Retroflex lateral approximant

Encyclopedia : R : RE : RET : Retroflex lateral approximant

IPA – number 156
IPA – text
IPA – image
Entity ɭ
X-SAMPA l`
Kirshenbaum l.

The retroflex 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 ɭ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is l`.

Contents

Features

Features of the retroflex lateral approximant:

Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by bringing one articulator close to another but without the vocal tract being narrowed to such an extent that a turbulent airstream is produced.
Its place of articulation is retroflex, which prototypically means it is articulated with the tip of the tongue curled up, but more generally means that it is postalveolar without being palatalized.
Its phonation type is voiced, which means the vocal cords are vibrating during the articulation.
It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
It is a lateral consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the sides of the tongue, rather than the middle of the tongue.
The airstream mechanism is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis or the mouth.

This is the prototypical retroflex articulation. It is found in such Dravidian languages as Tamil [link], Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, and Toda, as well as such Australian Aboriginal languages as Kaititj, Yanyuwa, and Iwaidja, at least in careful speech.

This is perhaps the more common retroflex articulation. It is found in Indic languages such as Hindi and Panjabi. These languages have /ɭ/ as a phoneme, but Norwegian and Swedish feature [ɭ] as a phonetic assimilation of /r/ and /l/: