La (Indic)

The Brahmi letter , La, is probably derived from the Aramaic Lamed , and is thus related to the modern Latin L and Greek Lambda.[2] Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi La can be found, most associated with a specific set of inscriptions from an artifact or diverse records from an historic period.[3] As the earliest and most geometric style of Brahmi, the letters found on the Edicts of Ashoka and other records from around that time are normally the reference form for Brahmi letters, with vowel marks not attested until later forms of Brahmi back-formed to match the geometric writing style.

Brahmi La historic forms

Ashoka (3rd-1st c. BCE)	Girnar (~150 BCE)	Kushana (~150-250 CE)	Gujarat (~250 CE)	Gupta (~350 CE)

The Tocharian letter is derived from the Brahmi , and has an alternate Fremdzeichen form used in conjuncts and as an alternate representation of Lä.

Tocharian La with vowel marks

La	Lā	Li	Lī	Lu	Lū	Lr	Lr̄	Le	Lai	Lo	Lau	Lä	Fremdzeichen

The Kharoṣṭhī letter is generally accepted as being derived from the Aramaic Lamed , and is thus related to L and Lambda, in addition to the Brahmi La.[2]

Devanagari Ḷa

Ḷa (ळ) is an additional Devanagari character originally used for an allophone of the voiced retroflex stop in Vedic Sanskrit, and current represents the lateral flap [ɭ] that occurs in Marathi, Konkani, Garhwali, and Rajasthani.

In all languages, ल is pronounced as [lə] or [l] when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Devanagari uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:

Half form of La.

Half form of Ḷa.

Devanagari exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts. In modern Devanagari texts, most conjuncts are formed by reducing the letter shape to fit tightly to the following letter, usually by dropping a character's vertical stem, sometimes referred to as a "half form". Some conjunct clusters are always represented by a true ligature, instead of a shape that can be broken into constituent independent letters. Vertically stacked conjuncts are ubiquitous in older texts, while only a few are still used routinely in modern Devanagari texts. The use of ligatures and vertical conjuncts may vary across languages using the Devanagari script, with Marathi in particular preferring the use of half forms where texts in other languages would show ligatures and vertical stacks.[4]

True ligatures are quite rare in Indic scripts. The most common ligated conjuncts in Devanagari are in the form of a slight mutation to fit in context or as a consistent variant form appended to the adjacent characters. Those variants include Na and the Repha and Rakar forms of Ra. Nepali and Marathi texts use the "eyelash" Ra half form for an initial "R" instead of repha.

• Repha र্ (r) + ल (la) gives us the ligature rla: ^note

• Eyelash र্ (r) + ल (la) gives us the ligature rla:

• ल্ (l) + न (na) gives us the ligature lna:

• ल্ (l) + rakar र (ra) gives us the ligature lra:

• Repha र্ (r) + ळ (ḷa) gives us the ligature rḷa:

• Eyelash र্ (r) + ळ (ḷa) gives us the ligature rḷa:

Vertically stacked ligatures are the most common conjunct forms found in Devanagari text. Although the constituent characters may need to be stretched and moved slightly in order to stack neatly, stacked conjuncts can be broken down into recognizable base letters, or a letter and an otherwise standard ligature.

• भ্ (bʰ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature bʰla:

• ब্ (b) + ल (la) gives us the ligature bla:

• छ্ (cʰ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature cʰla:

• च্ (c) + ल (la) gives us the ligature cla:

• ढ্ (ḍʱ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature ḍʱla:

• ड্ (ḍ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature ḍla:

• ध্ (dʱ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature dʱla:

• द্ (d) + ल (la) gives us the ligature dla:

• घ্ (ɡʱ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature ɡʱla:

• ग্ (g) + ल (la) gives us the ligature gla:

• ह্ (h) + ल (la) gives us the ligature hla:

• झ্ (jʰ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature jʰla:

• ज্ (j) + ल (la) gives us the ligature jla:

• ख্ (kʰ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature kʰla:

• क্ (k) + ल (la) gives us the ligature kla:

• ल্ (l) + ब (ba) gives us the ligature lba:

• ल্ (l) + च (ca) gives us the ligature lca:

• ल্ (l) + ज (ja) gives us the ligature lja:

• ल্ (l) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ljña:

• ल্ (l) + ल (la) gives us the ligature lla:

• ल্ (l) + ळ (ḷa) gives us the ligature lḷa:

• ळ্ (ḷ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature ḷla:

• ल্ (l) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature lña:

• ल্ (l) + व (va) gives us the ligature lva:

• म্ (m) + ल (la) gives us the ligature mla:

• ङ্ (ŋ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature ŋla:

• न্ (n) + ल (la) gives us the ligature nla:

• ण্ (ṇ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature ṇla:

• ञ্ (ñ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature ñla:

• फ্ (pʰ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature pʰla:

• प্ (p) + ल (la) gives us the ligature pla:

• श্ (ʃ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature ʃla:

• स্ (s) + ल (la) gives us the ligature sla:

• ष্ (ṣ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature ṣla:

• थ্ (tʰ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature tʰla:

• त্ (t) + ल (la) gives us the ligature tla:

• ठ্ (ṭʰ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature ṭʰla:

• ट্ (ṭ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature ṭla:

• व্ (v) + ल (la) gives us the ligature vla:

• य্ (y) + ल (la) gives us the ligature yla:

 • Note that the conjuncts shown here come from a typeface used for representing older Vedic texts, and use the older form of La for many conjuncts.

ল is used as a basic consonant character in all of the major Bengali script orthographies, including Bengali and Assamese.

Bengali ল exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts, with a tendency towards stacked ligatures.[5]

• ব্ (b) + ল (la) gives us the ligature bla:

• গ্ (g) + ল (la) gives us the ligature gla:

• ক্ (k) + ল (la) gives us the ligature kla:

• ল্ (l) + ভ (bʰa) gives us the ligature lbʰa:

• ল্ (l) + ড (ḍa) gives us the ligature lḍa:

• ল্ (l) + গ (ga) gives us the ligature lga:

• ল্ (l) + ক (ka) gives us the ligature lka:

• ল্ (l) + ক্ (k) + য (ya) gives us the ligature lkya, with the ya phala suffix:

• ল্ (l) + ল (la) gives us the ligature lla:

• ল্ (l) + ম (ma) gives us the ligature lma:

• ল্ (l) + প (pa) gives us the ligature lpa:

• ল্ (l) + ফ (pʰa) gives us the ligature lpʰa:

• ল্ (l) + ট (ṭa) gives us the ligature lṭa:

• ল্ (l) + ব (va) gives us the ligature lva, with the va phala suffix:

• ল্ (l) + য (ya) gives us the ligature lya, with the ya phala suffix:

• ম্ (m) + ল (la) gives us the ligature mla:

• ফ্ (pʰ) + ল (la) gives us the ligature pʰla:

• প্ (p) + ল (la) gives us the ligature pla:

• র্ (r) + ল (la) gives us the ligature rla, with the repha prefix:

• শ্ (ʃ) + ল (la) gives us the ligature ʃla:

• স্ (s) + ল (la) gives us the ligature sla:

• স্ (s) + প্ (p) + ল (la) gives us the ligature spla:

The Gujarati script is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. In both languages, લ is pronounced as [lə] or [l] when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:

La	Lā	Li	Lī	Lu	Lū	Lr	Ll	Lr̄	Ll̄	Lĕ	Le	Lai	Lŏ	Lo	Lau	L
Gujarati La syllables, with vowel marks in red.

Half form of La.

Gujarati લ exhibits conjunct ligatures, much like its parent Devanagari Script. Most Gujarati conjuncts can only be formed by reducing the letter shape to fit tightly to the following letter, usually by dropping a character's vertical stem, sometimes referred to as a "half form". A few conjunct clusters can be represented by a true ligature, instead of a shape that can be broken into constituent independent letters, and vertically stacked conjuncts can also be found in Gujarati, although much less commonly than in Devanagari.

True ligatures are quite rare in Indic scripts. The most common ligated conjuncts in Gujarati are in the form of a slight mutation to fit in context or as a consistent variant form appended to the adjacent characters. Those variants include Na and the Repha and Rakar forms of Ra.

• ર્ (r) + લ (la) gives us the ligature RLa:

• લ્ (l) + ર (ra) gives us the ligature LRa:

• લ્ (l) + ન (na) gives us the ligature LNa:

• શ્ (ʃ) + લ (la) gives us the ligature ŚLa:

• હ્ (h) + લ (la) gives us the ligature HLa:

Telugu independent and subjoined Lla.

In addition, Telugu has a second /l/ consonant Lla (ళ). It is closely related to the Kannada letter ಳ. Most Telugu consonants contain a v-shaped headstroke that is related to the horizontal headline found in other Indic scripts, although headstrokes do not connect adjacent letters in Telugu. The headstroke is normally lost when adding vowel matras.

Malayalam letter Chillu L

As is common in Indic scripts, Malayalam joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. There are several ways in which conjuncts are formed in Malayalam texts: using a post-base form of a trailing consonant placed under the initial consonant of a conjunct, a combined ligature of two or more consonants joined together, a conjoining form that appears as a combining mark on the rest of the conjunct, the use of an explicit candrakkala mark to suppress the inherent "a" vowel, or a special consonant form called a "chillu" letter, representing a bare consonant without the inherent "a" vowel. Texts written with the modern reformed Malayalam orthography, put̪iya lipi, may favor more regular conjunct forms than older texts in paḻaya lipi, due to changes undertaken in the 1970s by the Government of Kerala.

• ല് (l) + ക (ka) gives us the ligature lka:

• ല് (l) + പ (pa) gives us the ligature lpa:

• ല് (l) + ല (la) gives us the ligature lla:

• ക് (k) + ഷ് (ṣ) + ല (la) gives us the ligature kṣla:

Malayalam letter Ḷa

Ḷa (ള) is a consonant of the Malayalam abugida. Like in other Indic scripts, Malayalam consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel or no vowel at all.

Malayalam Ḷa matras: Ḷa, Ḷā, Ḷi, Ḷī, Ḷu, Ḷū, Ḷr̥, Ḷr̥̄, Ḷl̥, Ḷl̥̄, Ḷe, Ḷē, Ḷai, Ḷo, Ḷō, Ḷau, and Ḷ.

Malayalam letter Chillu Ḷ

As is common in Indic scripts, Malayalam joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. There are several ways in which conjuncts are formed in Malayalam texts: using a post-base form of a trailing consonant placed under the initial consonant of a conjunct, a combined ligature of two or more consonants joined together, a conjoining form that appears as a combining mark on the rest of the conjunct, the use of an explicit candrakkala mark to suppress the inherent "a" vowel, or a special consonant form called a "chillu" letter, representing a bare consonant without the inherent "a" vowel. Texts written with the modern reformed Malayalam orthography, put̪iya lipi, may favor more regular conjunct forms than older texts in paḻaya lipi, due to changes undertaken in the 1970s by the Government of Kerala.

• ള് (ḷ) + ള (ḷa) gives us the ligature ḷḷa:

Malayalam letter Ḻa

Ḻa (ഴ) is a consonant of the Malayalam abugida. Like in other Indic scripts, Malayalam consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel or no vowel at all.

Malayalam Ḻa matras: Ḻa, Ḻā, Ḻi, Ḻī, Ḻu, Ḻū, Ḻr̥, Ḻr̥̄, Ḻl̥, Ḻl̥̄, Ḻe, Ḻē, Ḻai, Ḻo, Ḻō, Ḻau, and Ḻ.

Malayalam letter Chillu Ḻ

As is common in Indic scripts, Malayalam joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. There are several ways in which conjuncts are formed in Malayalam texts: using a post-base form of a trailing consonant placed under the initial consonant of a conjunct, a combined ligature of two or more consonants joined together, a conjoining form that appears as a combining mark on the rest of the conjunct, the use of an explicit candrakkala mark to suppress the inherent "a" vowel, or a special consonant form called a "chillu" letter, representing a bare consonant without the inherent "a" vowel. Texts written with the modern reformed Malayalam orthography, put̪iya lipi, may favor more regular conjunct forms than older texts in paḻaya lipi, due to changes undertaken in the 1970s by the Government of Kerala.

• ഴ് (ḻ) + ക (ka) gives us the ligature ḻka:

Odia independent and subjoined letter Ḷa.

Odia also has a second La character, ଳ (Ḷa). It is descended from the Siddhaṃ letter Ḷa. Like other Odia letters, ଳ has the inherent vowel "a", and takes one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel or no vowel at all.

Like the letter ଲ, ଳ generates conjuncts only by subjoining and does not form ligatures.