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The 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 , which is a turned letter "y", and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is L.
Features
Features of the palatal lateral approximant:
- Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by bringing one articulator close to another but without the vocal tract being narrowed to such an extent that a turbulent airstream is produced.
- Its place of articulation is palatal which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised against the hard palate.
- Its phonation type is voiced, which means the vocal cords are vibrating during the articulation.
- It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
- It is a lateral consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the sides of the tongue, rather than the middle of the tongue.
- The airstream mechanism is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis or the mouth.
In English
In some dialects of English, the sequence /lj/ is sometimes realized as the palatal lateral approximant, via coalescence, a type of assimilation. For example, million ( might be realized as ). However, there are no minimal pairs for /lj/ and /ʎ/, so the palatal lateral approximant is not a separate phoneme in English.
In other languages
Catalan
Catalan has the palatal lateral approximant as a phoneme, where it is denoted by the digraph ll as in lluna (moon), enllaç (link). The sound is very common in the language and has less phonactical restrictions than in neighbouring Spanish, being allowed in syllable coda position; e.g., vermell (red), conill (rabbit). It also makes use of the geminate version of this sound, , spelled with the trigraph tll, as in the name of Antoni Gaudí's famous Casa Batlló in Barcelona; however, the geminate is much more phonotactically restricted than the non-geminate and only occurs between vowels within a word. The phenomenon of ieisme, analogous to that of Spanish yeísmo, exists but it is not at all as widespread in Catalan as it is in Spanish, and in general it is still strongly looked down upon as "bad" or "foreigner" pronunciation by many Catalan native speakers, especially by those of the prestige central dialect.
Croatian
Croatian has the palatal lateral approximant as a phoneme, and it is denoted by lj, as in odijeljen (separated).
Faroese
Faroese has the palatal lateral approximant as a phoneme, and it occurs when l is followed by an affricate/palatal plosive, fylgja , (to follow), fylki , (Norwegian fylke)
Greek
In Greek, this sound exists as a palatalized allophone for lambda iota (unaccented) (-λι-). It is found in such words as γυαλιά (glasses). Note that in that example, a similar palatalization occurs to the γ.Hungarian
Hungarian had the palatal lateral approximant as a phoneme in earlier times. It is still denoted as ly as in király (king). While still realised as in some marginal dialects, in standard Hungarian has merged into , a phenomenon analogous to that of Spanish ''yeísmo.Italian
Italian has the palatal lateral approximant as a phoneme, where it is denoted by the trigraph gli, as in the article gli (the); note the i in this trigraph is not pronounced except when it is the only vowel in the syllable (as in the previous example). Italian has a phonemic contrast of geminate (long) versus simple (short) for most consonants, but this is not the case with the palatal lateral (as neither with the palatal nasal spelled gn). The simple and geminate sounds are allophonic and the single phoneme is usually realized as a geminate between vowels, as in figlio (son), there being no minimal pairs to contrast the long against the short sound.
Latvian
In Latvian this sound is written as Ļ ļ.Portuguese
Portuguese has the palatal lateral approximant as a phoneme, and it is denoted by lh, as in olho (eye). In its Galician variant, it is denoted by ll, as in ollo (eye). In the popular dialects of Brazil this phoneme has several realizations /ʎ/; in most dialects, including the standard, /ʎ/ is pronounced *, like English
Occitan
Occitan has the palatal lateral approximant as a phoneme, and it is denoted by lh, as in miralhar (to reflect, to mirror).
Quechua
Quechua has the palatal lateral approximant as a phoneme, and it is denoted by ll, as in allin (good).
Slovak
Slovak has the palatal lateral approximant as a phoneme, and it is denoted by ľ (like l plus ’, but in one character), as in roľa (field).
Spanish
Spanish traditionally has had the palatal lateral approximant as a phoneme, which it spells ll in the standard orthography, as in millón (million). However, a phenomenon called yeísmo is nowadays widespread in the majority of the Spanish-speaking areas, consisting of the loss of this palatal lateral phoneme and its merger into the phoneme spelled y (thus millón turns into or , depending on the dialect). Note this merger only takes place at the phonological level, not in the orthography, although spelling mistakes switching ll with y or viceversa are common among yeísta speakers. On the other hand, both consonants ll and y are more phonotactically restricted than ll is in neighbouring Catalan and they are not allowed in syllable coda position. When Catalan names and words with ll in this position are borrowed into Spanish, the sound is replaced with that of the alveolar lateral l, because Spanish speakers find it difficult to pronounce an ll there; e.g., the surname of Catalan-born politician Josep Borrell is pronounced as if it were spelled Borrel by Spanish speakers. However, this replacement is considered annoying by many Catalan speakers, even though the majority of Spanish speakers are yeístas and would find it very difficult to pronounce an ll not only at the end of a syllable, but anywhere.
See also
Stimmhafter lateraler palataler Approximant | Consonne spirante latérale palatale voisée | 硬口蓋側面接近音 | Lateral palatal | Palatal lateral approximant
"Palatal lateral approximant"