Voiceless dental and alveolar lateral fricatives

 ( Alveolar Consonants ) 

The voiceless alveolar lateral fricative is a type of sound, used in some Speech .

The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents voiceless Dental consonant, alveolar, and postalveolar lateral fricatives is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is K. The symbol is called "belted l" and is distinct from "l with tilde", , which transcribes a different soundthe velarized (or pharynɡealized) alveolar lateral approximant, often called "dark L".

Some scholars also posit the voiceless alveolar lateral approximant distinct from the fricative. More recent research distinguishes between "turbulent" and "laminar" airflow in the vocal tract. Ball & Rahilly (1999) state that "the airflow for voiced approximants remains laminar (smooth), and does not become turbulent".

The approximant may be represented in the IPA as . In Sino-Tibetan language group,

argue that [[Burmese|Burmese language]] and [[Standard Tibetan]] have voiceless lateral approximants  and [[Li Fang-Kuei]] & William Baxter contrast apophonically the voiceless alveolar lateral approximant from its voiced counterpart in the reconstruction of Old Chinese.  includes the voiceless velarized alveolar lateral approximant . However, the voiceless dental & alveolar lateral approximant is constantly found as an [[allophone]] of its voiced counterpart in [[British English]] and Philadelphia English after voiceless coronal and labial stops, which is velarized before back vowels, the allophone of  after voiceless dorsal and laryngeal stops is most realized as a voiceless velar lateral approximant. See English phonology.
     

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Features Features of the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative:

(2025). 9781305177185, Cengage Learning. . ISBN 9781305177185

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Occurrence The sound is fairly common among indigenous languages of the Americas, such as Nahuatl, Tlingit language and Navajo language,

Joyce McDonough (2025). 9781402013515, Kluwer. ISBN 9781402013515

and in North Caucasian languages, such as Avar language.

John Laver (1994). 052145655X, Cambridge University Press. 052145655X

It is also found in African languages, such as Zulu language, and Asian languages, such as Chukchi language, some Yue Chinese dialects like Taishanese, the Hlai languages languages of Hainan, and several Formosan languages and dialects in Taiwan.

Chang Henry Y. (2025). 9789573238980, 遠流 (Yuan-Liou). ISBN 9789573238980

The sound is rare in European languages outside the Caucasus, but it is found notably in Welsh language in which it is written . Several Welsh names beginning with this sound (Llwyd , Llywelyn ) have been borrowed into English and then retain the Welsh spelling but are pronounced with an (Lloyd, Llewellyn), or they are substituted with (pronounced ) (Floyd, Fluellen). It was also sabesdiker losn in certain dialects of Lithuanian Yiddish.

Modern South Arabian languages are known for their apparent archaic Semitic features, especially in their system of phonology. For example, they preserve the lateral fricatives and / of Proto-Semitic. Except for the Modern South Arabian languages, every other extant Semitic language has merged Proto-Semitic *s2 into one of the two other plain sibilants.

The phoneme was also found in the most ancient Hebrew speech of the Ancient Israelites. The orthography of Biblical Hebrew, however, did not directly indicate the phoneme since it and several other phonemes of Ancient Hebrew did not have a grapheme of their own. The phoneme, however, is clearly attested by later developments: was written with , but the letter was also used for the sound . Later, merged with , a sound that had been written only with . As a result, three etymologically distinct modern Hebrew phonemes can be distinguished: written , written (with later niqqud pointing שׁ), and evolving from and written (with later niqqud pointing שׂ). The specific pronunciation of evolving to from is known based on comparative evidence since is the corresponding Proto-Semitic phoneme and is still attested in Modern South Arabian languages, and early borrowings indicate it from Ancient Hebrew (e.g. balsam < Greek < Hebrew ). The phoneme began to merge with in Late Biblical Hebrew, as is indicated by interchange of orthographic and , possibly under the influence of Aramaic, and became the rule in Mishnaic Hebrew. In all Jewish reading traditions, and have merged completely, but in Samaritan Hebrew has instead merged into .

The sound is also found in two of the constructed languages invented by J. R. R. Tolkien, Sindarin (inspired by Welsh, which has the sound) and Quenya (even though this language was mostly inspired by Finnish, Ancient Greek, and Latin, none of which have this sound). In Sindarin, it is written as initially and medially and finally, and in Quenya, it appears only initially and is written .

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Dental or denti-alveolar

Amis language	Kangko dialect	tipi d		'bowl'	Allophonic variation of word-final and sometimes word-initial .
Mapuche language		kagü ḻ		'phlegm that is spit'	Interdental; possible utterance-final allophone of .
Norwegian	Trondheimsk	sæ lt		'sold'	Laminal denti-alveolar; allophone of . Also described as an approximant. See Norwegian phonology
Sahaptin				'moccasins'	Contrasts approximant .

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Alveolar

Adyghe language		Cyrillic script]] / پ ݪ‍ہ‍ژ / p łəžʼ		'red'
Ahtna language		dze ł		'mountain'
Avar language		Cyrillic script]] / ڸابگۈ / ļabgo		'three'
Basay language		lanum		'water'
Berber languages	Ait Seghrouchen	a ltu		'not yet'	Allophone of .
Brahui language		تیڷ / te ļ		'scorpion'	Contrasts .
Bunun language	Isbukun dialect	ludun		'mountain'	Voiceless allophone of among some speakers.
Bura language		bat li		'early forenoon (7-9am)'	Contrasts with and .
Central Alaskan Yup'ik		ta lliq		'arm'
Cherokee	Oklahoma Cherokee	tlha, kiihli	,	'not', 'dog'	In free variation with affricate among some speakers. Also an alternative pronunciation of voiceless lateral approximant , a realization of cluster .
Chickasaw		lhipa		'it is dry'
Chinese language	Taishanese Taishanese Dictionary & Resources	三		'three'	Corresponds to in Standard Cantonese
	Pinghua
	Pu-Xian Min	沙		'sand'
Chipewyan		łue		'fish'
Chukchi language				'shoes'
Dahalo language				'stew'	Contrasts palatal and labialized .
Deg Xinag		xindigixidini łan'		'she is teaching them'
Dogrib language		ło		'smoke'	Contrasts voiced .
Eyak language		qe ł		'woman'	Contrasts approximant .
Fali				'shoulder'
Forest Nenets		Cyrillic script]]		'rain'	Contrasts palatalized .
Greenlandic		i llu		'house'	Realization of underlying geminate . See Greenlandic phonology
Hadza language		sleme		'man'
Haida language		tla'ún hl		'six'
Halkomelem		ɬeqw		'wet'	Attested in at least the Musqueam dialect.
Saaroa language		lhatenge		'vegetable'
Hlai languages				'fish'	Contrasts voiced approximant .
Hmong language		/ hli		'moon'
Inuktitut		ᐊᒃ ᖤᒃ		'grizzly bear'	See Inuit phonology
Kabardian		Cyrillic script]] / ݪ‍ہ‍ / ĺı		'blood'	Contrasts voiced and glottalic .
Kaska language		tsį̄ ł		'axe'
Kham language	Kham language	ह्ला		'leaf'
Khroskyabs		?		'kill' (causative)
Lillooet		lhésp		'rash'
Lushootseed		łukʷa ł		'sun'
Mapuche language		kaü l		'a different song'	Possible utterance-final allophone of .
Mehri language		ڛخوف		'milk'	Contrasts with , and .
Mochica language		pa xllær		Phaseolus lunatus
Moloko language		sla		'cattle'
Mongolian		Cyrillic script]]		'Wednesday'	Only in loanwords from Tibetan; here from ལྷག་པ (lhag-pa)
Muscogee		pá ɬko		'grape'
Nahuatl		ā ltepētl		'city'	Allophone of
Navajo language		łaʼ		'some'	See Navajo phonology
Nisga'a		hloks		'sun'
Norwegian	Trøndersk	ta tlete		'weak', 'small'	Contrasts alveolar approximant , apical postalveolar approximant , and laminal postalveolar approximant .
Nuosu language				'to fry'	Contrasts approximant .
Nuxalk language		p łt		'thick'	Contrasts with affricates and , and approximant .
Saanich dialect		ȽEL	'splash'
Sandawe language		lhaa		'goat'
Sassarese		mo rthu		'dead'
Sawi		ڷو		'three'	Contrasts approximant . Developed from earlier *tr- consonant cluster.
Shehri language		عݜرت		'ten'	Contrasts with , and .
Shuswap language		ɬept		'fire is out'
Sotho language		ho hla hloba		'to examine'	See Sotho phonology
Soqotri language		ڛيبب		'old'	Contrasts with , and .
Swedish language	Jämtlandic	ka llt		'cold'	Also occurs in dialects in Dalarna and Härjedalen. See Swedish phonology
	Västerbotten dialect	behl	beɬː	'bridle'
Taos language		łiwéna		'wife'	See Taos phonology
Tera language		tleebi		'side'
Thao language		ki lhpul		'star'
Tlingit language		lingít		'Tlingit'
Toda language		ka ł		'to learn'	Contrasts .
Ukrainian	Poltava subdialect	мо локо		'milk'	Occurs only in Poltava subdialect of Central Dniprovian dialect.
Tsez language		Cyrillic script]]		'water'
Vietnamese	Gin dialect	小		'small'
Welsh language		tege ll		'kettle'	See Welsh phonology
Xhosa language		si hlala		'we stay'
Xumi language	Lower			'head'	Described as an approximant. Contrasts with the voiced .
	Upper			'to open a lock'
Yurok language		ker hl		'earring'
Zulu language		i hla hla		'twig'	Contrasts voiced .
Zuni language		asdem ła		'ten'

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Alveolar approximant

Aleut	Western Aleut	hlax̂		'boy'	Contrasts with voiced /l/. Merged in Eastern Aleut.
Burmese language		လှ		'beautiful'	Contrasts with voiced /l/.
Danish language	Standard	Danish alphabet]]		'square'	Before , aspiration of is realized as devoicing of . See Danish phonology
See English phonology
	Norfolk dialect
Estonian		mah l		'juice'	Word-final allophone of after . See Estonian phonology
Faroese language		hjá lpa		'to help'	Allophone of before fortis plosives.
Iaai language				'black'	Contrasts with voiced /l/.
Icelandic		hlaða		'barn'	Contrasts with voiced . Allophone of before fortis plosives. See Icelandic phonology.
Northern Sámi	Eastern Inland	bá lkká		'salary'	Allophone of underlying cluster
Pipil language		This is an example.			Contrasted voiced in some now-extinct dialects.
Scottish Gaelic		sgai lc		'blow, knock'	Allophone of before a pre-aspirated plosive.
Southern Nambikwara				'cane toad'	Allophonic variation of .
Lhasa Tibetan		Lhasa		'Lhasa'
Ukrainian	Standard	смис л		'sense'	Word-final allophone of after voiceless consonants. See Ukrainian phonology

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Velarized dental or alveolar approximant

English language	See English phonology
Scottish Gaelic		fa lt		'hair'	Allophone of before a pre-aspirated plosive.
Turkish language		Turkish alphabet]]		'way'	Devoiced allophone of velarized dental , frequent finally and before voiceless consonants. See Turkish phonology

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Semitic languages The sound is conjectured as a phoneme for Proto-Semitic language, usually transcribed as ; it has evolved into Arabic , Hebrew language :

Among Semitic languages, the sound (with its emphatic counterpart ṣ́) still exists in contemporary Modern South Arabian languages; Soqotri language, Shehri language, and Mehri language. In Ge'ez, it is written with the letter Śawt.

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Voiceless lateral-median fricative The voiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative (also known as a "lisp" fricative) is a consonantal sound pronounced with simultaneous lateral and central airflow.

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Features

However, it does not have the grooved tongue and directed airflow, or the high frequencies, of a sibilant.
     

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Occurrence

Arabic dialectsHeselwood (2013) Phonetic transcription in theory and practice, pp. 122–123	Al-Rubūah dialect	الضيم		'anguish'Younger speakers distinguish between voiceless for emotional pain and voiced for physical pain]].	Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic
	dialect	ظامئ		'thirsty'	Classical and Modern Standard Arabic

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Capital letter Since the IPA letter "ɬ" has been adopted into the standard orthographies for many native North American languages, a capital letter L with belt "Ɬ" was requested by academics and added to the Unicode Standard version 7.0 in 2014 at U+A7AD.Joshua M Jensen, Karl Pentzlin, 2012-02-08, Proposal to encode a Latin Capital Letter L with Belt

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See also

• Voiced dental and alveolar lateral fricatives
• Voiceless alveolar lateral affricate
• Index of phonetics articles

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Notes

• Hans Basbøll (2025). 9780203978764, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780203978764
• Joshua Blau (2025). 9781575061290, Eisenbrauns. ISBN 9781575061290
• (1995). 9783929075083, Lincom Europa. . ISBN 9783929075083
• Nina Grønnum (2025). 9788750038658, Akademisk Forlag. . ISBN 9788750038658
• (2025). 9780521771115, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521771115
• Gjert Kristoffersen (2025). 9780198237655, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198237655
• Gary A. Rendsburg (1997). 9781575060194, Eisenbrauns. . ISBN 9781575060194
• (2025). 9780199260171, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199260171
• Arne Vanvik (1979). 9788299058407, Universitetet i Oslo. ISBN 9788299058407
• (1999). 9780521652360, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521652360
• Official database:
• Ernest T. Abdel-Massih (2025). 9781607852223, University of Michigan Press. . ISBN 9781607852223
• Wayne Suttles (2025). 9780774810029, UBC Press. ISBN 9780774810029
• S. J. Hannahs (2013). 9780199601233, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199601233
• Osahito Miyaoka (2025). 9783110278200, De Gruyter Mouton. ISBN 9783110278200
• Hiroto Uchihara (2016). 9780198739449, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198739449
• Jack B. Martin (2025). 9780803211063, University of Nebraska Press. . ISBN 9780803211063
• Kristján Árnason (2011). 9780199229314, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199229314
• Tapani Salminen (2025). 9789525150957 . ISBN 9789525150957
• David Beck (1999). 9789027236807, John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 9789027236807
• (1998). 079941526X, Via Afrika. 079941526X
• John Enrico (2025). 9780803218222, University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803218222
• Weera Ostapirat (2025). 9780700714575, Routledge. ISBN 9780700714575
• Zhong-Shu Yuan (1994). 9787810018920, Minzu University Press. ISBN 9787810018920
• Jan Van Eijk (1997). 9780774806251, UBC Press. ISBN 9780774806251
• (2022). 9780198767664, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198767664

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Further reading

• Beth am y llall? John Wells's phonetic blog, 1 July 2009. (How the British phonetician John Wells would teach the sound .)
• A chance to share more than just some sounds of languages walesonline.co.uk, 3 May 2012 (Article by Dr Paul Tench including information on transcribing in Chadic languages.)

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External links

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