 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The
+ L* f" L" e! g6 B4 l o# KInitial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
5 ^; W' x2 _- }2 ^syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,% b5 r% e/ O3 K2 n! ~
and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial! E& B+ k$ N6 F
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of. c2 B0 s* K% l4 h5 W4 e5 V! C
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).# n' {7 T2 l5 m' B* Q) [" b8 P
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=, R) X" s0 _* u2 H1 r
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
3 a' l; X ?4 E1 \: Z# S- i& ~(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
" T0 h6 Z. F; ~! u" m3 W ]retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
0 e2 F" Q% f' ^1 hpossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset4 v6 V4 J: w% I" ~' R
(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
& k- |% A1 Z. U& {, c% jsegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
0 p0 N% D: V! R9 ysemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
9 m' T% Q3 h h( _) Oend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
; Q, y, A) {4 M/ n0 ucompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,0 |' N; S& e4 j" Q) ?- }, T2 i1 X" h
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
s1 f9 W, f% u* v% K/ A8 n
& r4 M' F! H8 [! F$ L! x7 w(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch); w0 W% y/ t7 [) \$ Y9 |" n; j
and American speakers of English, |
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