In cockney speech the [l] is sometimes lost, through no contact taking place; _tail_ is pronounced [tæjɔ] or something similar, with a very open [ɔ] (see § 43) in place of [l], and after consonants also the final _l_, as in _giggle_, is very liable to disappear. This recalls the treatment of final _r_ in standard English. In careless speech the [l] also disappears in _only_ and in _all right_.
_Colonel_ is pronounced [kəːnəl]; the older spelling _coronel_ explains this.
Notice that when [l] comes next to a voiceless sound, it may become partly or wholly voiceless [l̥]. Thus _clear_ becomes [kl̥iːə], _halt_ [hɔl̥t]. The friction becomes noticeable then; try to utter [l̥] and observe this. The voiceless sound is the familiar Welsh _ll_.
In _bubble_, _riddle_, etc., we may have syllabic _l_ [l̩]. Compare what was said about syllabic _m_ in § 22, and about syllabic _n_ in § 24.
The _l_ is not pronounced in _calf_, _half_, _salve_,[38] _balk_, _caulk_, _chalk_, _falcon_,[39] _folk_, _stalk_, _talk_, _walk_, _yolk_, _almond_, _alms_, _balm_, _calm_, _palm_, _psalm_, _qualm_, _salmon_, _solder_, _should_, _would_, _could_ (where it is not etymologically justified); _golf_ is usually [gɔlf], but also [gɔf][3], and rarely [gɔːf].[40]
It was said above that for [l] we let the breath pass out at both sides of the mouth; but, as a matter of fact, most people let it out only on one side. On which side does it pass out in your own case? Is the same true of your whole family? Ascertain which is the usual side in the case of friends.
=34. Front continuants.=--Watch with your mirror what the tongue does when you utter the word _he_. You see that it rises in front. Raise it a little more, until the passage becomes quite narrow; the vowel will pass into the sound which we have at the beginning of _yes_ [jes], and which we also have in _sue_ [sjuːw], for which see § 45. As a rule the friction is very slight, and indeed hardly perceptible to the ear; but in the slowly uttered, deliberate _yes_ the friction can often be heard very distinctly. The sound is also noteworthy as being, like [w] and [ɹ], "gliding," not "held" (see §§ 26, 32). In careless speech it sometimes passes into [ʒ] after [d]; _during_ is pronounced [dʒuwriŋ] instead of [djuwriŋ], the _dew_ becomes [dʒuw], _it made you start_ [it mei dʒu stɑːt]. _Soldier_ is regularly pronounced [souldʒə], not [souldjə]; and _verdure_, _grandeur_, have both pronunciations, [djə] being preferred by careful speakers.
