Voiced retroflex lateral approximant
ɭ
IPA Number	156
Audio sample
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɭ
Unicode (hex)	U+026D
X-SAMPA	l`
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The 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⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is l`.

The retroflex lateral approximant contrasts phonemically with its voiceless counterpart /ɭ̊/ in Iaai and Toda.^[1] In both of these languages it also contrasts with more anterior /l̥, l/, which are dental in Iaai and alveolar in Toda.^[1]

Features

Features of the voiced retroflex lateral approximant:

• Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce a turbulent airstream.
• Its place of articulation is retroflex, which prototypically means it is articulated subapical (with the tip of the tongue curled up), but more generally, it means that it is postalveolar without being palatalized. That is, besides the prototypical subapical articulation, the tongue contact can be apical (pointed) or laminal (flat).
• 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 diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

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

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Bashkir		ел	[jɪ̞ɭ] (help·info)	'wind'	Apical retroflex lateral; occurs in front vowel contexts.
Dhivehi		ފަޅޯ	[faɭoː]	'papaya'
Enindhilyagwa		marluwiya	[maɭuwija]	'emu'
Faroese		árla	[ɔɻɭa]	'early'	Allophone of /l/ after /ɹ/. See Faroese phonology
French	Standard[2]	belle jambe	[bɛɭ ʒɑ̃b]	'beautiful leg'	Allophone of /l/ before /f/ and /ʒ/ for some speakers.[2] See French phonology
Gujarati		નળ	[nəɭə]	'tap'	Represented by a ⟨ળ⟩. Pronounced as /ɭə/.[3]
Kannada		ಎಳ್ಳು	[ˈeɭːu]	'sesame'	Represented by a ⟨ಳ⟩
Katukina-Kanamari[4]			[ɭuːˈbɯ]	'to go'
Khanty	Eastern dialects	пуӆ	[puɭ]	'bit'
	Some northern dialects
Korean		솔 / sol	[soɭ]	'pine'	Represented by a ⟨ㄹ⟩. May also be pronounced as /l/.
Malayalam		മലയാളം	[mɐlɐjäːɭɐm] (help·info)	'Malayalam'	Represented by the letter ⟨ള⟩. Sub apical retroflex. Long and short forms are contrastive word-medially[5][6]
Mapudungun[7]		mara	[ˈmɜɭɜ]	'hare'	Possible realization of /ʐ/; may be [ʐ] or [ɻ] instead.[7]
Marathi		बाळ	[baːɭ]	'baby/child'	Represented by a ⟨ळ⟩. Pronounced as /ɭə/. See Marathi phonology.
Miyako	Irabu dialect	昼間 ピィルマ	[pɭːma]	'daytime'	Allophone of /ɾ/ used everywhere except syllable-initially.
Norwegian	Eastern and central dialects	farlig	[ˈfɑːɭi]	'dangerous'	See Norwegian phonology
Odia		ଫଳ	[pʰɔɭɔ]	'fruit'	Represented by a ⟨ଳ⟩. Pronounced as /ɭɔ/.[3]
Rajasthani		फळ	[pʰəɭ]	'fruit'	Represented by a ⟨ळ⟩.
Paiwan[8]		ladjap	[ˈɭaɖap]	'lightning' or 'flash'	See Paiwan phonology
Punjabi	Gurmukhi	ਤ੍ਰੇਲ਼	[t̪ɾeɭ]	'dew'	Represented by a ⟨ਲ਼⟩ and ⟨لؕ⟩. Font support may be required to see the letter in Shahmukhi.
	Shahmukhi	تریࣇ
Sanskrit	Vedic	गरुळ	[gɐruɭɐ]	'the mythological bird who Is the vahana of Lord Vishnu'	Represented by a ⟨ळ⟩. Pronounced as /ɭɐ/.This consonant was present in Vedic Sanskrit but had become /ɖ/ ⟨ड⟩ in classical Sanskrit. See Vedic Sanskrit and Sanskrit phonology.
Swedish		sorl	[soːɭ] (help·info)	'murmur' (noun)	See Swedish phonology
Tamil[9]		ஆள்	[äːɭ]	'person'	Represented by a ⟨ள்⟩. See Tamil phonology
Telugu		నీళ్ళు	[niːɭːu]	'water'	Represented by a ⟨ళ⟩