ɬː vs l

Voiceless Alveolar Lateral Fricative vs Voiced Alveolar Lateral Fricative

How these sounds differ

ɬː

Voiceless Alveolar Lateral Fricative

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

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Voiced Alveolar Lateral Fricative

Voicing: voiced
Place: alveolar
Manner: lateral fricative
Class: consonant
In languages: 318 / 500

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Cross-linguistic distribution

Languages with ɬː

Languages with both

318

Languages with l

2 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 l, not ɬː (20)

Chamorro Austronesian Sa'ban Austronesian Toba-Batak Austronesian Malagasy Austronesian Atayal Austronesian Cham Austronesian Yay Tai-Kadai Lakkia Tai-Kadai Karen Sino-Tibetan Garo Sino-Tibetan Lahu Sino-Tibetan Yao Hmong-Mien Hakka Chinese Sino-Tibetan Kharia Austroasiatic Bhumij Austroasiatic Kota Dravidian Burushaski Language isolate Kabardian Abkhaz-Adyge Lak Nakh-Daghestanian Iai Austronesian