 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The. h! ?( G( [* d ]) d# e" C6 U
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the# T' n+ C9 R$ i! K
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
( J l7 f) h) z2 H# J" }and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial) K3 V; N* z: m" G" u
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of" K1 C* q% \. a+ Z2 L w
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
3 h7 U; A5 `! H' `8 Y* |: x( AA Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=& Z, C8 G$ G" `* L; d8 s2 c
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
* h* ]. x. v+ K* d& O" h(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving9 x, `2 V8 q% V0 S& v/ d9 W8 l
retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
# I% U' q7 E6 j9 { z( a/ ppossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset! B! `" B: `/ i& ~: C# H+ g
(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two' W! z4 n: l; D W
segments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
3 p4 c- ^% b3 B. W& K8 Osemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
) e* q( `( L, ^; b" Qend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
0 q4 @( z; c' v6 P3 Ycompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,) c. x5 \$ N/ q, c* Q
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..5 f$ |' @! ^) |$ o p
& J8 n y) o( ~- Y9 |% {(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)
C# r) |& B4 c- mand American speakers of English, |
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