| Ipa Symbol: | ʎ |
| Ipa Number: | 157 |
| Decimal: | 654 |
| Xsampa: | L |
| Braille: | hh |
| Braille2: | 13456 |
| Imagefile: | IPA Unicode 0x028E.svg |
| Ipa Symbol: | l̠ʲ |
| Ipa Symbol2: | ʎ̟ |
The voiced palatal lateral approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is (IPA|ʎ), a rotated lowercase letter (y), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is L.
Many languages that were previously thought to have a palatal lateral approximant actually have a lateral approximant that is, broadly, alveolo-palatal; that is to say, it is articulated at a place in-between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate (excluded), and it may be variously described as alveolo-palatal, lamino-postalveolar,[1] or postalveolo-prepalatal. None of the 13 languages investigated by, many of them Romance, has a 'true' palatal. That is likely the case for several other languages listed here. Some languages, like Portuguese and Catalan, have a lateral approximant that varies between alveolar and alveolo-palatal.
There is no dedicated symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents the alveolo-palatal lateral approximant. If precision is desired, it may be transcribed (IPA|l̠ʲ) or (IPA|ʎ̟); they are essentially equivalent because the contact includes both the blade and body (but not the tip) of the tongue. There is also a non-IPA letter ; ("l", plus the curl found in the symbols for alveolo-palatal sibilant fricatives) is used especially in Sinological circles.
The voiced palatal lateral approximant contrasts phonemically with its voiceless counterpart pronounced as //ʎ̥// in the Xumi language spoken in China.
Features of the voiced palatal lateral approximant:
| Language | Word | Meaning | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albanian[2] | Albanian: '''l'''u'''l'''e|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈʎuʎɛ]/ | 'flower' | ||
| Arbëresh | |||||
| Arvanitika | |||||
| Aragonese: agu'''ll'''a|italic=yes | pronounced as /[a̠ˈɣuʎa̠]/ | 'needle' | |||
| Aromanian; Arumanian; Macedo-Romanian: '''lj'''epuri|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈʎe̞puri]/ | 'rabbit' | |||
| Asturian; Bable; Leonese; Asturleonese: '''ll'''ingua|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈʎĩŋɡwa̝]/ | 'language' | Where pronounced as //ʎ// is absent and replaced by different sounds (depending on dialect), a phenomenon known as Asturian; Bable; Leonese; Asturleonese: [[che vaqueira]], its corresponding sounds are spelled (ḷḷ). | ||
| Leonese | |||||
| Asturian; Bable; Leonese; Asturleonese: '''lh'''éngua|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈʎɛ̃ɡwɐ]/ | ||||
| Aymara: '''ll'''aki | pronounced as /[ʎaki]/ | 'sad' | |||
| Basque: [[Basque alphabet|bonbi'''ll'''a]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[bo̞mbiʎa̠]/ | 'bulb' | |||
| Breton: fami'''lh'''|italic=yes | pronounced as /[fa̠miʎ]/ | 'family' | |||
| Bulgarian: [[Bulgarian alphabet|'''л'''юбов]] | pronounced as /[ʎuˈbof]/ | 'love' | Alveolo-palatal. See Bulgarian phonology | ||
| Standard | Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan orthography|'''ll'''ac]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈʎ̟a̠k]/ | 'lake' | Alveolo-palatal. See Catalan phonology | |
| Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan orthography|c'''l'''au]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈkʎ̟a̠ʊ̯]/ | 'key' | Allophone of pronounced as //l// in consonant clusters. | ||
| Chipaya | lloqa | pronounced as /[ʎoqa]/ | 'bank' | ||
| English: [[English orthography|mi'''lli'''on]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈmɪʎən]/ | 'million' | A frequent allophone of the sequence pronounced as //lj// | ||
| Canadian (Atlantic and Newfoundland) | |||||
| County Donegal[3] | Allophone of the sequence pronounced as //lj//. | ||||
| A frequent allophone of the sequence pronounced as //lj//; sometimes realized as pronounced as /[jj]/. See English phonology | |||||
| A frequent allophone of the sequence pronounced as //lj// | |||||
| New England | |||||
| New York City | |||||
| New Zealand | |||||
| Received Pronunciation | |||||
| South African | |||||
| Southern American | |||||
| English: [[English orthography|gori'''ll'''a]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[goˈɾɪʎɐ]/ | 'gorilla' | Common realization of (ll) between vowels due to Spanish influence. | ||
| anga'''ly'''a | pronounced as /[aŋal̠ʲa]/ | 'place' | Laminal post-alveolar | ||
| Faroese: [[Faroese orthography|te'''l'''gja]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈtʰɛʎt͡ʃa]/ | 'to carve' | Allophone of pronounced as //l// before palatal consonants. Sometimes voiceless pronounced as /link/. See Faroese phonology | ||
| ba'''ly'''i|italic=yes | pronounced as /[baʎi]/ | 'give' | |||
| Some dialects[4] | French: papi'''ll'''on|italic=yes | pronounced as /[papiʎɒ̃]/ | 'butterfly' | Corresponds to pronounced as //j// in modern standard French. See French phonology | |
| Standard | Galician: i'''ll'''ado|italic=yes | pronounced as /[iˈʎa̠ðo̝]/ | 'insulated' | Most Galician speakers, especially the urban and younger populations, are nowadays yeístas[5] because of influence from Spanish | |
| Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Greek alphabet|ή'''λι'''ος]] | 'sun' | Postalveolar. See Modern Greek phonology | |||
| Northern dialects | Hungarian: [[Hungarian orthography|'''ly'''uk]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ʎuk]/ | 'hole' | Alveolo-palatal. Modern Standard Hungarian has undergone a phenomenon akin to Spanish yeísmo, merging pronounced as //ʎ// into pronounced as //j//. See Hungarian ly and Hungarian phonology | |
| Irish: [[Irish orthography|dui'''ll'''e]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈd̪ˠɪl̠ʲə]/ | 'leaf' | Alveolo-palatal. Some dialects contrast it with palatalized alveolar pronounced as //lʲ//. See Irish phonology | ||
| Italian: [[Italian alphabet|fi'''gli'''o]]|italic=yes | 'son' | Alveolo-palatal. Realized as fricative pronounced as /link/ in a large number of accents.[6] See Italian phonology | |||
| Ivil̃uɂat | pronounced as /[ʔivɪʎʊʔat]/ | 'the speaking [Ivilyuat]' ('Ivilyuat language') | |||
| Jaqaru | allaka | pronounced as /[a'ʎaka]/ | 'pumpkin' | ||
| Jebero | llinllin[7] | pronounced as /[ʎinʎin]/ | 'name' | ||
| Korean: [[Korean phonology|천리마 / cheo'''ll'''ima]] | pronounced as /[t͡ɕʰʌ̹ʎʎima̠]/ | 'qianlima' | pronounced as //l// is palatalized to pronounced as /[ʎ]/ before pronounced as //i, j// and before palatal consonant allophones[8] | ||
| Latvian: [[Latvian orthography|'''ļ'''audis]] | pronounced as /[ʎàwdis]/ | 'people' | See Latvian phonology | ||
| Aymara: ay'''ll'''a | pronounced as /[ˈɐjʎɜ]/ | 'nine' | See Mapuche language | ||
| Norwegian: [[Norwegian alphabet|a'''ll'''e]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ɑʎːe]/ | 'all' | See Norwegian phonology | ||
| Standard | Occitan (post 1500);: mira'''lh'''ar | pronounced as /[miɾa̠ˈʎa̠]/ | 'to reflect' | See Occitan phonology | |
| Standard | ve'''lj'''eve'''lj'''|italic=yes | pronounced as /[vəʎəvəʎ]/ | 'banana' | See Paiwan language | |
| Paez | silli | pronounced as /[siʎi]/ | 'reed' | See Paezan languages | |
| Standard | Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|a'''lh'''o]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈaʎu]/ | 'garlic' | Alveolo-palatal in European Portuguese. May instead be pronounced as /[lʲ]/, pronounced as /link/ (Northeast) or pronounced as /link/ (Caipira), especially before unrounded vowels. See Portuguese phonology | |
| Many dialects[9] | Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|sandá'''li'''a]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[sɐ̃ˈda̠l̠ʲɐ]/ | 'sandal' | Possible realization of post-stressed pronounced as //li// plus vowel. | |
| Quechua: qa'''ll'''u | pronounced as /[qaʎʊ]/ | 'tongue' | |||
| Transylvanian dialects | Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: [[Romanian alphabet|'''l'''ingură]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈʎinɡurə]/ | 'spoon' | Corresponds to pronounced as /link/ in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology | |
| Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: [[Scottish Gaelic alphabet|ti'''ll''']]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[tʲʰiːʎ]/ | 'return' | Alveolo-palatal. See Scottish Gaelic phonology | ||
| Serbo-Croatian[10] | [[Serbian Cyrillic alphabet|'''љ'''у'''љ'''aшка]] / [[Gaj's Latin alphabet|'''lj'''u'''lj'''aška]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ʎ̟ǔʎ̟äːʂkä]/ | 'swing (seat)' | Palato-alveolar. See Serbo-Croatian phonology | |
| pi'''yl''' | pronounced as /[piʎ]/ | 'fish' | |||
| Slovak: [[Slovak alphabet|'''ľ'''úbiť]]|italic=yes | 'to love' | Merges with pronounced as //l// in western dialects. See Slovak phonology | |||
| Spanish[11] | Andean (from Argentina to Colombia) | Spanish; Castilian: [[Spanish orthography|caba'''ll'''o]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ka̠ˈβ̞a̠.ʎo̞]/ | 'horse' | Found in traditional speakers in Peninsular Spanish. Also found in Andean countries and Paraguay. For most speakers, this sound has merged with pronounced as /link/, a phenomenon called yeísmo. See Spanish phonology. "Caballo" with yeísmo is pronounced pronounced as /[ka̠ˈβ̞a̠.ʝo̞]/ |
| Castilian, Aragonese and Catalonian outside of large cities | |||||
| Central areas in Extremadura | |||||
| Eastern and southwestern Manchego | |||||
| Murcian | |||||
| Paraguayan[12] | |||||
| Lower | pronounced as /[ʎ̟o˩˥]/ | 'musk deer' | Alveolo-palatal; contrasts with the voiceless pronounced as //ʎ̥//. | ||
| Upper | pronounced as /[ʎ̟ɛ˦]/ | 'correct, right' | |||
pronounced as /navigation/
"(...) in a large number of Italian accents, there is considerable friction involved in the pronunciation of pronounced as /[ʎ]/, creating a voiced palatal lateral fricative (for which there is no established IPA symbol)."