 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The, h8 M2 z" }9 |
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the! f" C a- s7 o, m3 |
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
" P' m5 j: K9 M0 b- ~+ q/ c. a6 Z% c* jand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial
1 j4 |. _5 M3 Q C(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of z9 t3 p) `8 z7 J6 k% X: y
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).* e: H' R$ n+ _# r1 u
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
2 |) `, E: [! e0 n/ B[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]- M3 h& o% U9 u$ q
(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
0 ~/ {5 P1 G$ Q+ v2 [& J0 Jretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on' [1 N7 N& s7 E |* y& i
possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset' [: F2 C5 H; Z9 L
(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
, e+ E2 c' ~& q$ osegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
) | }, m& S. U Hsemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.0 F/ W3 B; d& k1 g+ \
end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
% M2 j$ b1 c( E& bcompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,+ B# o) |0 C. m- G
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
) Q7 K* a7 I0 V( f6 h7 o" o$ \) d* l( }4 y" d C$ H8 l4 E8 h
(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)
( S6 H ]% r% K: z7 p. ~. x [and American speakers of English, |
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