d sound+l sound: Lateral Aspiration

A lateral aspiration occurs when the tip of the tongue does not leave the stopped position of a d sound to link into an l sound. Instead, after the air is stopped, only the sides of the tongue release, and an l sound is produced. It can be thought of as stopping the air of the aspiration like a d sound, but releasing it as an l sound.

During the beginning of a normal d sound, the air is briefly stopped by pressing the front of the tongue against the back of the tooth ridge and the sides of the teeth. The tip of the tongue (but not the sides of the tongue) takes the same position during an l sound. The difference between a d sound and an l sound, therefore, is that the air is completely stopped by the tongue during the d sound, while the air travels alongside the tongue during the l sound.

Also note that the lateral aspiration can occur when the quick d sound is used in place of a true t sound (as in the word little). In addition to lateral aspirations occuring within words, they can also link a word that ends in a d sound to a word that begins with an l sound.

Lateral aspiration practice
Within words		Linking words
middle		should_like
sadly		read_letters
loudly		good_life
bottle		made_locally
little		bad_luck

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