 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The
; F) C$ r2 o9 i* N. r* r. TInitial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
+ U' q5 x! _6 @' @: K0 m) Msyllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
9 t6 ?( Y2 N2 V5 X9 o2 oand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial
! Q8 r# V8 O8 E1 ^1 @(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
) _* X$ v5 M4 ?$ r8 Nretroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’)., @. z8 |0 T6 E/ w! k q5 L
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
- w6 a/ I8 H& W( l9 ~. {[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
0 t+ n; L4 n: K/ N1 A(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving' r& H( U; v* U4 ~* {1 Y
retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
. J. \$ D! s# y- W1 t" Wpossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset9 G6 C/ G: z$ c' z* L- I
(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
9 _0 W7 O6 A. Ksegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a. }" }8 D& }4 i! Z
semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.# g9 G" X$ ^4 {4 A! c, l3 C
end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In3 `9 i: {+ v' F) M5 t5 ~9 w
compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,3 A8 A2 d( u5 v1 \
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..9 a4 V/ ^) Y1 x4 ^
. Y3 H, p z9 v9 t(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch) r4 l6 ~/ y; u" X" B( m4 G5 s
and American speakers of English, |
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