L·L l·l — ela geminada
«ela geminada» is a digraph of Valencian, the “the Valencian Latin alphabet” script, read as “a long doubled l, held”. Two l in a row: start the first, finish the second — the sound stretches. For example, in the word “intel·ligent” — intelligent. The Valencian alphabet has 35 letters in total. The only mid-word dot in Europe: intel·ligent, il·lusió. Lose the dot and the word changes: cel·la is a cellar, cella is an eyebrow. It appears, for example, in the word “l'al·lèrgia” — allergy.
In short
| Character | L·L l·l |
| Name | ela geminada |
| Sound | a long doubled l, held |
| What it is | a digraph |
In our course the character comes 15th of 35: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ll and m, appears in 26 words of this site.
How it sounds
Two l in a row: start the first, finish the second — the sound stretches
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- intel·ligentintelligent
The character in the “the signature signs” group
ç is the only letter with a cedilla, l·l the only mid-word dot in Europe. The letter pairs are not letters, but without them you cannot read so much as a menu.
Words with this character
- l'al·lèrgiaallergy
- la pel·lículafilm
- presentar una sol·licitudto file an application
- instal·lar-seto settle in
- la cancel·lació de la reservabooking cancellation
- han cancel·lat el volthe flight was cancelled
- la sol·licitud oficialofficial request
- tinc al·lèrgia als fruits secsI'm allergic to nuts
- registrar la sol·licitudto file a request
- instal·lar l'aplicacióto install an app
- cancel·lar la citato cancel the meeting
- la novel·lanovel
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «ela geminada» it is “a long doubled l, held”, as in the word “intel·ligent”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 35 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Valencian character l·l read?
As “a long doubled l, held” — it is a digraph of the “the Valencian Latin alphabet” script. Two l in a row: start the first, finish the second — the sound stretches. For example, in the word “intel·ligent” — intelligent.
What is the letter l·l called?
Ela geminada. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Valencian script: it is called “ela geminada” and reads as “a long doubled l, held”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can l·l be confused with?
The only mid-word dot in Europe: intel·ligent, il·lusió. Lose the dot and the word changes: cel·la is a cellar, cella is an eyebrow. Similar characters are best studied side by side and deliberately compared: learned on different days, they stay separate and get mixed up at their first meeting inside a word.