Syllabic Liquids in Croatian

Many languages have syllabic liquids. In Croatian, however, the lateral is only syllabic in loanwords such as spektakl (spectacle) and bicikl (bicycle). The trill, however, is often syllabic. Here are Croatian words in which the alveolar trill is syllabic:

brdo (hill)

brz (fast)

crn (black)

grm (brush)

krv (blood)

mrkva (carrot)

prst (finger)

srce (heart)

vrhnje (cream)

vrt (garden)

In Croatian the alveolar trill is often syllabic but the lateral is usually not. In Czech and Slovak, however, both are often syllabic. Polish is a related language but has no syllabic consonants. As the examples illustrate, Croatian has many words with the syllabic trill.