 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The
' w5 w- B! j s1 M' {Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
/ |/ E6 i) ?) Y3 L9 q4 g6 Xsyllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
' W9 D4 Y/ {; E% F1 ?; B: Mand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial. {! a; I4 N; z, C1 g
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of4 h" l1 C. }' l. c. {* S0 G% u
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
6 O }0 f, {- f6 sA Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=4 E3 V, I# I1 W! i3 T
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
9 K8 l8 z' B) f3 {3 ?) w(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
- G5 s2 B% z2 L; Y! g$ ~retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on/ f* A0 U! m/ m
possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
% |* A, V, q5 _: A# a8 O2 k, b(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two( q* I( A7 |- G( k
segments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a, B: T4 S7 T6 n2 b8 w. t% F
semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
- B% q7 V6 `5 |* \5 i; U! ]; Rend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In+ k1 @4 u- l( w7 t8 s
compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
. F D# O' _8 c7 f5 t$ fthe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
$ X0 Y; E( Y/ l2 v: {; B3 H+ b6 }% f
(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)' q* u- |* h) e4 z4 {
and American speakers of English, |
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