Liquids

Here we have information about liquids. We will define what a liquid is, show you some examples of words that contain a liquid, and even provide audio recordings so that you can listen to these examples, solidifying your overall understanding of liquids.

Liquids are almost vowel-like, and they are caused by the tongue creating a slight closure in the mouth. There are different types of liquids, including retroflex and lateral. Classifications are dependent on the tongue’s position in the mouth.

Two sounds that are classified as liquids include r and l, which are both notated on the IPA chart of American English consonants.

A couple of examples of words that contain these sounds are “Root” and “Lag.” Below you can see their IPA transcriptions with the liquid indicated by a color.

We have also recorded these words for your convenience. For each example, you will first hear the pronunciation of the liquid, followed by the word.

Root = [rut]

Lag = [læg]

More Information

American English IPA Consonants
Go here to view all of the American English IPA consonants in their sound classification chart.

Glides
Go here to learn about the next type of obstruction on our list.