L WORDS: THE DARK SIDE AND BRITNEY SPEARS
From leprechaun to lesbian, English speakers are incredibly inconsistent with their choices...of pronunciation, that is. The average speaker may not realize it, but there is actually more than one way to pronounce the letter L.
Yes, and two of these L sounds are relatively well-known, maybe even more so by those who learned English as a second language. They are called Light-L and Dark-L. (Those who already knew about these two, claim your cookie here). When, where, and how people use Light-L versus Dark-L depends on which variety of English they speak. But, there is anotherâa THIRD L sound, whose existence would not have leaped into the limelight had it not been for the lucky Britney Spears. Before we begin contemplating whether she truly is lucky (isn't she?) letâs take a quick look at Light-L and Dark-L.
For most speakers of American or British English, Light-L is what you get when you say loose, lean, laugh, or sing lalalala.
Unless you are a certain pop singer (more on her later), when pronouncing Light-L, you should find your tongue either 1) on the lump of gums behind your front teeth (a.k.a. the alveolar ridge), 2) a little further behind said lump (a.k.a. the postalveolar), or 3) touching the back of your front teeth (a.k.a. dental). Some speakers make use of all three places (not all at once) to pronounce any given Light-L, while others use the same place over and over. But, as any good linguist will tell you, it doesnât matter where you put your tongue! To the ear, it is INDISTINGUISHABLE if you make an alveolar Light-L, a postalveolar Light-L, or a dental Light-L.  The listener cannot tell how you move your tongue to make the sound. Itâs your secret, Victoria!
Light-L is usually found at the front (or onset) of words in English, e.g. Little, Lame, and Lusty (also the title of my upcoming memoir). Â Light-L can also be found word medially e.g. liLLy, aLLy, or luLLabyâthe Queenâs English or RP enunciates this wonderfully.
When pronouncing L in the middle of a word, however, American speakers are most likely to verge onâŚ
Like all things evil, Dark-L is far more complex than its light counterpart. Dark-L is pronounced in the same three places as the Light-L (alveolar, postalveolar, or dental) but, unlike Light-L, the tongue MUST make contact with the throat or the back of the roof of your mouth. Simply remember:
Dark-L comes from the DARK depths at the back of your mouth.
I know, I AM just too clever.
Also, Dark-Lâs infamous presence is often indicated through use of the double L in Standard English spelling, e.g. pull, ill, wallow, follow etc. This spelling trick is not regular, e.g. whole, coal, mail, pool etc.
Most Americans verge on the dark side, as American English allows for Dark-L both in the middle AND at the end of words. This middle Dark-L is optional and some speakers opt for Light-L instead. Scottish English speakers, however, have completely given themselves over. Every L in Scottish English is dark (aspiring accent imitators and Mike Meyers, please take note).
On the other side of the spectrum, we have Cockney and Estuary English (of the domestics in Mary Poppins, Nancy and the Artful Dodger in Oliver!, and the builders in London). These dialects defy the dark side completely. Where you would normally find the Dark-L in the Queenâs English, instead you get [w] (as in work) or [u] (as in loose) at the end of a word[1]. Roughly, BILL â BI-OO, ALL â AWW, and SALE â SAY-OO[2].
Those raised on the West Coast of the USA (especially Southern California) are prone to say L through their teeth. Close to the pronunciation of TH. This is called an interdental L. Yeah, itâs like true. Linguists first started paying attention to the interdental L after watching Britney sing. Unlike the other L sounds, you can actually SEE when this L is pronounced. Speakers must open their mouth, expose their teeth, and stick their tongue between the upper and lower front rows of teeth. You will probably need to slow down any video clip to actually see this. And to answer your question, yes, most linguists spend their time watching Britneyâs mouth in slow motion.
Britney and her West Coast fan base arenât the only interdental-ers. Try out an interdental L a few times yourself. After a while it probably wonât feel so alien. Why? It is common for most English speakers to use interdental L to stress or emphasize of a word[3]. Donât believe me? Yell the following at someone nearby:
LARRY! STOP LOLLIGAGGING AND LOCK ALL LILLYâS LEMONS IN THE LAST ALLEY!
If it didnât work, try again. You can do it. With gumption this time: Damn it, if Iâve told you once, Iâve told you a thousand times [insert the above sentence here].
Emphasis and Britney aside, speech therapists are known to instruct patients who have difficulty pronouncing L to master the interdental L instead. Since interdental L is easy to show and see, and therefore "easier" to imitate, it is considered a handy alternative to other L sounds.
So whether youâre a Valley Girl, the Queen, or a Scot, remember: itâs not about where you put your tongue, but how you use it!
Bean, A. R. (2013). âLeaving the Dark to Find the Light: A Study of L1 English Acquisition of L2 Spanish /l/â. All Theses and Dissertations. Paper 3415.
Kortman, Bernd et al. (2004). A Handbook of Varieties of English. Mouton de Gruyter, 196
Yuan, J., and Liberman, M. (2011). â/l/ Variation in American English: A Corpus Approachâ. Journal of Speech Sciences, 1 (2): 35-46.
Linguist List 15.1836 (2004).
[1] Polish has gone through a similar process since its Proto-Slavic predecessor. The Dark-L of Proto-Slavic has lenited (softened) to the /w/ sound of modern day Polish. Today, Polish orthography uses the symbol Ĺ (an L with a slash through it) to indicate where the Dark-L was once pronounced, e.g. Ĺadna [wadnÇ] pretty.FEM. [cf. Comrie, B. and Corbett, G. G. (2006). The Slavonic Languages, New York: Routledge, pg. 691-2.]
[2] Linguists refer to this as L-vocalization.
[3] It is entirely possible that Britney Spears brought the interdental L to light through overemphasizing her lyrics while lipsyncing music videos.It should also be noted that Spears is a native of Louisianna, but despite this, linguists have found that a majority of speakers who use interdental L hail from the West Coast.
