Such sounds are transcribed in the IPA with a superscript ⟨l⟩, for example as [tˡ] in English spotless [ˈspɒtˡlɨs].
In Old English words such as middle/middel in which, historically, the tongue made separate contacts with the alveolar ridge for the /d/ and /l/,[citation needed] [ˈmɪdəl], many speakers today make only one tongue contact.
While this is a minor phonetic detail in English (in fact, it is commonly transcribed as having no audible release: [ˈspɒt̚lɨs], [ˈmɪd̚l̩]), it may be more important in other languages.
In most languages (as in English), laterally-released plosives are straightforwardly analyzed as biphonemic clusters whose second element is /l/.
According to Peter Ladefoged and Ian Maddieson,[1][page needed] the choice between one or another analysis is purely based on phonological convenience—there is no actual acoustic or articulatory difference between one language's "laterally-released plosive" and another language's biphonemic cluster.