 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The
1 V w. Y4 C9 L8 \5 JInitial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the( a- D5 I: E) ^2 m8 g8 W: e9 R" y
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
8 P# b4 o$ {( Y/ J7 C6 z8 Land uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial' ?) C# K B/ \/ V7 D& t1 I$ w
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
4 X1 h+ v( ?- \retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
8 \" r" S' i0 wA Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=+ ?2 f# a5 N7 G/ M0 Q* v
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
! Q% _( e3 i; t) h% p4 ~(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving4 }! n- d' R9 I6 P1 J
retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
6 Y* i$ M8 [, W* u0 `& C+ Epossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
) H/ a L- |6 v2 f& U8 n/ [% r(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
6 @2 w; U& s8 k. f( t5 gsegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
# a! V# {% T& W+ g) { @( s5 {semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.: d ]# b/ b8 o, e3 t2 S; R" o7 q
end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
& M+ C! E6 K+ c8 \$ |, V* |. wcompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
" E# v e' y4 h4 u9 |the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
$ D- u% y4 s, p7 f4 }& Z! Z; @& r: H+ C5 n- h8 O2 C* F1 M( R9 R
(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)+ N0 ^# x' {; j% X. d+ O
and American speakers of English, |
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