From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In linguistics, l-vocalization is a process by which
an /l/
sound (a
lateral consonant) is replaced by a
vowel
or
semivowel sound. This happens most often to the
velarized alveolar lateral approximant
[ɫ].
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Contents
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1
L-vocalization in English
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2
L-vocalization in other
languages
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3
References
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4
External links
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L-vocalization in English
L-vocalization is a notable feature of certain dialects of
English, including
Cockney and
Estuary English, in which an
/l/ sound
occurring at the end of a word or before a consonant is replaced
with a
vowel
sound, variously transcribed
[o],
[ʊ] or
[w]
resulting in pronunciations such as
[mɪok],
for milk, and
[ˈmɪdo],
for middle.
Especially in Cockney, l-vocalization can be accompanied by
phonemic mergers of vowels before the vocalized
/l/. For
example, real, reel and rill, which are
distinct in
Received Pronunciation, are homophones in Cockney as
[ɹɪo].
In the accent of
Bristol, syllabic
/l/
vocalized to /o/,
resulting in pronunciations like
/ˈbɒto/
(for bottle). By
hypercorrection, however, some words originally ending in
/o/ had
this sound replaced by syllabic
/l/: the
original name of the town was Bristow, but this has been
altered by
hypercorrection to Bristol.
In the United States, the dark L in
African-American Vernacular English may change to an o, w,
or be omitted altogether (i.e. fool becomes
[fu],
cereal becomes
[ˈsiɹio]).
L-vocalization in other languages
- In early 15th century
Middle Scots /al/
(except intervocalically and before /d/),
/ol/
and often /ul/
changed to /au/,
/ou/
and /u:/.
For example all to aw, hald to haud
(hold), colt to cowt, ful to fou
(full).
- In Dutch, the combinations old and olt
changed to oud and out during the Middle Ages.
For example, oud corresponds with English "old".
- In
Brazilian Portuguese,
/l/ in
syllable coda position becomes the
voiced labial-velar approximant
[w].
For example, the name of the singer and government minister
Gilberto Gil is pronounced
[ʒiwˈbɛxtu
ʒiw].
- In
Polish,
Sorbian languages and
Ukrainian (at the end of a closed
syllable), historical
/ɫ/
has become
/w/. For example, the word for "small" in all three
languages is mały, pronounced
/ˈmawɨ/
(cf.
Russian малый
[ˈmaɫɨj]).
As of the early 2000s,
/ɫ/
can still be used by some speakers of eastern Polish
dialects, especially in
Belarus and
Lithuania.
- In
Serbo-Croatian, a historical
/l/ in
coda position has become
/o/
and is now so spelled. For example, the Serbo-Croatian name
of
Belgrade is Beograd.
- In
Austro-Bavarian, the etymological l is vocalised,
surprisingly only after front vowels, into i or y,
e.g. vui corresponding with High German viel
("much").
- In
Bernese German, a historical /l/ in coda position has
become [w], a historical
/lː/only
occurring intervocalicallyhas become
/wː/,
whereas intervocalical /l/ persists. The absence of
vocalization was one of the distinctive features of the
upper class variety which is not much spoken any more. For
example, the German name of the city of
Biel/Bienne is pronounced
[ˈb̥iə̯w].
- In
Bulgarian, young people often pronounce the
[ɫ] of
the standard language as [w] or [o], especially in an
informal context. For example, pronunciations which could be
transcribed as
[maʊ̯ko]
or [mao̯ko]
occur instead of standard
[maɫko]
("a little"). Unlike the historical sound changes listed
above, this is an example of a synchronic variation between
speakers that might result in a sound change in the long
run.
- L-vocalization may also be seen in some forms of
Arabic, although it is not as pronounced as in European
languages.
References
- Labov, William, Sharon Ash, and Charles Boberg. 2006.
The Atlas of North American English. Berlin: Mouton de
Gruyter.
ISBN 3-11-016746-8.
External links
-
Transcribing Estuary English, by J. C. Wells - discusses
the phonetics of l-vocalization in Estuary English and
Cockney.
-
L-vocalisations in Estuary English
Categories:
English phonology |
English dialects |
Splits and mergers in English phonology |
American English
