbɐs̪]/ | 'hi' | Laminal denti-alveolar; contrasts with palatalized form. See Lithuanian phonology | ||
| Macedonian | Macedonian: [[Macedonian alphabet|'''л'''ук]]/ | pronounced as /[ɫ̪uk]/ | 'garlic' | Laminal denti-alveolar. Present only before back vowels (pronounced as //u, o, a//) and syllable-finally. See Macedonian phonology | ||
| Norwegian | Urban East | Norwegian: [[Norwegian orthography|ta'''l'''e]] | pronounced as /[ˈt̻ʰɑːɫ̪ə]/ | 'speech' | Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of pronounced as //l// after pronounced as //ɔ, oː, ɑ, ɑː//, and sometimes also after pronounced as //u, uː//. However, according to, this allophone is not velarized.[14] See Norwegian phonology | |
| Polish | Eastern dialects | Polish: [[Polish orthography|'''ł'''apa]] | pronounced as /[ˈɫ̪äpä]/ | 'paw' | Laminal denti-alveolar. Corresponds to pronounced as /[w]/ in other varieties. See Polish phonology | |
| Russian | Russian: [[Russian orthography|ма'''л'''ый]]/ | pronounced as /[ˈmɑ̟ɫ̪ɨ̞j]/ | 'small' | Pharyngealized laminal denti-alveolar. See Russian phonology | ||
| Scottish Gaelic | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: [[Scottish Gaelic phonology and orthography|Ma'''ll'''aig]] | pronounced as /[ˈmäʊɫ̪ækʲ]/ | 'Mallaig' | Contrasts with pronounced as //l// and pronounced as //ʎ//. See Scottish Gaelic phonology | ||
| Swedish | Northern Västerbotten | kall | pronounced as /[ˈkɒɫː]/ | 'cold' | Allophone of /lː/ | |
| Turkish | Turkish: [[Turkish alphabet|'''l'''a'''l'''a]] | pronounced as /[ɫ̟ɑˈɫ̟ɑ]/ | 'servant' | Laminal denti-alveolar; contrasts with a palatalized postalveolar lateral pronounced as /link/. May be devoiced elsewhere.See Turkish phonology | ||
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Standard | Afrikaans: tafe'''l''' | pronounced as /[ˈtɑːfəɫ]/ | 'table' | Velarized in all positions, especially non-prevocalically. See Afrikaans phonology | |
| Albanian | Standard | Albanian: '''ll'''u'''ll'''ë | pronounced as /[ˈɫuɫə]/ | 'smoking pipe' | ||
| Arabic | Standard | Arabic: [[Arabic alphabet|الله]]|rtl=yes/ | pronounced as /[ʔaɫˈɫaːh]/ | 'God' | Also transcribed as (IPA|lˤ). Many accents and dialects lack the sound and instead pronounce pronounced as /[l]/. See Arabic phonology | |
| Catalan | Eastern dialects | Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan orthography|ce'''l·l'''a]] | pronounced as /[ˈsɛɫːə]/ | 'cell' | Apical. Can be always dark in many dialects. See Catalan phonology | |
| Western dialects | Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan orthography|a'''l''']] | pronounced as /[ɑɫ]/ | 'to the' | |||
| Dutch | Standard | Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch orthography|ma'''ll'''en]] | pronounced as /[ˈmɑɫ̻ə]/ | 'molds' | Laminal; pharyngealized in northern accents, velarized or post-palatalised in southern accents. It is an allophone of pronounced as //l// before consonants and pauses, and also prevocalically when after the open back vowels pronounced as //ɔ, ɑ//. Many northern speakers realize the final pronounced as //l// as a strongly pharyngealised vocoid pronounced as /[ɤˤ]/, whereas some Standard Belgian speakers use the clear pronounced as //l// in all positions. See Dutch phonology | |
| Some Netherlandic accents | Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch orthography|'''l'''aten]] | pronounced as /[ˈɫ̻aːt̻ə]/ | 'to let' | Pharyngealized laminal; realization of pronounced as //l// in all positions. See Dutch phonology | ||
| English | Australian | feel | '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 | pronounced as /[ɫɔx]/ | 'loch' | Can be always dark except in some borrowings from Scottish Gaelic | ||
| Greek | Northern dialects[15] | Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Greek alphabet|μπά'''λα''']]/ | pronounced as /[ˈbaɫa]/ | 'ball' | Allophone of pronounced as //l// before pronounced as //a o u//. See Modern Greek phonology | |
| Georgian | Georgian: [[Georgian scripts|ჟო'''ლ'''ო]]/ | [ˈʒo̞ɫo̞] | 'raspberry' | An allophone of /l/ before /o u/ and /a/. See Georgian phonology | ||
| Sorani | [[Kurdish phonology|gâ'''l'''ta]] | pronounced as /[gɑːɫˈtʲaː]/ | 'joke' | See Kurdish phonology | ||
| Romanian | Bessarabian dialect | Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: [[Romanian alphabet|ca'''l''']] | pronounced as /[kaɫ]/ | 'horse' | Corresponds to non-velarized pronounced as /l/ in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology | |
| Serbo-Croatian | [[Serbian Cyrillic alphabet|'''л'''ак]]/[[Gaj's Latin alphabet|'''l'''ak]] | pronounced as /[ɫâ̠k]/ | 'easy' | Apical; may be syllabic; contrasts with pronounced as /link/. See Serbo-Croatian phonology | ||
| Uzbek | Apical; between a non-front rounded vowel and a consonant or juncture phoneme. Non-velarized denti-alveolar elsewhere. | |||||
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portuguese | European | Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|mi'''l''']] | pronounced as /[miɫ̪]/ | 'thousand' | Dental and strongly velarized in all environments for most speakers, though less so before front vowels.[16] |
| Older and conservative Brazilian[17] [18] [19] | Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|á'''l'''coo'''l''']] | pronounced as /[ˈäɫ̪ko̞ɫ̪]/ | 'alcohol, ethanol' | When pronounced as /[lˠ ~ lʶ ~ lˤ ~ lˀ]/,[20] most often dental. Coda is now vocalized to pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|w|u̯}} ~ {{IPAplink|ʊ|ʊ̯}}]/ in most of Brazil (as in EP in rural parts of Alto Minho and Madeira).[21] Stigmatized realizations such as pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|ɾ}} ~ {{IPAplink|ɽ}} ~ {{IPAplink|ɻ}}]/, the pronounced as //ʁ// range, pronounced as /link/ and even pronounced as /[∅]/ (zero) are some other coda allophones typical of Brazil.[22] See Portuguese phonology | |
pronounced as /navigation/