Voiceless dental, alveolar and postalveolar lateral approximants

Voiceless alveolar lateral approximant
l̥
IPA Number	155 402A
Encoding
X-SAMPA	l_0

Voiceless postalveolar lateral approximant
l̠̊

Voiceless dental lateral approximant
l̪̊

Features

Features of the voiceless 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.
• There are four specific variants of [l̥]:
  • Dental, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the upper teeth, termed respectively apical and laminal.
  • Denti-alveolar, which means it is articulated with the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, and the tip of the tongue behind upper teeth.
  • Alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
  • Postalveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
• Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
• 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

Dental or denti-alveolar

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Norwegian	Trondheim dialect	sælt	[s̪al̪̊t̪]	'sold'	Laminal denti-alveolar; allophone of /l/. Also described as a fricative [ɬ̪]. See Norwegian phonology
Turkish		yol	[ˈjo̞ɫ̪̊]	'way'	Velarized laminal denti-alveolar. It is a frequent realization of /ɫ/ in word-final and preconsonantal positions. See Turkish phonology

Alveolar

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Danish	Standard	plads	[ˈpl̥æs]	'square'	Before /l/, aspiration in /pʰ, tˢ, kʰ/ is realized as devoicing of /l/. See Danish phonology
Estonian		mahl	[mɑ̝hːl̥]	'juice'	Word-final allophone of /l/ after /t, s, h/. See Estonian phonology
Moksha		калхне	[ˈkal̥nʲæ]	'these fishes'	Contrasts plain voiceless, plain voiced, palatalized voiceless and palatalized voiced versions.
Tibetan		ལྷ	[l̥a]	'deity'	Contrasts voiceless and voiced lateral approximants
Ukrainian		смисл	[s̪mɪs̪l̥]	'sense'	Word-final allophone of /l/ after voiceless consonants. See Ukrainian phonology
Xumi	Lower	[RPʁul̥o]		'head'	Contrasts with the voiced /l/.
	Upper	[EPbəl̥ɐ]		'to open a lock'

Postalveolar

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Turkish		dil	[ˈd̪il̠̊ʲ]	'tongue'	Palatalized. It is a frequent realization of /l/ in word-final and preconsonantal positions. See Turkish phonology

See also

• Voiceless alveolar lateral fricative
• Dental, alveolar and postalveolar lateral approximants