 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The9 p4 i$ S. A' i9 p2 [
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the7 v4 ^& V; M2 A) ~' F
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,8 r* Z3 q3 ?- f3 p! q+ y
and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial* l- v5 E2 V# X3 b
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of0 ^8 K6 [& g* H( g5 Y
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).9 }; h ]/ C% H2 H- m
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=/ {, [; r% h' [4 u# f$ P1 [) X
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]- s( W" b% R+ Q2 R
(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving3 n4 P6 C* q, _! B
retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on) u% E8 v2 g# J% ~& D; W
possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
( J$ g* `" @" V$ S" |(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
. I2 j0 U( G) T9 G! Lsegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a% C/ ^" {* X& @8 E( W6 {% d% B, A
semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
& g2 W+ @& G0 m) `1 B0 rend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In" |$ P( z/ }% ?# u( _0 b+ Y6 l' t
compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,2 A# v1 P" i; ]! Q
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..6 T) \3 T% Q' Q3 C1 _& i( x" P
% x h; @3 ]7 T+ \! ^$ O(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)* P9 {, P' y2 n* B
and American speakers of English, |
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