Voiceless velar lateral fricative

{{Short description|Consonantal sound represented by ⟨𝼄⟩ or ⟨ʟ̝̊⟩ in IPA}}

{{refimprove|date=April 2008}}

{{infobox IPA

|above=Voiceless velar lateral fricative

|ipa symbol=𝼄

|ipa symbol2=ʟ̝̊

|imagefile=IPA Unicode 0x1DF04.svg

|imagesize=150px

}}

{{Infobox IPA

|above=Voiceless velar lateral approximant

|ipa symbol=ʟ̥

|ipa number=158 402A

|x-sampa=L\_0

|imagesize=150px

|soundfile=

}}

The voiceless velar lateral fricative is a rare speech sound. As one element of an affricate, it is found for example in Zulu and Xhosa (see velar lateral ejective affricate). However, a simple fricative has only been reported from a few languages in the Caucasus and New Guinea.

Archi, a Northeast Caucasian language of Dagestan, has four voiceless velar lateral fricatives: plain {{IPA|[𝼄]}}, labialized {{IPA|[𝼄ʷ]}}, fortis {{IPA|[𝼄ː]}}, and labialized fortis {{IPA|[𝼄ːʷ]}}. Although clearly fricatives, these are further forward than velars in most languages, and might better be called prevelar. Archi also has a voiced fricative, as well as a voiceless and several ejective lateral velar affricates, but no alveolar lateral fricatives or affricates.{{Cite web |url=http://www.archi.surrey.ac.uk/handout.pdf |title=the Archi language tutorial |access-date=2009-12-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904070032/http://www.archi.surrey.ac.uk/handout.pdf |archive-date=2011-09-04}}

In New Guinea, some of the Chimbu–Wahgi languages such as Melpa, Middle Wahgi, and Nii, have a voiceless velar lateral fricative, which they write with a double-bar el (Ⱡ, ⱡ). This sound also appears in syllable coda position as an allophone of the voiced velar lateral fricative in Kuman.Steed, W., & Hardie, P. (2004). Acoustic Properties of the Kuman Voiceless Velar Lateral Fricative. Proceedings of the 10th Australian International Conference on Speech Science & Technology, Sydney. [http://www.assta.org/sst/2004/proceedings/papers/sst2004-366.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223223533/http://www.assta.org/sst/2004/proceedings/papers/sst2004-366.pdf |date=2012-02-23 }}

The extIPA has the letter {{angbr IPA|𝼄}} for this sound. It was added to Unicode in 2021.

Some scholars also posit a voiceless velar lateral approximant distinct from the fricative. The approximant may be represented in the IPA as {{angbr IPA|ʟ̥}}.