 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The# g' t% p5 h4 e" L
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the) Q& q9 [& c* W" l& w' J
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,% g2 K- d. _) v& e) G
and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial
?5 T( e( c4 V9 @4 Y1 P(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
) I3 Q& v: ? W9 w9 iretroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
4 O4 f$ B( Q( |, t, K6 uA Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=2 x+ C, y4 w! l& h& j* c+ K
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]. l$ M ?+ k' _' n/ Q( |6 X
(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
' K8 u, l& Q& X) V1 n) F0 Cretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on/ R) d0 z) y* N, f
possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
5 e$ W. B) ?$ X D% S) v(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two" G6 v6 `# @7 v/ [0 l
segments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
( R: k) t' Z7 U+ P4 Y9 bsemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.! q) |+ e% z- Q# V. Z! C+ \
end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In9 L) j+ p2 k. |3 l' m# S
compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
5 Q* E, e$ I$ m5 ^the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..1 x* Y0 }* l |% }6 W1 [# C/ d# M2 i
3 u% g7 w0 }; C/ m2 u(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)
, b: e: ]* A* \" oand American speakers of English, |
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