 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The% T$ ]; O7 q. V4 y, e" C' B ?3 _
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
+ b/ w* u* `/ O3 zsyllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,5 s" y# r3 t+ L: g) F$ f
and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial4 j! N# A; ~" y- q: } T/ X9 a
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
3 R0 S2 L% S( q& bretroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).8 K- p* ~7 d% ^( N5 _- S
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
$ c' R0 p: y) e6 k; I! q[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
4 n. r: ]1 l7 ~ c: w/ _& N9 T(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
" g" U2 l- f) W* dretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
' ]1 K1 k" }- ipossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
. _9 `3 g- Z+ f% \& ?0 y(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
# [0 k4 h& `+ B5 {5 N- |# ?segments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
8 k' [: w( s/ K2 O& \3 g" q. _8 Asemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
3 W7 B. k$ d' ]- |end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
1 W) T3 N) g/ ~compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,1 z0 W' F3 x! R" g7 Y# m
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..3 f% L5 n" w) v1 }7 z; c+ @ M
6 N4 o7 @0 G9 a- b" a0 C8 l9 w(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)# c5 {' W9 _- i0 [6 X
and American speakers of English, |
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