Both of these terms describe articulations that are mid - way between true consonants and vowels although they are both generally classified as consonants.

• A. Stops and Fricatives
• B. Liquids and Glides
• C. Nasals and Stops
• D. Affricates and Fricatives

Answer: (B)

The key idea here is that some articulations sit between the typical, more obstructed consonants and vowels because they let air flow with little turbulence and have high sonority. Liquids and glides are classic examples of this. Liquids (like the sounds commonly written as l and r) involve a constriction, but not enough to create friction or complete occlusion. The air streams smoothly around the tongue or through a narrow channel, giving a bright, vowel-like resonance while still functioning as consonants in syllable structure.

Glides (such as w and j) are produced with the articulators moving toward a vowel position, so the constriction is very open and dynamic, almost like a quick, smooth transition into a vowel. They behave like consonants because they occur at the edges of syllables and help link sounds, but their vowel-like openness and continuous airflow make them share properties with vowels.

Because these two groups behave as consonants in language systems yet share these vowel-like, open qualities, they’re described as mid-way between true consonants and vowels. Other groups, such as stops (with full closure), fricatives (with clear airstream friction), nasals (air through the nasal cavity), or affricates (a burst of stop added to a fricative), involve more definite obstruction or noise, so they’re not the same mid-way category.