Проблемы китайского и общего языкознания. К 90-летию С. Е. Яхонтова

 633  The Structure of the Mandarin Syllable: why, when and how to teach it   nasal consonant [ŋ] belong to the same class of sounds as vowels: it is a class of sonorants 1 . To sum up, the terminals / i / , / n / are both lax, their articulation often does not reach the target, and both may possibly disappear completely in con- nected spontaneous speech. They are both front, thus trigger analogous as- similations of the preceding main vowel (/ ai /  / [ai] , / an /  [an] ). In both cases, the syllable as a whole can be lengthened if it bears stress, the terminal element receiving a due amount of time. The properties of a terminal / n / are rather close to the properties of vowels. The shared features of the terminals / i / and / n / described above arise from the fact that they are both front, and share the same function in a syllable. The phonetic features of C, G, V, X: the same phoneme in different positions There are a few phonemes which can occur in more than one position (the underlined items in Figure 6), namely three high vowels and one nasal consonant: / i /, / u /, / /, / n / . The vowel / i / can function as G or V or X, the vowel / u / can function as G or V or X, the vowel / / can function as G or V, and the nasal consonant / n / can function as C or X. If we compare the realiza- tions of one particular phoneme in various positions, we can observe that it surfaces as rather different sounds. In other words, each of the phonemes / i /, / u /, / /, / n / has several distinct positional variants . Let us give an example. We shall compare / i / functioning as a main vowel (V), as a medial (G), and as a terminal (X): • / i / functioning as a main vowel (as in m ì 秘 “secret”, or m ǐ n 敏 “ag- ile”). It tends to be fully articulated, reaching the articulatory target of a high vowel [i] . If not followed by a nasal ending, it may be lengthened ( mi [miː] ); the lengthening regularly happens in stressed syllables. (For the sake of simplicity, we are leaving aside the cases of zi, ci, si, zhi, chi shi, ri where / i / is realized as the “apical vowel”.) • / i / functioning as a medial , i. e. as the first part of a rising diphthong, such as / i e / (as in m i è 灭 “to wipe out”). The articulation is rather tense; it reaches the position of a high vowel [i] with a very narrow stricture, being possibly accompanied by a little friction. The tongue immedi- 1 The categorization of the sounds of speech into a class of sonorants (i. e. the vowels, liquids, glides, and nasals), and a class of obstruents (i. e. the stops, fricatives, and affri- cates) is based on the phonetic properties of the sounds.