Discover

The 'alveolar lateral approximant' is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar lateral approximants is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is l.

Contents

Features

Occurrence

See also

Features

Features of the alveolar lateral approximant:

★ Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by bringing one articulator close to another but without the vocal tract being narrowed to such an extent that a turbulent airstream is produced.

★ Its place of articulation is alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue — termed respectively ''apical'' and ''laminal'' — against the alveolar ridge.

★ Its phonation type is voiced, which means the vocal cords are vibrating during the articulation.

★ It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.

★ It is a lateral consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the sides of the tongue, rather than the middle of the tongue.

★ The airstream mechanism is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis or the mouth.

Occurrence

Language	Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abkhaz	мгьа'л'		'bread'
Arabic	صلاة		'prayer/salat'
Chechen	'л'ам /'''l'am''		'mountain'
Dutch	'''l'even''		'to live'	See Dutch phonology
English	'''l'et''		'let'	See English phonology
Finnish	''i'll'a'll'a''		'at evening'	See Finnish phonology
French	'''l'une''		'moon'	See French phonology
German	'''L'iebe''		'love'	See German phonology
Greek	καλόγερος		'monk'	See Modern Greek phonology
Hungarian	''e'l'em''		'battery'	See Hungarian phonology
Italian	'''l'etto''		'bed'	See Italian phonology
Mandarin	老/'''l'ǎo''		'old'	See Standard Mandarin
Norwegian	'''l'iv''		'life'	See Norwegian phonology
Pashto	ﻟﺲ		'ten'
Polish	'''l'ot''		'flight'	See Polish phonology
Romanian	alună		'hazelnut'	See Romanian phonology
Spanish	''hab'l'ar''		'to speak'	See Spanish phonology
Swedish	''a'll't''		'everything'	See Swedish phonology

See also

★ List of phonetics topics