L is also silent in could, should, would, as well as in calf and half, and in chalk, talk, walk, and for many people in calm, palm, and psalm.
In this American English pronunciation video, we're going to talk about the pronunciation of should, would, and could. These words all rhyme. The pronunciation is simpler than it looks; the L is silent. So they all have their beginning consonant, the UH as in BOOK vowel, and the D sound.
In walk, chalk, and talk, the L comes after an A, and the vowel is pronounced like a short O. Half and calf have an AL, too, but the vowel is pronounced like the short A in staff. In could, should, and would, the L comes after OU, and the sound is exactly like the OO in good.
k: knee, knit, knob, know, knuckle. l: calf, talk, could, should, would.
The 'l' was added in the early 16th century by analogy with should and would; this was probably helped by the tendency for 'l' to be lost in those words (and so not written, leading to shudd, wode, etc).
What is correct to say, “an” or “a” before the letter L? You use “a” before a word starting with “l”. An is for words starting with a vowel sound. Before the letter “L", use (the article 'a,' as in..
Do you pronounce the L in almond? That's the question asked by the Amond vs. Almond Project, a survey by University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. “Both pronunciations are technically correct,” the project's authors say on their website.
47: 'should,' 'could,' and 'would': /ʃʊd/, /kʊd/, /wʊd/ There /l/ is silent, and the vowel /ʊ/ is the same as the 'u' in the word 'put'.
But as Merriam-Webster Dictionary points out, one unusual letter is never silent: the letter V. While it makes an appearance in words like quiver and vivid, you can rest assured it always behaves the exact same way.
Silent “L” Patterns
If an “L” is found towards the end of the word, before the letters “f,” “v”, “k” and “m,” but after the letter “a,” then it's usually silent (behalf, calve, walk, almond).
Silent L words
The letter L is silent in the words including should, could, would, half, calf, chalk, talk, walk, folk, and yolk.
Rule: L is not pronounced after the vowels a, o and u. For example: calm, would, salmon. The exceptions to the rule are: halo, bulk, sulk, hold, sold, fold and mould.
F. While some people do in fact pronounce the second f in fifth, the first pronunciation given in our dictionary is the one that omits it. Overall, however, f is to be commended for its performance generally.
Even unusual letters like Z and J are silent in words that we have adopted from foreign languages, such as marijuana (originally a Spanish word) and laissez-faire (French). But as Merriam-Webster Dictionary points out, one unusual letter is never silent: the letter V.
Ezh (Ʒ ʒ) /ˈɛʒ/, also called the "tailed z", is a letter the lower case form of which is used in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), representing the voiced postalveolar fricative consonant.
How to Produce /ɒ/? To produce it, drop the jaw just a little and round the lips, unlike the unrounded /ɑ/ sound. Push your lips together and make a short, voiced sound. As you can see in the picture, the mouth is slightly more open than the /æ/ sound and less rounded than when producing the /ɔ/ sound.
Pronunciation: The sound /ʃ/ is a voiceless, alveo-palatal, fricative consonant. Lightly press the middle of your tongue between your alveolar ridge and your soft palate. The sides of your tongue should lightly touch your back upper teeth.