 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The& u8 F9 }" l9 B5 L$ i
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
! j0 a: [" T" u0 z+ m/ w7 u7 @syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
1 C7 d: E: `$ _ n+ V$ ]' r2 C& S3 kand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial4 ?: d- D& K$ g+ ~
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
7 ?' r7 x9 v3 `( ^/ Yretroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).8 v+ S- o1 T- i! H; \
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
9 e2 W; q/ o, P$ |6 ^+ x! u[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
' ^. u4 d r& P5 n(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving3 ^6 O' M) F+ L9 Q
retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on* X7 C1 T- T7 B: I0 p
possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset: Z% ^1 m+ x$ v" V# @$ O% A
(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
( a- `9 V7 W+ o0 ~$ [3 Vsegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
1 N2 s7 Z* g9 H2 o6 @" c& U9 @# Jsemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.$ G0 @/ y! d2 z: ~8 i9 G1 f0 [
end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In' j; X# w) ~% J
compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
' I" O# Q3 N; c+ I, t0 P: m( tthe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
5 `1 Z: I) H5 x- v% `$ B& i+ @: I( K- ]: x1 q% U
(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)
9 M* o9 l- F h. K, oand American speakers of English, |
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