 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The" K) h9 i$ ], b6 F* _
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the$ U1 Q( A9 m& S& p: J9 A2 Y
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,# W1 y6 D2 @( `: W4 W z& K! T
and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial
3 j4 [! I" [1 w1 G(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
' E# a0 K# V% f+ Hretroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
" L6 k2 C; m- V4 CA Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
3 [ ?, q9 \9 k! ]; z7 N[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]$ n6 R" Z" c+ N
(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
' K9 S6 W. {9 Z' qretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
2 Z8 ]" b0 E0 E1 }" zpossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
* n o \9 T# ^+ a; q0 C, @(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
8 ^) _/ m6 S j% q$ Z$ q! Psegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a: T2 T) u. j3 d
semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
/ G) d3 q( r, Mend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
0 D* t; Q& s" d- @/ [1 _3 ?. wcompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
7 k( m+ G% I4 A. y3 h* K( ythe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..7 x3 B& l0 e$ ?7 b# `' B4 f
& |) w% ~- A. w( `( ^(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)
. k [( p0 Y' o* {2 \ t1 p p band American speakers of English, |
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