 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
|
Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The: J/ @3 u" Y) b6 M
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
- {+ L6 R. k7 ssyllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
9 s& K9 i* `0 q' S4 Q0 aand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial4 x0 a/ D1 y# [- I+ g5 r
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
. v. h4 ?& c6 @. _' _- v$ ^' h3 |( Fretroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).' c2 ?" j& v/ ?0 r- N2 a1 G* [" a
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
3 i' h C& S) r. |/ D# I( m' Y[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]) {; b: n# b! x b) U1 N2 L' G
(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
q* n0 g1 v" J0 [4 h! Gretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on6 h6 Q* [8 p# J" g( o8 q- s
possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
/ D- Q+ q$ x: C6 o+ c8 H: M8 O1 O(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two4 `6 T& u) s7 P7 p9 ]' U6 U f# j
segments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
7 H* @' _0 ^; C" @5 `. Tsemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
1 C# R# l+ X7 V2 L1 wend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
) F+ s$ [1 g! Z) R- {9 P- Ncompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
. m2 e6 h/ V) a: G( K! r0 qthe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
; }6 |) H& w% Y- g3 s- \: T
/ l; w4 L. X4 X- |(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)+ u+ W& a, {! [' \. q/ i; B
and American speakers of English, |
|