 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The' Z; o" G3 U" v7 |
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
) x" g0 v2 b3 @3 ~" k' t5 q! \. Msyllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,! G' u% @. L% W J
and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial$ d) C; a: x7 l
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
n Q4 D+ g0 I' m1 Yretroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).8 h) j- s: F- N
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
+ u0 x S* t7 a[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
% g$ S! D0 [4 S(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving( U- ? d7 H0 ` E8 {$ z
retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
" `8 b" ~1 B% M1 Z, V7 |possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset7 _& n8 V+ a/ t% U9 s
(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
/ L0 }4 R- O. p9 P1 Dsegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
|6 V2 c0 s9 b2 k( e Esemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.8 J& D/ h; ? M. a5 X+ [
end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
. g1 c8 m) W6 e2 p$ ]compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
; B4 I& q5 }/ sthe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
) u' R# |4 b1 Y$ y- i: B
3 h& d8 C8 h1 J) C2 d(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)/ @1 m- u1 M, K/ C5 B; L
and American speakers of English, |
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