Voiceless alveolar lateral affricate

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Voiceless alveolar lateral affricate

A voiceless alveolar lateral affricate is a type of consonant used in some languages. It is made by stopping the airflow, then releasing it through the sides of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, without vibrating the vocal cords.

Key facts
- IPA symbol: t͡ɬ (often written as tɬ)
- Americanist notation: ƛ
- Manner: affricate (a stop followed by a fricative)
- Place: alveolar (tongue tip at the alveolar ridge)
- Voicing: voiceless (no vocal cord vibration)
- Airflow: pulmonic egressive, oral, lateral (air moves through the sides of the tongue)

How to pronounce
- Start with a quick tongue-tip stop at the alveolar ridge, then release air along the sides of the tongue.

Where it occurs (examples)
- Arabic, Levantine: tl-ete “three” (an allophone of tl) [t͡ɬeːte]
- Cherokee: tl-a [t͡ɬa] “no”
- Haida: tl’a’nhl [t͡ɬʌʊ́nɬ] “six”
- Hebrew: tluna [ˈt͡ɬuna] “complaint”
- Icelandic: [ˈpɔt͡ɬɪ] “cup”
- Nahuatl: [ˈnaːwat͡ɬ] (Nahuatl language)
- Pa Na: [t͡ɬa˧˥] “frost”
- Sahaptin: [t͡ɬupt] “jumping”
- Tlingit: [t͡ɬeɬúː] “butterfly”
- Tswana: [t͡ɬala] “hunger”
- Xóchitl (Spanish, Mexican): [ˈʃot͡ɬi] (example name/word)

Note
- The exact sound can vary by language and dialect, but all share the basic pattern of a stop released as a lateral fricative at the alveolar place of articulation.