 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The9 j% S& W5 p! m9 B
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the* \- |3 Z% @9 X
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,! U' U) l% X/ i
and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial& ~6 R/ N+ R0 h0 `) K
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of! Q# F5 W" @: v' K( |; g
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).3 G9 B5 W; M; L) A, g
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=. D; ~, @& y' d
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
/ A; S6 n' W5 j+ E: K! e" m9 N(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving7 O! v6 I1 {6 r
retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on# a! T- j8 Y6 N$ T# s* a
possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
9 t9 O4 I$ p) X(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two* E1 G1 u3 i* j% Q- T$ v
segments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
, x" X, Y/ n3 V9 S, o9 Z- asemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.# s7 |% a L6 S; y
end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In( D n1 s$ H* w" P2 E
compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
( P; U8 D% ^9 f* Qthe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..% w" Q, J) o7 @
& _) I- c$ t8 A4 n1 A1 R8 x3 b(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)
4 A* J2 e) e5 band American speakers of English, |
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