Voiceless palatal lateral fricative

The voiceless palatal lateral fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in a few spoken languages.

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (June 2018)

Quick Facts 𝼆, ʎ̥˔ ...

Voiceless palatal lateral fricative
𝼆
ʎ̥˔
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	𝼆
Unicode (hex)	U+1DF06
Image

Close

This sound is somewhat rare; Dahalo has both a palatal lateral fricative and an affricate; Hadza has a series of palatal lateral affricates. In Bura, it is the realization of palatalized /ɬʲ/ and contrasts with [ʎ].

The extensions to the IPA transcribes this sound with the letter ⟨𝼆⟩ (⟨ʎ⟩ with a belt, analogous to ⟨ɬ⟩ for the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative), which was added to Unicode in 2021.

If distinction is necessary, the voiceless alveolo-palatal lateral fricative may be transcribed as ⟨ɬ̠ʲ⟩ (retracted and palatalized ⟨ɬ⟩) or as advanced ⟨𝼆̟⟩; these are essentially equivalent, since the contact includes both the blade and body (but not the tip) of the tongue. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbols are K_-_j or K_-' and L_0_+_r, respectively. A non-IPA letter ⟨ȴ̊˔⟩ (devoiced and raised ⟨ȴ⟩, which is an ordinary "l", plus the curl found in the symbols for alveolo-palatal sibilant fricatives ⟨ɕ, ʑ⟩) can be used.

Some scholars also posit a voiceless palatal lateral approximant distinct from the fricative. The approximant may be represented in the IPA as ⟨ʎ̥⟩.

Features of the voiceless palatal 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 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.
• 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.