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In linguistics, 'l-vocalization' is a process by which an sound (a lateral consonant) is replaced by a vowel or semivowel sound. This happens most often to the velarized alveolar lateral approximant .

Contents

L-vocalization in English

L-vocalization in other languages

References

External links

L-vocalization in English

L-vocalization is a notable feature of certain dialects of English, including Cockney and Estuary English, in which an sound occurring at the end of a word or before a consonant is replaced with a vowel sound, variously transcribed , or resulting in pronunciations such as , for ''milk'', and , for ''middle''.
Especially in Cockney, l-vocalization can be accompanied by phonemic mergers of vowels before the vocalized . For example, ''real'', ''reel'' and ''rill'', which are distinct in Received Pronunciation, are homophones in Cockney as .
In the accent of Bristol, syllabic vocalized to , resulting in pronunciations like (for ''bottle''). By hypercorrection, however, some words originally ending in had this sound replaced by syllabic : the original name of the town was ''Bristow'', but this has been altered by hypercorrection to ''Bristol''.
In the United States, the dark L in African-American Vernacular English may change to an o, w, or be omitted altogether (i.e. fool becomes , cereal becomes ).

L-vocalization in other languages

★ In early 15th century Middle Scots (except intervocalically and before ), and often changed to , and . For example ''all'' changed to ''aw'', ''hald'' to ''haud'' (hold), ''colt'' to ''cowt'', ''ful'' to ''fou'' (full).

★ In Dutch, the combinations ''old'' ('old') and ''olt'' ('out') changed to ''oud'' and ''out'' during the Middle Ages.

★ In Brazilian Portuguese, in the syllable coda position becomes the semivowel . For example, the words ''mau'' (bad) and ''mal'' (badly) are both pronounced .

★ In Polish, Sorbian languages and Ukrainian (at the end of a closed syllable), historical has become . For example, the word for "small" in all three languages is ''mały'', pronounced (cf. Russian малый ). As of the early 2000s, can still be used by some speakers of eastern Polish dialects, especially in Belarus and Lithuania.

★ In Serbo-Croatian, a historical in coda position has become and is now so spelled. For example, the Serbo-Croatian name of Belgrade is ''Beograd''.

★ In Austro-Bavarian, the etymological /l/ is vocalised, only after front vowels, into ''i'' or ''y'', e.g. ''vui'' corresponding with High German ''viel'' ("much").

★ In Bernese German, a historical in coda position has become , a historical (only occurring intervocalically) has become , whereas intervocalic persists. The absence of vocalization was one of the distinctive features of the upper class variety which is not much spoken anymore. For example, the German name of the city of Biel is pronounced .

★ In Bulgarian, young people often pronounce the of the standard language as or , especially in an informal context. For example, pronunciations which could be transcribed as or occurs instead of standard ("a little"). Unlike the historical sound changes listed above, this is an example of a synchronic variation between speakers that might not result in a sound change in the long run.

References

★ Labov, William, Sharon Ash, and Charles Boberg. 2006. ''The Atlas of North American English''. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-016746-8.

External links

★ Transcribing Estuary English, by J. C. Wells - discusses the phonetics of l-vocalization in Estuary English and Cockney.

★ L-vocalisations in Estuary English