 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The
! o9 C" S4 D/ vInitial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the( J& n; C' ^: s. B9 x+ e4 z _
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
, [! y/ _5 q: Rand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial" I* z2 [3 b1 [3 o' C
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of1 u# ?) J* @/ e! O2 x9 y' @
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
# d) ]- c3 D* t+ i LA Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=6 F- W8 l+ V) X5 g
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
! R" p' O0 A. o(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving* n( m- K* j& ^3 Q& U/ ~
retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
/ n4 b, C3 Q" zpossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
% F i( E8 K' j: W3 @+ ~# w) ](Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
- \8 C* V- u3 R9 ?% n8 wsegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a1 _ m% {; l& E D% b: l
semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
' D0 d% @8 g7 B, E& e% V# A9 Q! Uend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
$ z4 u/ s7 f1 acompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,4 W4 @2 U: H& ^- V" t: r L
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..: d; F3 W6 e' Y1 @" ]+ Q
b5 ^* d& U5 D8 {: H* ^8 _( x: p
(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)' }. ?8 u. q0 p) U* [) f1 U' n
and American speakers of English, |
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