The Full-L Sound (Consonant) & a Note about the Half-L (Vowel) Rule | American English Pronunciation

[@fayewu7505]

Great!

[@siddhantkapoor8079]

Thank you!

[@cunjoz]

your slavic L is totally on point

[@johnconor5485]

can we use half l for the words starting with L? such as like? live? lift?

[@NativeEnglishHacks]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZniYh42ZYrSBoK8

[@YJ-pq8lp]

Hi Josh. So... you pronounce fLy,pLay, fLu the L letter as half L? It means your tongue is not touching the upper front teeth ridge ???

[@NativeEnglishHacks]

The secret here is that in American English, we can always just use the half L, but we don't. If the L is at the start of a syllable, it's supposed to be a full L, *even if it's not the first sound*, so don't let that confuse you. Whether at the start of a word like in "like" or in combinations at the start like in "fly", we're still supposed to use the full L, but Americans don't always. It's a rule we like to break, but it is a bit more likely to use the full L in these positions, especially if it's the first sound in the first word of the sentence, and the full L is definitely used for the clearly enunciated version if you have a reason to do that (the same can potentially apply to the half L at the end of a syllable). Again, we see part of American English's dynamic range and flow. I'm making the minimal pair lesson for R/L right now. There'll be two versions: one using the full L and one using the half L in the same position (for example, "fly" with a full L in version 1 and "fly" will a half L in version 2). This is to help your ears even more to understand real, native speech. But be careful if you try to break the rule yourself because you need to have full mastery of the half L position or it will probably just sound really unclear and confusing

[@liangxu530]

Letter "l" is full or half? When I spelled my first name, people had difficulty to understand me to pronounce the letter "l". Thanks a lot. For all your videos

[@NativeEnglishHacks]

The full L pronunciation is always possible (but not always likely), so if you're not sure, you can use the full L to make sure you're understood. The name of the letter is pronounced with the 3rd vowel (EH) + the L sound. Usually, it's a half L because it's at the end and actually creates an L-colored 3rd vowel: EHL However, as I said, the full L is always possible, just not likely in places where we use the half L. If you can't produce the half L well enough, or well enough in certain combinations like with EH, that's something you have to work on. In the meantime, you can use the full L to make sure that you're understood clearly, as long as you can do a nice clear English full L sound. Also, the difference between the full L and half L is only if you want to sound more natural. If you just want to be clearly understood and don't care as much about sounding natural, you can just always use the full L instead. It's a personal choice based on your goals and preferences ☺

[@liangxu530]

English Hacks - Learn English Better, thank you so much for the detailed explanation and the other answers in other videos. Very helpful. I would like you to know how I found your channel. One English Channel recommended ELSA app. I wanted to see how other English teachers thought about it. Then I found you. You have the contents and quality most similar channels did not have. I believe your channel will be popular soon.

[@NativeEnglishHacks]

Awesome! Thanks for letting me know ☺ It's always interesting to hear things like that and I appreciate your feedback. I'll continue to do my best 😁💪😎