dark l

An impressionistic but commonly used term for a variety of LATERAL sound, where the RESONANCE is that of a back vowel of an [u] quality, as in the standard-English pronunciation of /l/ after VOWELS, before CONSONANTS, and as a SYLLABIC sound, e.g. pull, altar, bottle; it is opposed to CLEAR L. Alternatively, one might refer to this quality as a ‘velarized’ /l/, transcribing it  .