# Voiced dental, alveolar and postalveolar lateral approximants

The voiced alveolar, dental, or postalveolar lateral approximants are a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar lateral approximants is ⟨l⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is l.
As a sonorant, lateral approximants are nearly always voiced. Voiceless lateral approximants, /l̥/ are common in Sino-Tibetan languages, but uncommon elsewhere. In such cases, voicing typically starts about halfway through the hold of the consonant. No language is known to contrast such a sound with a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative [ɬ].
In a number of languages, including most varieties of English, the phoneme /l/ becomes velarized ("dark l") in certain contexts. By contrast, the non-velarized form is the "clear l" (also known as: "light l"), which occurs before and between vowels in certain English standards. Some languages have only clear l. Others may not have a clear l at all, or have them only before front vowels (especially [i]).

## Features

Features of the voiced alveolar lateral approximant:
* Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce a turbulent airstream.
* There are four specific variants of [l]:
** Dental, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the upper teeth, termed respectively apical and laminal.
** Denti-alveolar, which means it is articulated with the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, and the tip of the tongue behind upper teeth.
** Alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
** Postalveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
* Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
* 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

Languages may have clear apical or laminal alveolars, laminal denti-alveolars (such as French), or true dentals, which are uncommon. Laminal denti-alveolars tend to occur in continental European languages. However, a true dental generally occurs allophonically before /θ/ in languages that have it, as in English health.

### Dental or denti-alveolar

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Arabic | Gulf | لـين/leen | [l̪eːn] | 'when' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Arabic phonology |
| Chinese | Cantonese | 蘭/laan4 | [l̪an˨˩] | 'orchid' | |
| Chinese | Mandarin | 蘭/lán | [l̪an˨˥] | 'orchid' | |
| Hungarian | Hungarian | elem | [ˈɛl̪ɛm] | 'battery' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Hungarian phonology |
| Italian | Italian | molto | [ˈmol̪ːt̪o] | 'much, a lot' | Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of /l/ before /t, d, s, z, t͡s, d͡z/. See Italian phonology |
| Macedonian | Macedonian | лево/levo | [l̪e̞vo̞] | 'left' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Macedonian phonology |
| Malayalam | Malayalam | ലാവണം | [läːʋɐɳɐm] | 'Salty' | See Malayalam phonology |
| Mapudungun | Mapudungun | ḻafkeṉ | [l̪ɐ̝fkën̪] | 'sea, lake' | Interdental. |
| Norwegian | Urban East | anlegg | [²ɑnːl̪ɛg] | 'plant (industrial)' | Allophone of /l/ after /n, t, d/. See Norwegian phonology |
| Spanish | Spanish | altar | [äl̪ˈt̪äɾ] | 'altar' | Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of /l/ before /t/, /d/. See Spanish phonology |
| Swedish | Central Standard | allt | [äl̪t̪] | 'everything' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Swedish phonology |
| Tamil | Tamil | புலி/puli | [pul̪i] | 'tiger' | See Tamil phonology |
| Uzbek | Uzbek | kelajak | [kel̪ædʒæk] | 'future' | Laminal denti-alveolar. Velarized between a non-front rounded vowel and a consonant or juncture phoneme. |
| Vietnamese | Hanoi | lửa | [l̪ɨə˧˩˧] | 'fire' | See Vietnamese phonology |

### Alveolar

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Arabic | Standard | لا/lā | [laʔ] | 'no' | See Arabic phonology |
| Armenian | Eastern | լուսին/lusin | | 'moon' | |
| Assyrian | Assyrian | ܠܚܡܐ/läḳma | [lεxma] | 'bread' | |
| Catalan | Catalan | laca | [ˈɫäkə] | 'hair spray' | Apical 'front alveolar'. May also be velarized. See Catalan phonology |
| Chuvash | Chuvash | хула | [хu'la] | 'city' |
| Dutch | Standard | laten | [ˈl̻aːt̻ə] | 'to let' | Laminal. Some Standard Belgian speakers use the clear /l/ in all positions. See Dutch phonology |
| Dutch | Some Eastern accents | mal | [mɑl̻] | 'mold' | Laminal; realization of /l/ in all positions. See Dutch phonology |
| Dhivehi | Dhivehi | ލަވަ/lava | [laʋa] | 'song' | |
| English | Most accents | let | [lɛt] | 'let' | Varies between apical and laminal, with the latter being predominant. |
| English | Irish, Geordie | tell | [tʰɛl] | 'tell' | |
| Esperanto | Esperanto | luno | [ˈluno] | 'moon' | See Esperanto phonology |
| Filipino | Filipino | luto | [ˈluto] | 'cook' | See Filipino phonology |
| Greek | | λέξη/léksi | [ˈleksi] | 'word' | See Modern Greek phonology |
| Italian | Italian | letto | [ˈlɛt̪ːo] | 'bed' | Apical. See Italian phonology |
| Japanese | Japanese | 六/roku | [lo̞kɯ̟ᵝ] | 'six' | Apical. More commonly [ɾ]. See Japanese phonology |
| Kashubian | Kashubian | | | | |
| Khmer | Khmer | ភ្លេង/phléng | [pʰleːŋ] | 'music' | See Khmer phonology |
| Korean | Korean | 일/il | [il] | 'one' or 'work' | Realized as alveolar tap ɾ in the beginning of a syllable. See Korean phonology. |
| Kyrgyz | Kyrgyz | көпөлөк/köpölök | [køpøˈløk] | 'butterfly' | Velarized in back vowel contexts. See Kyrgyz phonology |
| Laghu | Laghu | laghu | [lagu] | 'Laghu language' | |
| Laghuu | Nậm Sài, Sa Pa Town | [la˧˨ ɣɯ˥] | [la˧˨ ɣɯ˥] | 'Laghuu language' | |
| Mapudungun | Mapudungun | elun | [ëˈlʊn] | 'to give' | |
| Nepali | Nepali | लामो | [lämo] | 'long' | See Nepali phonology |
| Odia | Odia | ଭଲ | [bʰɔlɔ] | 'good' | |
| Persian | Persian | لاما/lāmā | [lɒmɒ] | 'llama' | See Persian phonology |
| Polish | Polish | pole | | 'field' | Contrasts with [ɫ̪] (/w/) for a small number of speakers. When it does, it might be palatalized to [lʲ]. See Polish phonology |
| Romanian | Romanian | alună | [äˈlun̪ə] | 'hazelnut' | Apical. See Romanian phonology |
| Scottish Gaelic | Scottish Gaelic | maoil | [mɯːl] | 'headland' | Apical. Contrasts with /ɫ̪/ and /ʎ/. See Scottish Gaelic phonology |
| Slovak | Slovak | mĺkvy | | 'silent' | Syllabic form can be long or short. See Slovak phonology |
| Slovene | Slovene | letalo | [lɛˈt̪àːlɔ] | 'airplane' | See Slovene phonology |
| Spanish | Spanish | hablar | [äˈβ̞läɾ] | 'to speak' | See Spanish phonology |
| Welsh | Welsh | diafol | [djavɔl] | 'devil' | See Welsh phonology |
| Ukrainian | Ukrainian | обличчя/oblychchya | [oˈblɪt͡ʃːɐ] | 'face' | Contrasts with palatalized form. See Ukrainian phonology |

### Postalveolar

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Igbo | Standard | lì | [l̠ì] | 'bury' | |
| Italian | Italian | il cervo | [il̠ʲ ˈt͡ʃɛrvo] | 'the deer' | Palatalized laminal; allophone of /l/ before /ʃ, t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ/. See Italian phonology |
| Turkish | Turkish | lale | | 'tulip' | Palatalized; contrasts with a velarized dental lateral [ɫ̟]. May be devoiced elsewhere. See Turkish phonology |
| Zapotec | Tilquiapan | lan | [l̠an] | 'soot' | |

### Variable

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Faroese | Faroese | linur | [ˈliːnʊɹ] | 'soft' | Varies between dental and alveolar in initial position, whereas the postvocalic /l/ may be postalveolar, especially after back vowels. See Faroese phonology |
| French | French | il | [il] | 'he' | Varies between laminal denti-alveolar and apical alveolar, with the latter being predominant. See French phonology |
| German | Standard | Liebe | [ˈliːbə] | 'love' | Varies between denti-alveolar, laminal alveolar and apical alveolar. |
| Norwegian | Urban East | liv | [liːʋ] | 'life' | In process of changing from laminal denti-alveolar to apical alveolar, but the laminal denti-alveolar is still possible in some environments, and is obligatory after /n, t, d/. See Norwegian phonology |
| Portuguese | Most Brazilian dialects, some EP speakers | lero-lero | [ˈlɛɾʊ ˈlɛɾʊ] | 'runaround' | Clear, dental to sometimes alveolar. Only occurs in syllable onset, with l-vocalization widely occurring in coda. Sometimes found before front vowels only in the European variety. See Portuguese phonology. |
| Portuguese | Most Brazilian dialects, some EP speakers | Lituânia | | 'Lithuania' | Clear, dental to sometimes alveolar. Only occurs in syllable onset, with l-vocalization widely occurring in coda. Sometimes found before front vowels only in the European variety. See Portuguese phonology. |

## Velarized or pharyngealized alveolar lateral approximant

The voiced velarized alveolar approximant (a.k.a. dark l) is a type of consonantal sound used in some languages. It is an alveolar, denti-alveolar, or dental lateral approximant, with a secondary articulation of velarization or pharyngealization. The regular symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represent this sound are ⟨lˠ⟩ (for a velarized lateral) and ⟨lˤ⟩ (for a pharyngealized lateral), though the dedicated letter ⟨ɫ⟩, which covers both velarization and pharyngealization, is perhaps more common. The latter should not be confused with belted ⟨ɬ⟩, which represents the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative. However, some scholars use that symbol to represent the velarized alveolar lateral approximant anyway – though such usage is considered non-standard.
If the sound is dental or denti-alveolar, one could use a dental diacritic to indicate so: ⟨l̪ˠ⟩, ⟨l̪ˤ⟩, ⟨ɫ̪⟩.
Velarization and pharyngealization are generally associated with more dental articulations of coronal consonants, so dark l tends to be dental or denti-alveolar. Clear (non-velarized) l tends to be retracted to an alveolar position.
The term dark l is often synonymous with hard l, especially in Slavic languages. (Cf. Hard consonants)

### Features

Features of the dark l:
* Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce a turbulent airstream.
* There are four specific variants of [ɫ]:
** Dental, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the upper teeth.
** Denti-alveolar, which means it is articulated with the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, and the tip of the tongue behind upper teeth.
** Alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or, more rarely, the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
** Postalveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
* It has a secondary articulation of velarization or pharyngealization, meaning that the back or root of the tongue approaches the soft palate (velum), or the back of the throat, respectively.
* Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
* 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
#### Dental or denti-alveolar

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Bashkir | Bashkir | ҡала/qala | | 'city' | Velarized dental lateral; occurs in back vowel contexts. |
| Belarusian | Belarusian | Беларусь/Biełaruś | [bʲɛɫ̪äˈrusʲ] | 'Belarus' | Laminal denti-alveolar; contrasts with palatalized form. See Belarusian phonology |
| Bulgarian | Bulgarian | стол/stol | [stoɫ̪] | 'chair' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Bulgarian phonology |
| Catalan | Catalan | alt | [ˈäɫ̪(t̪)] | 'tall' | Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of /l/ before /t, d/. See Catalan phonology |
| Classical Armenian | Classical Armenian | խաղեր/xałer | [χɑɫɛɹ] | 'games' | /ʁ/ ġ in modern Armenian. |
| Icelandic | Icelandic | sigldi | [s̺ɪɫ̪t̪ɪ] | 'sailed' | Laminal denti-alveolar; rare. See Icelandic phonology |
| Kashubian | Older southeastern speakers | kôłbasa | | | Laminal denti-alveolar; realized as [w] by other speakers. |
| Lithuanian | Lithuanian | labas | [ˈɫ̪äːbɐs̪] | 'hi' | Laminal denti-alveolar; contrasts with palatalized form. See Lithuanian phonology |
| Macedonian | Macedonian | лук/luk | [ɫ̪uk] | 'garlic' | Laminal denti-alveolar. Present only before back vowels (/u, o, a/) and syllable-finally. See Macedonian phonology |
| Norwegian | Urban East | tale | [ˈt̻ʰɑːɫ̪ə] | 'speech' | Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of /l/ after /ɔ, oː, ɑ, ɑː/, and sometimes also after /u, uː/. However, according to Endresen (1990), this allophone is not velarized. See Norwegian phonology |
| Polish | Eastern dialects | łapa | [ˈɫ̪äpä] | 'paw' | Laminal denti-alveolar. Corresponds to [w] in other varieties. See Polish phonology |
| Russian | Russian | малый/malyj | [ˈmɑ̟ɫ̪ɨ̞j] | 'small' | Pharyngealized laminal denti-alveolar. See Russian phonology |
| Scottish Gaelic | Scottish Gaelic | Mallaig | [ˈmäʊɫ̪ækʲ] | 'Mallaig' | Apical dental, occasionally laminal. In certain dialects manifests as [w] or [l̪ˠw]. Contrasts with /l/ and /ʎ/. See Scottish Gaelic phonology |
| Swedish | Northern Västerbotten | kall | [ˈkɒɫː] | 'cold' | Allophone of /lː/ |
| Turkish | Turkish | lala | [ɫ̟ɑˈɫ̟ɑ] | 'servant' | Laminal denti-alveolar; contrasts with a palatalized postalveolar lateral [ʎ̟]. May be devoiced elsewhere. See Turkish phonology |

#### Alveolar

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Afrikaans | Standard | tafel | [ˈtɑːfəɫ] | 'table' | Velarized in all positions, especially non-prevocalically. See Afrikaans phonology |
| Albanian | Standard | llullë | [ˈɫuɫə] | 'smoking pipe' | |
| Arabic | Standard | الله/ʼAllah | [ʔaɫˈɫaːh] | 'God' | Also transcribed as ⟨lˤ⟩. Many accents and dialects lack the sound and instead pronounce [l]. See Arabic phonology |
| Catalan | Eastern dialects | cel·la | [ˈsɛɫːə] | 'cell' | Apical. Can be always dark in many dialects. See Catalan phonology |
| Catalan | Western dialects | al | [äɫ] | 'to the' | Apical. Can be always dark in many dialects. See Catalan phonology |
| Dutch | Standard | mallen | [ˈmɑɫ̻ə] | 'molds' | Laminal; pharyngealized in northern accents, velarized or post-palatalised in southern accents. It is an allophone of /l/ before consonants and pauses, and also prevocalically when after the open back vowels /ɔ, ɑ/. Many northern speakers realize the final /l/ as a strongly pharyngealised vocoid [ɤˤ], whereas some Standard Belgian speakers use the clear /l/ in all positions. See Dutch phonology |
| Dutch | Some Netherlandic accents | laten | [ˈɫ̻aːt̻ə] | 'to let' | Pharyngealized laminal; realization of /l/ in all positions. See Dutch phonology |
| English | Australian | feel | | 'feel' | Most often apical; can be always dark in Australia and New Zealand. See Australian English phonology, New Zealand English phonology, and English phonology |
| English | Canadian | feel | | 'feel' | Most often apical; can be always dark in Australia and New Zealand. See Australian English phonology, New Zealand English phonology, and English phonology |
| English | Dublin | feel | | 'feel' | Most often apical; can be always dark in Australia and New Zealand. See Australian English phonology, New Zealand English phonology, and English phonology |
| English | General American | feel | | 'feel' | Most often apical; can be always dark in Australia and New Zealand. See Australian English phonology, New Zealand English phonology, and English phonology |
| English | New Zealand | feel | | 'feel' | Most often apical; can be always dark in Australia and New Zealand. See Australian English phonology, New Zealand English phonology, and English phonology |
| English | Received Pronunciation | feel | | 'feel' | Most often apical; can be always dark in Australia and New Zealand. See Australian English phonology, New Zealand English phonology, and English phonology |
| English | South African | feel | | 'feel' | Most often apical; can be always dark in Australia and New Zealand. See Australian English phonology, New Zealand English phonology, and English phonology |
| English | Scottish | loch | [ɫɔx] | 'loch' | Can be always dark except in some borrowings from Scottish Gaelic |
| Greek | Northern dialects | μπάλα/bálla | [ˈbaɫa] | 'ball' | Allophone of /l/ before /a o u/. See Modern Greek phonology |
| Georgian | Georgian | ჟოლო/zholo | [ˈʒo̞ɫo̞] | 'raspberry' | An allophone of /l/ before /o u/ and /a/. See Georgian phonology |
| Kurdish | Sorani | gâlta | [gɑːɫˈtʲaː] | 'joke' | See Kurdish phonology |
| Romanian | Bessarabian dialect | cal | [kaɫ] | 'horse' | Corresponds to non-velarized l in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology |
| Serbo-Croatian | Serbo-Croatian | лак/lak | [ɫâ̠k] | 'easy' | Apical; may be syllabic; contrasts with /ʎ/. See Serbo-Croatian phonology |
| Uzbek | Uzbek | | | | Apical; between a non-front rounded vowel and a consonant or juncture phoneme. Non-velarized denti-alveolar elsewhere. |

#### Variable

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Portuguese | European | mil | [miɫ̪] | 'thousand' | Dental and strongly velarized in all environments for most speakers, though less so before front vowels. |
| Portuguese | Older and conservative Brazilian | álcool | [ˈäɫ̪ko̞ɫ̪] | 'alcohol, ethanol' | When [lˠ ~ lʶ ~ lˤ ~ lˀ], most often dental. Coda is now vocalized to [u̯ ~ ʊ̯] in most of Brazil (as in EP in rural parts of Alto Minho and Madeira). Stigmatized realizations such as [ɾ ~ ɽ ~ ɻ], the /ʁ/ range, [j] and even [∅] (zero) are some other coda allophones typical of Brazil. See Portuguese phonology |