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Lateral consonant
Lateral consonant
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Palatograms of lateral [l] and central [t]

A lateral is a consonant in which the airstream proceeds along one or both of the sides of the tongue, but it is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth. An example of a lateral consonant is the English L, as in Larry. Lateral consonants contrast with central consonants, in which the airstream flows through the center of the mouth.

For the most common laterals, the tip of the tongue makes contact with the upper teeth (see dental consonant) or the upper gum (see alveolar consonant), but there are many other possible places for laterals to be made. The most common laterals are approximants and belong to the class of liquids, but lateral fricatives and affricates are also common in some parts of the world. Some languages, such as the Iwaidja and Ilgar languages of Australia, have lateral flaps, and others, such as the Xhosa and Zulu languages of Africa, have lateral clicks.

When pronouncing the labiodental fricatives [f] and [v], the lip blocks the airflow in the center of the vocal tract, so the airstream proceeds along the sides instead. Nevertheless, they are not considered lateral consonants because the airflow never goes over the side of the tongue. No known language makes a distinction between lateral and non-lateral labiodentals. Plosives are never lateral, but they may have lateral release. Nasals are almost never lateral either, but reported in Nzema, and some languages have lateral nasal clicks. For consonants articulated in the throat (laryngeals), the lateral distinction is not made by any language, although pharyngeal and epiglottal laterals are reportedly possible.[1]

Examples

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English has one lateral phoneme: the lateral approximant /l/, which in many accents has two allophones. One, found before vowels (and /j/) as in lady or fly (or value), is called clear l, pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant [l] with a "neutral" position of the body of the tongue. The other variant, so-called dark l, found before consonants or word-finally, as in bold or tell, is pronounced as the velarized alveolar lateral approximant [ɫ] with the tongue assuming a spoon-like shape with its back part raised, which gives the sound a [w]- or [ʟ]-like resonance. In some languages, like Albanian, those two sounds are different phonemes. Malsia e Madhe Gheg Albanian and Salamina Arvanitika even have the three-way distinction of laterals /l/, /ʎ/ and /ɫ/.[2] East Slavic languages contrast [ɫ] and [lʲ] but do not have [l].

In many British accents (e.g. Cockney), dark [ɫ] may undergo vocalization through the reduction and loss of contact between the tip of the tongue and the alveolar ridge, becoming a rounded back vowel or glide. This process turns tell into [tɛɰ], as must have happened with talk [tɔːk] or walk [wɔːk] at some stage. A similar process happened during the development of many other languages, including Brazilian Portuguese, Old French, and Polish, in all three of these resulting in voiced velar approximant [ɰ] or voiced labio-velar approximant [w], whence Modern French sauce as compared with Spanish salsa, or Polish Wisła (pronounced [viswa]) as compared with English Vistula.

In central and Venice dialects of Venetian, intervocalic /l/ has turned into a semivocalic [e̯], so that the written word ła bała is pronounced [abae̯a]. The orthography uses the letter ł to represent this phoneme (it specifically represents not the [e̯] sound but the phoneme that is, in some dialects, [e̯] and, in others, [l]).

Many aboriginal Australian languages have a series of three or four lateral approximants, as do various dialects of Irish. Rarer lateral consonants include the retroflex laterals that can be found in many languages of India[citation needed] and in some Swedish dialects, and the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative /ɬ/, found in many Native North American languages, Welsh and Zulu. In Adyghe and some Athabaskan languages like Hän, both voiceless and voiced alveolar lateral fricatives occur, but there is no approximant. Many of these languages also have lateral affricates. Some languages have palatal or velar voiceless lateral fricatives or affricates, such as Dahalo and Zulu, but the IPA has no symbols for such sounds. However, appropriate symbols are easy to make by adding a lateral-fricative belt to the symbol for the corresponding lateral approximant (see below). Also, a devoicing diacritic may be added to the approximant.

Lateral fricative letters

Nearly all languages with such lateral obstruents also have the approximant. However, there are a number of exceptions, many of them located in the Pacific Northwest area of the United States. For example, Tlingit has /tɬ, tɬʰ, tɬʼ, ɬ, ɬʼ/ but no /l/.[a] Other examples from the same area include Nuu-chah-nulth and Kutenai, and elsewhere, Mongolian, Chukchi, and Kabardian.

Standard Tibetan has a voiceless lateral approximant, usually romanized as lh, as in the name Lhasa.

A uvular lateral approximant has been reported to occur in some speakers of American English.[3]

Pashto has a retroflex lateral flap that becomes voiced retroflex approximant when it is at the end of a syllable and a word.[citation needed]

There are a large number of lateral click consonants; 17 occur in !Xóõ.

Lateral trills are also possible, but they do not occur in any known language. They may be pronounced by initiating [ɬ] or [ɮ] with an especially forceful airflow. There is no symbol for them in the IPA. They are sometimes used to imitate bird calls, and they are a component of Donald Duck talk.

List of laterals

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Approximants

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Fricatives

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Only the alveolar lateral fricatives have dedicated letters in the IPA proper, though the retroflex letters are 'implied'. The others are provided by the extIPA.

Affricates

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Flaps

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Ejective

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Affricates

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Fricatives

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Clicks

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Ambiguous centrality

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The IPA requires sounds to be defined as to centrality, as either central or lateral. However, languages may be ambiguous as to some consonants' laterality.[5] A well-known example is the liquid consonant in Japanese, represented in common transliteration systems as ⟨r⟩, which can be recognized as a (post)alveolar tap /ɾ/,[6] alveolar lateral flap /ɺ/, (post)alveolar lateral approximant /l/, (post)alveolar approximant /ɹ/,[6] voiced retroflex stop /ɖ/,[7] and various less common forms.

Lateralized consonants

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A superscript ⟨ˡ⟩ is defined as lateral release.

Consonants may also be pronounced with simultaneous lateral and central airflow. This is well-known from speech pathology with a lateral lisp. However, it also occurs in nondisordered speech in some southern Arabic dialects and possibly some Modern South Arabian languages, which have pharyngealized nonsibilant /ʪ̪ˤ/ and /ʫ̪ˤ/ (simultaneous [θ͜ɬˤ] and [ð͡ɮˤ]) and possibly a sibilant /ʪ/ (simultaneous [s͜ɬ]). Examples are /θˡˤaim/ 'pain' in the dialect of Al-Rubūʽah and /ðˡˤahr/ 'back' and /ðˡˤabʕ/ 'hyena' in Rijal Almaʽa.[8][9][10] (Here the ⟨ˡ⟩ indicates simultaneous laterality rather than lateral release.) Biblical Hebrew may have had non-emphatic central-lateral sibilants [ʃ͡ɬ] and [s͜ɬ], while Old Arabic has been analyzed as having the emphatic central–lateral fricatives [θ͜ɬˤ], [ð͡ɮˤ] and [ʃ͡ɬˤ].[11][full citation needed]

See also

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Notes

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References

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Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Lateral consonant

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from Grokipedia
A lateral consonant is a type of consonantal produced when the is directed along one or both sides of the , while the 's central portion creates a blockage against the roof of the to prevent central . These sounds are classified by their , which involves lateral release of air without significant turbulence in the case of , or with for fricatives, and they occur across diverse places of articulation such as alveolar, dental, retroflex, palatal, and velar. The most common lateral consonant in many languages is the voiced alveolar lateral , as heard in the English word "let," where the tip contacts the alveolar ridge and air flows around the sides. Lateral consonants are typically sonorants due to their relatively open airflow, allowing them to function as nuclei in some languages, and they contrast with central consonants where air passes through the mouth's midline. In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), they are represented by symbols like for the alveolar approximant, [ɬ] for the (as in Welsh "llan"), [ɮ] for its voiced counterpart, and variants such as [ɭ] (retroflex), [ʎ] (palatal), and [ʟ] (velar). While voiced laterals predominate worldwide, voiceless forms like [l̥] appear in languages such as those of the Sino-Tibetan family, and rarer types include lateral affricates, flaps [ɺ], and clicks in and some . These sounds exhibit phonetic variation influenced by context, such as in English "full" ([ɫ]) versus clear in "leaf," and they play key roles in phonological systems, often undergoing processes like assimilation or across languages. Lateral consonants are documented in inventories of numerous languages, including English, Welsh, Arrernte, , and Warlpiri, where multiple places of articulation distinguish meaning. Acoustically, they feature distinct spectral properties, such as low F1 frequencies for laminal laterals and varying transitions that aid in place identification.

Fundamentals

Definition and Characteristics

Lateral consonants are a class of produced with a in the vocal tract such that is blocked or restricted along the midline but permitted to escape along one or both sides of the , often involving the lowering or raising of the margins to facilitate this lateral passage. These sounds can function as either obstruents, where the encounters significant , or sonorants, characterized by relatively free with minimal obstruction. In contrast to central , which direct the through the center of the oral cavity without lateral deviation, lateral rely on this side-channel for their acoustic and articulatory identity; a prototypical example is the alveolar lateral , symbolized in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) as a simple for the voiced variant. Lateral consonants play a prominent role in the phonological inventories of many languages, frequently appearing as due to their qualities and ease of integration into structures. In , such as English, Spanish, and Hindi, the alveolar lateral is a near-universal , often contrasting with other liquids like and contributing to distinctions in word meaning. This prevalence underscores their utility in marking phonological contrasts while maintaining perceptual salience through resonant lateral airflow. The term "lateral" derives from the Latin word latus, meaning "side," reflecting the directional escape of air in these articulations, a first systematically applied in phonetic descriptions by 19th-century linguists including Henry Sweet, who emphasized the side-passage mechanism in his analyses of English sounds.

Articulatory Production

Lateral are produced by creating a central obstruction in the vocal tract with the , while allowing airflow to escape laterally along one or both sides of the . The tip or blade is raised to contact the upper teeth, alveolar ridge, or other points along the , forming narrow channels between the lateral margins of the and the upper surface of the . This configuration directs the airstream outward past the sides of the rather than through the midline, distinguishing laterals from central . In the most common alveolar laterals, such as the English , the tip contacts the alveolar ridge, with the sides lowered to permit smooth lateral airflow. The degree of stricture in the lateral channels varies, ranging from relatively open approximation where passes smoothly without , to narrower constrictions that generate frictional noise due to air . These variations depend on the precise positioning and tension of the sides against the or teeth, influencing the overall auditory quality of the sound. Laterals are primarily produced using a pulmonic egressive , in which air is expelled from the lungs by the action of the respiratory muscles, though other mechanisms like glottalic egression occur in specific languages. They can be voiced, with synchronous vibration of the vocal folds, or voiceless, as in some fricative laterals; voicing is modulated by the position and tension of the vocal folds relative to the lateral . Common places of articulation include alveolar, where the contacts the behind the upper teeth; palatal, involving the ; and velar, though the latter is rarer due to biomechanical constraints. Biomechanically, production involves coordinated action of the tongue's extrinsic and intrinsic muscles to achieve the required positioning and maintain the central blockage while shaping the lateral channels. The muscle protrudes and elevates the tongue body forward toward the alveolar region, facilitating contact for alveolar laterals, while superior longitudinal muscles raise the tip precisely. The lateral margins of the , tracked via electromagnetic articulography, show correlated movements with the tongue tip during production, contributing to the formation of lateral air currents essential for the sound's integrity. Coarticulation effects from adjacent s influence these dynamics, as vowel gestures can cause anticipatory or perseverative adjustments in tongue height and lateral shaping, such as front vowels promoting higher palatal contact in preceding laterals.

Phonetic Properties

Acoustic Features

Lateral consonants are characterized by properties that reflect the dual airflow paths created by the central blockage and lateral channels along the sides of the . These sounds typically display low-frequency s akin to those in vowels, with the first formant (F1) ranging from 250 to 500 Hz and the second (F2) around 1.2 to 1.5 kHz, arising from the in the front and back cavities. However, the lateral channels introduce anti-s or zeros, often in the 2 to 4 kHz range, which elevate the third formant (F3) above 3 kHz and create a distinctive profile with reduced in higher frequencies. In lateral , frication noise is minimal or absent, leading to overall lower intensity compared to or . Formant transitions in lateral consonants further highlight their acoustic distinctiveness, particularly through F2 lowering relative to central like /ɹ/ or /w/, where F2 values drop below 1.5 kHz due to the retracted body position that enlarges the back cavity. This lowering is evident in transitions from adjacent vowels, with F2 rising or falling more gradually in laterals than in non-lateral sounds. For lateral fricatives, such as [ɬ], the includes prominent high-frequency frication , often with sharp peaks above 4 kHz from turbulent airflow in the lateral channels, contrasting with the smoother profiles of . These components provide cues to the fricative manner without the abrupt bursts typical of stops. Duration and intensity patterns vary by lateral manner, with exhibiting sustained durations of 50-100 ms and relatively stable intensity, while flaps and taps show shorter closures around 20-50 ms, resulting in brief, low-intensity structures. Intensity typically dips at the onset and offset of laterals relative to flanking vowels, by 5-10 dB, due to the partial obstruction and energy distribution through side channels. These temporal features contribute to the rhythmic flow in languages employing lateral flaps, such as in intervocalic positions. Perceptually, is cued by the diffuse low-frequency energy concentrated below 1.5 kHz from the side channel resonances, combined with the perceptual prominence of anti-formants that attenuate mid-to-high frequencies. rely on these cues, including intensity reductions and the absence of strong central frication, to distinguish laterals from other coronals; for instance, synthetic stimuli preserving pole-zero patterns are rated more natural for /l/ . Such cues enhance robustness in noisy environments, as supported by models emphasizing shape over absolute values.

Place of Articulation Variations

Lateral consonants vary significantly in their , which refers to the primary point of contact between the and the roof of the mouth or teeth, influencing the airflow path along the sides of the . The most prevalent places include alveolar, where the tip or blade contacts the alveolar ridge behind the upper teeth, as exemplified by the English /l/ in words like "" or "feel." Dental laterals, produced with the tip against the upper teeth, occur in languages such as Spanish and , creating a more forward constriction compared to alveolar variants. Palatal laterals involve the body raising to the , as in the Italian /ʎ/ found in "famiglia," resulting in a higher position that imparts a y-like quality to the lateral release. Further back in the vocal tract, velar laterals feature the back of the tongue approaching the soft palate, with the sides lowered to allow lateral airflow; this is attested as a phoneme in Papuan languages like Mee (Ekari), where it appears in forms such as [ʟa] for certain roots, and involves substantial back tongue raising that velarizes the sound quality. Uvular laterals are extremely rare, positioning the tongue root near the uvula, often with pharyngeal constriction narrowing the airflow channel, though they are not well-attested in major language families. Retroflex laterals curl the tongue tip backward to contact the post-alveolar region, characteristic of Dravidian languages such as Kannada and Malayalam, where /ɭ/ contrasts with alveolar /l/ in minimal pairs, emphasizing a curled apical gesture that alters the oral cavity shape. Cross-linguistically, alveolar laterals dominate inventories, appearing in about 77% of sampled languages according to the World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS). Dental and palatal variants are moderately common in Indo-European and Austronesian families, while velar, uvular, and retroflex laterals are far rarer, confined to specific regions like , the , and , often tied to areal phonological features. This distribution underscores alveolar's universality, with non-alveolar types emerging in environments favoring dorsal or apical articulations. Allophonic variations within a single place, such as the English alveolar /l/, demonstrate how contextual factors modify realization: a "clear" with raised tongue front occurs before vowels (e.g., "leaf"), while a "dark" [ɫ] with velarization and lowered tongue body appears in coda position (e.g., "feel"), subtly shifting the effective place toward velar without phonemic contrast. These variations affect the sound's timbre, with darker allophones exhibiting lower second formant frequencies that enhance backness perception.

Classification by Manner

Lateral Approximants

Lateral approximants are sonorant consonants produced with a degree of stricture that permits smooth airflow along one or both sides of the tongue, without generating friction or turbulence. The tongue forms a central closure against the roof of the mouth, typically at the alveolar ridge, while the sides of the tongue lower to allow lateral airflow, distinguishing them from central approximants where air passes over the tongue midline. This manner of articulation results in a resonant, vowel-like quality due to the open lateral channels. The prototypical lateral approximant is voiced, symbolized as in the International Phonetic Alphabet, and occurs widely across languages, such as the alveolar in English "let" or Spanish "lobo." Voiceless variants, transcribed as [l̥], are rarer but attested in specific language families; for instance, in Standard Spoken Tibetan, [l̥] appears in words like /l̥á/ ',' where the vocal folds do not vibrate during articulation. These voiceless forms maintain the lateral airflow but lack voicing, often arising in environments with preceding voiceless consonants. In phonotactics, lateral approximants commonly occupy diverse roles, including as syllabic consonants that form the nucleus of a syllable without an accompanying vowel, a feature observed in 29 of 182 surveyed languages. Examples include the syllabic [l̩] in the second syllable of English "bottle" [ˈbɑt.l̩] or Czech "prst" [pr̩st] 'finger,' where the lateral carries the syllabic peak due to its sonorant nature. Additionally, they can function as glides in syllable onsets or transitions, patterning phonologically with other approximants like or in languages such as Chamorro, where they appear in complex onsets. Historically, lateral frequently derive from central or other non-lateral sounds through lateralization processes, where airflow shifts from central to side channels over time. In the Naish languages of , reconstruction of Proto-Naish initials reveals that lateral evolved from earlier coronal or approximant-like via lateral spreading, as evidenced by comparative data from Lijiangba Naxi, Malimasa, and other varieties. can vary, including alveolar, dental, or palatal realizations across languages.

Lateral Fricatives and Affricates

Lateral fricatives are consonants produced with turbulent airflow escaping through one or more narrow lateral channels alongside a central obstruction in the vocal tract, resulting in frictional noise that can be sibilant or non-sibilant depending on the stricture and place of articulation. The voiceless alveolar lateral fricative [ɬ], for instance, involves raising the tongue sides to the alveolar ridge while the tongue tip contacts the alveolar area centrally, forcing air laterally over the side with sufficient velocity to generate noise. This manner contrasts with smooth lateral approximants by introducing audible turbulence due to the constriction. Lateral affricates combine a stop closure with a release, where the is briefly impeded centrally before being directed laterally through a narrow channel to produce friction. In such as , the [t͡ɬ] begins with an alveolar stop followed by the [ɬ], often realized with a brief oral closure and lateral venting. These sounds are complex segments that phonetically behave as single units in many systems. Voicing contrasts exist but are asymmetric, with voiceless lateral fricatives like [ɬ] occurring in approximately 149 phonological inventories worldwide, compared to only 48 for their voiced counterparts like [ɮ]. This rarity of voiced variants stems from the aerodynamic challenges of sustaining vocal fold during lateral , as the narrow channels limit volume needed for both and voicing. Examples of voiced forms include [ɮ] in Mongolian and certain . In phonological terms, lateral fricatives and affricates exhibit , often implying the presence of simpler lateral approximants like in the inventory, as seen in morphophonological alternations where fricatives devoice or lenite to approximants (e.g., Welsh /ɬ/ → /l/ in ). They occupy an intermediate position in the , ranking higher than stops due to their continuant nature but lower than lateral approximants, which lack and thus permit greater . This positioning influences structure, favoring their occurrence in onsets over codas in many languages.

Lateral Flaps and Taps

Lateral flaps and taps are transient consonantal sounds characterized by a brief, ballistic contact of the tongue tip against the alveolar ridge, permitting lateral airflow over the sides of the tongue while the midline remains momentarily occluded. The alveolar lateral flap, transcribed as [ɺ] in the International Phonetic Alphabet, exemplifies this category, involving a single, rapid flick of the tongue tip that produces a momentary lateral stricture without sustained friction. This articulatory gesture contrasts with more prolonged laterals by its brevity and dynamic motion, often occurring in rapid speech contexts across various languages. The production of a lateral flap relies on swift tongue tip elevation and retraction, facilitated by the contraction of intrinsic tongue muscles, particularly the inferior longitudinal muscle, which runs along the tongue's inferior surface and enables precise, quick flipping motions of the apex. Biomechanical analyses indicate that such contractions generate the necessary strain for the tongue tip to percussively tap the alveolar ridge, achieving contact durations typically under 50 milliseconds, far shorter than the 100-200 milliseconds observed in lateral approximants. In Japanese, for instance, the phoneme /r/ is commonly realized as an alveolar lateral flap [ɺ] in intervocalic position, where the tongue tip briefly contacts the alveolar ridge laterally, often allophonically varying with central flaps in slower speech but defaulting to lateral release due to habitual tongue positioning. Phonologically, lateral flaps typically emerge as products of intervocalic , where fuller consonantal gestures weaken into brief taps to reduce articulatory effort in fluent speech. They rarely serve contrastive functions in phonemic inventories, instead functioning as allophones of rhotics or laterals; for example, in Japanese, [ɺ] is the primary realization of /r/ without distinguishing minimal pairs from other liquids. Inventories positing [ɺ] as a distinct are uncommon, documented in only about 30 languages worldwide, underscoring their predominantly non-contrastive role. Acoustically, these flaps exhibit short-duration transitions similar to general flaps, with rapid spectral changes reflecting the quick tongue movement.

Special Varieties

Ejective Laterals

Ejective laterals are rare consonants produced using a , in which the closes and the elevates to build intraoral , followed by a lateral release of air along the sides of the . This non-pulmonic distinguishes them from pulmonic laterals, enabling a sharp, explosive release without vocal fold vibration. Aerodynamic studies confirm the glottalic mechanism through observed intraoral pressure rises during production. Common subtypes include the ejective lateral fricative [ɬʼ], characterized by turbulent lateral airflow with glottalic ejection, and the ejective lateral affricate [t͡ɬʼ], which combines a stop closure at the alveolar ridge with subsequent fricative release and ejective burst. In Tlingit, for instance, the affricate appears in words like t’aa ('board') and the fricative in ɬ’aa ('breast'), where frication duration remains prominent despite the ejective quality. Abkhaz features similar sounds, such as [tɬʼ] and [ɬʼ], integrated into its expansive consonant inventory of up to 67 phonemes in dialects like Bzyp. These sounds occur primarily in , including Abkhaz and Kabardian, and in select Native American languages of the Na-Dene family, such as and , but are absent from most Indo-European and other major families. Articulatory production demands precise coordination of glottal closure to trap air while forming a lateral channel via tongue lowering at the sides, posing challenges in maintaining pressure buildup without premature leakage or central airflow. This simultaneity of supraglottal and laryngeal gestures contributes to their rarity and perceptual distinctiveness.

Lateral Clicks

Lateral clicks are non-pulmonic consonants produced via a velaric ingressive airstream mechanism, unique to certain African languages, particularly those of the Khoisan family and some neighboring Bantu languages. The articulation involves creating a double closure: the sides of the tongue press firmly against the upper molars to form a lateral seal at the front, while the back of the tongue elevates to contact the soft palate or velum, enclosing a pocket of air behind the front closure. Rarefaction of the air occurs as the tongue body lowers slightly, creating suction; the sound is then released by withdrawing the sides of the tongue from the molars, allowing air to rush in laterally and produce the characteristic click. This process is captured by the International Phonetic Alphabet symbol [ǁ] for the basic voiceless lateral click, as observed in Khoisan languages like Khoekhoe. In languages such as Ju|'hoan (also known as !Kung), lateral clicks occur with various accompaniments that modify the posterior release, including plain (tenuis), aspirated, voiced, nasal, and glottalized variants, resulting in up to 12 series for the type alone. Similarly, in Xhosa, a Bantu language that has incorporated clicks through contact with speakers, the lateral click [ǁ] appears in five phonemic accompaniments: voiceless unaspirated, voiceless aspirated, voiced, nasal, and glottalized (ejective). These accompaniments are realized at the posterior closure, often at the velar or uvular position, and can involve frication, nasal airflow, or glottal constriction following the click release. Lateral clicks function as contrastive phonemes in click languages, distinguishing lexical items and often classified as obstruents due to their ingressive airstream and potential for or affricate-like qualities at the posterior release. In like Ju|'hoan, they contribute to large inventories, with clicks comprising a significant portion of word-initial positions and serving roles in grammatical morphemes or roots. For instance, in Taa (a language), up to 80% of words may begin with clicks, including lateral types, highlighting their high functional load. In like Xhosa, lateral clicks contrast with other click types (dental and alveolar) and non-click consonants, as in minimal pairs where the lateral click signals specific meanings, such as interjections of disapproval.

Phonological Considerations

Ambiguous Laterality

In phonology, ambiguous laterality refers to consonants whose lateral airflow is phonetically or phonologically indeterminate, leading to variable classification across languages. Lateral approximants, in particular, often exhibit this ambiguity because their side channels for airflow can vary in width and prominence relative to central airflow, complicating their distinction from central approximants. A cross-linguistic survey of 561 languages reveals that laterals pattern equally often with continuants (e.g., fricatives) and non-continuants (e.g., stops), reflecting their phonetic gradient between obstructed and open airflow rather than a binary opposition. The palatal lateral approximant [ʎ], found in languages like Italian and , exemplifies cases of ambiguous centrality, where the broad tongue-palatal contact creates wide lateral channels that approximate central airflow, blurring the boundary with the central palatal approximant . In dialects undergoing , such as many varieties of Spanish, [ʎ] merges phonetically with , resulting in variable transcription: pre-merger forms retain [ʎ] to indicate laterality, while post-merger realizations are transcribed as , treating the sound as non-lateral. This merger, widespread in and parts of , highlights how contextual factors can render laterality optional or lost, with acoustic studies showing intermediate realizations where lateral release is weakened. Perceptual ambiguity is evident in non-native listening contexts, where laterality cues are often overlooked. English speakers, for instance, discriminate the Portuguese [ʎ] poorly from (differing mainly in place) and from (differing mainly in ), as manner cues take precedence over place but are still misperceived due to unfamiliar lateral-palatal combinations. Such confusion arises because non-native listeners [ʎ] to native categories like , prioritizing overall quality over subtle side airflow. Theoretically, this ambiguity challenges traditional feature geometry models, which assume fixed hierarchical placement of features like [lateral]. Proposals position [lateral] as a dependent of the coronal node to capture its tongue-blade specificity, yet the variable patterning of laterals suggests features emerge from language-specific contrasts rather than universal innateness, allowing ambivalent segments to adopt context-dependent specifications in phonological representations.

Lateral Release in Consonants

Lateralized consonants refer to non-lateral obstruents, such as central stops or fricatives, that incorporate a lateral component through a side release or off-glide, allowing airflow to escape laterally after the primary central closure. This phenomenon is typically denoted in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) with a superscript ⟨ˡ⟩, as in [tˡ] or [dˡ], where the stop's release involves lowering one or both sides of the tongue while maintaining the central articulation. Such lateral releases are most common in coronal consonants, particularly alveolar stops, due to the proximity of the tongue's lateral margins to the sides of the oral cavity during articulation. In English, for instance, alveolar stops like /t/ and /d/ often undergo lateral release when followed by /l/, as in "" [ˈbɑtˡl̩] or "fiddler" [ˈfɪdˡɚ], where the tongue tip remains in contact with the during the stop's release, directing laterally. Similarly, in Polish, alveolar stops exhibit lateral release before /l/, exemplified in words like "kotlet" [ˈkɔtˡlɛt] '' and "bydlę" [ˈbɨdˡɛ] '', a feature shared across many where coronal obstruents frequently assimilate in this manner to adjacent laterals. This secondary articulation can subtly alter the consonant's manner, introducing a lateral approximant-like quality without fully transforming it into a lateral , and it often influences phonological processes like assimilation or cluster simplification in coronal contexts. Unlike true lateral consonants, where the primary airflow path is lateral from the outset (e.g., or [ɬ]), a lateral release functions as a coarticulatory feature superimposed on a central consonant, with the main occlusion and initial burst remaining central before the lateral escape. This distinction highlights lateral release as an allophonic or transitional variant rather than a phonemically distinct category, though it can affect perceptual boundaries in rapid speech. In Austronesian languages, such as Taba and Roma, laterally released stops occur in consonant clusters, described variably as prestopped laterals or affricates, contributing to complex onsets in these languages. Overall, lateral releases are prevalent in like Polish due to frequent coronal-lateral sequences, and in select Austronesian varieties, but remain rare in other language families, often emerging as a coarticulatory rather than a systematic phonological opposition.

References

  1. https://pressbooks.nvcc.edu/eng200h5p/chapter/3-4-describing-consonants-manner/
  2. https://ia801006.us.archive.org/6/items/intonation-practice/Handbook_of_the_IPA.pdf
  3. https://wac.colostate.edu/docs/books/sound/chapter4.pdf
  4. https://julietteblevins.ws.gc.cuny.edu/files/2013/04/VLSonHiermsrev-1.pdf
  5. https://wals.info/chapter/8
  6. https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/introducingtheipa/chapter/other-symbols/
  7. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1300&context=theses
  8. https://www.britannica.com/topic/velarization
  9. https://pubs.aip.org/asa/jasa/article/139/1/361/673258/An-acoustic-study-of-multiple-lateral-consonants
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