Homework - Words with a silent L

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Last week 8 year old dd had to write a list of words with a silent k. I thought that was ok homework as dd was able to use her dictionary to write the list - given all the words start with a k.

This week it's the silent L - and actually, it's not that straightforward.... And I say that as a highly educated professional who writes every day!

We looked on the internet and there are some words which are listed as having a silent l by some sources, where the l is now actually pronounced by some people - balm, palm, calm, almond....

Anyway, dd and I had an interesting discussion about this, but I don't think the teacher really thought this out!

I would say almond in the same way as you (and so does the OED)

Perhaps I should show this to the teacher!!

Phew... I am glad I can continue saying aLmond!!!!

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who found them self saying "Yoyds" !

TheOpaqueAndJelliedTruth
Re 'walk', 'talk' with a possible /l/ sound, instead of just 'wauk, tauk'.

isn't it possible you just can't hear it?

Perhaps, but a little unlikely. My hearing of spoken sounds is probably a bit above average, as i've managed to learn to speak 6 languages, including Russian, pretty well.

And people are usually very surprised to learn that i did not start learning English till the age of 14.
That's why i could not help but notice how unusual English spelling is, and how much harder it makes learning to read and write than with more phonemic spelling systems.