[en] A short wavelength (lambda=0.7 Aring) neutron scattering experiment has been performed on the II-VI compounds HgS, HgSe and Zn xHg 1-xTe. Liquid HgS can be viewed as a distortion of the blende structure; we show that this distortion decreases gradually with temperature. For Zn xHg 1-xTe, we show that the transition between the six coordinated HgTe liquid and the four coordinated ZnTe liquid is not continuous, the intermediate phase being a deformed cinnabar one