Lateral flap

A lateral flap is a family of consonantal sounds, used in some spoken languages.

There are four attested or claimed lateral flaps in the world's languages:

• The alveolar lateral flap [ɺ] is quite common.
• A retroflex lateral flap [𝼈 ] ([ɭ̆ ]) is found throughout South Asia, from Pashtun to Oriya, in the Iwaidjan languages of Australia, and sporadically elsewhere.
• A palatal lateral flap [ʎ̆] has been described from Iwaidja, but may be a palatalized alveolar flap.
• A velar lateral flap [ʟ̆] occurs allophonically in Melpa and a few other languages of New Guinea.

Features

Features of lateral flap:

• Its manner of articulation is tap or flap, which means it is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator (usually the tongue) is thrown against another.
• It is a lateral consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream over the sides of the tongue, rather than down the middle.

Index of articles associated with the same name

This article includes a list of related items that share the same name (or similar names).
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This page was last edited on 8 February 2023, at 09:26