Everything about Velarization totally explained
Velarization is a
secondary articulation of
consonants by which the back of the
tongue is raised toward the
velum during the articulation of the consonant.In the
International Phonetic Alphabet, velarization can be indicated by one of two methods:
- A tilde or swung dash through the letter indicates either velarization or pharyngealization, as in [ɫ] (the velarized equivalent of [l]), or
- The symbol <ˠ> (a superscript gamma) after the letter standing for the velarized consonant, as in [tˠ] (the velarized equivalent of [t]).
Although electropalatographic studies have shown that there's a continuum of possible degrees of velarization, the IPA offers no way to indicate degrees of velarization.
The
velarized alveolar lateral approximant (or
dark l) of many
accents of
English is an example of a velarized consonant.
In many languages, including
Irish and
Russian, velarized consonants contrast
phonemically with
palatalized consonants. The palatalized/velarized contrast is known by other names, especially in language pedagogy: in Irish language teaching, the terms
slender (for palatalized) and
broad (for velarized) are often used, while in Russian language teaching, the terms
soft (for palatalized) and
hard (for velarized) are usual. The terms
light (for palatalized) and
dark (for velarized) are also widespread. For many languages, velarization is generally associated with more dental articulations of coronal consonants so that dark l tends to be dental or dentoalveolar while clear l tends to be retracted to an alveolar position.
In some accents of English, such as
Received Pronunciation, the
phoneme /l/ has "dark" and "light" allophones: the "dark" allophone appears in
syllable coda position (for example in
full), while the "light" allophone ("light" meaning "non-velarized" rather than "palatalized" here) appears in
syllable onset position (for example in
lawn). Other accents of English, such as
Scottish English and
Australian English, have "dark L" in all positions, while
Hiberno-English has "clear L" in all positions.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Velarization'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://velarization.totallyexplained.com">Velarization Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
