 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The
. Z9 H( x$ R0 v! g7 [: IInitial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the& r$ a- a( D3 X' Q
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,4 l: j, W4 U" Z, B/ L2 A
and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial
2 O6 x1 u5 L; L# _- K% S(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of8 p; p- a* `% D
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).% I7 w- C# q4 a& Y5 l7 @
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
* Q; j% W4 \- n" v[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
g7 a- d$ |, G(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving$ j7 r$ A, t7 T4 p# `, G) k' j
retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
. g/ b' v/ T1 B/ W, U7 {possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset, @; F, N1 P+ f" `5 W
(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
7 o5 q/ i9 [' H" j$ n9 T" dsegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
0 x$ M3 I j: Fsemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.3 @; j/ K9 \* g: j+ t. k' O H# Y
end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In! g1 ~. K8 y( M0 C
compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
( S# [, O) g- [* Z* fthe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..+ Z* k' c; k+ b9 M* Y
! w: n6 z) `$ ~2 y K(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)7 V% ?$ q7 L7 K
and American speakers of English, |
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