Palatal lateral approximant

From Freepedia

Sound sample ▶(?)
IPA – number	157
IPA – text	ʎ
IPA – image	Image:Xsampa-L2.png
entity	ʎ
X-SAMPA	`L`
Kirshenbaum	`l^`

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 ʎ, which is a turned letter "y", and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is L.

1 Features
2 In English
3 In other languages
4 See also

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 (/ˈmɪljən/ might be realized as [ˈmɪʎən]). 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, and it is denoted by "ll", as in lluna /ˈʎuna/ (moon).

Croatian

Croatian has the palatal lateral approximant as a phoneme, and it is denoted by "lj", as in odijeljen /ˈodijeːʎen/ (separated).

Faroese

Faroese has the palatal lateral approximant as a phoneme, and it occurs when "l" is followed by an affricate/palatal plosive, fylgja /fɪʎʤa/, /fɪʎɟa/ (to follow), fylki /fɪʎʧɪ/, /fɪʎcɪ/ (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 /ʝaʎa/ (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 /kiraːj/ (king). While still realised as [ʎ] in some marginal dialects, in standard Hungarian /ʎ/ > /j/.