Dark L Detector
Dark L DetectorType any English text to see every L marked as clear [l] or dark [ɫ] in Modern RP — including across word boundaries in connected speech.
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l Clear [l] — before a vowel or /j/
l Dark [ɫ] — before a consonant or a pause
l Syllabic dark [ɫ̩] — e.g. bottle
l Silent — e.g. walk, calm
Spelling
Modern RP (IPA)
The Modern RP rule
- Clear [l] — the tongue tip touches the alveolar ridge and the back of the tongue stays low. Used when /l/ is followed by a vowel or /j/: light, silly, value, million.
- Dark [ɫ] — same tip contact, but the back of the tongue rises towards the soft palate (velarised). Used before a consonant or a pause: feel, milk, film, help.
- Across words — in connected speech a word-final L before a vowel-initial word becomes clear: fill [ɫ] but fill it [l], all [ɫ] but all over [l]. A comma, full stop or other punctuation is treated as a pause, so the L stays dark.
- Syllabic dark L [ɫ̩] — after a consonant in words like bottle, little, people, middle, the L forms its own syllable with no real vowel. It is dark unless a vowel follows (bottle of → clear).
- Silent L — some spellings have no /l/ at all: walk, talk, half, calm, could, would, salmon.
Pronunciations come from the course lexicon (Britfone → Modern RP). Words not in the lexicon are guessed from spelling and marked with a dotted underline. /h/ after an L is treated as a consonant (dark), and only the first listed pronunciation of a word is used.