 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The- G; A; u4 c! j
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the4 l6 o I% `$ @8 q Y
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
$ h; i) X: f; Z8 H1 n% aand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial
4 `/ v3 b7 ]+ \3 z; `(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of& i, ^+ f: M+ B; d+ e
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).: t+ S% I, n: j) R9 A# {: L
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=% Y1 E* D- \( V5 a& `& v9 |
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
5 y9 u: H+ r# w+ P, U/ x(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
; U" }% }+ ?5 a7 eretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
+ a* ?. z& v7 Q& [( l1 b! upossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
# E9 G' u1 |' ` S' l% j5 G* y. a(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
4 Z, n: o1 S! Isegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
6 f8 `2 {/ k$ `9 e) h8 Asemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
# s+ j) a2 f7 p' Qend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
g. }3 ~" z4 i2 O7 H3 x( E# Fcompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,- t; P* o! o% c1 c
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
5 U7 Y- e9 H2 g* F B. |
& h% U4 D, U. T) R$ a5 B(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)8 ?. U6 A+ m+ Y7 A$ S
and American speakers of English, |
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