Editing Liquid consonant (section)

== Sonority and syllable structure ==
In the [[sonority hierarchy]], liquids are considered the most sonorous sounds after vowels and glides,<ref>{{Citation |last=Gordon |first=Matthew K. |title=Introduction |date=2016-04-01 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199669004.003.0001 |work=Phonological Typology |pages=1–16 |access-date=2023-12-28 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199669004.003.0001|isbn=978-0-19-966900-4 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> with laterals considered to be less sonorous than rhotics.<ref name=":82">{{Cite journal |last=Wiese |first=Richard |date=2011-04-28 |title=The Representation of Rhotics |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781444335262.wbctp0030 |journal=The Blackwell Companion to Phonology |pages=1–19 |doi=10.1002/9781444335262.wbctp0030|isbn=978-1-4051-8423-6 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> This explains why they are more likely to be part of consonant clusters than other consonants (excluding glides), and to follow [[obstruent]]s in initial [[consonant cluster]]s and precede them in final consonant clusters.<ref name=":5">{{Citation |last=Gordon |first=Matthew K. |title=Syllables |date=2016-04-01 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199669004.003.0004 |work=Phonological Typology |pages=83–122 |access-date=2023-12-28 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199669004.003.0004|isbn=978-0-19-966900-4 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Liquids also hold this position in the hierarchy of syllable peaks,<ref name=":5" /> which means that liquids are theoretically more likely to be [[Syllabic consonant|syllabic]] (or, in other words, be part of a [[syllable nucleus]]) than any other consonants,<ref>{{Citation |last=Anderson |first=Catherine |title=3.5 Syllabic Consonants |date=2018-03-15 |url=https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/essentialsoflinguistics/chapter/3-4-syllabic-consonants/ |work=Essentials of Linguistics |access-date=2021-02-02 |publisher=McMaster University |language=en}}</ref> although some studies show that syllabic nasals are overall more favoured.<ref name=":5" /> Thus [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]] and other Slavic languages allow their liquid consonants {{IPA|/l/}} and {{IPA|/r/}} to be the center of their syllables – as witnessed by the classic [[tonguetwister]] {{Langx|cs|[[strč prst skrz krk|st'''r'''č p'''r'''st sk'''r'''z k'''r'''k]]|label=none}} "push (your) finger through (your) throat." Additionally, Slovak also has long versions of these syllabic consonants, ŕ and ĺ, e.g.: ''kĺb'' [kɫ̩ːp] 'joint', ''vŕba'' [ˈvr̩ːba] 'willow', ''škvŕn'' [ʃkvr̩ːn] '(of) spots'. This is also true for [[General American English]] (see the words ''barr'''el''''' and ''anch'''or''''') and [[Regional accents of English|other English accents]].

Sequences of an [[obstruent]] and a liquid consonant are often ambiguous as far as [[syllabification]] is concerned. In these cases, whether the two consonants are part of the same syllable or not heavily depends on the individual language, and closely related languages can behave differently (such as Icelandic and Faroese).<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last1=Mailhammer |first1=Robert |last2=Restle |first2=David |last3=Vennemann |first3=Theo |editor-first1=Patrick |editor-first2=Joseph |editor-last1=Honeybone |editor-last2=Salmons |date=2015-04-07 |title=Preference Laws in Phonological Change |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199232819.013.032 |journal=Oxford Handbooks Online |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199232819.013.032|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In Latin and Ancient Greek, obstruent + liquid consonant clusters (known as ''muta cum liquida'')<ref name=":82" /> supposedly were ambiguous in this sense, and as such were often used to manipulate meter.<ref name=":9" />