2. l.
§ 214. This sound seems to me to correspond pretty nearly to the ordinary English l, though the point of the tongue rests just above the upper teeth and not against the arch-rim. The raising of the back of the tongue gives this l, when standing at the end of a syllable other than a clipped one, the same dull sound that is so characteristic of Engl. l. In other positions this quality is not so noticeable.
§ 215. l corresponds to O.Ir. l before original a, o, u whether preserved or lost in any position except initially and apart from the special cases mentioned in §§ 207–210. Examples—αlə, ‘swan’, M.Ir. ela; αlpαn, ‘lump, bit’, Meyer alp; αləbə, ‘Scotland’, M.Ir. Alba; α꞉luw, ‘sudden grip’, M.Ir. álad; α̃꞉ləʃ, ‘mixture of milk and water’, Meyer anglas, englas; blαs, ‘taste’, O.Ir. mlass; bɔluw, ‘smell’, M.Ir, bolad; bɔləg, ‘belly’, M.Ir. bolg; kʹαŋəl, ‘trying’, M.Ir. cengal; mʹɛədəl, ‘paunch’, Di. méadal; mʹïtəl, ‘metal, mettle’, Di. miotal; ɔ꞉l, ‘drink’, M.Ir. ól; ʃiəl, ‘seed’, O.Ir. síl.
§ 216. l stands before r (= r, rʹ), although lṟ must once have been LR, LʹRʹ, e.g. bɔlṟiαχ, ‘scenting’ (of a blood-hound); gαlṟi꞉, ‘diseases’; ku꞉lṟö̤꞉skαχ, ‘backward’, Di. cúilriascmhar; kʹïlṟiænʹ, ‘Kilraine’, = Cill Riáin; o̤lṟuw, ‘shouting’, cp. ulfairt (?); ʃiəlṟuw, Di. síolrughadh. For lṟ in sandhi see § 460.
§ 217. It might be expected that we should find L following t, d as it always precedes these sounds. But such is not the case, for tl, dl like most Irish combinations of consonants do not coalesce (§ 437). The off-glide of the t, d is clearly heard as the tongue moves into the position for l. This off-glide is so distinct that Finck actually inserts a vowel and writes dəlū́—dluth, ‘warp’ (ii p. 266). Examples—dli꞉, ‘lock, wisp of straw’, dli꞉ ə wo̤Ly꞉, ‘top-stopple, the thatch on the top of a cottage’, M.Ir. dlai; tlũw̥, ‘tongs’, Di. tlúgh (rare, the usual term is mwædʹə bʹrʹiʃtə); ə tlui = an tsluaigh (gen. sing.); ə tluəsəd, ‘the shovel’, an tsluasad; erʹ ə tlαuwruw = air an tslabhradh.
§ 218. In those cases where other consonants are aspirated initially, l takes the place of L. This only happens however in the speech of the older people. The younger folk make no distinction between L and l initially, cp. Finck i p. 76; Henderson, ZCP. v 90. Examples—ə fʹαr ə lo꞉r lʹïm, ‘the man who spoke to me’; lu꞉b mʹə, ‘I bent’; lö̤꞉di mʹə, ‘I lessened’; lɔtʹ mʹə, ‘I
