 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The
! |$ `/ ?1 Y/ _8 N6 A7 rInitial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
. k5 ~! O) \) n5 W7 Y) S* G9 |" Wsyllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,: E6 l8 Z. J4 U. s( P
and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial, m+ i# k! U! G( r
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of3 x# G4 V; i7 G* u% o
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).5 m2 C) H4 E# s6 D
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
6 N+ ]9 h* f1 o0 s. |7 e[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
/ S- i4 A2 c9 S7 C8 c(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
5 I7 q6 j( e5 u6 a# e& U8 kretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
( N8 \& Y& E; _possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
; [& h5 S: h7 ^(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two- G8 R3 Z1 i& u- d
segments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
" e4 m2 {% g, esemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
, E, F1 a! M2 ?9 C& Uend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
/ ^( x- a& M/ q: G p; B6 z. Kcompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,8 Y6 p4 S4 F# P2 _8 h8 S( w
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
0 F- H; m: k4 h# [1 z) Y P4 {0 J. F
(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)5 C" V$ M! b/ u
and American speakers of English, |
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