L (letter)

L is the twelfth letter of the English alphabet. Its name is pronounced 'el'.

Use in English

L is a liquid sound: the tongue touches the top of the mouth behind the teeth. Examples (the accents show stress and pronunciation: see English phonemes): lâke, lít, lót, lúng, lòunge, ålways, Álice, alîve, alône, alàrm, lêek vegetable = lêak water, lāst.

l begins consonant clusters: élbow, álcohol, ôld, Álfred, Ólga, élk, Élspeth, ållspîce, élm, hélp, álpha, ålso, ålter, fílth, últra, alvêolar or alveôlar, ålways.

It is silent at the end of words in the combinations -àlm, -ālf: cālf, hālf, càlm, bàlm, quàlm, and in the apparently plural àlms (compare hålt, where the l is pronounced) and also in fôlk, yôlk egg (= yôke ox) tålk, wålk (cf. squåwk) and sálmon; cölonel army = kërnel nut and for most speakers, Hôlmes Sherlock = hômes dwellings.

It likes to double itself at the end of words after short vowels of one letter: íll, fåll, féll, dóll, pôll election (= pôle wood) tôll, bùll, gúll, núll, fíll, Bíll, båll, ståll, fùll (but the unstressed suffix version of fùll has only one l: hôpeful, wònderful) but there can be complications where there is a preceding syllable: BrE inståll can also be instål in AmE, and, in reverse: BrE appål can also be appåll in AmE; both have appålling.

In sátellîte it is the l, not the first t, which is doubled, and in párallel it is the first l - not the r or the second l as one might expect.

l is single after a two-letter vowel: cråwl, foôl, rêal, fòul horrible = fòwl bird, håul, sôul spirit (= sôle only, fish).

There are actually two l sounds: initial l is called light l, and l in final position, or before another consonant, is called dark l. Light l is pronounced more in the front of the mouth, with the tip of the tongue (as l is always pronounced in French, Italian, Spanish and German); dark l is pronounced with the middle of the mouth and tongue (but not, except in the Cockney accent, virtually as a w as in Portuguese) and lasts longer: Light l (beginning a syllable): prelíminary, lîght, clínk, líp, allót, flíp, alône, slêek. Dark l (ending a syllable): ålways, stíll, élse, ålso, dóll, fåll, ålter, fåult, píll, cråwl.

Medial double l is lighter in BrE than in AmE: fílling, téller, bállot, tåller, fållen, instílled. In some varieties, Welsh English, for example, only light l is used.

Dark, doubled and final, -ll influences the sound of a preceding a: wåll, håll, tåll, åll, fåll, appåll (AmE; BrE appål), gåll, båll, ståll, cåll and måll - but not, strangely, in Páll Máll. But only one l, plus a consonant, is required in the middle of a word to produce å: fålter, ålter, hålt, hålter, althôugh (ål-), Wålter (cf. wåter), målt, scåld, ålder and the l for most speakers is rendered silent before k: wålk, tålk, chålk, bålk (also spelt båulk).

There can be a similar lengthening effect on ô before final -ll: pôll, tôll, rôll - but not in dóll, knóll. And also in gôld, hôld. For some BrE and antipodean speakers -ôl- has an ô sound that is more like ó plus ù than the normal schwa plus ù: such speakers will tend to distinguish Hôlmes from hômes.

Dark l can follow another single consonant to form a cluster without altering the long sound of the preceding vowel: âble, tâble, îdle, bûgle, nôble (cf. the double consonants in stráddle, ẁaddle, míddle, kéttle, píffle).

A diphthong ending with the sound í adds a schwa before final l, so that ŏil rhymes with lŏyal, and râil with betrâyal.

Final -le versus final -al: Adjectives: mûsical, clássical, nåutical, cómical, cónical, particípial, príncipal (head = prínciple first, reason) Nouns: prínciple (= príncipal, as above) partíciple, pàrticle, fóllicle, múddle, púddle, cúddle, ẁaddle, dóddle, and mólecule.