l̪ vs ɬʲ

Voiced Alveolar Lateral Fricative vs Voiceless Alveolar Lateral Fricative

How these sounds differ

l̪

Voiced Alveolar Lateral Fricative

Voicing: voiced
Place: alveolar
Manner: lateral fricative
Class: consonant
In languages: 23 / 500

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ɬʲ

Voiceless Alveolar Lateral Fricative

Voicing: voiceless
Place: alveolar
Manner: lateral fricative
Class: consonant
In languages: 2 / 500

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Cross-linguistic distribution

Languages with l̪

Languages with both

Languages with ɬʲ

0 languages in our database contrast both sounds as distinct phonemes. Languages that have one but not the other tend to merge them into a single phoneme — meaning speakers of those languages often struggle to hear the distinction when learning a language that contrasts them.

Has l̪, not ɬʲ (20)

POHNPEIAN Austronesian Dafla Sino-Tibetan Wubuy Gunwinyguan Mapudungun Araucanian Moroccan Arabic Afro-Asiatic Central Arrernte Pama-Nyungan BAI Sino-Tibetan Brahui Dravidian DIYARI Pama-Nyungan Huastec Mayan YANYUWA Pama-Nyungan Kalkatungu Pama-Nyungan Vietnamese Austroasiatic Polish Indo-European Ilocano Austronesian Kurdish Indo-European Lebanese Arabic Afro-Asiatic Turkmen Turkic Norwegian Indo-European Tashlhiyt Berber Afro-Asiatic

Has ɬʲ, not l̪ (2)

Northern Khanty Uralic ITELMEN Chukotko-Kamchatkan