 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The: {& r. ^8 F; i" L, A
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
% l& t6 l9 a- z5 \) nsyllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,* V4 R& O3 y3 C, `
and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial& P5 @2 B2 H& h. [. J1 t9 i
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of2 W" y( i$ F4 ^5 ^/ x
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
! I* R9 A6 m) h# U& w6 AA Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
0 Z9 |% S: z" m5 i& _[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
' {8 R P6 n7 q; S(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
0 h3 \1 `( O ]4 l6 Jretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
; Z0 w0 |9 O1 x0 C g5 f {3 qpossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset5 j7 c, h9 @! |2 |+ q! L
(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
8 y: S- }/ C) S2 `% g" `6 Osegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a, @- B( ~' Q. H$ U2 v9 w7 l
semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.3 `- s1 K) a( z* v
end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In7 q1 e" K2 x3 r( Y% d
compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
; ~7 \4 d5 c: y& y% tthe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
% G) C0 @) M& _
+ H ^' x8 e; S; }( o& x+ x& _7 h(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)
( b* d% q1 q2 J- n; ?and American speakers of English, |
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