English Lateral

In RP and Standard English of southern England, the /l/ has two allophones. In word-initial position it is an alveolar lateral and in word-final position it is an alveolar velarized lateral. The words lake and bell have distinct laterals. In American English, however, most speakers velarize in all positions.

Speakers of Scottish English, Canadian English, Australian English and New Zealand English also tend to velarize the lateral in all positions. Most speakers of Irish English as well as many speakers of Welsh English have only the alveolar lateral without velarization.

In RP, the word call has a velarized lateral, but in the word calling the lateral is produced without velarization because it comes before a vowel. The rule can thus be expanded to state that the lateral is not velarized before a vowel. The following words have a velarized lateral in American English but not in RP:

elementary
seller
select
wallet
hilly
bullet
closet
please
solid
caller

In RP and many accents of southern England, the /l/ has two allophones, the alveolar lateral and the alveolar velarized lateral. For speakers of other varieties of English, however, such as American, Canadian and Scottish, the lateral is velarized in all positions. Thus RP and varieties of English spoken in southern England maintain a distinction that many other speakers of English do not.