“L”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

L (named el {{IPAc-en|ɛ|l}})^[1] is the twelfth letter of the modern English alphabet and the ISO basic Latin alphabet, used in words such as lagoon, lantern, and less.

History

Lamedh may have come from a pictogram of an ox goad or cattle prod. Some have suggested a shepherd's staff.^[2]

Use in writing systems

Phonetic and phonemic transcription

In phonetic and phonemic transcription, the International Phonetic Alphabet uses {{angbr|{{IPA|l}}}} to represent the lateral alveolar approximant.

English

In English orthography, {{angbr|l}} usually represents the phoneme {{IPAc-en|l}}, which can have several sound values, depending on the speaker's accent, and whether it occurs before or after a vowel. The alveolar lateral approximant (the sound represented in IPA by lowercase {{IPA|[l]}}) occurs before a vowel, as in lip or blend, while the velarized alveolar lateral approximant (IPA {{IPA|[ɫ]}}) occurs in bell and milk. This velarization does not occur in many European languages that use {{angbr|l}}; it is also a factor making the pronunciation of {{angbr|l}} difficult for users of languages that lack {{angbr|l}} or have different values for it, such as Japanese or some southern dialects of Chinese. A medical condition or speech impediment restricting the pronunciation of {{angbr|l}} is known as lambdacism.

In English orthography, {{angbr|l}} is often silent in such words as walk or could (though its presence can modify the preceding vowel letter's sound), and it is usually silent in such words as palm and psalm; however, there is some regional variation.

Other languages

Common digraphs include {{angbr|ll}}, which has a value identical to {{angbr|l}} in English, but has the separate value voiceless alveolar lateral fricative (IPA {{IPA|[ɬ]}}) in Welsh, where it can appear in an initial position. In Spanish, {{angbr|ll}} represents [ʎ], [j], [ʝ], [ɟʝ], or [ʃ], depending on dialect.

A palatal lateral approximant or palatal {{angbr|l}} (IPA {{IPA|[ʎ]}}) occurs in many languages, and is represented by {{angbr|gli}} in Italian, {{angbr|ll}} in Spanish and Catalan, {{angbr|lh}} in Portuguese, and {{angbr|ļ}} in Latvian.

In Washo, lower-case {{angbr|l}} represents a typical el sound, while upper-case {{angbr|L}} represents a voiceless el sound, a bit like double {{angle bracket|ll}} in Welsh.

Other uses

The capital letter L is used as the currency sign for the Albanian lek and the Honduran lempira. It was often used, especially in handwriting, as the currency sign for the Italian lira. It is also infrequently used as a substitute for the pound sign (£), which is based on it.

Forms and variants

In some sans-serif fonts (i.e., typefaces), the lowercase letter ell {{Angle bracket|l}} may be difficult to distinguish from the uppercase letter eye {{Angle bracket|I}} or the digit one {{Angle bracket|1}}. To avoid such confusion, some newer fonts have a finial, a curve to the right at the bottom of the lowercase letter ell.

Another means of reducing such confusion, increasingly common on European road signs and in advertisements, uses a cursive, handwriting-style lowercase letter ell {{Angle bracket|ℓ}}. A special letter-like symbol {{Angle bracket|ℓ}} is sometimes used for this purpose in mathematics and elsewhere. In Unicode, this symbol is {{Unichar|2113|SCRIPT SMALL L}} with HTML numeric character reference ℓ. In Japan, for example, this is the symbol for the liter. However, the International System of Units recommends using Unicode symbols {{Unichar|006C|LOWERCASE L}} or {{Unichar|004C|UPPERCASE L}} for the liter.^[4]

Another solution, sometimes seen in Web typography, uses a serif font for the lowercase letter ell, such as {{Angle bracket|{{Serif|l}}}}, in otherwise sans-serif text.

Related characters

Descendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet

Derived signs, symbols and abbreviations

Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets

Computing codes

Other representations

References

1. ^"L" Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989) Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged. (1993); "el", "ells", op. cit.
2. ^{{Cite web|url = http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/3_lam.html|title = Ancient Hebrew Research Center|date = |accessdate = 12 January 2015|website = |publisher = |last = |first = }}
3. ^{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ywI6SDUggk4C&q=ix#v=snippet&q=%22roman%20numerals%22&f=false | title=Illustrated Introduction to Latin Epigraphy | publisher=University of California Press | date=1983 | accessdate=3 October 2015 | author=Gordon, Arthur E. | pages=44| isbn=9780520038981 }}
4. ^{{cite web | url = https://www.unicode.org/charts/beta/nameslist/n_2100.html | title = Letterlike Symbols | work = Unicode Code Charts | author = Unicode Consortium | access-date = 9 January 2019}}
5. ^{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf|title=L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS|date=2002-03-20|first1=Michael|last1=Everson|authorlink1=Michael Everson|display-authors=etal}}
6. ^{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2009/09028-n3571-upa-additions.pdf|title=L2/09-028: Proposal to encode additional characters for the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet|date=2009-01-27|first1=Klaas|last1=Ruppel|first2=Tero|last2=Aalto|first3=Michael|last3=Everson}}
7. ^{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2001/01347-n2366r.pdf|title=L2/01-347: Proposal to add six phonetic characters to the UCS|date=2001-09-20|first1=Richard|last1=Cook|first2=Michael|last2=Everson}}
8. ^{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06266-n3122-insular.pdf|title=L2/06-266: Proposal to add Latin letters and a Greek symbol to the UCS|date=2006-08-06|first=Michael|last=Everson}}
9. ^{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf|title=L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS|date=2004-04-19|first=Peter|last=Constable}}
10. ^{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06027-n3027-medieval.pdf|title=L2/06-027: Proposal to add Medievalist characters to the UCS|date=2006-01-30|first1=Michael|last1=Everson|first2=Peter|last2=Baker|first3=António|last3=Emiliano|first4=Florian|last4=Grammel|first5=Odd Einar|last5=Haugen|first6=Diana|last6=Luft|first7=Susana|last7=Pedro|first8=Gerd|last8=Schumacher|first9=Andreas|last9=Stötzner}}
11. ^{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2011/11202-n4081-teuthonista.pdf|title=L2/11-202: Revised proposal to encode "Teuthonista" phonetic characters in the UCS|date=2011-06-02|first1=Michael|last1=Everson|first2=Alois|last2=Dicklberger|first3=Karl|last3=Pentzlin|first4=Eveline|last4=Wandl-Vogt}}
12. ^{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06027-n3027-medieval.pdf|title=L2/06-027: Proposal to add Medievalist characters to the UCS|date=2006-01-30|first1=Michael|last1=Everson|first2=Peter|last2=Baker|first3=António|last3=Emiliano|first4=Florian|last4=Grammel|first5=Odd Einar|last5=Haugen|first6=Diana|last6=Luft|first7=Susana|last7=Pedro|first8=Gerd|last8=Schumacher|first9=Andreas|last9=Stötzner}}