 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
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Traditional Chinese phonology divides the syllable into an Initial and Final. The6 p3 k% `0 K) U" U& B- g. l! u
Initial is the way a syllable begins, usually with a consonant. The Final is the! @6 B, X( c) Q: t( E9 j) b: `
syllable minus the Initial. For example, in ta, chi, jin, chuang, the Finals are a, i, in,2 b0 U ~) E) s
and uang, respectively. The longest form of a Final consists of three parts: a medial0 O) S! W- \) c4 ~
(or: semivowel), a main vowel (or: head vowel), and an ending (or, in the case of
2 D% `& {7 i/ Y+ kretroflex suffixes, sometimes two endings, as in the er-sound ming’er ‘tomorrow’).
' o; C7 L+ \2 O% C" [* O3 B* bA Final in Mandarin comprises one of four medials: º (empty), /i/, /u/, or /iu/ (=/ b% s' A0 Q3 {; L' d
[y], one of three vowels: /a/, /e/, or /o/, and one of six endings: º, -i, -u, -n, -N, and [”]: p$ X+ _6 f" ?( {7 w+ B4 m* {) O& N
(phonetically -r).13 Actually, there are only 40 different Finals (if Finals involving
+ f$ I7 p+ c# G/ |0 B/ Wretroflex suffixes are not counted). As a result of these very severe restrictions on' ]. I5 E! o! c, ]& h
possible syllables in Mandarin, no obstruent clusters are possible in the onset
$ H# v2 _% }% R3 D4 E(Initial) nor in the coda (Final). Onset clusters can maximally have a length of two" u N7 a) S1 g
segments, in which case the consonant closest to the vocalic nucleus must be a
. R+ Y6 e# j/ Osemivowel. Coda clusters are disallowed; in fact, syllables are generally open, i.e./ x# r4 w4 n- a9 X* N/ x1 o3 J
end with a vowel. The only possible coda consonants are the nasals /n/ and /N/. In
- M4 |1 x' _9 [ q6 tcompound vowels with /a, e, o/ as the first segment and /i, u/ as the second element,7 ~6 B- N E L+ P7 \; z
the latter are phonetically realised as semivowels, creating a diphthong. .. bla...bla... bla..- K+ E) k% b3 ~' g
( u+ d+ Y# N4 c$ i+ D
(source: Wang Hongyan, year unkown, English as a lingua franca:Mutual intelligibility of Chinese, Dutch)
) `8 K! V8 [+ u I# `+ @% Gand American speakers of English, |
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