 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The
8 t( c' R/ E3 D; S6 P8 L6 JInitial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
. v3 E$ N' b* q) Ssyllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
; P M+ k7 k) v1 E: C kand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial. }& @' V& F) ]
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of: c0 K4 a) L( X1 d, f# [ U
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
, @' X' w) S. b! T4 F1 b% m& E! @: d" |A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=) }: F' a3 H2 q
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
9 x, ] O+ u0 S! R; I4 g% A) v6 ^(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
& v3 y& D* @. f! Wretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
( {0 e k( z# E/ Lpossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset2 i/ J6 p% e* j6 o4 E1 O0 a0 ?
(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
: |% _( h+ [/ z' fsegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
P8 i! X1 J: ~ esemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
8 W% f# N2 b0 I) |/ D: O% F) hend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In8 S9 T5 Z% [& ?; f, ?# e$ U3 D
compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,) j9 [7 X6 V9 t; X
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla../ z. g+ |9 ]6 z( L! y
7 f: I7 _* S) H2 q$ Y5 K5 `(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)' ]$ j1 R% D$ f9 E
and American speakers of English, |
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