Lateral Consonant By Ins. Hadeel Kamil Ali (Ph.D) @r First year lecture in Better English Pronunciation English has one lateral phoneme: the lateral approximant /l/, which in many accents has two allophones. One, found before vowels as in lady or Jly, is called clear /, pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant [l] with a "neutral" position of the body of the tongue. The other variant, so-called dark I forndbefore consonants or word-finally , as in bold or /e/l is pronounced as the velarized alveolar lateral approximant [] with the tongue assuming a spoon-like shape with its back part raised, which gives the sound a [w]- or [l]-like resonance. In some languages, like Albanian, those two sounds are different phonemes. East Slavic languages contrast [] and [.j] but do not have aplain [1]. In many British accents (e.g. London English), dark [l] may undergo vocalization through the reduction and loss of contact between the tip of the tongue the alveolar ridge, becoming a rounded back vowel or glide. This process tltms tell into something like [teu1]. A similar process happened in Brazilian Portuguese and in Old French, resulting in [w], whence Modem French sauce as compared with Spanish salsa. Also in polish historical [1] (spelled I ) has become [w] even word-initially or between vowels. Definition Lateral (also called lateral approximant), a type of consonant sound, which is produced by allowing the air to escape around the sides ofthe tongue rather than over the middle of the tongue. The lateral sound is frictionless. It is in many respects vowel-like and could be considered as a continuant. It is to some extent similar to /r/j/. Classification There is only one lateral consonant in English: l\l.Like other consonants the 1ateral sound is customarily described on the following three bases: 1 . Manner of Articulation: The manner of articulation refers to how the articulators approach to each other to create a closure. It also determines the type and degree of hindrance the airflow meets on its way out affected by the closuri. The closure takes different manners for different sounds. For instance, during the articulation of the lateral sound the following sequence of events occurs: . The tip of the tongue makes a firm contact with the upper alveolar ridge to form a complete closure in the middle of the mouth. The soft palate is raised to completely block the nasal passage. The sides ofthe tongue are lowered to let the air escape along the sides ofthe tongue without any friction. 2. Place/Point of Articulation: The place of articulator refers to the place or point where the speech organs create a closure by either coming close or near contact. This is the place where the sound is produced. For lateral sound the place of articulation is alveolar, which means it is articulated with the tip the tongue at the alveolar ridge. 3. Voicing/Phonation: Voicing refers to whether or not the vocal folds are vibrating. If the vocal folds vibrate during the articulation then a voiced sound is produced. Contrariwise, ifthe vocal folds do not vibrate then a voiceless sound is produced. some phoneticians use the terms Lenis and Fortrs to describe the voiced and voiceless sounds respectively. During the production of lll the vocal folds vibrate. It is thus a voiced sound. From the above discussion we can identifu /l/ as ayoiced alveolar lateral. However, In English the pronunciation of this sound differs from person to person. But the usage of wrong lll won't necessarily change the intended word. Therefore, In English /l/ occurs in two pronunciation variations, that is, /l/ consists of two allophonic variants: (i) Clear[ I ]: It is also known as lighr I I ]. Place ofArticulation: The upper alveolar ridge, the tip ofthe tongue, the front of the tongue, and the hard palate. trl Alred!. *i*e l.iard lalate f r€fi{ o( {€ tof*{€ fi$d the T(xxrra Manner of Articulation: 1 . The tip of the tongue makes a firm contact behind the upper alveolar ridge to form a complete closure in the middle of the mouth. 2. At the same time the front of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate. 3. The sides of the tongue are lowered to let the air to escape along the sides of the tongue without any friction. Voicing: During the production of I I ] the vocal folds vibrate. It is thus a voiced lateral variant. Distribution: I I ] is found before a vowel. It is distributed in all three basic positions. lrnmut lu"aiat lnirar t I I llee lct.u. luat (ii) Dark I I ]: It is also known as velararized I I ].The IpA symbol for this lateral variant is a I symbol " " with a tilde " - " symbol superimposed onto the middle: I I l. Place ofArticulation: The upper alveolar ridge, the tip ofthe tongue, the back of the tongue, and the velum. ,#rffi,E\, \sr#fii,* s... >-a/ l*] All€(,ar lrdge Vell.3n./Ss& hllre &ad( otfi€ 1erle Tipd $e tc$$re Marmer of Articulation: 1 . The tip of the tongue makes a firm contact behind the upper alveolar ridge to form a complete closure in the middle of the mouth. 2. Atthe same time the back of the tongue is raised towards the velum or the soft palate. 3 . The sides of the tongue are lowered to let the air to escape along the sides of the tongue without any friction. Vowel Sequences (triphthongs) A triphthong can be defined as a combination of three pure vowels or monphthomgs, in which the first one glides into the second one, and then the second one preceded by the first one glides into o / and then / r.r / preceded by I a:/ .e, glides into Triphthong : closing diphthongs with added on the end. Triphthongs and Smoothing The pronunciation of English triphthongs is very interesting phenomenon.. Being aware of it will help you not only to sound more natural and fluent but also to understand what native speakers say better. English has five triphthongs, which are formed by the diphtongs ending in lil and lul + the sound /e/. Let's see some examples: ,uu, *1"1 : faae) <)) hour lat/ +lal : [arc) r)) fire /erl + /al = [ere] $) player \sffi,,,fil6,**bq.' lea/ +le/ = feae] r)) mower /ctl + lel = [cre] <t)) employer The triphthong facle] is often pronounced just as /o:/, especially in some words like the possessive orzr. Notice how clearly this happens in the following examples: r)) A seal's flippers resemble our hands (A.S. Byatt, BBC4). <)) Somewhere where our lives matter (Malorie Blackman, on BBC4). <D Thank you for downloading this episode of In our Time. For more details about In Our Time and for our terms of use... (Melvyn Bragg, BBC4). Actually, this is the way our is currently said in British English (and very often in American English too, although in AE the final r is pronounced). producing the full triphthong [aoe] in the word our sounds a bit unnatural in different varieties of English. It is also interesting to note that the smoothing of triphtongs bring about some new homophones. Both [aoe] and [are] might be produced as [aa], so the words tower and, tyre are pronounced [tae], which can be confusing if you,re not aware of this process. Another good example of smoothing is the word mayor, whichis always pronounced /mee/ in British English ([merer] in American English). Admittedly, in this case the British version is much more difficult to understand than the American for non native speakers. Here are some sentences which include the three cases studied above: O) It takes almost an hour to get there. r)) There was a great fire that bumed down the building. <D She's the best player in the team d*l.ri.rr (" a9lz4 4.I e {.