 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The; }6 ]. T$ j- j t4 J; }
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
& z6 b) }' U/ O; D2 A+ h7 Tsyllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,! P: d' X H9 w
and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial
" [" r& X1 X" r% J7 V3 _; p7 b(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of: V# E1 g1 [: t& { s: f
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
/ M& r3 w, }7 Y% v! h2 ]9 rA Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=+ \ g5 _* Q7 `( g
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]& I% ~( \8 @2 X, x0 H* C
(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
$ r6 y# M( ?( C- {+ v T2 F, @retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on" E7 B) z: L' D+ b
possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
: j ^0 X1 `+ f$ d1 D(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
* y8 h. n5 j( O* r1 Wsegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a) {- H' E( O! b! }! i
semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
) F' D- W( Z( L# send with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
$ j$ n1 d- H4 j& M# S9 Z+ Ecompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,8 a# n3 [- H. w. n# D
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla.., m7 P% C( j" M0 |3 |
D6 s' F" @" D3 E
(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)( G7 c; k# c. p, [- q
and American speakers of English, |
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