Voiced velar lateral approximant

IPA Unicode 0x029F

Voiced velar lateral approximant

The voiced velar lateral approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is characterized by its manner of articulation, which is approximant, meaning that 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 (the dorsum) against the soft palate (also known as the velum). Additionally, as a lateral consonant, the airstream flows along the sides of the tongue, rather than down the middle. The phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation. It does not have a symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) specifically dedicated to it, but it can be represented by the symbol ⟨ʟ̝⟩, which is an extension of the symbol for the voiced velar plosive (⟨ɡ⟩) with a diacritic indicating a lateral release.

Characteristics

• Manner of articulation: Approximant, which means that the sound is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce a turbulent airstream.
• Place of articulation: Velar, meaning it is articulated with the back of the tongue against the soft palate.
• Phonation: Voiced, indicating that the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• Lateral: The airstream flows along the sides of the tongue.

Occurrence

The voiced velar lateral approximant is a rare sound across languages. It may occur allophonically or as a distinct phoneme in certain languages. For example, in some dialects of Archangelsk Russian, this sound appears as an allophone of /l/ before velar consonants. However, its occurrence is not widespread, and it is considered to be quite unusual in the world's languages.

Representation

In the absence of a dedicated IPA symbol, the voiced velar lateral approximant is represented by the symbol ⟨ʟ̝⟩, which combines the symbol for the voiced velar plosive with a diacritic indicating lateral release.

See also

• Lateral consonant
• Approximant consonant
• List of phonetic topics