 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The4 Z( E) e3 X9 e1 g
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the( q( B& P+ t8 D" A; e
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,& i0 B. }9 i7 a4 Z
and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial
& I3 T! k1 T6 P l7 L(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
- L; I5 H+ N: L$ Mretroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
8 O* i$ s I/ V3 GA Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=7 K) y; A7 B5 C3 \2 ?
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
5 @' f+ K% R; D! C4 |, c(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
1 n) [9 c, s# j$ E5 J4 Xretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
/ ]/ s+ O9 B$ Y- u. x: xpossible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
' ~) K; P/ e$ `(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
7 o0 e0 n6 h5 d: w) N' K& zsegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
; v |( b; Y. c* b5 M* ?semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.# g% Y9 N' c+ |; B
end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
# f4 P! c. m) l2 e* h$ {- u. lcompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element," x+ v1 n( [1 k# \% I' q0 z
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..
: r# @- Q" i( _' e; A
7 w" l6 I/ s1 Q(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)7 \) F$ N ~( T1 }. `1 D4 e% l
and American speakers of English, |
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