 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The
7 Y' B" X) g% yInitial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
2 g6 t! x3 e1 x- ?! qsyllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,! N4 C) Q5 `+ z Z% Q3 d) s
and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial
/ l5 s; P! r$ }# |9 ](or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
, [! i) F. A6 Xretroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).7 o& E" q7 u! g0 s6 @7 T$ e
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=* [! u( B3 O- u& U1 m* u
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
0 f A0 i" l1 ?, d) {4 G5 U% C(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
- @3 t% T) i) _6 w7 [retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
* t9 W9 N: ^% |: x; B2 lpossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
9 p7 m8 R3 A- j+ b* c4 L: x z5 f(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two& e, u. _" i- M" N8 x6 O
segments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
# \# V4 B6 R) O( l' g5 `" [semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
+ c7 a) e* p. B" Xend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
& e7 N' x3 b/ R1 | icompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,5 k6 \# n9 G1 T8 Z; ^
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..# |; W' r0 W' o- @* G
* |) ^5 W# L' {! R# {0 u/ I2 ](source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)
8 d. O6 {# K" ]% G$ K! G( i; \# |and American speakers of English, |
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