Voiced palatal lateral approximant

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 Template:Angbr IPA, a rotated lowercase letter Template:Angbr, 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,<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt, citing Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> or postalveolo-prepalatal.Template:Sfnp None of the 13 languages investigated by Template:Harvcoltxt, many of them Romance, has a 'true' palatal.Template:Sfnp 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.Template:Sfnp

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 Template:Angbr IPA or Template:Angbr IPA; 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 Template:Unichar; Template:Ifsubst style="color:gray">Template:Angbr IPA ("l", plus the curl found in the symbols for alveolo-palatal sibilant fricatives Template:Angle brackets) used especially in Sinological circles.

The voiced palatal lateral approximant contrasts phonemically with its voiceless counterpart {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in the Xumi language spoken in China.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

Features

Features of the voiced palatal lateral approximant:

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Albanian<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Malsia e Madhe	{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	'flower'
	Arbëresh
	Arvanitika
Aragonese		lang}}	main}}	'needle'
Aromanian		lang}}	main}}	'rabbit'
Astur-Leonese	Asturian	{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	'language'	Where {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is absent and replaced by different sounds (depending on dialect), a phenomenon known as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, its corresponding sounds are spelled Template:Angbr.
	Leonese
	Mirandese	lang}}	main}}
Aymara		lang}}	main}}	'sad'
Basque		lang}}	main}}	'bulb'
Breton		lang}}	main}}	'family'
Bulgarian		lang}}	main}}	'love'	Alveolo-palatal. See Bulgarian phonology
Catalan	Standard	lang}}	main}}	'lake'	Alveolo-palatal.Template:Sfnp See Catalan phonology
	Eastern Aragon	lang}}	main}}	'key'	main}} in consonant clusters.
Chipaya		lloqa	main}}	'bank'	See Chipaya languages
English	Australian	{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	'million'	Frequent realization of the sequence {{#invoke:IPA|main}}
	Canadian (Atlantic and Newfoundland)
	County Donegal<ref name="stenson">Template:Harvcoltxt, cited in Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>				main}}.<ref name="stenson"/>
	General AmericanTemplate:Sfnp				main}}; sometimes realized as {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.Template:Sfnp See English phonology
	Hiberno-English				Common realization of the sequence {{#invoke:IPA|main}}
	New England
	New York City
	New Zealand
	Received Pronunciation
	South African
	Southern American
	Philippine	lang}}	main}}	'gorilla'	Common realization of Template:Angbr between vowels due to Spanish influence.Template:Cn
Enindhilyagwa		lang}}	main}}	'place'	Laminal post-alveolar
FaroeseTemplate:Sfnp		lang}}	main}}	'to carve'	main}} before palatal consonants.Template:Sfnp Sometimes voiceless Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp See Faroese phonology
Franco-Provençal		lang}}	main}}	'give'
French	Some dialects<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt, Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>	lang}}	main}}	'butterfly'	main}} in modern standard French. See French phonology
Galician	Standard	lang}}	main}}	'insulated'	Most Galician speakers, especially the urban and younger populations, are nowadays yeístas<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> because of influence from Spanish
Greek		lang}}	Template:Audio-IPA	'sun'	Postalveolar.Template:Sfnp See Modern Greek phonology
Hungarian	Northern dialectsTemplate:Sfnp	lang}}	main}}	'hole'	Alveolo-palatal.Template:Sfnp Modern Standard Hungarian has undergone a phenomenon akin to Spanish yeísmo, merging {{#invoke:IPA|main}} into {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. See Hungarian ly and Hungarian phonology
Irish		lang}}	main}}	'leaf'	main}}. See Irish phonology
ItalianTemplate:Sfnp		lang}}	Template:Audio-IPA	'son'	Alveolo-palatal.Template:Sfnp Realized as fricative Template:IPAblink in a large number of accents.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt: "(...) in a large number of Italian accents, there is considerable friction involved in the pronunciation of {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, creating a voiced palatal lateral fricative (for which there is no established IPA symbol)."</ref> See Italian phonology
Ivilyuat		Ivil̃uɂat	main}}	'the speaking [Ivilyuat]' ('Ivilyuat language')
Jaqaru		allaka	main}}	'pumpkin'	See Jaqaru Language
Jebero		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	main}}	'name'	See Jebero Language
Korean	Seoul dialect	lang}}	main}}	'qianlima'	main}} is palatalized to {{#invoke:IPA|main}} before {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and before palatal consonant allophones<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Latvian		lang}}	main}}	'people'	See Latvian phonology
Mapudungun		lang}}	main}}	'nine'	See Mapuche language
Norwegian	Northern and central dialectsTemplate:Sfnp	lang}}	main}}	'all'	See Norwegian phonology
Occitan	Standard	lang}}	main}}	'to reflect'	See Occitan phonology
Paiwan	Standard	lang}}	main}}	'banana'	See Paiwan language
Paez		silli	main}}	'reed'	See Paezan languages
Portuguese	Standard	lang}}	main}}	'garlic'	Alveolo-palatal in European Portuguese.Template:Sfnp May instead be {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, Template:IPAblink (Northeast) or Template:IPAblink (Caipira), especially before unrounded vowels.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp See Portuguese phonology
	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	lang}}	main}}	'sandal'	main}} plus vowel.
QuechuaTemplate:Sfnp		lang}}	main}}	'tongue'
Romanian	Transylvanian dialectsTemplate:Sfnp	lang}}	main}}	'spoon'	Corresponds to Template:IPAblinkTemplate:Fix in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Scottish GaelicTemplate:Sfnp		lang}}	main}}	'return'	main}}, or among some younger speakers, as {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.Template:Sfnp See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Serbo-Croatian<ref name="SOWL">Template:Harvcoltxt, cited in Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>		lang}} / {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	main}}, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}	'swing (seat)'	Palato-alveolar.<ref name="SOWL" /> See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Sissano		lang}}	main}}	'fish'
Slovak		lang}}	Template:Audio-IPA	'to love'	main}} in western dialects. See Slovak phonology
Spanish<ref>[1] Template:Webarchive ALPI</ref>	Andean (from Argentina to Colombia)	{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	'horse'	Found in traditional speakers in Peninsular Spanish. Also found in Andean countries and Paraguay. For most speakers, this sound has merged with Template:IPAslink, a phenomenon called yeísmo. See Spanish phonology. "Caballo" with yeísmo is pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}}
	Castilian, Aragonese and Catalonian outside of large citiesTemplate:Sfnp
	Central areas in Extremadura
	Eastern and southwestern ManchegoTemplate:Cn
	Murcian
	Paraguayan<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
	Philippine
	Very few areas in Andalusia
Xumi	LowerTemplate:Sfnp	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}		'musk deer'	Alveolo-palatal; contrasts with the voiceless {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp
	UpperTemplate:Sfnp	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}		'correct, right'

See also

• Yeísmo, a feature of Spanish dialects that have merged this sound with Template:IPAc-es
• Index of phonetics articles

References

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