 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The" [' q7 V! h; v0 b& E" e
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
1 S- g v9 J3 u! Tsyllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
1 b1 w4 U8 u8 D. s# ]and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial$ o0 p. x7 G: f
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of4 y! y. ?# W. i9 @# I/ g7 Q
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
9 |4 M# A* e+ P5 h1 z# E9 R0 ^A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
5 p) ] b9 a- W[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
: h3 Z* q2 p" w(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving2 R8 T& E8 J0 u) E
retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on+ k7 ?) d7 T' ] g$ l; w; X
possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset! ^7 |8 v. Y/ o( C) J& k5 b1 ]
(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two I+ k, I( k2 A6 M" z& B2 F
segments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a; H* z4 \" S4 g m9 \- D2 H
semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
, M: b" ?+ F! [1 ]% f- F9 Fend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In$ q j! R2 B @" j
compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
" i2 f& n1 M8 K6 T; Lthe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla.. h3 z2 ]5 Y% b Y
# P" u; f& [" w# K& u(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)% `( c$ N t& n3 ]+ e) ]1 h
and American speakers of English, |
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