1. The Pronunciation of /l/
ET’S TALK ABOUT
The Pronunciation of /l/
Gerber Luca

2. Pronounce these words:
Life
Could
Feel
Black
Helmet
Palm
Milk
Golf
Field
Alone
Miles
Illiterate
Calm
Walk
Spleen
Wales
Ugly
Culture
Long
Influence
Half
Apply
Albert
Legitimate

3. Put them into groups Dark L Silent L Clear L Milk Field Golf Albert
Culture
Helmet
Feel
Miles
Wales
Calm
Could
Walk
Palm
Half
Life
Long
Legitmate
Black
Ugly
Spleen
Influence
Apply
Illiterate
Alone

4. /l/ Has Two Allophones
An allophone is a phonetic variant of a phoneme in a particular language
The sound is articulated when air passes over the back of the tongue instead of merely alongside the tip of the tongue. While the back of the tongue is high, the center of the tongue dips lower. The tip of the tongue may point upward, but does not necessarily touch the inside of the mouth.
The tip of the tongue is placed against the middle of the tooth ridge. The sound is created when air travels alongside the tip of the tongue, between the front of the tongue and the side teeth.

5. The Hungarian pronunciation of /l/
Láb
Száll
Lesz
Spiritualitás
Lék
Unalom
Beszél
Álom
Pál
Délben
Clear L

6. Dark L l is pronounced with a velar gesture  dark l
It sounds as if an [o]-like vowel was inserted before it
milk / mɪoɫk /
feel / fi:oɫ /
[ɫ] may even disappear 
l is replaced by a vowel  L-vocalization

7. Cockney - Homophones
Salt
Fault
Paul’s
Walter
Sort
Fought
Pause
Water

8. When is /l/ realised as clear?
Life
Long
Legitmate
Black
Ugly
Spleen
Influence
Apply
Illiterate
Alone
Before a vowel

9. When is /l/ realised as dark?
Milk
Field
Golf
Albert
Culture
Helmet
Feel
Miles
Wales
Before a consonant
End of the word

10. Does it really matter?
Dictionaries do not show the difference between clear /l/ and dark /l/
Life / laɪf /
Culture / ˈkʌlʧə /

11. Let’s practise
You old fool, they’ll kill you if you always trouble them!
Gerald walked alone till about half past twelve.
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July.

12. ˈθæŋk juː fə jər əˈtɛnʃən