 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
|
Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The
$ ^7 _; O7 M1 ]/ G" K. rInitial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the, k! G' c. ~0 L B8 F
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
1 h- ?9 _ s- M* Rand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial* @3 q6 d8 J% P4 C# m3 A; J
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of: T! }' w8 x# |" \3 L1 S
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).+ ?6 w) u+ `. q% s' E1 t4 e
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=. X; X8 s- U+ `6 L+ J5 T- U) C
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
! k9 ~9 k: Q6 m, O! G/ W' F5 @$ n(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving Y$ Q5 \' m$ O
retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
0 `" R+ D f% ~# Y( S- n* rpossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
) w9 ]' o G2 g K+ z% v/ ^, j$ O(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
5 d" b) t% |7 W; P# t: V$ ^! Psegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a; a, x0 b4 ^6 t
semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
; e# t `: N W. ]; { T9 yend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
7 m$ Q5 F7 H- T# Ncompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
; g* R: T4 T/ e8 f x ~4 Ythe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..2 {; O9 @7 b% y
8 X( E- U5 p* x5 Q2 t! [, \(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)
( W! @! v; W& r: B7 g' |and American speakers of English, |
|