Syllables
Syllables in Standard Chinese have the maximal form CGVCT, where the first C is the initial consonant; G is one of the glides /j w ɥ/; V is a vowel (or diphthong); the second C is a coda, /n ŋ ɻ / (if diphthongs like ou, ai are analyzed as V) or /n ŋ ɻ j w/ (if not); and T is the tone. In traditional Chinese phonology, C is called the "initial", G the "medial", and VFT the "final" or "rime"; sometimes the medial is considered part of the rime.
Not counting tone distinctions or the rhotic coda, there are some 35 finals in Standard Chinese. They can be seen at:
- Pinyin
- Zhuyin#Another_comparison_table
- Gwoyeu Romatzyh
Tables of all syllables (excluding tone and rhotic coda) are at:
- Pinyin table
- Zhuyin table
Read more about this topic: Standard Chinese Phonology
Famous quotes containing the word syllables:
“This is the poem of the air,
Slowly in silent syllables recorded;
This is the secret of despair,
Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded,
Now whispered and revealed
To wood and field.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)
“I remember the neckcurls, limp and damp as tendrils;
And her quick look, a sidelong pickerel smile;
And how, once startled into talk, the light syllables leaped for
her.”
—Theodore Roethke (1908–1963)