 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The
" l) K6 l) e1 QInitial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the8 ?8 ^5 h% Z6 m, ~# ?- F
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,4 m8 p& ^9 M/ {. a7 I$ u
and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial7 V C9 t& k# s- a/ R) o* \- v9 S
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
: F3 R/ t- x1 J6 {' w+ Iretroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).$ z. [" r: D: f/ W
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=4 p3 x- K: S1 b5 X) o- d
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
' f( }# T% y1 j. x( W- s7 B- U$ A(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving$ w% D/ Y. ^" U, P# m$ H; u! H
retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on6 s$ Z; \: C# O! E9 v! @: {0 u" @! P
possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset. O! \+ \0 n; p, L$ H1 o7 W4 q
(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
, I, x9 R# G3 Bsegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a8 Y9 s4 H: y- C' o; F# g* C. ?
semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
% i! W( G; z+ J" j }$ h$ _end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
7 i# p1 w/ B. [# w: Ccompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
" B6 R0 [& e0 t5 d# qthe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla.. p/ l8 W2 _! H; K
; U' O, p6 J% Y; m E5 e
(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)8 v- Z4 n& Q0 y* _/ T1 r
and American speakers of English, |
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