 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The
; Q' M7 k; Q; GInitial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the( O" [4 c$ X. W. w4 Z. n; @) o
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,: X9 F, Y: v5 Z
and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial/ a" I+ a% l* h) ~/ ^
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
5 ]2 T% O5 ]6 }' _' M; v0 |* _retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’)., W F D! Y; T e5 M
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
( i1 P' v- i# H: Y1 K[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
& n! r: y) p& {6 `' S/ [(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
: A- g3 l2 v* z6 Kretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
, i" T2 \- s; Q0 t+ n/ \ ipossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
4 i$ c9 [( {* k6 U/ r1 n1 k(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
* Y; y% G, E% Q8 F2 K& D2 u, Msegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
2 a4 ]/ d5 {, g: y- b( f* hsemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
3 K' M" E6 d& F0 |1 M2 yend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In3 D: R$ q6 K- \5 k% k" n% F, g
compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element," K, B: {( M0 p+ Q d
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
3 B$ Z/ f& D2 j/ V0 y v4 u; B4 f
(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)
# L9 w& D; {/ z" l5 a; h/ uand American speakers of English, |
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