 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The
' s) o2 c9 ]+ j% R" CInitial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the, b* B; T( @- `" i# X/ E7 l
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
; K/ M2 l3 k8 I" E2 {# C, uand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial
. ^# e! G" H# e- p5 P) g% p(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of+ u' `4 Y# }( E7 \2 N T6 I8 o( y+ v
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
1 k. W2 ^ C$ p* X7 f+ l6 |6 Z, tA Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=; R7 R' Y; n ^4 t' L
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
! [+ I* J: _$ P) T- v(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
3 j& T0 @1 }7 S: G) t1 Cretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
* w9 q! J7 |( spossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
4 z5 e9 J1 z$ [) L. K- ^$ L(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two; @- c0 V6 v) W
segments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
' l6 L/ E+ g3 i$ nsemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.# n+ @* h) E7 h1 D. r
end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
7 Q! N7 F& u% l; J) wcompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,6 b6 k8 C& K7 {
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
! ?( |7 [% g2 Q4 Q" `% l: U. y. t% j1 u% W0 x, M
(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)/ c; e3 ^# [7 k' G( O* X. n. `9 _
and American speakers of English, |
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