Velar lateral approximant

Velar lateral approximant
ʟ
IPA number	158
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ʟ
Unicode (hex)	U+029F
X-SAMPA	L\
Kirshenbaum	L
Braille
Image
Sound
source · help

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⟩ (since 1989) and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is L\.

The velar laterals of the world often involve a prestopped realization [ɡ͡ʟ].

Features

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.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
English	Some dialects	milk	[mɪʟk]	'milk'	May occur before velar and labial consonants. See English phonology
Hiw		r̄evr̄ov	[ɡ͡ʟəβɡ͡ʟɔβ]	'evening'	Realized as prestopped [ɡ͡ʟ].
Melpa		[paʟa]		'fence'
Mid-Wahgi		aglagle	[aʟaʟe]	'dizzy'
Scots	Falkirk	ló	[ʟoː]	'love'
	North-Mid dialects

See also

• 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