So, this came up in the recent silent letter post in the comment section. Looking up pronunciations of talk gives things like:
/tɔːk/per oxforddictionaries.com, Google's definition page (on this url) and one of the two definitions on thefreedictionary.com/tôk/per Google definition page (on this url) and one of two definitions on thefreedictionary.com/ˈtȯk/per merriam-webster.com
Now, I am far from an expert in reading these phonetic writing systems, but I am pretty sure at least two of those do not contain any 'l' sound. And when playing the audio version on all except the last link I am not hearing an 'l' sound either. Sooo, I am assuming these pronunciations are somehow localized, yet I am unable to figure out who is saying it which way?
Best Answer
In standard pronunciation the l is silent in "talk/walk" and similar words (see list above). This is a matter of simplification of pronunciation. After the long vowel /o:/ (this is not the correct phonetic sign) the consonant group lk is regularly simplified to /k/ as the clear pronunciation of /l+k/ would be cumbersome.