The New Student's Reference Work/L

L (ĕl), the twelfth letter, is a vocal consonant. It usually is called a liquid, because it flows into other consonants, and they into it, as an intermediate between such consonants and the vowels. It sometimes is even considered a semivowel, because in some words it plays the part of a vowel in making a syllable. The Japanese cannot say l, substituting r. Since it is formed by both palates and the tongue, as in all, battle, blow, evil, it is classed with the palatals. At the end of a monosyllable containing a single vowel, l is often doubled, as in fall, though not after diphthongs, as foul, or digraphs, as foal. When a word ends in le, e is silent and l is preceded by a glide, as in able. The Romans used it as a numeral (50) as well as a letter.