 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The& @' W, m; c* |* M. A' ]
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
3 S8 J6 f0 z! |: a7 Y8 ]syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
+ p5 ?6 p; k1 nand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial
: i! d# P2 R- f6 I(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
Q0 Q* _, t& B1 @. `retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
7 h* l! g/ ^) }9 o& v" `5 Y5 u# cA Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
* \) ]% \: K- @# F8 y[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]" s# R8 q* Q% ?4 O0 d
(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
5 Z. h& X( [. K" Z% f* ~% ]4 uretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
/ |; }3 u. o" h6 tpossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset: |+ G: z! `* M1 I$ j) ?5 G
(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
9 t. i. {/ L0 i8 G! bsegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
) o) R' e M7 O7 R* C" Ksemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
s# P; ^) `, D* E a7 {* Hend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
+ Q% L1 J% w# d( D5 W. Tcompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
# n2 I& f- C% T0 O: l) a! P7 \" {the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
7 h3 D8 i, x8 `! x" X
% t" F, U2 f- G0 n7 S, }" h(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)3 j; `' y" m* O4 |( V2 }. e
and American speakers of English, |
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