The voiced alveolar lateral affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet is ⟨d͡ɮ⟩ (often simplified to ⟨dɮ⟩), and in Americanist phonetic notation it is ⟨λ⟩ (lambda). It is usually in free variation or an allophone of /ɮ/, /t͡ɬ/ or /l/; no known language contrasts [dɮ] and [ɮ].

Features

Features of the voiced alveolar lateral affricate:

• Its manner of articulation is affricate, which means it is produced by first stopping the airflow entirely, then allowing air flow through a constricted channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence.
• Its place of articulation is alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
• 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.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Voiced alveolar lateral affricates are rare. Sandawe has been transcribed with [dɮ], but the sound is more post-alveolar or palatal than alveolar. Consonants written dl in Athabaskan and Wakashan languages are either tenuis affricates, [t͜ɬ] (perhaps slightly voiced allophonically), or have a lateral release, [tˡ] or [dˡ]. In Montana Salish, /l/ may be prestopped, depending on context, in which case it may be realized as [ᵈl] or as an affricate [ᵈɮ̤].^[1] In the Nguni languages [d͡ɮ] occurs after nasals: /nɮ̤/ is pronounced [nd͡ɮ̤], with an epenthetic stop, in at least Xhosa^[2] and Zulu.^[3]