Lateral consonant

A lateral is a consonant in which the airstream proceeds along one or both of the sides of the tongue, but it is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth. An example of a lateral consonant is the English L, as in Larry. Lateral consonants contrast with central consonants, in which the airstream flows through the center of the mouth.

For the most common laterals, the tip of the tongue makes contact with the upper teeth (see

In central and Venice dialects of Venetian, intervocalic /l/ has turned into a semivocalic [e̯], so that the written word ła bała is pronounced [abae̯a]. The orthography uses the letter ł to represent this phoneme (it specifically represents not the [e̯] sound but the phoneme that is, in some dialects, [e̯] and, in others, [l]).

Many aboriginal

Nearly all languages with such lateral obstruents also have the approximant. However, there are a number of exceptions, many of them located in the Pacific Northwest area of the United States. For example, Tlingit has /tɬ, tɬʰ, tɬʼ, ɬ, ɬʼ/ but no /l/.^[a] Other examples from the same area include Nuu-chah-nulth and Kutenai, and elsewhere, Mongolian, Chukchi, and Kabardian.

A

• Voiced dental lateral approximant [l̪] (in Arabic, Chinese, Tamil
  )
• Voiced alveolar lateral approximant [l] (in Dutch, English, Spanish
  )
• Telegu
  )
• Voiced palatal lateral approximant [ʎ] (in Aymara, Anindilyakwa)
• Voiced velar lateral approximant [ʟ] (in Wahgi)
• Voiced uvular lateral approximant [ʟ̠] (in some American dialects)

Fricatives

• Voiceless dental lateral fricative [ɬ̪] (in Wahgi
  )
• Voiced dental lateral fricative
  [ɮ̪] (allophonic in Wahgi)
• Voiceless alveolar lateral fricative [ɬ] (in Adyghe, Chukchi, Kabardian, Navajo, Welsh
  )
• Voiced alveolar lateral fricative [ɮ] (in Adyghe, Kabardian, Mongolian, Tigak
  )
• Voiceless retroflex lateral fricative [ɭ̊˔] or extIPA [ꞎ] (in Toda)
• Voiced retroflex lateral fricative [ɭ˔] or extIPA [𝼅] (in Ao)
• Inupiaq
  )
• Voiced palatal lateral fricative [ʎ̝] or extIPA [𝼆̬] (allophonic in Jebero)
• Voiceless velar lateral fricative [ʟ̝̊] or extIPA [𝼄] (in Archi, Nii, Wahgi)
• Voiced velar lateral fricative [ʟ̝] or extIPA [𝼄̬] (in Archi, allophonic in Wahgi)

Only the alveolar lateral fricatives have dedicated letters in the IPA. However, others appear in the

• Arabic, Mehri
  )
• Arabic, Mehri
  )

• Voiceless alveolar lateral affricate [tɬ] (in Navajo, Tlingit)
• Voiced alveolar lateral affricate [dɮ] (allophonic in Zulu and Xhosa)
• Bhadrawahi
  )
• Bhadrawahi
  )
• Voiceless palatal lateral affricate [cʎ̥˔] or extIPA [c𝼆] (perhaps prepalatal in Sandawe and Hadza)
• Voiced palatal lateral affricate [ɟʎ̝] (perhaps prepalatal in Sandawe)
• Voiceless velar lateral affricate [kʟ̝̊] or extIPA [k𝼄] (in Archi, Laghuu, Muji)
• Voiced velar lateral affricate [ɡʟ̝] (in Hiw, Laghuu, Muji)

Flaps

• Voiceless alveolar lateral flap [ɺ̥] (in Yavitero,^[4] Karu)
• Voiced alveolar lateral flap [ɺ] (in Wayuu, Iwaidja
  )
• Voiceless retroflex lateral flap [ɭ̥̆] or [𝼈̥] (allophonic in Wahgi)
• Pashto, Iwaidja
  )
• Palatal lateral flap [ʎ̆] (allophonic in Iwaidja and Ilgar
  )
• Velar lateral flap [ʟ̆] (in Kanite and Melpa
  )

• Alveolar lateral ejective affricate [tɬʼ] (in Baslaney, Navajo, Tlingit)
• Palatal lateral ejective affricate [cʎ̥˔ʼ] or extIPA [c𝼆ʼ] (in Dahalo, Sandawe, Hadza)
• Gǀwi, Zulu
  )
• Gǀwi
  )

• Alveolar lateral ejective fricative [ɬ’] (in Adyghe, Kabardian, Tlingit)

Clicks

• Alveolar lateral clicks [ᵏǁ], [ᶢǁ], [ᵑǁ], [𐞥ǁ], [𐞒ǁ], [ᶰǁ] etc. (in all five Khoisan families and several Bantu languages
  )

A superscript ⟨ˡ⟩ is defined as lateral release.

Consonants may also be pronounced with simultaneous lateral and central airflow. This is well-known from speech pathology with a

• Delateralization
• Lateral release (phonetics)
• List of phonetics topics

Notes

References