 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The" Z5 e8 Z7 _$ a" R
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
' X6 f* w+ z8 y( D% e3 [syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
0 W- h: V; e) E' g- Oand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial( C" S. i1 D: }8 \8 M, ?( H- g
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of5 L) z% L" J6 e! R& y! ^
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).8 B2 @! {( M0 p
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=9 \7 A; A8 S/ ? w( I. t
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
* ~0 ]" ~+ @# Y2 U( c* I(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving2 h5 Z0 C! z$ s: g* L C8 x. q& @
retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
# K& y0 t8 g/ A: R4 r& xpossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
' R& j$ d: z; `1 y% O( |(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
_, A$ @6 g F! m) M5 Qsegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
2 _% i6 h( j$ w0 ?' M- Usemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.' X( q1 G7 X+ p( N7 G
end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
4 i& J, l; n5 c( f* }/ mcompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
8 a- L2 R" i9 M+ E" m& l6 mthe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..2 K2 q7 a) S# y' g% k; r: `
; d" T: w+ N" y8 u1 P7 e( N
(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)0 ~3 j+ o# z9 B. \ e! h- B8 w
and American speakers of English, |
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