Environments of English Liquids

Though the English liquids /l/ and /r/ share similar properties, they do not share identical environments. They both combine with consonants, but the lateral combines with fewer consonants than the rhotic approximant does. Let us illustrate.

Many minimal pairs can be formed with the two liquids. Examples include lane/rain, alive/arrive and pool/poor. There are also many minimal pairs with consonant clusters such as fly/fry, play/pray, cold/cord and tools/tours. In certain cases, however, the liquids do not combine with the same consonants.

Only the rhotic liquid can combine with alveolar plosives. Examples include drive, train and tree. After a word-initial /st/, only the rhotic liquid is allowed. We can illustrate with words such as straight, straw and street. The rhotic liquid is also the only liquid that can occur after the alveopalatal fricative. This can be illustrated with words such as shrimp, shrine and shrink.

After the alveolar fricative only the lateral liquid can occur. Examples include sleep, slipper and slow. This is the only fricative which can be followed by the lateral but not by the rhotic. The alveolar fricative and the rhotic both share the same place of articulation. This is also the case with the lateral, but the lateral can be analyzed as [-continuant]. If this is the case, it patterns like a plosive, which is common after the alveolar fricative.

Liquids are consonants with a high degree of resonance. The English liquids /l/ and /r/ form many mimimal pairs, but their environments are not identical. Only the rhotic occurs after alveolar plosives and the alveopalatal fricative. However, only the lateral occurs after the alveolar fricative. One difference between the two liquids is that the lateral has a greater degree of closure in the oral cavity and may thus be considered [-continuant].