Features of a voiceless alveolar 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 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 not allowed to escape through the nose.
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.
Lateral fricatives are rare in European languages outside the Caucasus, but it is found notably in Welsh, in which it is written ⟨ll⟩. Several Welsh names beginning with this sound (Llwyd[ɬʊɨd], Llywelyn[ɬəˈwɛlɨn]) have been borrowed into English and then retain the Welsh ⟨ll⟩ spelling but are pronounced with an /l/ (Lloyd, Llewellyn), or they are substituted with ⟨fl⟩ (pronounced /fl/) (Floyd, Fluellen). It was also found in certain dialects of LithuanianYiddish.
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*ś[ɬ] and *ṣ́/ḏ̣[ɬʼ] of Proto-Semitic. Except for the Modern South Arabian languages, every other extant Semitic language has merged Proto-Semitic *s2 [ɬ] into one of the two other plain sibilants.
The phoneme /ɬ/ was reconstructed for the most ancient Hebrew speech of the Ancient Israelites. The orthography of Biblical Hebrew, however, did not directly indicate it. It is, however, attested by later developments: /ɬ/ was written with ⟨ש⟩, but the letter was also used for the sound /ʃ/. Later, /ɬ/ merged with /s/, a sound that had been written only with ⟨ס⟩. As a result, three etymologically distinct modern Hebrew phonemes can be distinguished: /s/ written ⟨ס⟩, /ʃ/ written ⟨ש⟩ (with later niqqud pointing שׁ), and /s/ evolving from /ɬ/ and written ⟨ש⟩ (with later niqqud pointing שׂ). The specific pronunciation of ⟨ש⟩ evolving to /s/ from [ɬ] is known based on comparative evidence since /ɬ/ 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 balsamon < Hebrew baśam). The phoneme /ɬ/ began to merge with /s/ in Late Biblical Hebrew, as is indicated by interchange of orthographic ⟨ש⟩ and ⟨ס⟩, possibly under the influence of Aramaic, and became the rule in Mishnaic Hebrew. In all Jewish reading traditions, /ɬ/ and /s/ have merged completely, but in Samaritan Hebrew/ɬ/ has instead merged into /ʃ/.
A [ɬ] 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 ⟨lh⟩ initially and ⟨ll⟩ medially and finally, and in Quenya, it appears only initially and is written ⟨hl⟩.
In free variation with affricate /tɬ/ among some speakers. Also an alternative pronunciation of voiceless lateral approximant [l̥], a realization of cluster /hl/.
Realisation of underlying /hl/. Allophone of /l/ before fortis plosives and utterance finally. In free variation with the globaly more common fricative.
A voiceless alveolar lateral–median fricative (also known as a "lisp" fricative) is a consonantal sound pronounced with simultaneous lateral and central airflow.
Features
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. However, it does not have the grooved tongue and directed airflow, or the high frequencies, of a sibilant.
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 not allowed to escape through the nose.
It is a median consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream down the midline of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
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.
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. This is distinct from the small capital ⟨𝼄⟩ used for a voiceless velar lateral fricative.
↑Stanford Phonology Archive (2019). Moran, Steven; McCloy, Daniel (eds.). "PHOIBLE 2.0 - Inventory Ket (SPA 2)". phoible.org. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
↑Nikolaev, Dmitry (2019). Moran, Steven; McCloy, Daniel (eds.). "PHOIBLE 2.0 - Inventory Moksha (Standard) (EA 2243)". phoible.org. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
↑Nikolaev, Dmitry (2019). Moran, Steven; McCloy, Daniel (eds.). "PHOIBLE 2.0 - Inventory Ter Saami (EA 2494)". phoible.org. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
↑Tereškin, Sergej N. (2002). Йоканьгский диалект саамского языка[Ter dialect of the Sámi language] (PhD) (in Russian). Saint Petersburg: Российский государственный педагогический университет им. А. И. Герцена.
Chirkova, Katia; Chen, Yiya (2013), "Xumi, Part 1: Lower Xumi, the Variety of the Lower and Middle Reaches of the Shuiluo River", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (3): 363–79, doi:10.1017/S0025100313000157
Chirkova, Katia; Chen, Yiya; Kocjančič Antolík, Tanja (2013), "Xumi, Part 2: Upper Xumi, the Variety of the Upper Reaches of the Shuiluo River", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (3): 381–96, doi:10.1017/S0025100313000169
Gordon, Matthew (2004), "New York, Philadelphia and other Northern Cities: phonology", in Schneider, Edgar W. (ed.), A Handbook of Varieties of English, Mouton de Gruyter, doi:10.1515/9783110197181, ISBN9783110208405
Sadowsky, Scott; Painequeo, Héctor; Salamanca, Gastón; Avelino, Heriberto (2013), "Mapudungun", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 87–96, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000369
Svantesson, Jan-Olof; Tsendina, Anna; Mukhanova Karlsson, Anastasia; Franzen, Vivan (2005), The phonology of Mongolian, Oxford University Press, ISBN0199260176
Tench, Paul (2007), "Tera", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37 (1): 228–34, doi:10.1017/s0025100307002952
Vanvik, Arne (1979), Norsk fonetikk, Oslo: Universitetet i Oslo, ISBN82-990584-0-6
Zimmer, Karl; Orgun, Orhan (1999), "Turkish", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.154–58, ISBN0-521-65236-7
Lin, Hui-shan (1 April 2018), "郡社布農語的「三疊式」"[Triplication in Isbukun Bunun](PDF), 臺灣語文研究[Journal of Taiwanese Languages and Literature] (in Chinese), 13 (1), Taiwan Languages & Literature Society: 125–53, doi:10.6710/JTLL.201804_13(1).0004, ISSN1726-5185, archived from the original(PDF) on 24 June 2020, retrieved 29 July 2022
Wei, Shu-guan (March 2006) [25 October 2005], "中国京语的变异" [The Variations of Chinese Jing Dialect], 广西民族学院学报(哲学社会科学版)[Journal of Guangxi University for Nationalities (Philosophy and Social Science Editition)], 28 (2): 13–18
Gordon, Matthew; Munro, Pamela; Ladefoged, Peter (15 February 2002) [December 2001], "Chickasaw", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 31 (2), Cambridge University Press: 287–90, doi:10.1017/S0025100301002110
Li, Fang-Kuei (1946), Hoijer, Harry; Osgood, Cornelius (eds.), Chipewyan, Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology: Linguistic Structures of Native America, Viking Fund, pp.398–423
Dunn, Michael John (May 1999), "Phonology & Morphonology", A Grammar of Chukchi (PhD thesis), Australian National University, pp.37–59, doi:10.25911/5d77842288837, hdl:1885/10769
Maddieson, Ian; Spajić, Siniša; Sands, Bonny; Ladefoged, Peter (June 1993), "Phonetic Structures of Dahalo", Working Papers in Phonetics: Fieldwork Studies of Targeted Languages, 84, UCLA: 25–66 – via eScholarship
Endresen, Rolf Theil; Simonsen, Hanne Gram (2000) [1996], "Språklydlære: fonetikk og fonologi" [Sounds in language: phonetics and phonology], in Sveen, Andreas (ed.), Innføring i lingvistikk[Introduction to linguistics] (in Norwegian Nynorsk) (2ed.), Universitetsforlaget, pp.207–306
Poulos, George; Msimang, Christian T. (1998), "Aspects of the sound system of Zulu", A Linguistic Analysis of Zulu (1ed.), Pretoria: Via Afrika, pp.443–570, ISBN0-7994-1526-X
Kuipers, Aert H. (1960), "Phonology", Phoneme and Morpheme in Kabardian, Janua linguarum: Studia memoriae Nicolai van Wijk dedicata, 's-Gravenhage: Mouton & Co, pp.17–24, CiteSeerX10.1.1.122.7521{{citation}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter |citeseerx= (help)
Sands, Bonny; Maddieson, Ian; Ladefoged, Peter (June 1993), "The Phonetic Structures of Hadza", UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics: Fieldwork Studies of Targeted Languages, 84, UCLA: 67–88 – via eScholarship
Enrico, John (2003), "Introduction", Haida Syntax, vol.1, University of Nebraska Press, pp.1–73, ISBN9780803218222
Galloway, Brent Douglas (1977), "Phonetics and Phonemics", A Grammar of Chilliwack Halkomelem (PhD thesis), University of California, Berkeley, pp.1–35 – via eScholarship
Ostapirat, Weera (2008), "The Hlai Language", in Diller, Anthony V. N.; Edmonsdon, Jerold A.; Luo, Yongxian (eds.), The Tai-Kadai Languages, Routledge Language Family Series, Routledge, pp.623–52, doi:10.4324/978020364187 (inactive 12 July 2025), ISBN978-0-7007-1457-5{{citation}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)
Yuan, Zhong-Shu (12 February 1994), "緒論" [Introduction], 黎语语法纲要[An outline of Hlai grammar] (1ed.), Beijing: Minzu University Press, pp.1–22, ISBN7810018922, OCLC33976573
Van Eijk, Jan (1 September 1997), The Lillooet Language: Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, UBC Press, ISBN9780774806251
Newman, Stanley (July 1947), "Bella Coola I: Phonology", International Journal of American Linguistics, 13 (3), University of Chicago Press: 129–34, doi:10.1086/463942, JSTOR1262907, S2CID144523894
Edmondson, Jerold A.; Esling, John H.; Lama, Ziwo (2017), "Nuosu Yi", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 47 (1): 87–97, doi:10.1017/S0025100315000444
Aikio, Ante; Ylikoski, Jussi (24 June 2022), Bakró-Nagy, Marianne; Laakso, Johanna; Skribnik, Elena (eds.), North Saami, Oxford Guides to the World's Languages, Oxford University Press, pp.147–77, doi:10.1093/oso/9780198767664.003.0010, ISBN9780198767664
Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur (2017), Íslensk hljóðkerfisfræði[Icelandic phonology](PDF) (in Icelandic), Reykjavík{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Further reading
Beth am y llall?John Wells's phonetic blog, 1 July 2009. (How the British phonetician John Wells would teach the sound [ɬ].)