# Voiceless palatal lateral fricative

The voiceless palatal lateral fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in a few spoken languages.
This sound is somewhat rare; Dahalo has both a palatal lateral fricative and an affricate; Hadza has a series of palatal lateral affricates. In Bura, it is the realization of palatalized /ɬʲ/ and contrasts with [ʎ].
The extensions to the IPA transcribes this sound with the letter ⟨𝼆⟩ (⟨ʎ⟩ with a belt, analogous to ⟨ɬ⟩ for the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative), which was added to Unicode in 2021.
If distinction is necessary, the voiceless alveolo-palatal lateral fricative may be transcribed as ⟨ɬ̠ʲ⟩ (retracted and palatalized ⟨ɬ⟩) or as advanced ⟨𝼆̟⟩; these are essentially equivalent, since the contact includes both the blade and body (but not the tip) of the tongue. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbols are K_-_j or K_-' and L_0_+_r, respectively. A non-IPA letter ⟨ȴ̊˔⟩ (devoiced and raised ⟨ȴ⟩, which is an ordinary "l", plus the curl found in the symbols for alveolo-palatal sibilant fricatives ⟨ɕ, ʑ⟩) can be used.
Some scholars also posit a voiceless palatal lateral approximant distinct from the fricative. The approximant may be represented in the IPA as ⟨ʎ̥⟩.

## Features

Features of the voiceless palatal 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 palatal, which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised to the hard palate.
* Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
* 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.
* Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

## Occurrence

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Bura | Bura | | | | Contrasts with /l, ʎ, ɬ, ɮ, ʎ̝̊/. |
| Dahalo | Dahalo | [𝼆aːbu] | [𝼆aːbu] | 'leaf' | Contrasts with [ɬ] and [ɬʷ] |
| Faroese | Faroese | kjálki | [ˈt͡ʃʰaʎ̥t͡ʃɪ] | 'jaw' | Allophone of /l/. See Faroese phonology |
| Inupiaq | Inupiaq | sikł̣aq | [sik𝼆̟ɑq] | 'pickaxe' | Alveolo-palatal; also described as an approximant. Contrasts with voiceless /ɬ/ and voiced /ʎ/ and /l/. |
| Inupiaq | Inupiaq | nuiŋił̣ł̣uni | [nuiŋi𝼆̟ːuni] | 'because it did not appear' | Alveolo-palatal; also described as an approximant. Contrasts with voiceless /ɬ/ and voiced /ʎ/ and /l/. |
| Kumeyaay | Kumeyaay | kałyəxwiiw | [kɑ𝼆əxʷeːw] | 'skunk' | Rare in word-initial position. Contrasts with voiceless /ɬ/ and voiced /ʎ/ and /l/. |
| Norwegian | Trondheim subdialect of Trøndersk | alt | [ɑʎ̥c] | 'everything, all' | Allophone of /ʎ/ before /c/. See Norwegian phonology |
| Norwegian | Some subdialects of Trøndersk | tatle | [tɑʎ̥] | 'acting silly' | According to some scholars, it is a phoneme that contrasts with /ʎ/ (as in /tɑʎ/ 'softwood'.) See Norwegian phonology |
| Scottish Gaelic | Scottish Gaelic | coilltean | [ˈkʰɤiʎ̥tʲən] | 'woods' | Allophone of /ʎ/ before /tʲ/. |
| Turkish | Turkish | dil | [ˈd̟iʎ̟̊] | 'tongue' | Devoiced allophone of alveolo-palatal /l/, frequent finally and before voiceless consonants. See Turkish phonology |
| Xumi | Lower | [ʎ̥˖o˦] | [ʎ̥˖o˦] | 'spirit' | Described as an approximant. Alveolo-palatal; contrasts with the voiced /ʎ/. |
| Xumi | Upper | [ʎ̥˖ɛ˦] | [ʎ̥˖ɛ˦] | 'flavorless' | Described as an approximant. Alveolo-palatal; contrasts with the voiced /ʎ/. |