 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The- {+ c5 p/ d- L* g) [5 A( z
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
+ ?$ Z5 E: @$ v6 _ Psyllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
; T: W" `! f" o* h5 gand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial
4 E$ y$ o/ s: ^- w- w(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of4 N: f# b h9 ]% G! z% b
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
: L+ \' Q+ m; k7 r! U+ h) x) AA Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
) ~ x; n. r* J" I. Z[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]7 i. s- c7 F# C, ]
(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
1 m0 X" g- @; m" G T% m! Cretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
% u( U4 z0 F! z1 F, \; `possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset1 e7 T* N3 o* q
(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
/ I- _; ~& f0 w! _8 h$ dsegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
8 _6 U& C. x( a% L- e5 Qsemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
6 Z; @# H) {& E1 c, ]end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
9 L; c( d1 `7 \6 r, q# O5 k. J: ]compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,! V y0 A& K6 H: c( L
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..1 U& d( a, U, n- S
8 ?5 d5 \1 P4 v" c
(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)5 V2 @9 D9 ^* Z, x3 X8 k
and American speakers of English, |
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