 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The. E7 Y5 @" b3 }6 O2 m
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
7 A) F2 i3 E4 ~5 ysyllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
1 K. a; I- |8 i* r# Q! `8 nand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial
; P& U; G, w5 g% h+ U( P8 Q' |(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
( e( d1 [/ U: \$ j# Hretroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).: H! C: H; M" o8 d+ r0 _
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=0 x0 U5 C* t( h2 s1 h# ]7 }
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
, _, Z1 r7 W! ~3 w(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
; c) P$ l% K4 oretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
2 L9 @; { Q. hpossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
9 |" T% o6 R# h4 K, d6 B& j: r(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two9 j: t: [" E2 b5 p
segments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
% F. Z& Z/ S+ U' x& {semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
* N, U7 p+ X7 H+ G% G6 I/ y# M$ Yend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
6 {. F" |1 W O: x- }compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
4 @) ?5 L5 \. dthe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
" c& v; h* H5 h" d* r6 W
6 o1 g/ m4 ?. \; `( I, a* O(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)" I' p. I2 X0 ]0 ^/ p6 l
and American speakers of English, |
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