Voiced palatal lateral approximant
Consonantal sound represented by ⟨ʎ⟩ in IPA
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A 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 ⟨ʎ⟩, a rotated lowercase letter ⟨y⟩.
| Voiced palatal lateral approximant | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ʎ | |||
| IPA number | 157 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ʎ | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+028E | ||
| X-SAMPA | L | ||
| Braille |   | ||
| |||
Many languages that were previously thought to have a palatal lateral approximant actually have a lateral approximant that is, broadly, alveolo-palatal: the sound 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,[1] or postalveolo-prepalatal.[2] None of the 13 languages investigated by Recasens (2013), many of them Romance, has a 'true' palatal.[3] 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.[4]
What is transcribed ⟨ʎ⟩ is often actually a voiced alveolo-palatal lateral approximant. There is no dedicated symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound, which is one reason that ⟨ʎ⟩ is used. If more precision is desired, it may be transcribed ⟨l̠ʲ⟩ or ⟨ʎ̟⟩. There is a non-IPA letter, U+0234 ȴ LATIN SMALL LETTER L WITH CURL; ⟨ȴ⟩ (⟨l⟩, plus the curl found in the symbols for alveolo-palatal sibilant fricatives ⟨ɕ, ʑ⟩), which is used especially in Sinological circles.
A voiced palatal lateral approximant contrasts phonemically with its voiceless counterpart /ʎ̥/ in the Xumi language spoken in China.[5][6]
Features
Features of a voiced palatal 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.
- Its place of articulation is palatal, which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised to the hard palate.
- Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
- It is an oral consonant, which means that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
- 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.
- Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air only with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most speech sounds.
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albanian[7] | Malsia e Madhe | lule | [ˈʎuʎɛ] | 'flower' | |
| Arbëresh | |||||
| Arvanitika | |||||
| Aragonese | agulla | [a̠ˈɣuʎa̠] | 'needle' | ||
| Aromanian | ljepuri | [ˈʎe̞puri] | 'rabbit' | ||
| Astur-Leonese | Asturian | llingua | [ˈʎĩŋɡwa̝] | 'language' | Where /ʎ/ is absent and replaced by different sounds (depending on dialect), a phenomenon known as che vaqueira, its corresponding sounds are spelled ⟨ḷḷ⟩. |
| Leonese | |||||
| Mirandese | lhéngua | [ˈʎɛ̃ɡwɐ] | |||
| Aymara | llaki | [ʎaki] | 'sad' | ||
| Basque | bonbilla | [bo̞mbiʎa̠] | 'bulb' | ||
| Breton | familh | [fa̠miʎ] | 'family' | ||
| Bulgarian | любов | [ʎuˈbof] | 'love' | Alveolo-palatal. See Bulgarian phonology | |
| Catalan | Most dialects | llac | [ˈʎäk] | 'lake' | Alveolo-palatal.[2] May merge with /j/ in some areas (ieisme). See Catalan phonology |
| Eastern Aragon | clau | [ˈkʎäw] | 'key' | Allophone of /l/ in consonant clusters. | |
| Chipaya | lloqa | [ʎoqa] | 'bank' | See Chipaya languages | |
| English | Australian | million | [ˈmɪʎən] | 'million' | Frequent realization of the sequence /lj/ |
| Canadian (Atlantic and Newfoundland) | |||||
| County Donegal[8] | Realization of the sequence /lj/.[8] | ||||
| General American[9] | Common realization of the sequence /lj/; sometimes realized as [jj].[9] See English phonology | ||||
| Hiberno-English | Common realization of the sequence /lj/ | ||||
| New England | |||||
| New York City | |||||
| New Zealand | |||||
| Received Pronunciation | |||||
| South African | |||||
| Southern American | |||||
| Philippine | gorilla | [goˈɾɪʎɐ] | 'gorilla' | Common realization of ⟨ll⟩ between vowels due to Spanish influence.[citation needed] | |
| Enindhilyagwa | angalya | [aŋal̠ʲa] | 'place' | Laminal post-alveolar | |
| Faroese[10] | telgja | [ˈtʰɛʎt͡ʃa] | 'to carve' | Allophone of /l/ before palatal consonants.[10] Voiceless [ʎ̥] before fortis consonnants.[10] See Faroese phonology | |
| Franco-Provençal | balyi | [baʎi] | 'give' | ||
| French | Some dialects[11] | papillon | [papiʎɒ̃] | 'butterfly' | Corresponds to /j/ in modern standard French. See French phonology |
| Galician | Standard | illado | [iˈʎa̠ðo̝] | 'insulated' | Most Galician speakers, especially the urban and younger populations, are nowadays yeístas[12] because of influence from Spanish |
| Greek | ήλιος | ⓘ | 'sun' | Postalveolar.[13] See Modern Greek phonology | |
| Hungarian | Northern dialects[14] | lyuk | ⓘ | 'hole' | Alveolo-palatal.[15] Modern Standard Hungarian has undergone a phenomenon akin to Spanish yeísmo, merging /ʎ/ into /j/. See Hungarian ly and Hungarian phonology |
| Irish | duille | [ˈd̪ˠɪl̠ʲə] | 'leaf' | Alveolo-palatal. Some dialects contrast it with palatalized alveolar /lʲ/. See Irish phonology | |
| Italian[2] | figlio | ⓘ | 'son' | Alveolo-palatal.[2] Realized as fricative [ʎ̝] in a large number of accents.[16] See Italian phonology | |
| Ivilyuat | Ivil̃uɂat | [ʔivɪʎʊʔat] | 'the speaking [Ivilyuat]' ('Ivilyuat language') | ||
| Jaqaru | allaka | [a'ʎaka] | 'pumpkin' | See Jaqaru Language | |
| Jebero | llinllin[17] | [ʎinʎin] | 'name' | See Jebero Language | |
| Korean | Seoul dialect | 천리마 / cheollima | [t͡ɕʰʌ̹ʎʎima̠] | 'qianlima' | /l/ is palatalized to [ʎ] before /i, j/ and before palatal consonant allophones[18] |
| Latvian | ļaudis | [ʎàwdis] | 'people' | See Latvian phonology | |
| Mapudungun | aylla | [ˈɐjʎɜ] | 'nine' | See Mapuche language | |
| Norwegian | Northern and central dialects[19] | alle | [ɑʎːe] | 'all' | See Norwegian phonology |
| Occitan | Standard | miralhar | [miɾa̠ˈʎa̠] | 'to reflect' | See Occitan phonology |
| Paiwan | Standard | veljevelj | [vəʎəvəʎ] | 'banana' | See Paiwan language |
| Paez | silli | [siʎi] | 'reed' | See Paezan languages | |
| Portuguese | Standard | alho | [ˈaʎu] | 'garlic' | Alveolo-palatal in European Portuguese.[20] May instead be [lʲ], [l] (Northeast) or [j] (Caipira), especially before unrounded vowels.[21][22] See Portuguese phonology |
| Many dialects[23] | sandália | [sɐ̃ˈda̠l̠ʲɐ] | 'sandal' | Possible realization of post-stressed /li/ plus vowel. | |
| Quechua[24] | qallu | [qaʎʊ] | 'tongue' | ||
| Romanian | Transylvanian dialects[25] | lingură | [ˈʎinɡurə] | 'spoon' | Corresponds to [l][in which environments?] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology |
| Romansh | Sursilvan | fegl | [feʎ] | 'son' | |
| Sutsilvan | |||||
| Surmiran | |||||
| Puter | figl | [fiʎ] | |||
| Vallader | |||||
| Rumantsch Grischun | |||||
| Scottish Gaelic[26] | till | [tʲʰiːʎ] | 'return' | Palatal or palatalised apical dental. Can manifest as [j], or among some younger speakers, as [lj].[27] See Scottish Gaelic phonology | |
| Serbo-Croatian[28] | љуљaшка / ljuljačka | [ʎ̟ǔʎ̟äːʂkä], [ʎ̟ǔʎ̟äːt͡ʂkä] | 'swing (seat)' | Palato-alveolar.[28] See Serbo-Croatian phonology | |
| Sissano | piyl | [piʎ] | 'fish' | ||
| Slovak | ľúbiť | ⓘ | 'to love' | Merges with /l/ in western dialects. See Slovak phonology | |
| Spanish[29] | Andean (from Argentina to Colombia) | caballo | [ka̠ˈβ̞a̠.ʎo̞] | 'horse' | Found in traditional speakers in Peninsular Spanish. Also found in Andean countries and Paraguay. For most speakers, this sound has merged with /ʝ/, a phenomenon called yeísmo. See Spanish phonology. "Caballo" with yeísmo is pronounced [ka̠ˈβ̞a̠.ʝo̞] |
| Castilian, Aragonese and Catalonian outside of large cities[30] | |||||
| Central areas in Extremadura | |||||
| Eastern and southwestern Manchego[citation needed] | |||||
| Paraguayan[31] | |||||
| Philippine | |||||
| Very few areas in Andalusia | |||||
| Murcian | cayó | [ka̠ˈʎo̞] | 'fall' | Ultralleísmo, rural | |
| Xumi | Lower[5] | [ʎ̟o˩˥] | 'musk deer' | Alveolo-palatal; contrasts with the voiceless /ʎ̥/.[5][6] | |
| Upper[6] | [ʎ̟ɛ˦] | 'correct, right' | |||
See also
- Yeísmo, a feature of Spanish dialects that have merged this sound with [ʝ]
- Index of phonetics articles