Voiced palatal lateral flap
Appearance
Voiced palatal lateral flap | |
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ʎ̆ | |
Audio sample | |
The voiced palatal lateral flap is a rare type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. There is no dedicated symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound. However, the symbol for a palatal lateral approximant with a breve denoting extra-short ⟨ʎ̆⟩ may be used.
Features
[edit]Features of the voiced palatal lateral flap:
- Its manner of articulation is tap or flap, which means it is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator (usually the tongue) is thrown against another.
- 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 voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
- 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.
- Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.
Occurrence
[edit]The Iwaidja and Ilgar languages of Australia have a palatal lateral flap as well as alveolar and retroflex lateral flaps. However, the palatal flap has not been shown to be phonemic; it may instead be an underlying sequence /ɺj/.
Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
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Ilgar | [miʎ̆arɡu] | Mildyagru | Likely an underlying sequence of /ɺj/. Contrasts /l, ɺ, ɭ, ɭ̆/. | |
Iwaidja | [example needed] | Contrasts /l, ɺ, ɭ, ɭ̆/ and possibly /ʎ, ʎ̆/ though they are likely underlying sequences of /Lj/. |