What commonly observed pattern in young children involves changing the sounds of liquids to glides?

Liquid gliding is a phonological process that is commonly observed in young children, where they change the sounds associated with liquid consonants, such as /l/ and /r/, to glide consonants like /w/ and /j/. For instance, a child might say "wabbit" instead of "rabbit" or "yelo" instead of "yellow." This process is considered a normal part of speech development and typically resolves as a child matures and gains more control over their articulation skills.

In this context, liquid gliding specifically addresses the transformation of liquid sounds, making it the most accurate choice. The other processes listed, such as diminutization, cluster reduction, and velar fronting, refer to different phonological patterns that involve other types of sound changes. Diminutization involves altering a word to make it sound smaller or more endearing, cluster reduction deals with simplifying consonant clusters, and velar fronting refers to the substitution of sounds produced at the back of the mouth with sounds produced at the front. These processes do not encompass the specific changes that take place with liquid sounds as seen in liquid gliding.