Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2013 May 11

Language desk
< May 10	<< Apr | May | Jun >>	May 12 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

May 11

Velar lateral approximant pronunciation

Velar lateral approximant consonants are said to be "articulated with the back of the tongue at the soft palate". However in the audio demonstrations (not only in Wikipedia) it is clearly noted that the sound is produced with a 'clear l' (Alveolar lateral approximant) simultaneosly with an Open back rounded vowel. The back of the tounge is clearly not touching the soft palate in this case, but is kept far apart. Am I correct? Gil_mo (talk) 08:01, 11 May 2013 (UTC)

The middle part of the tongue curls upward. See description of "approximant" on that page for lack of touching... AnonMoos (talk) 16:19, 11 May 2013 (UTC)

It doesn't seem to me like it's curling upward, on the contrary, it is rather like saying an 'l' while yawning. Gil_mo (talk) 19:45, 11 May 2013 (UTC)