 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The! U5 Z' l) w& } h% r* M
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the* K" [6 Q, F, s+ s
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,4 |0 P+ V l4 S. Q
and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial
0 ?- F! R. x% K: j1 {/ L(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
- b* {. x7 u4 Y! }retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
2 O, _% @+ r- i- a" Z4 \, P7 LA Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
$ {+ ~! `$ S5 v: V+ l+ G6 n/ o/ E" n[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]9 Z+ w' Y# P' s; [: ]2 d' u. i8 z1 e
(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
4 [1 J1 V% W; W* S* ?retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on8 h" p3 \: R7 w( Y$ ~5 X
possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset2 _2 g! R/ H5 q$ N. ^4 k
(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
6 @1 H* l; j6 E( esegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
; b* {5 z1 e( U. e0 T" j" e, L7 Xsemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
5 j& l9 K8 u3 ` @5 S# {end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In f. I$ ^3 {4 I/ z2 U6 n$ ?
compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,. w+ h+ ^! u* N/ S
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla../ e9 R7 u2 X/ Q# f6 ?% f, f6 w
. Q3 a% r a; _! A$ z
(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)$ V8 a$ T1 X7 l6 j# A% y
and American speakers of English, |
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