Voiceless velar lateral fricative
Consonantal sound represented by ⟨𝼄⟩ or ⟨ʟ̝̊⟩ in IPA
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A voiceless velar lateral fricative is a rare speech sound. As one element of an affricate, it is found for example in Zulu and Xhosa (see velar lateral ejective affricate). However, a simple fricative has only been reported from a few languages in the Caucasus and New Guinea.
In New Guinea, some of the Chimbu–Wahgi languages such as Melpa, Middle Wahgi, and Nii, have a velar lateral, which they write with a double-bar el (Ⱡ, ⱡ). One speaker of Kuman was found to have the voiceless fricative in syllable coda position as an allophone of a voiced velar lateral /ʟ/.[1]
The extIPA has the letter ⟨𝼄⟩ for this sound. It was added to Unicode in 2021.
Features
Features of a voiceless velar lateral fricative:
- Its manner of articulation is fricative, which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence.
- Its place of articulation is velar, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) at the soft palate.
- Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
- 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
Voiceless velar lateral approximant
| Voiceless velar lateral approximant | |
|---|---|
| ʟ̥ | |
| IPA number | 158 402A |
| Encoding | |
| X-SAMPA | L\_0 |
Some scholars also posit a voiceless velar lateral approximant distinct from the fricative. The approximant may be represented in the IPA as ⟨ʟ̥⟩.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Western American[3] | clear | [kʟ̥iɚ̯] | 'clear' | Possible allophone of /l/ after /k/.[3] See English phonology |
| German | Austrian[4] | klar | [kʟ̥ɑː] | 'clear' | Possible allophone of /l/ after the aspirated allophone of /k/.[4] See Standard German phonology |
| Welsh | pwll | [pʊʟ̥] | 'pool' | Possible allophone of /ɬ/ after back vowels. | |