Voiceless velar lateral fricative
The 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.
| Voiceless velar lateral fricative | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 𝼄 | |||
| ʟ̝̊ | |||
| Audio sample | |||
|
source · help | |||
| |||
| Voiceless velar lateral approximant | |
|---|---|
| ʟ̥ | |
| IPA Number | 158 402A |
| Encoding | |
| X-SAMPA | L\_0 |
Archi, a Northeast Caucasian language of Dagestan, has four voiceless velar lateral fricatives: plain [𝼄], labialized [𝼄ʷ], fortis [𝼄ː], and labialized fortis [𝼄ːʷ]. Although clearly fricatives, these are further forward than velars in most languages, and might better be called prevelar. Archi also has a voiced fricative, as well as a voiceless and several ejective lateral velar affricates, but no alveolar lateral fricatives or affricates.[1]
In New Guinea, some of the Chimbu–Wahgi languages such as Melpa, Middle Wahgi, and Nii, have a voiceless velar lateral fricative, which they write with a double-bar el (Ⱡ, ⱡ). This sound also appears in syllable coda position as an allophone of the voiced velar lateral fricative in Kuman.[2]
The extIPA has the letter ⟨𝼄⟩ for this sound. It was added to Unicode in 2021.
Some scholars also posit a voiceless velar lateral approximant distinct from the fricative. The approximant may be represented in the IPA as ⟨ʟ̥⟩.
Features
Features of the 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 air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
- 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.
- The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and diaphragm, as in most sounds.
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archi[1] | лъат | [𝼄̟at] | 'sea' | Pre-velar.[1] | |
| 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 |
| Wahgi[5] | nòⱡ | [no𝼄˩] | 'water' | ||
Notes
- "the Archi language tutorial" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-09-04. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
- Steed, W., & Hardie, P. (2004). Acoustic Properties of the Kuman Voiceless Velar Lateral Fricative. Proceedings of the 10th Australian International Conference on Speech Science & Technology, Sydney.
- Grønnum (2005), p. 154.
- Grønnum (2005), pp. 153–154.
- Donald J. Phillips (1976). Wahgi Phonology and Morphology (PDF). B-36. Pacific Linguistics. p. 18.
References
- Grønnum, Nina (2005), Fonetik og fonologi, Almen og Dansk (3rd ed.), Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag, ISBN 87-500-3865-6
