Letter L
Plain letter l is pronounced as the l in English 'lime' but never as in English 'dull'.Click on a video below to see and hear Mrs. Irene Arnold pronouncing words with L.
laalêel butterfly
uljaaddh pike (fish)
lé'e I don't know
ldîil tea
ch'elíitthǒgh' grizzly bear
elkeyh tasty
Click below to hear Mrs. Irene Arnold illustrating the difference between ł and l at the start of words.
Letter l sometimes occurs at the start of word, forming a syllable all by itself. Click on a Tanacross word below to see and hear Mrs. Irene Arnold pronouncing words with l as the first syllable a word.
money
birch fungus ashes
Tanacross ł is a voiceless lateral fricative [ɬ], and l is a voiced lateral approximant [l]. While l is phonetically an approximant, it patterns phonologically as the voiced counterpart to the voiceless lateral fricative, participating in all relevant phonological voicing alternations which apply to other fricatives. Neighboring languages, such as Han, exhibit a voiced lateral fricative corresponding to the Tanacross l
Letter ł is a semi-voiced fricative. It can generally be described as beginning voiceless and transitioning to a fully voiced fricative.
similar sounds