Final answer:
Option (a), In Anglo-Saxon, 'kn' would have been pronounced as "/kn/" with both letters spoken. In Modern English, the 'k' is silent, resulting in the pronunciation "/n/".
Step-by-step explanation:
The pronunciation of 'kn' in Anglo-Saxon (Old English) is different from Modern English. Historically, both the 'k' and the 'n' would have been pronounced (/kn/). Over time, the pronunciation evolved, and in Modern English, the 'k' became silent, leading to just the 'n' sound being pronounced (/n/). When 'k' is followed by 'n' at the beginning of a word in present-day English, we usually do not pronounce the 'k', so the correct answer is /n/.
When analyzing the pronunciation of the sound [k] in different contexts, we see that the [k] sound can be spelled in various ways such as , , , and others. It is important to note that the positioning of the [k] sound, whether at the beginning, middle, or end of a word, as well as the letters surrounding it, influence its spelling. For instance, ankle contains a [k] sound with a consonant right before it, thus it is spelled in this case. On the contrary, in words like tackle, which have a short stressed vowel right before the [k] sound, it is spelled as .
Additionally, in words ending with [k], if there is a long vowel or digraph preceding it, such as in 'bake' or 'book', the [k] is often spelled as . However, if there is a short vowel sound spelled with a single letter in front of it, like 'back', the final [k] is usually spelled or .