 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The/ p- R. S m4 v2 z6 _
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
( T7 ]) w* ~! v$ G1 o! Q5 jsyllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
5 v3 s- e4 z% R- r) N& Cand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial! {/ Y! k a N- P5 w1 h
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
% C7 `2 Q$ L8 Tretroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
* O% T& `7 m, p3 v& j6 n7 H3 A; b3 G) aA Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=% u; Z( e, B+ K
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]3 F+ S' t; \- E- u! X w# a
(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving8 n6 @) c7 E& o
retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
9 G4 g$ K) v) m& D; o! a3 xpossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset# N8 E' M% s! n2 q0 [# a
(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
# [7 ~2 W4 M: D$ M- o3 wsegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
# Q/ n7 |* q# A. r& {6 m+ o$ ssemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.4 {% Q4 W& h& e1 B/ M
end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In% v8 b- M2 o# |1 P% H; A$ K4 Y* H) \
compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,( f/ u) I9 ?4 v" [( D0 W
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
5 {5 Y O) ?. q. v6 F8 {
3 x# e! s- q9 {' P5 R0 o(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch), D/ f% O Y. J5 f" Z' ` L1 u
and American speakers of English, |
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