Silent double-L?

[Joel S. Berson]

At 5/20/2010 01:23 PM, Alice Faber wrote:
>I wouldn't call that silent, though. In such words, double-L is
>pronounced [y], i.e., [pai-yard], not [pai-ard]. Lack of lateral
>articulation doesn't mean the L is silent.

Silent enough for government work.  My friend who asks is teaching
ESL, and has some Asian students with L and R difficulties.  So a Y
sound would qualify as a silent L.  (Perhaps I should have noted that
originally.)

 From the lack of examples, I infer that it exists in English only in
(a very few?) words taken from French.

Joel

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