A voiced retroflex 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 ⟨ɭ⟩.

A retroflex lateral approximant contrasts phonemically with its voiceless counterpart /ɭ̊/ in Iaai and Toda. In both of these languages it also contrasts with more anterior /,l/, which are dental in Iaai and alveolar in Toda.

Features

Features of a voiced retroflex lateral approximant:

Occurrence

In the following transcriptions, diacritics may be used to distinguish between apical [ɭ̺] and laminal [ɭ̻].

LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
Bashkirел'wind'Apical retroflex lateral; occurs in front vowel contexts.
Dhivehiފަޅޯ / falhoa[faɭoː]'papaya'Represented by the Thaana letter ޅ (lhaviyani).
Enindhilyagwamarluwiya[maɭuwija]'emu'
Faroeseárla[ɔɻɭa]'early'Allophone of /l/ after /ɹ/. See Faroese phonology
FrenchStandardbelle jambe[bɛɭʒɑ̃b]'beautiful leg'Allophone of /l/ before /f/ and /ʒ/ for some speakers. See French phonology
Gujarati[nəɭə]'tap'Represented by a ⟨ળ⟩. Pronounced as /ɭə/.
Kannadaಎಳ್ಳು[ˈeɭːu]'sesame'Represented by a ⟨ಳ⟩
Katukina-Kanamari[ɭuːˈbɯ]'to go'
KhantyEastern dialectsпуӆ[puɭ]'bit'
Some northern dialects
Korean / sol[soɭ]'pine'Represented by a ⟨ㄹ⟩. May also be pronounced as /l/.
MalayalamMalayalam scriptമലയാളം'Malayalam'Represented by the letter ⟨ള⟩. Sub apical retroflex. Long and short forms are contrastive word-medially
Arabi Malayalam (Mapilla)مَلَیٰاۻَمْ‎
Mapudungunmara[ˈmɜɭɜ]'hare'Possible realization of /ʐ/; may be [ʐ] or [ɻ] instead.
Marathiबा[baːɭ]'baby/child'Represented by a ⟨ळ⟩. Pronounced as /ɭə/. See Marathi phonology.
MiyakoIrabu dialect昼間 ピィルマ[pɭːma]'daytime'Allophone of /ɾ/ used everywhere except syllable-initially.
NorwegianEastern and central dialectsfarlig'dangerous'See Norwegian phonology
Odia[pʰɔɭɔ]'fruit'Represented by a ⟨ଳ⟩. Pronounced as /ɭɔ/.
Parkari Koliواۮۯون[vaːɗaɭuːn]'clouds'
Rajasthani[pʰəɭ]'fruit'Represented by a ⟨ळ⟩.
Paiwanladjap[ˈɭaɖap]'lightning' or 'flash'See Paiwan phonology
PunjabiGurmukhiਤ੍ਰੇਲ਼[t̪ɾeɭ]'dew'Represented by a ⟨ਲ਼⟩ and ⟨لؕ⟩. Font support may be required to see the letter in Shahmukhi.
Shahmukhiتریلؕ
Swedishsorl'murmur' (noun)See Swedish phonology
Tamilஆள் / اٰۻْ'person'Represented by a ⟨ள்⟩. See Tamil phonology
Teluguనీళ్[niːɭ]'water'Represented by a ⟨ళ⟩
Wu ChineseNorthern Wu (Linping variety)/er2[eɭ˩˧]'conjunction (literary)'A rhotic consonant (cf. Changzhounese /ɦər˨˩˧/)

See also

Notes

  • Anjos, Zoraide dos (2012), "Fonologia Katukina-Kanamari", LIAMES (in Brazilian Portuguese), 12 (1): 123–156, doi:
  • Jiang, Haowen (April 2010), (PDF), Department of Linguistics, Rice University, archived from (PDF) on 2012-09-11
  • Keane, Elinor (2004), "Tamil", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 111–116, doi:
  • Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN0-631-19815-6.
  • Masica, Colin (1991), The Indo-Aryan Languages, Cambridge Language Surveys, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN978-0-521-29944-2
  • Sadowsky, Scott; Painequeo, Héctor; Salamanca, Gastón; Avelino, Heriberto (2013), "Mapudungun", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 87–96, doi:
  • Shimoji, Michinori (December 2008), "Phonology", A Grammar of Irabu, a Southern Ryukyuan Language (PhD thesis), The Australian National University, hdl:

External links