Voiceless velar lateral fricative

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Voiceless velar lateral fricative
𝼄
ʟ̝̊
Audio sample

A voiceless velar lateral fricative is a rare speech sound. As one element of an affricate, it is found for example in Zulu and Xhosa (see velar lateral ejective affricate). However, a simple fricative has only been reported from a few languages in the Caucasus and New Guinea.

In New Guinea, some of the Chimbu–Wahgi languages such as Melpa, Middle Wahgi, and Nii, have a voiceless velar lateral fricative, which they write with a double-bar el (Ⱡ, ⱡ). This sound also appears in syllable coda position as an allophone of the voiced velar lateral fricative in Kuman.[1]

The extIPA has the letter ⟨𝼄⟩ for this sound. It was added to Unicode in 2021.

Features

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Features of a voiceless velar 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 velar, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) at the soft palate.
  • Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
  • It is an oral consonant, which means that air is exclusively allowed to escape through the mouth.
  • 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

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Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Wahgi[2] nòⱡ [no𝼄˩] 'water'

Voiceless velar lateral approximant

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Voiceless velar lateral approximant
ʟ̥
IPA number158 402A
Encoding
X-SAMPAL\_0

Some scholars also posit a voiceless velar lateral approximant distinct from the fricative. The approximant may be represented in the IPA as ⟨ʟ̥⟩.

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
English Western American[3] clear [kʟ̥iɚ̯] 'clear' Possible allophone of /l/ after /k/.[3] See English phonology
German Austrian[4] klar [kʟ̥ɑː] 'clear' Possible allophone of /l/ after the aspirated allophone of /k/.[4] See Standard German phonology
Welsh pwll [pʊʟ̥] 'pool' Possible allophone of /ɬ/ after back vowels.

Voiceless post-palatal lateral fricative

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Voiceless post-palatal lateral fricative
𝼆̠
𝼄̟

Features

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  • 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 post-palatal, also called retracted palatal, backed palatal, palato-velar, pre-velar, advanced velar or front(ed-)velar, which means it is articulated between the position of palatal consonants and velar consonants.
  • Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
  • It is an oral consonant, which means that air is exclusively allowed to escape through the mouth.
  • 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

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Archi, a Northeast Caucasian language of Dagestan, has four voiceless velar lateral fricatives: plain [𝼄], labialized [𝼄ʷ], fortis [𝼄ː], and labialized fortis [𝼄ːʷ]. Although clearly fricatives, these are further forward than velars in most languages, and might better be called prevelar. Archi also has a voiced fricative, as well as a voiceless and several ejective lateral velar affricates, but no alveolar lateral fricatives or affricates.[5]

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Archi[5] лъат [𝼄̟at] 'sea' Pre-velar.[5]

Notes

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  1. ^ Steed, W., & Hardie, P. (2004). Acoustic Properties of the Kuman Voiceless Velar Lateral Fricative. Proceedings of the 10th Australian International Conference on Speech Science & Technology, Sydney. [1] Archived 2012-02-23 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Donald J. Phillips (1976). Wahgi Phonology and Morphology (PDF). B-36. Pacific Linguistics. p. 18.
  3. ^ a b Grønnum (2005), p. 154.
  4. ^ a b Grønnum (2005), pp. 153–154.
  5. ^ a b c "the Archi language tutorial" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-09-04. Retrieved 2009-12-23.

References

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