 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The; _% W% k& Y" t" i
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the6 [5 c8 s4 W, f4 q
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
! d2 e; L' H3 x8 O5 Hand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial2 [$ h9 }3 L0 }7 D- V
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of4 N3 J. ~2 ] E, ?" Q0 R
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
; N" r* r* a! ?2 B' x2 p5 ?A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
. B9 w1 `* C% ]( D! z- n! q6 _[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]/ I! N* P0 R$ Y3 L: x4 r c# V
(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
" t4 `* B3 z7 M, A1 Jretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
2 k! L% j3 w3 z6 @1 f( }- g5 d2 cpossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset# f3 r8 _/ m- j+ U
(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
6 J5 X6 P4 C/ J1 Vsegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
0 i0 X( R- }, `2 [/ Q- lsemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
: s6 v, K& G; b. g( L" j# xend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
! b: c5 l8 z; `2 D/ v0 N! n. }compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,2 Q2 w B- F. g B
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
. [8 ?8 }) Z0 c) k2 m- R ?$ \2 r A
(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)
~( o, c% s( v7 l; p5 m6 ~and American speakers of English, |
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