The voiced retroflex lateral approximant is a type of
consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wi ...
al sound used in some
spoken language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
s. The symbol in the
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation ...
that represents this sound is , and the equivalent
X-SAMPA
The Extended Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet (X-SAMPA) is a variant of SAMPA developed in 1995 by John C. Wells, professor of phonetics at University College London. It is designed to unify the individual language SAMPA alphabets, a ...
symbol is
l`.
The retroflex lateral approximant contrasts phonemically with its
voiceless counterpart in
Iaai and
Toda. In both of these languages it also contrasts with more anterior , which are dental in Iaai and alveolar in Toda.
Features
Features of the voiced retroflex lateral approximant:
Occurrence
In the following transcriptions, diacritics may be used to distinguish between
apical
Apical means "pertaining to an apex". It may refer to:
*Apical ancestor, refers to the last common ancestor of an entire group, such as a species (biology) or a clan (anthropology)
*Apical (anatomy), an anatomical term of location for features loc ...
and
laminal .
See also
*
Index of phonetics articles
Notes
References
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External links
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{{IPA navigation
Lateral consonants
Retroflex consonants
Pulmonic consonants
Oral consonants