Voiceless velar lateral fricative
Consonantal sound represented by ⟨𝼄⟩ or ⟨ʟ̝̊⟩ in IPA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 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. | |