 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
|
Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The; @ g* S3 l; ]5 a& v3 E# M" o ]+ B
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the
6 \; a2 R+ ^. E Dsyllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,
, I+ z* d+ }- Xand uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial( {$ z; q# c2 r4 T! O
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
; [3 c6 ^3 V L& D" P, uretroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).8 i G1 L, E, _4 A5 |
A Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=" x( m& a1 f& }
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]
) M9 o0 m( s, ^" D {8 c4 Z- g; E(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
5 ~. F/ s p2 Z$ p+ o+ ?retroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on
( b P5 q1 T$ i1 u6 X4 `possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset1 I% _! B1 J- z
(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two
7 g; @9 b- C- X- Isegments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a) P3 H* n$ ]1 S/ g$ \: [) b' m1 P4 B
semivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e.
x4 Y0 h4 w: L3 fend with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In& s6 K4 Z' d' _% @; T; M* g7 {: s8 g
compound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,
$ h' I6 |* W- T- h K' M; gthe latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..: G) z% M# j+ k! L
7 ~5 W9 G% b1 z(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)( q b* g- F5 @% v
and American speakers of English, |
|