I appreciate ** acsenray** and ** Hari Seldon**'s comments and explanations. I am clearly unable to articulate my thoughts today. :smack:
I’ll only add one more question to this hijack:
When people (usually entertainers) work to lose their accent, what (or whom?) are they striving to sound like?
Is this specifically Brits, or in general? In the case of British actors, there’s the slightly-dismissive descriptions such as ‘RADA accent’ and ‘RSC accent’ for those who have acquired a generic upper-middle-class sound which doesn’t occur naturally in any part of the country or in any other walk of life. There was a time when stage schools would hammer all traces of regional accents out of students, but now there’s more recognition of the value of versatility - it does somebody no harm to retain their natural voice provided that they can mimic others accurately.
It’s the difference between what’s known as the “clear l” (as in leap, lead) and “dark l” (as in bell, bill, bull). Here’s some detail:
Russian and Polish are languages that have the “clear l” and “dark l” as distinct phonemes in their consonantal inventories, unlike English. Russian лекарство (lekarstvo, “medicine”) and лампа (lampa, “lamp”) begin with a “clear l” and a “dark l”, respectively.
This varies a lot based on the specific ad hoc needs of the entertainer. Georgia peach Andie McDowell worked to lose her Southern accent for Greystoke, while British actress Cate Blanchette strove to pick up a similar accent for The Gift.
Just keep in mind, people might speaking of “losing” an accent, but what they’re really trying to do is obtain a different accent. Exactly which accent they obtain depends on whose speech they, individually, choose to model (It might be an accent coach) and depends on the demands of a specific job.
If you’re a baseball fan, think about the way Pete Rose says “like.” It’s almost as if he’s swallowing the first “l.” It sounds distinctive, because most American accents reserve that sound for the end of a word and use the regular “l” sound for the beginning of a word.
I’ve been to the USA on 6 separate occasions and to be honest with you the only difference in accents I noticed was in those from the South, Alabama to be precise.
A really nice soothing draaaaawl that went on forever.
“By the 'eck lad”
I’m sorry. I tried my best to understand that Wikipedia article (I’m not a linguist), and I still don’t get it. I pronounce the “L” in all five of your sample words alike, and Wikipedia doesn’t seem to have any audio files to aid in understanding. I tried paying attention to my tongue as I said those words, and it seems to be in exactly the same place in my mouth.
Do you know of a site that has sample audio where I could hear the difference?
Hang on, Wombat … I’m looking for some sound samples. If you don’t produce the differences in your own speech, though, you may have difficulty distingishing them by ear.
Consider, though, that you may well use the either the “clear l” or the “dark l” for pretty much every instance of “l”. It could be part of your accent 
OK, Wombat … try this site. There are sound samples of various types of “l’s”, and then at the very bottom, there are side-by-side pronunciations of the word “play” with a “clear l” and a “dark l”, to demonstrate the distinction.
And Texas.
Apparently every single person in Cali’s recently sold at least one house for $500,000 more than they paid for it, and now they’re intent on inflicting their insane real estate prices on the rest of us.
Go Away!
Take a listen to this interview with Pete Rose. Pete Rose uses the “dark” or “liquid” l sound in almost every position. Listen to how he says “glad,” “Fort Lauderdale,” “Charlie Hustle,” “left,” “fly,” “plays,” “lot more,” etc.