 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The6 h8 B; k" g! @* e
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the o/ f, z" S7 d4 m6 h- O0 y5 @
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
$ R+ ^4 y7 j4 [and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial4 P4 R5 L: w9 N9 ?7 i
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of, l' B' C3 \' ?, Y5 p
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).: K' F- M$ v+ w
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=; L+ D+ [! A4 i% S" R9 t1 p; [1 |
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
5 N; V8 T0 A+ D7 X(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving3 R W+ k6 w+ j! v5 Q
retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
$ p* o; I/ Y# q+ i M. g+ bpossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
. U9 t4 \0 P1 `% z(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
# K% p5 ^5 u8 |5 a' |$ Y+ csegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a, C& I4 b$ l0 U( [
semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
8 {* T# ^6 q Jend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In- G0 ~1 z$ ?) [& Q" }1 ? @# M2 A
compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,6 S9 S) r* H! R
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..% W* v r" {4 T! m
& U2 q7 L1 B |2 e) x5 p
(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)# K& d8 o2 W. i2 {' a8 c0 `
and American speakers of English, |
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