 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The
/ v% U, N: }, U; z+ N* x& ?Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the* h- D, d5 @; t! K
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in, U) g/ f# [( F, T: R! m/ f0 J* n
and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial& `3 x4 I' f6 ?7 _! y' i1 G
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of' q4 F& t/ G" r) L# q
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).4 ?- b4 z7 I7 S. E r) Q* I& G
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=- z- E2 C2 ?' V- Q# P. Q. [
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]: ]9 g7 X" e# J9 ]3 s2 I
(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
+ |1 H% z3 G4 e: J+ Pretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on+ W3 l% t/ Q+ P" Q; W
possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
7 ^7 z# n4 p$ W2 v! z(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
6 I" e, s' j5 Q5 T' ]6 X" fsegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
9 J4 q- N2 o! x) o2 a, csemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.& T: q5 J$ a8 y/ y0 e- k) j/ `* k# u3 r
end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
) _" X3 ]- K, j8 I+ X6 U& o& Lcompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
* M1 I; X. M4 v6 wthe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
. g7 ~0 [ M" ]" e0 n
( T; j4 U! Z: B+ h: C. J(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)
* I0 I$ i2 ~( S& {1 X$ Sand American speakers of English, |
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