 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The9 J# B# [/ q" x$ ^$ ^2 B1 I8 o
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
( s) }4 H; M- ]# Msyllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,6 y) n) J$ q" ]" i
and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial' T! g" ]# \4 j
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of# W& \0 X) q1 {7 w
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).4 U/ b. Q8 N/ `$ u1 {- ~
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
- w2 J. P K8 `' w& S" R[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]8 q' e% W, g! c
(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
" n) y i. Y/ _6 a" A/ C% Yretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on2 k& w8 L5 N# E! B# M% _# g
possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
3 x( e' x1 G7 ~& @" D0 r& z5 @(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
( `7 b- l/ J* o! N) l }segments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a' _/ Z- P$ X( y1 E. O9 G# u; K5 G
semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
7 Y% n4 x% @% _* G" ] Aend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In0 c3 X% l! d1 a: \' }
compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,. V$ a/ B4 Y: g
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla../ |) U/ E0 s7 P& f, s% K
# A/ c3 c9 ~4 R2 C G# ~0 L1 q+ ~3 _(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)' F4 ?- y3 H/ T( B' `
and American speakers of English, |
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