Monday, April 11, 2005, 02:12 GMT
I'm interested in how everybody pronounces their L's. (A velar L is made in the back of the throat and an alveolar L is made in the front of the mouth, with the tongue touching the alveolar ridge behind the teeth.)
- The standard British pronunciation is alveolar at the beginning of syllables and velar at the end - in the word "loll", the first L is alveolar and the second one is velar. Cockneys vocalize the velar L, pronouncing "milk" as "miwk" for instance. A similar evolution occurred in Polish, where the velar L (marked by a horizontal line) is now pronounced as an English W.
- I pronounce all my L's velar, and I think this is the most common pronunciation in the US. However, I think there are areas, such as Appalachia (?), where people may pronounce L's the British way.
- I've read that there are some people in Ireland (and maybe elsewhere) who pronounce all their L's alveolar.
That said, are you: alveolar-velar (standard British), alveolar-vocalic (Cockneyesque), velar-velar (most Americans), or alveolar-alveolar?
- The standard British pronunciation is alveolar at the beginning of syllables and velar at the end - in the word "loll", the first L is alveolar and the second one is velar. Cockneys vocalize the velar L, pronouncing "milk" as "miwk" for instance. A similar evolution occurred in Polish, where the velar L (marked by a horizontal line) is now pronounced as an English W.
- I pronounce all my L's velar, and I think this is the most common pronunciation in the US. However, I think there are areas, such as Appalachia (?), where people may pronounce L's the British way.
- I've read that there are some people in Ireland (and maybe elsewhere) who pronounce all their L's alveolar.
That said, are you: alveolar-velar (standard British), alveolar-vocalic (Cockneyesque), velar-velar (most Americans), or alveolar-alveolar?