Voiceless palatal lateral approximant

Voiceless palatal lateral approximant
ʎ̥
IPA number	157 402A
Encoding
X-SAMPA	L_0

The voiceless palatal 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 ⟨ʎ̥⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is L_0.

It is found as a phoneme distinct from the voiced /ʎ/ in the Xumi language spoken in China.^[1][2]

Features

Features of the voiceless palatal lateral approximant:

• Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce a turbulent airstream.

• Its place of articulation is palatal, which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised to the hard 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 air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.

• 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.

• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Faroese[3]		kjálki	[ˈt͡ʃʰaʎ̥t͡ʃɪ]	'jaw'	Allophone of /l/.[3] See Faroese phonology
Norwegian	Trondheim subdialect of Trøndersk[4]	alt	[ɑʎ̥c]	'everything, all'	Allophone of /ʎ/ before /c/.[4] See Norwegian phonology
	Some subdialects of Trøndersk[4]	tatle	[tɑʎ̥]	'acting silly'		According to some scholars,[5][6] it is a phoneme that contrasts with /ʎ/ (as in /tɑʎ/ 'softwood'.)[4] See Norwegian phonology
Xumi	Lower[1]	[^Hʎ̥o]		'spirit'	Alveolo-palatal; contrasts with the voiced /ʎ/.[1][2]
	Upper[2]	[^Hʎ̥ɛ]		'flavorless'

References

1. Chirkova & Chen (2013), pp. 365, 367–368.
2. Chirkova, Chen & Kocjančič Antolík (2013), pp. 382–383.
3. Árnason (2011:115)
4. Vanvik (1979), p. 37.
5. Such as Vanvik (1979)
6. An example of a scholar disagreeing with this position is Scholtz (2009). On page 15, she provides a phoneme chart for Trøndersk, in which /ʎ/ is included. Under the phoneme chart she writes "Vanvik also lists /ʎ̥/ as an underlying phoneme, but that’s ridiculous :)." She provides no further explanation as to why it is ridiculous.

Bibliography

• Árnason, Kristján (2011), The Phonology of Icelandic and Faroese, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-922931-4
• Chirkova, Katia; Chen, Yiya (2013), "Xumi, Part 1: Lower Xumi, the Variety of the Lower and Middle Reaches of the Shuiluo River" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association 43 (3): 363–379, 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" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association 43 (3): 381–396, doi:10.1017/S0025100313000169
• Scholtz, Anna (2009), A phonetic study of the status of three mergers in the Trøndersk dialect of Norwegian (PDF), Williamstown, Massachusetts: Williams College
• Vanvik, Arne (1979), Norsk fonetikk, Oslo: Universitetet i Oslo, ISBN 82-990584-0-6