Voiced alveolo-palatal lateral flap

The voiced alveolo-palatal lateral flap or tap is a type of consonantal sound unlikely to occur in any languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɺ̠ʲ⟩, ⟨ʎ̟̆⟩, ⟨ȴ̆⟩, or ⟨l̠̆ʲ⟩.

Features

• Its manner of articulation is tap or flap, which means it is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator (usually the tongue) is thrown against another.
• Its place of articulation is alveolo-palatal. This means that:
  • Its place of articulation is postalveolar, meaning that the tongue contacts the roof of the mouth in the area behind the alveolar ridge (the gum line).
  • Its tongue shape is laminal, meaning that it is the tongue blade that contacts the roof of the mouth.
  • It is heavily palatalized, meaning that the middle of the tongue is bowed and raised towards the hard palate.
• Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• 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.

Footnotes

• 1 The text of Wikipedia templates