| Palatal lateral approximant | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ʎ | |||
| IPA number | 157 | ||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ʎ |
||
| Unicode (hex) | U+028E | ||
| X-SAMPA | L |
||
| Kirshenbaum | l^ |
||
| Braille |   |
||
|
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| Sound | |||
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|
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| Alveolo-palatal lateral approximant | |
|---|---|
| l̠ʲ | |
| ʎ̟ | |
| ȴ |
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⟩, a rotated lowercase letter ⟨y⟩ (not to be confused with lowercase lambda, ⟨λ⟩), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is L.
Many languages that were previously thought to have a palatal lateral approximant actually have a lateral approximant that is, broadly, alveolo-palatal; that is to say, it is articulated at a place in-between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate (excluded), and it may be variously described as alveolo-palatal, lamino-postalveolar,[1] or postalveolo-prepalatal.[2] Of 13 languages investigated by Recasens (2013), many of them Romance, none have a 'true' palatal.[3] This is likely the case for several other languages listed here. Some languages, like Portuguese and Catalan, have a lateral approximant that varies between alveolar and alveolo-palatal.[4]
There is no dedicated symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents the alveolo-palatal lateral approximant. If precision is desired, it may be transcribed ⟨l̠ʲ⟩ or ⟨ʎ̟⟩; these are essentially equivalent, because the contact includes both the blade and body (but not the tip) of the tongue. There is also a non-IPA letter ⟨ȴ⟩, used especially in Sinological circles.
According to some scholars,[5][6] the palatal lateral approximant contrasts phonemically with its voiceless counterpart /ʎ̥/ in some subdialects of Trøndersk, which is a dialect of Norwegian.[7]
Features[edit]
Features of the palatal 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.
- 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 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.
- The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.
Occurrence[edit]
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aragonese | agulla | [aˈɣuʎa] | 'needle' | ||
| Asturian | Northern dialects | llana | [ˈʎãna] | 'wool' | Where /ʎ/ is absent due to a yeísmo-like merger, it is replaced by different sounds (depending on dialect) and spelled ⟨ḷḷ⟩ |
| Aymara | llaki | [ʎaki] | 'sad' | ||
| Basque | bonbilla | [bo̞mbiʎa] | 'bulb' | ||
| Breton | familh | [famiʎ] | 'family' | ||
| Bulgarian | любов | [l̠ʲubof] | 'love' | Alveolo-palatal.[citation needed] | |
| Catalan | ull | [ˈul̠ʲ] | 'eye' | Alveolo-palatal.[2] See Catalan phonology | |
| English | County Donegal[8] | million | [ˈmɪʎən] | 'million' | Allophone of the sequence /lj/.[8] |
| General American[9] | A frequent allophone of the sequence /lj/; sometimes realized as [jj].[9] See English phonology | ||||
| Enindhilyagwa | angalya | [aŋal̠ʲa] | 'place' | Laminal post-alveolar | |
| Faroese[10] | telgja | [ˈtʰɛʎt͡ʃa] | 'to carve' | Allophone of /l/ before palatal consonants.[10] Sometimes voiceless [ʎ̥].[10] See Faroese phonology | |
| Franco-Provençal | balyi | [baʎi] | 'give' | ||
| Galician | illado | [iˈʎaðo] | 'insulated' (m.) | Many Galician speakers are nowadays yeístas because of influence from Spanish | |
| Greek | ήλιος |  [ˈiʎos] (help·info) |
'sun' | Postalveolar.[11] See Modern Greek phonology | |
| Hungarian | Northern dialects[12] | lyuk | [ʎuk] | 'hole' | Alveolo-palatal.[13] Modern standard Hungarian has undergone a phenomenon akin to Spanish yeísmo, merging /ʎ/ into /j/. See Hungarian ly and Hungarian phonology |
| Italian[2] | figlio | [ˈfiʎːo] | 'son' | Alveolo-palatal.[2] Realized as fricative [ʎ̝] in a large number of accents.[14] See Italian phonology | |
| Korean | 실례/sillye | [ɕil̠ʲl̠ʲe] | 'discourtesy' | Alveolo-palatal.[citation needed] See Korean phonology | |
| Leonese | llibru | [ˈʎiβɾu] | 'book' | ||
| Norwegian | Northern and central dialects[15] | alle | [ɑʎːe] | 'all' | See Norwegian phonology |
| Occitan | Northern | miralhar | [miɾaˈʎa] | 'to reflect' | See Occitan phonology |
| Southern | |||||
| Gascon | hilh | [hiʎ] | 'son' | ||
| Portuguese | Many dialects[16] | sandália | [sɐ̃ˈdal̠ʲɐ] | 'sandal' | Historically diminished in caipira and hinterland nordestino areas due to more advanced yeísmo-like phenomenon, also affecting in various degrees all of Brazil.[17] |
| Most speakers | ralho | [ˈʁal̠ʲu] | 'I scold' | Alveolo-palatal in European Portuguese.[18] Contrasts with both /l/ and [j], both sounds that Brazilian /ʎ/ tends merge with (especially when not before rounded vowels).[19][20] See Portuguese phonology | |
| Quechua[21] | qallu | [qaʎu] | 'tongue' | ||
| Romanian | Transylvanian dialects[22] | lingură | [ʎungurə][stress?] | 'spoon' | Corresponds to [l][in which environments?] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology |
| Scottish Gaelic[23] | till | [tʲʰiːʎ] | 'return' | Alveolo-palatal.[citation needed] See Scottish Gaelic phonology | |
| Serbo-Croatian[24] | љуљaшка / ljuljaška | [ʎ̟ǔʎ̟a̠ːʃka̠] | 'swing (seat)' | Palato-alveolar.[24] See Serbo-Croatian phonology | |
| Sissano | piyl | [piʎ] | 'fish' | ||
| Slovak | ľúbiť | [ˈʎuːbɪc] (help·info) |
'to love' | Merges with /l/ in southern dialects. See Slovak phonology | |
| Spanish | Castilian[25] | millón | [miˈʎõ̞n] | 'million' | For most speakers, this sound has merged with /ʝ/, a phenomenon called yeísmo. See Spanish phonology |
| Ukrainian | ліс | [l̠ʲis] | 'forest' | Alveolo-palatal.[citation needed] See Ukrainian phonology | |
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Recasens (2013:2), citing Ladefoged (1997:602)
- ^ a b c d Recasens et al. (1993:222)
- ^ Recasens (2013:11)
- ^ Recasens (2013:10–13)
- ^ Such as Vanvik (1979)
- ^ An example of a scholar disagreeing with this position is Scholtz (2009). On page 15, she provides a phoneme chart for Trøndersk, in which /ʎ/ is included. Under the phoneme chart she writes "Vanvik also lists /ʎ̥/ as an underlying phoneme, but that’s ridiculous :)." She provides no further explanation as to why it is ridiculous.
- ^ Vanvik (1979:37)
- ^ a b Stenson (1991), cited in Hickey (2004:71)
- ^ a b Wells (1982:490)
- ^ a b c Árnason (2011:115)
- ^ Arvaniti (2007:20)
- ^ Benkő (1972:?)
- ^ Recasens (2013:10)
- ^ Ashby (2011:64): "(…) in a large number of Italian accents, there is considerable friction involved in the pronunciation of [ʎ], creating a voiced palatal lateral fricative (for which there is no established IPA symbol)."
- ^ Skjekkeland (1997:105–107)
- ^ Considerações sobre o status das palato-alveolares em português
- ^ Aragão (2009:170)
- ^ Teixeira et al. (2012:321)
- ^ Stein (2011:223)
- ^ Aragão (2009:168)
- ^ Ladefoged (2005:149)
- ^ Pop (1938), p. 30.
- ^ Oftedal (1956:?)
- ^ a b Jazić (1977:?), cited in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:188)
- ^ Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003:255)
Bibliography[edit]
- Aragão, Maria do Socorro Silva de (2009), Os estudos fonético-fonológicos nos estados da Paraíba e do Ceará [The phonetic-phonological studies in Paraíba and Ceará states] (PDF) (in Portuguese)
- Árnason, Kristján (2011), The Phonology of Icelandic and Faroese, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-922931-4
- Ashby, Patricia (2011), Understanding Phonetics, Understanding Language series, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-340-92827-1
- Arvaniti, Amalia (2007), "Greek Phonetics: The State of the Art" (PDF), Journal of Greek Linguistics 8: 97–208, doi:10.1075/jgl.8.08arv
- Benkő, Loránd (1972), "The Hungarian Language", in Imre, Samu, Janua Linguarum, Series Practica 134, The Hague: Mouton de Gruyter
- Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (1–2): 53–56, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004618
- Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223
- Hickey, Raymon (2004), "Irish English: phonology", in Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive, A handbook of varieties of English, 1: Phonology, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 68–97, ISBN 3-11-017532-0
- Jazić, Đorđe (1977), Osnovi fonetike ruskog jezika: ruski glasovni sistem u poredjenju sa srpskohrvatskim, Beograd: Naučna knjiga
- Oftedal, M. (1956), The Gaelic of Leurbost, Oslo: Norsk Tidskrift for Sprogvidenskap
- Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19814-8.
- Ladefoged, Peter (1997), "Linguistic phonetic descriptions", in Harcastle, William J.; Laver, John, The handbook of the phonetic sciences, Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 589–618
- Ladefoged, Peter (2005), Vowels and Consonants (2nd ed.), Oxford: Blackwell
- Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (2): 255–259, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001373
- Pop, Sever (1938), Micul Atlas Linguistic Român, Muzeul Limbii Române Cluj
- Recasens, Daniel (2013), "On the articulatory classification of (alveolo)palatal consonants", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 43 (1): 1–22, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000199
- Recasens, Daniel; Farnetani, Edda; Fontdevila, Jordi; Pallarès, Maria Dolors (1993), "An electropalatographic study of alveolar and palatal consonants in Catalan and Italian" (PDF), Language and Speech 36: 213–234
- Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (1): 117–121, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001628
- Scholtz, Anna (2009), A phonetic study of the status of three mergers in the Trøndersk dialect of Norwegian (PDF), Williamstown, Massachusetts: Williams College
- Skjekkeland, Martin (1997), Dei norske dialektane: Tradisjonelle særdrag i jamføring med skriftmåla, Høyskoleforlaget (Norwegian Academic Press)
- Stein, Cirineu Cecote (2011), O percurso acústico-articulatório da alofonia da consoante lateral palatal [The acoustic-articulatory path of the lateral palatal consonant's allophony] (in Portuguese)
- Stenson, Nancy (1991), "Code-switching vs. borrowing in modern Irish", in Sture Ureland, P.; Broderick, George, Language Contact in the British Isles. Proceedings of the Eighth International Symposium on Language Contact in Europe, Tübingen: Niemeyer, pp. 559–579
- Teixeira, António; Martins, Paula; Oliveira, Catarina; Silva, Augusto (2012), "Production and Modeling of the European Portuguese Palatal Lateral", Computational Processing of the Portuguese Language, pp. 318–328, doi:10.1007/978-3-642-28885-2_36
- Vanvik, Arne (1979), Norsk fonetikk, Oslo: Universitetet i Oslo, ISBN 82-990584-0-6
- Wells, John C. (1982), Accents of English 3: Beyond The British Isles, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 610–622, ISBN 0-521-28541-0
