 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The
) j8 u/ P0 c; O r [( \% ]Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
: l5 }& g; I4 O5 psyllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,' e8 W7 D/ U" e
and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial3 o* f5 c4 O: U; P( k, X; d8 S# n9 n
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of; W* ^# @' g+ ?
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
1 S% J# e2 W; m% d" a5 `A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
* J' @- p/ G4 W7 A, j0 l[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]3 ~' u w. E1 i! z3 h4 f
(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
: h7 L7 K, [' y2 J" U2 E# q5 bretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
! ]2 w* J3 w3 o# Y/ t2 apossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset7 l$ g3 G6 E4 p, Z$ A/ W# x
(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
; T$ ~; T5 P) `3 g: rsegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a6 r5 F0 A: b/ z6 m) }0 i- G- {6 Z
semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
2 O& V% u% V k/ o6 A7 s' E% nend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
6 I& R. N4 V$ Hcompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
& m' B0 R* r1 v$ Bthe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..9 w) A8 q) R% c) T4 }$ b# F! F( S* c
% B' L7 H0 s7 R
(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)
1 p7 j8 Y3 Z/ b5 N7 e2 _9 n1 { nand American speakers of English, |
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