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Kooyeen Posted 19 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation

Dark L in American English

0 Hi,02br
00I'd like to hear some opinions about the L in American English. The way I see it, the L's in "lee" and "bell" are different, and the L in "belly" is mixed, the first part of that L is like in "bell" and the final part is like in "lee", therefore "bell-lee".02br
00I'll definitely appreciate your opinions, thanks 050010id1
  

Top answer

0 As I learned it, syllable-final /l/ is velarized, or "dark". So /l/ in "bell" and "belly" are both dark. 0-

— Anonymous

  • 0 As I learned it, syllable-final /l/ is velarized, or "dark".
  • So /l/ in "bell" and "belly" are both dark.
  • 0-
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10 Answers
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0 As I learned it, syllable-final /l/ is velarized, or "dark". So /l/ in "bell" and "belly" are both dark. I suppose there could be some variation, though.0-
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0Yeah, but how can you distinguish a syllable-final L from a syllable-initial L? It's simple if you take words like "lake" and "bell", but what if you take "California"? It's in mid-position, and that means it could be a syllable-initial L, "Ca-lifornia", or a syllable-final L, "Cal-ifornia". What I think is that a mid-position L is an hybrid, it's made up of two parts: it starts with a dark L (
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01cite10Kooyeen12cite10Yeah, but how can you distinguish a syllable-final L from a syllable-initial L? It's simple if you take words like "lake" and "bell", but what if you take "California"? It's in mid-position, and that means it could be a syllable-initial L, "Ca-lifornia", or a syllable-final L, "Cal-ifornia". What I think is th
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0 I agree with your characterization of mid-position L as hybrid, but I can't wrap my mind around it being composed of two parts. If it helps you to pronounce it correctly by thinking of it that way, by all means do so. But it's not a double L, if that's what you're thinking. I hear and feel the L in California as being more light than dark.02br
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00 For dark L (f
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01cite10CalifJim12cite10I agree with your characterization of mid-position L as hybrid, but I can't wrap my mind around it being composed of two parts. If it helps you to pronounce it correctly by thinking of it that way, by all means do so. But it's not a double L, if that's what you're thinking.12br
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00 ... that "foolish" is not like "fool-ish" but rather like "foo-lish" (no schwa befor the L)12blockquote
10That sounds right to me. I think you've got it. Now it's time to stop agonizing over it and just talk! 05002br
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00 CJ010id1
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01cite10CalifJim12cite10Now it's time to stop agonizing over it and just talk! 15012blockquote
10Yeah, you're right. Discussing pronunciation issues in a forum or chat room is often very difficult, even if we use IPA or X-SAMPA transcriptions. So I think I'll post some audio files next time I want an opinion on s
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- the "l" in "lee" is a clear L : we find it before vowels and /j/.
- the "l" in "bell" is a dark one : we find it in all other cases (end of word, before a consonant).
However, it is said that in American english the dark L only exists.
It is the problem I raise in my "mémoire" this year : books say that L is always dark in American but in practice, not every american speaker pronoun
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The "l" of "bell" when it ends a word is kind of a "half l" when compared to the initial "l" in "love" which allows the "l" voicing to be completed by going to a vowel. Yet the "l" in the word "bell" also gets completed if the next word starts with a vowel as in "bell of the ballL" Then the "l" kind of moves over to the "o" of "of" in flowing speech, actually sounding like the world "love".
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The /l/ in belly starts the second syllable so it is not dark/velarized.
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