Approximant consonant sounds are made by bringing two articulators close together without them touching as sound leaves the body. The result is a smooth, vowel-like sound. English pronunciation has 3 approximant phonemes :
All of these approximant sounds are voiced, the vocal cords vibrate as the sound is produced.
Approximant Spellings
Spellings for the approximant sounds are underlined below:
/w/: went, quite, once
/r/: road
/j/: yawn, fuel, few
Lateral Approximant Consonant Sounds
Lateral approximant consonant sounds are made by releasing air past the sides of the tongue whilst making a block in the middle. English pronunciation has one lateral approximant phoneme:
A very common variation (allophone) of /l/ is also found in standard pronunciation: [ɫ]. It is made in the same way at the front of the mouth, though the tongue is also raised at the back of the mouth:
Clear vs Dark l
In pronunciation teaching, the two ‘l’ sounds above are often referred to as ‘Clear l’ for the alveolar sound and ‘Dark l’ for the alveolar and velar sound.
Lateral Approximant Spellings
The lateral approximant sound in English is always spelt with ‘l’:
like
allow
fall
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