Is it correct to pronounce the word vulnerable with a silent L?
Les, NSW Vulnerable originally meant having power to wound; wounding it derives from a Latin verb meaning to wound (from Latin vulnus, wound). So yes, the [l] should be pronounced. But this sound is very susceptible to change, and has a long history of instability. And Im not just talking about peculiarities of proper names like Cholmondley and Marylebone. The history of [l] is one of spectacular disappearance acts, and equally of spectacular arrivals in quite unexpected places. For a start l has a history of disappearing between vowels made in the back of the mouth and consonants made either with the lips (like [m, f]) or with the back of the tongue (like [k]). Conveniently for us, our spelling is conservative and preserves evidence of the earlier pronunciation think of words like calm, balm, calf, half, walk and talk. The [l] was probably on the way out sometime around 1500 (we can guess this from early spellings of walk for instance as wauk). You see, l typically turns into a vowel-
