 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The; w" A' V9 x1 n) s7 B# ^! s. {
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the# Q0 Q$ B1 |2 K4 D
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
D7 Y2 Y6 h. N) f0 Y$ ^: \% Uand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial
i# z. {; H2 f(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
4 d5 U c; x& H3 p) }, tretroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
% y/ h% y! _$ `3 UA Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=3 y6 e9 p% }- u) ^
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
3 C! g. D2 q) w1 j(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving8 y" q" L6 f" L( L3 D/ K
retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on) H9 i5 l3 c: z9 v
possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset( I; o7 f/ s. c% h, [
(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
5 s r- ~% c5 ], E$ S# Ssegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
6 X+ S# m% h+ J$ osemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
) Q9 z8 v" o5 K& k; ?2 Q' ]2 xend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
: i6 d8 H* ]% h5 [, s7 C1 `# rcompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,% e/ C" Y2 p/ J5 N
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
2 ?0 ?2 J. m$ W& b; d+ I# Z. X, S; u2 r+ i- L4 \. Q
(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)9 A& D* v2 ?2 t0 l
and American speakers of English, |
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