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The velarized alveolar lateral approximant, which may actually be uvularized or pharyngealized, also known as dark l, is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages.
Features Features of the velarized alveolar lateral approximant: In English In many dialects of English, including Received Pronunciation, the velarized lateral alveolar approximant occurs in syllable coda position, as in bell and milk. In syllable onset position, however, the non-velarized or "plain" alveolar lateral approximant is found. In other words, the dark l is the l-sound used in bell and milk, as opposed to the clear l, which is the l-sound used in lad or lip. Some other dialects of English, such as Scottish English, use a velarized or dark l in all positions, while Hiberno-English (Irish English) uses clear l everywhere. Some English accents, such as Cockney, Estuary English and South Australian English use w, u or o instead of dark l's, a process known as l-vocalization (so that bell becomes "beww" and milk becomes "miwk"). In other languages Similar changes are found in other languages, such as Serbian, as seen in the Serbian name Beograd of Belgrade. Scottish gaelic uses the dark l as an allophone of and standard to show grammatical differences, the dark l being a "broad l," (followed by a broad vowel, "a" "o" or "u") and being a "slender l" (followed by "e" or "i") where these two sounds occur at the beginning of a word. The broad l in the middle of a word does not change, although the slender l becomes in the middle of words. The slender l also changes to in instances of lenition. Velarized l developed into w also in the Brazilian dialects of Portuguese (e.g. Brazil is pronounced Braziu in Brazilian Portuguese), in Polish, and in the Sorbian languages. | |||||||||||||||||||
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