 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The: Q4 ]3 l/ ?5 \: `' a1 T
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the; U+ m7 }1 [% ~; I: }) y
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
, A' O) W5 F! Eand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial
; q ?9 M3 i" F; i( ~& _(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of9 G" L0 y; Y, P1 L- J6 a
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
/ F1 E" k" c& g0 o6 LA Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=1 _ J# b8 y+ Z
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]4 ]& w+ M# S" o) w" {7 @
(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
* L* S0 _) f. X; wretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on! I1 M5 W: h# ^: P x4 j
possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
- }, m& ]5 {7 v6 P# Q& A(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two, I) H- \9 p7 F0 w
segments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a$ Q1 y; j/ m' d {" U' S
semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.+ O9 _5 b% Y) w0 P
end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In9 \( K; ]# ~! u$ Z+ ] P
compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
, l3 m+ w( ~& f( tthe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
, H- ~1 z! E, V8 Q0 \9 c; i% ?1 `( U
(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)( q( M! B. T/ k X
and American speakers of English, |
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