Syllabic Mandarin rhyme

In the study of the Linguistic Phonology in , the syllabic Rime is made up of a core and of a coded optional. In the study of the Chinese Languages, the rhymes are more known under the name of final , or yunmu in Chinese (PY: yùnmǔ, CT: 韻母, CS: 韵母).

Structure of a syllable

The segmentation of a Syllabe can begin with a attacks (or shengmu ) optional, followed by an obligatory rhyme.

syllable: C1 (C2) V1 (V2) (C3) (C4) = attacks: C1 (C2) + rhyme: V1 (V2) (C3) (C4)

syllable: V1 (V2) (C3) (C4) = syllable: Ø (vacuum) + rhyme: V1 (V2) (C3) (C4)
(C = consonant, V = vowel, components optional between brackets)

The rhyme is usually the part ranging between the first Voyelle and the end of a syllable. For example, is the rhyme of all the words At , sat , and flat . However, the core is not obligatorily a vowel in certain languages. For example, the rhyme of the second syllables of the words bottle and fiddle are simply, a liquid Consonne.

Study starting from Chinese Mandarin

The rhymes exploited a particularly important part in research on the Chinese historical Phonologie and the origin of the Chinese Caractères, thanks to the Tables of rhymes. The concept of yùn (CT: 韻, CS: 韵), meaning rhyme is important in the phonological studies since the Dynastie Jin.

The translation of the Chinese terminology proves enough diverting. The Chinese Philologie traditional tends to break up a syllable into four parts:

  1. Shēngmǔ (CT: 聲母, CS: 声母): the attacks , made up by the initial consonant. There is no Consonant cluster in Mandarin.
  2. Yùntóu (CT: 韻頭, CS: 韵头) or Jièyīn (介音): the median , consisted the Semivowel preceding the central vowel. It can be I , U or U in Mandarin.
  3. Yùnfù (CT: 韻腹, CS: 韵腹): the core , consisted the central part of a syllable where volume is highest. One can notice that differs from the normal definition of the syllabic Noyau, which contains usually the median. Moreover, of many Chinese phonologists will gather the final semivowel, I and U ( O ) in Mandarin, with coded rather than with the core.
  4. Yùnwěi (CT: 韻尾, CS: 韵尾): the coded , made up by the part according to the central vowel. For the phonologists who incorporate the semivowel with coded, it can be I , U ( O ), N , or ng in Mandarin. The rhotic Consonne er is usually examined separately. One can notice that differs from the normal definition of the syllabic Coda, which does not contain usually any semivowel. Other phonologists will remain in agreement with this definition by gathering the semivowels with the core rather than with coded, leaving N and ng as only coded possible in Mandarin.

Certain Chinese phonologists gather even yùnfù and yùnwěi in yùnshēn (CT: 韻身, CS: 韵身) and calls it " rime". Thus the median can be separate rhyme while remaining in the final.

The following examples of syllables of the Mandarin illustrate the differences between conventional Western phonology and two interpretations of Chinese phonology:

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