L (letter): Difference between revisions
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'''l''' is single after a two-letter vowel: '''cråwl, foôl, rêal, fòul''' ''horrible'' = '''fòwl''' ''bird'', '''håul, sôul''' ''spirit'' (= '''sôle''' ''only, fish''). | '''l''' is single after a two-letter vowel: '''cråwl, foôl, rêal, fòul''' ''horrible'' = '''fòwl''' ''bird'', '''håul, sôul''' ''spirit'' (= '''sôle''' ''only, fish''). | ||
There are actually two '''l''' sounds: two '''l''' [[allophones]] form the '''l''' [[phoneme]]. Initial '''l''' is called light '''l''', while dark '''l''' is found in final position, or before another consonant. Light '''l''' is pronounced more in the front of the mouth, with the tip of the tongue (as '''l''' is always pronounced in French, Italian, Spanish and German); dark '''l''' is pronounced with the middle of the mouth and tongue (but not, except in the Cockney accent, virtually as a 'w' as in Portuguese) and lasts longer: | There are actually two '''l''' sounds: two '''l''' [[allophones]] form the '''l''' [[phoneme]]. Initial '''l''' is called light '''l''', while dark '''l''' is found in final position, or before another consonant. Light '''l''' is pronounced more in the front of the mouth, with the tip of the tongue (as '''l''' is always pronounced in French, Italian, Spanish and German); dark '''l''' is pronounced with the middle of the mouth and tongue (but not, except in the Cockney accent, virtually as a '''w''' as in Portuguese) and lasts longer: | ||
Light '''l''' (beginning a syllable): '''prelíminary, lîght, clínk, líp, allót, flíp, alône, slêek. | Light '''l''' (beginning a syllable): '''prelíminary, lîght, clínk, líp, allót, flíp, alône, slêek. | ||
Revision as of 13:01, 27 November 2009
L, l is a letter of the Latin alphabet. It is the twelfth letter of most variants, being placed after K and before M, as is the case for instance in the English alphabet. Its English name is pronounced [ˈel], el.
L is also the Roman numeral representing the number 50.
Use in English
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | |
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| Use in English | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alphabetical word list | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retroalphabetical list | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common misspellings |
l is a liquid sound: the tongue touches the top of the mouth behind the teeth. Examples (the accents show stress and pronunciation: see English spellings): lâke, lít, lót, lúng, lòunge, ålways, Álice, alîve, alône, alàrm, lêek vegetable = lêak water, lāst.
l begins consonant clusters: élbow, álcohol, ôld, Álfred, Ólga, élk, Élspeth, ållspîce, élm, hélp, álpha, ålso, ålter, fílth, últra, alvêolar or alveôlar, ålways.
It is silent at the end of words in the combinations -àlm, -ālf: cālf, hālf, càlm, bàlm, quàlm, and in the apparently plural àlms (compare hålt, where the l is pronounced) and also in fôlk, yôlk egg (= yôke ox) tålk, wålk (cf. squåwk) and sálmon; cölonel army = kërnel nut, and for most speakers, Hôlmes Sherlock = hômes dwellings.
l is often double at the end of words after short vowels of one letter: íll, fåll, féll, dóll, pôll election (= pôle wood), tôll, bùll, gúll, núll, fíll, Bíll, båll, ståll, fùll (but the unstressed suffix version of fùll has only one l: hôpeful, wònderful).
BrE inståll can also be instål in AmE, and, in reverse, BrE appål can also be appåll in AmE; both have appålling.
In sátellîte it is the l, not the first t, which is doubled, and in párallel it is the first l - not the r or the second l, as one might expect.
l is single after a two-letter vowel: cråwl, foôl, rêal, fòul horrible = fòwl bird, håul, sôul spirit (= sôle only, fish).
There are actually two l sounds: two l allophones form the l phoneme. Initial l is called light l, while dark l is found in final position, or before another consonant. Light l is pronounced more in the front of the mouth, with the tip of the tongue (as l is always pronounced in French, Italian, Spanish and German); dark l is pronounced with the middle of the mouth and tongue (but not, except in the Cockney accent, virtually as a w as in Portuguese) and lasts longer:
Light l (beginning a syllable): prelíminary, lîght, clínk, líp, allót, flíp, alône, slêek.
Dark l (ending a syllable): ålways, stíll, élse, ålso, dóll, fåll, ålter, fåult, píll, cråwl.
Medial double l is lighter in BrE than in AmE: fílling, téller, bállot, tåller, fållen, instílled.
In some varieties, Welsh English, for example, only light l is used.
Dark, doubled and final, -ll influences the sound of a preceding a: wåll, håll, tåll, åll, fåll, appåll (AmE; BrE appål), gåll, båll, ståll, cåll and måll - but not, strangely, in Páll Máll.
But only one l, plus a consonant, is required in the middle of a word to produce å: fålter, ålter, hålt, hålter, althôugh (ål-), Wålter (cf. wåter), målt, scåld, ålder and the l for most speakers is rendered silent before k: wålk, tålk, chålk, bålk (also spelt båulk).
There can be a similar lengthening effect on ô before final -ll: pôll, tôll, rôll - but not in dóll, lóll or knóll. And also in gôld, tôld, hôld. For some speakers -ôl- has an ô sound that is more like ó plus ù than the normal schwa plus ù: such speakers will tend to distinguish Hôlmes from hômes.
Dark l can follow another single consonant to form a cluster without altering the long sound of the preceding vowel: âble, tâble, îdle, bûgle, nôble (cf. the double consonants in stráddle, ẁaddle, míddle, kéttle, píffle).
A diphthong ending with the sound í adds a schwa before final l, so that ŏil rhymes with lŏyal, and râil with betrâyal.
Final -le versus final -al:
Adjectives: mûsical, clássical, nåutical, cómical, cónical, particípial, príncipal (head = prínciple first, reason).
Nouns: prínciple (= príncipal), partíciple, pàrticle, fóllicle, múddle, púddle, cúddle, ẁaddle, dóddle, and mólecule.
-ôl
A common ending is -ôl, spelt thus in contrôl, but not in monosyllables, where there are several variants: bôwl, côal fire = Côle person, dôle (also Dôle person; cf. dóll), fôal, gôal, hôle, cajôle, Kôhl person, môle (cf. móll), knôll *nôle (cf. Knôwles person), ôle (informal variant of ôld), pôle wood = Pôle person = pôll vote (cf. Póll Polly), rôll round = rôle play, sôul spirit = sôle only, fish = tôll bell, vôle.