LATERAL " L " IN PHONETICS

LATERAL  " L " IN PHONETICS

Production of a LATERAL is accomplished when the tongue tip makes contact with the roof
of the mouth, blocking lung air from passing over the top of the tongue and thereby forcing it
to pass around (laterally) either one or both sides of the tongue. The most common lateral in
English is [l], as in “long,” “live,” and “low.”
“All laterals are either fricatives or approximants. An APPROXIMANT is a sound produced
by two articulators coming close to each other. The airstream for approximants is directed by
the articulators but not impeded…The airstream is not impeded sufficiently to produce
audible turbulence between the articulators…The term approximant is derived from the
articulation involved: the active articulator (or some part of it – in the case of laterals, the
tongue sides) “approximates” or approaches the passive articulator.”

“[l] is the sound that most English speakers use in the pronunciation of words such as ‘long,’
‘live,’ and ‘low,’ in which a lateral occurs at the onset of a syllable. The syllable-initial
lateral approximant [l] in English is sometimes called a ‘clear l’ to distinguish it from the
syllable-final lateral approximant in words such as ‘bill’ or ‘null’ [called a ‘dark l’].

“[l̥] is produced with the same articulation as [l], but without voicing. Say the sequence
[lɑl:ɑl:ɑ]14, pausing on the laterals, then repeat the entire sequence without voicing [l̥ɑ̥l̥:ɑ̥l̥:ɑ̥].
In practicing to produce this sound, be careful not to introduce noisy turbulence.

“[ɬ] is produced with an articulation similar to that of [l], but with sufficient constriction and
air flow to cause audible noise due to air turbulence. Start with the voiceless lateral just
described, then squeeze the sides of your tongue toward the roof of your mouth to narrow the
constriction and thus produce noise. The tip of your tongue must remain on the alveolar
ridge.

“[ɮ] is produced in the same way as the voiceless alveolar fricative [ɬ], but with voicing. It
sounds similar to [ʒ], but with the addition of a lateral quality. Beware of rounding your lips
for this voiced lateral, just as you need to beware of rounding your lips for the sibilant [ʒ].”