 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The) Q6 _) Z; i8 g( J! e/ Y& t
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
# O8 ~/ t6 H, E# K7 fsyllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
4 e1 t/ T; V5 Hand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial ~9 t& ^( L: i7 z- S
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of1 X& M l6 ?+ w
retroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
, b( G9 L; ]% x! v9 FA Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=
0 \" L) n. S& S6 `4 I' }9 }3 t[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
/ n( ~: H! c) x2 c T(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
6 R0 J6 Q$ S8 ~8 aretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
/ w, J3 \$ R) L' \possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
9 |- E# X6 O4 o; T. P) r: H" ~3 y(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
, r8 [5 l6 t5 C% ]segments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
$ @* X9 ]/ U8 [# b/ Y( _( ^9 M/ Q0 Xsemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.! @4 ?6 U1 C0 l" _% g% y
end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
2 J, r% [+ U" ]# O! _/ {5 z) K" Zcompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
) \) }4 ]- B+ g2 zthe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..) u' _+ e- \, t0 |/ {' w. z2 ^
) x$ r' w% K6 D% p6 X0 R2 M(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch), H8 t( G# v0 b+ W
and American speakers of English, |
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