Words with Silent L- Everything You Need to Know
What are silent letters?
A silent letter in an alphabetical system of writing is a letter that in a word doesn’t really match any sound in the word’s pronunciation. A silent letter is typically represented with the null sign U+2205 EMPTY SET, in linguistics. A null segment is one that is unpronounced or unwritten. The symbol is similar to the Scandinavian letter as well as other symbols.
The significant number of silent letters is one of the notable characteristics of English spelling. Edward Carney differentiates between distinct types of “silent” letters, each of which presents readers with varying degrees of difficulty. The presence of many different silent letters is one of the most difficult features of English spelling and pronunciation.
Since English has developed from a variety of sources (Latin, Greek, French, German, Old English, and so on), it has had to absorb all of its predecessors’ spelling and pronunciation oddities. As a result, there have been numerous cases where specific letters have become silent. While it may appear that silent letters have no function in a word, this is not entirely true: silent letters can assist to separate two otherwise homophonous words, convey the meaning or origin of a word, or even aid in determining the overall sound of a word.
What is English Orthography?
The system of writing rules used to represent spoken English in written form is known as English orthography, and it allows readers to link the symbols to sound and interpretation. It covers spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation in English.
English spelling, like that of most other world languages, has a high level of standardization. When movable type was introduced to England in the late 15th century, this standardization began to emerge. Unlike other languages, however, practically every phoneme (sound) can be spelled in various ways, and most letters have multiple pronunciations depending on their position in a word and context.
What are silent consonants?
Silent consonants must be distinguished from a number of other consonant letters that are not pronounced correctly. Consonant letters that combine with a neighbouring letter to generate a sound that neither would make alone or to remove ambiguity about how the other letter should be pronounced are an important subset of these. The indicated sound will be a vowel if the other letter is a vowel; otherwise, it will be a consonant.
The letters “h,” “w,” and “y,” as in oh, cow, and toy, are examples of consonant letters that join with a vowel for these purposes and cannot be termed silent.
A consonant which is written as part of the spelling of a word without being pronounced is referred to as a “silent consonant” in the English spelling system.
If that’s the case, it’s not a feature unique to English, despite the fact that the English spelling system is infamous for it.
Numerous English words contain ‘silent letters,’ which are letters that are not uttered. Consider the distinctions between the words, ‘laughter’ and ‘daughter.’ You’ll notice that the word ‘laughter’ has a ‘f’ sound, but the word ‘daughter’ does not.
A silent letter is one that is written but not spoken. There are no common guidelines or recommendations for identifying a quiet consonant. In most circumstances, we must learn both the pronunciation and the meaning of the word. Let’s look at which letters can become silent and see if there are any trends.
What is a silent L?
Many of the silent letter related articles we’ve shared have followed simple, recurring patterns; for example, silent K always precedes an N. Silent L is a tad more difficult. It can be found in a variety of terms, most of which are fairly frequent. Many pupils attempt to pronounce these Ls, however, the L is absolutely silent in all of these nouns.
The L comes following an A in walk, chalk, and chat, and the vowel is pronounced like a short O. The AL is also present in half and calf, but the vowel is pronounced similarly to the short A in staff. The L occurs after OU in could, should, and would, and the sound is identical to the OO in good.
Study of origin.
A little example with the word ‘could’ might help understand the etymology of the silent letter ‘l’. As it should never have been there in the first place, the l> in “could” is silent.
The word is derived from the Middle English word “kunnan,” which in the 14th century was “kunde.” By analogy to “would” and “should,” where the /l/ is etymologically valid because of the forms “will” and “shall,” the
When is it used?
In a few words, the letter ‘l’ is silent when it comes before the letter ‘d’ in the same syllable.
In the following words, the letter ‘l’ is silent when it appears between the letters ‘a’ and ‘f’ in the same syllable. calf, half, calf, calf, calf, behalf
In some words, such as walk and talk, the letter ‘l’ is silent when it appears between the letters ‘a’ and ‘k’ in the same syllable.
In several words, the letter ‘l’ is silent when it appears between the letters, ‘o’ and ‘k’ in the same syllable.
people, yolk
In several words, the letter ‘l’ is silent when it appears between the letters, ‘u’ and ‘k’ in the same syllable. caulk, baulk
In the following words, the letter ‘l’ is silent when it appears between the letters ‘a’ and ‘m’ in the same syllable. Palm, balm
In a few words, the letter ‘l’ is silent when it appears between the letters ‘a’ and ‘v’ in the same syllable. In certain other words, the calve ‘l’ is also silent.
alms, haulm, almond, Holmes, Lincoln, Stockholm, and so on.
Examples.
Colonel is without a doubt the obscenest of the silent l words. The term has the same pronunciation as kernel, which is a noble and respectfully worded word. Could, should, and would are also silent, as are calf and half, chalk, chat, and walk, and for many people, calm, palm, and psalm.
E.g.- balm, calm, palm, almond, salmon, calf, half, chalk, walk, could, should, would, colonel,
