I’ve never heard the L pronounced in those words. But it wasn’t until a thread on the subject that I discovered the L in “almond” is silent. I could have sworn before that I heard it.
No, it isn’t. (At least, in the U.S.)
Actually, there are regional dialects. I was listening to the radio one day, driving from L.A. to Bellingham, and it took me a while to figure out what these ‘ammins’ were that the ‘Ammin’ Board of California guy was talking about.
Stop muddying the waters! Sheesh, just when I think I’ve got it figured out. 
But I like Muddy Waters!
What is it with the zombie folk waking the zombie yolks today?
The guys who actually grow AHL-monds pronounce it AA-mond. You’ll hear that all throughout the Central Valley around Modesto.
PA, DE, and OH here. I say the L, but I guess it is a soft L, if there is such a thing.
Wisconsin in 2006 isn’t the same as WI in 2015. Y’know?
Yep. I’d never heard them called anything else, for almost 40 years, but ‘all-munds’. It really did confuse me, hearing the guy talk about ‘ammins’.
As for the OP, I consider there to be a partial “L” pronounced in “folk”. Maybe 25 -50% of the sound. Folk and Poke rhyme, more or less, but they are not pronounced quite the same, for me. Certainly the German cognate, “volk” has a voiced “L”. For instance, to say “foke music” almost sounds like “fake music” rather than “folk music”.
“Yolk” otoh, has a silent “L”, such that YOLK and YOKE are pronounced the same.
Not for me. One would know whether I was talking about the yellow part of an egg, or the thing a pilot controls an airplane with.
Of course not. The fear is sounding like a yolkel.
This thread reminds me of an old enunciation test:
The hyphens indicate that one is to spell out the word concerned to the test taker.
[ol][li]How do you say p-o-k-e?[/li][li]How do you say f-o-k-e?[/li][li]How do you say s-o-a-k?[/li][li]How do you say t-o-k-e?[/li][li]How do you say c-o-k-e?[/li]What do you call the white part of an egg?[/ol]
[quote=“Monty, post:53, topic:359198”]
This thread reminds me of an old enunciation test:
The hyphens indicate that one is to spell out the word concerned to the test taker.
[ol][li]How do you say p-o-k-e?[/li][li]How do you say f-o-k-e?[/li][li]How do you say s-o-a-k?[/li][li]How do you say t-o-k-e?[/li][li]How do you say c-o-k-e?[/li][li]What do you call the white part of an egg?[/ol][/li][/QUOTE]
That reminds me of an old ‘trick’:
How do you pronounce t-w-a?
How do you pronounce t-w-e?
How do you pronounce t-w-i?
How do you pronounce t-w-o?
How about President Polk? I’ve always called him “Poke.”
What are you trying to pull? Exactly nobody pronounces the l in yolk. Folk either way, but the positioning of the tongue (coming from the yo-) makes a phonetic pronunciation of yolk not just unconventional but really difficult to utter.
Sorry, the president called and he wants his “L” back. 
North-eastern UK perspective
Poke, soak, yolk, folk, coke, all rhyme for me.
Polk would be different as the “l” would be pronounced
cork, walk, talk, caulk, hawk, lawk(s!) also rhyme
Baulk does not, the “l” is definitely pronounced.
In fact, “Baulk” and “Polk” would also rhyme for me.
Does the dance called “polka” have a pronounced “l”? For me it sure does. And “Polk”, like the president, sounds the same as “polka” minus the final “a”.
The positioning of the tongue is different, thus the sounds are different.