 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The/ d( a" Y4 N6 g% c( a
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the( ?' t2 B& X( }& r, h+ ]
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
/ V+ Z- `/ D! R$ N" v2 D. Z* n* m2 iand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial0 w; a. L+ E" S, ?' J. c. |- d/ K
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of1 G% p" X( e5 b' Z# H: i
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
9 T. U) c4 c8 j* o* {A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
4 w" d* Y( y5 c2 O[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]5 D" N$ k2 F% Y( B( [
(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving$ F. T. u% R1 i: q
retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on. B* p" C8 N& a/ E( j1 ~3 q9 l
possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
5 `: A$ _$ p( M e(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two3 ?/ w5 S( I; c3 U5 P
segments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
( b9 a" b/ S6 o1 Gsemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
9 h- I0 `! Q$ J- v* F, i9 p3 fend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
% h/ e4 H, ^! gcompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
+ T' D3 q' o4 }4 ?! uthe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
; O( D/ ?2 i% ^! F9 X* S* @. N0 S: c3 L; [
(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)
3 Z( q- |8 e8 V. G9 }" C/ W) _and American speakers of English, |
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