Legal Writing

Pronouncing Words That End in -lm

By Maeve Maddox

Not many one-syllable English words end in the letters -lm. Sometimes the l in them is pronounced; sometimes it isn’t.

Here’s a list of the most common -lm words, together with the pronunciation in the phonetic notation given at Answers.com. Many Americans pronounce all of these words with an l.

alms [ämz]
balm [bäm]
calm [käm]
elm [?lm]
embalm[?m-bäm']
film [f?lm]
helm [h?lm]
palm [päm]
psalm [säm]
qualm [kwäm]
realm [r?lm]
whelm [hw?lm]

These pronunciations all agree with those given in the OED.

Additionally, the OED acknowledges U.S. pronunciations with the sound of l for palm, psalm, and qualm.

Merriam-Webster uses the symbol ] to indicate a sound that “facilitates the placement of variant pronunciation.” For example, ?ä]mz. This symbol, which seems to indicate an “almost l,” is used for the first pronunciation given for alms, balm, calm, embalm, palm, psalm, and qualm. The pronunciation with a full l sound is given as an alternate: also ]lm.

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Full post as published by Daily Writing Tips on August 20, 2010 (boomark / email).