:Lateral release:

A type of plosive release where the compressed air is released by lowering the side(s) of the tongue rather than removing the closure on the mid-line of the vocal tract. Lateral release is most common when plosives immediately precede homorganic lateral sounds, as in the English words little and middle. The diacritic often used to represent lateral release is a small raised l following the plosive symbol as in tl