 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The
4 c6 ]. l; e! k: u, L7 D) C8 Y! @$ LInitial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
, N1 M; C& |! U% j' f# n7 xsyllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
J6 I5 e6 D# uand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial1 N% [6 h1 _- Z3 c) |
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
& T5 m3 D* j6 K4 C+ L: O. p: e6 hretroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
2 Z3 J2 Z2 h/ m% d8 {" \A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
: } e: j a1 ~* v[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
/ h8 \% T9 g T% J& o. ](phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
4 J0 f4 g& x- o: F4 e) C& \1 Qretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
9 f K" c( f: m+ y2 A5 ~5 N h6 Jpossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset. r J8 C4 `# ^5 D3 ?' W
(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
& e5 `/ o: X% i# N0 osegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a' h4 _' X+ i' E
semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
. q4 w& f# N& h/ \end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
9 M0 E) Z7 Y& Y1 L0 O3 xcompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
" k1 m/ x4 h/ N3 ~ M; n: C; vthe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..' L+ O2 L( J( s, b/ M# L
, W- g# P& X$ V. F3 X(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)4 ~2 w% p/ k e( G; X
and American speakers of English, |
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