Voiced velar lateral approximant
The voiced velar lateral approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used as a distinct consonant in a very small number of spoken languages in the world. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is L\.
The velar laterals of the world often involve a prestopped realization.Features of the voiced velar lateral approximant:
The velar lateral involves no contact of the tip of the tongue with the roof of the mouth: just like for the velar stop, the only contact takes place between the back of the tongue and the velum. This contrasts with the velarized alveolar lateral approximant – also known as the dark l in English feel – for which the apex touches the alveolar ridge.Occurrence
