 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The
8 ^) Y3 \: I! U+ Y/ S3 V' q. {Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
. y! n* V& j- ~' msyllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
d6 ]6 B/ Q: Z- I: w. r6 Y( E) band uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial
, y; W5 y+ u! t(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
5 S9 ^# Y2 M0 h b9 rretroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).+ J" J5 I; { [- l H1 j9 i
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=- O f* f: _/ w* }! T3 y
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]. a2 a t p/ V( P5 w. M( N
(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
^7 ^( L" [ y/ l; mretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on# T' `- @' |% y$ x) W
possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
/ R, t4 d" @! c. t(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
5 g+ l+ F- j! Z0 o* msegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a! x: P2 _+ C& B/ H8 l
semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.. \, R+ y! d& y( ^
end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
. {9 B! }/ j4 scompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
; ~- Z( r3 G) o4 |. \4 A- ithe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla... ?7 j P. l) K% Y5 }; w
' b4 ~/ p1 R- o: C7 B/ U(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)0 [) R, v7 I# S2 B8 e
and American speakers of English, |
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