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

 616  Hana Třísková   ticular initial and a particular final. The finals are traditionally organ- ized into three groups: the “simple finals”, d n yùnm 单韵母 (simple vowels), the “compound finals”, fù yùnm 复韵母 (diphthongs and triphthongs), and the “nasal finals”, bí yùnm 鼻韵母 (all finals ending with a nasal consonant). The combinations of initials with simple finals are naturally taught first. As part of the process of learning a basic syllabary, various types of mis- take appear in the students’ pronunciation. If we leave aside the supraseg- mental feature of tone and focus our attention on the mistakes of a segmental sort, the errors may be divided into two major groups: mispronunciations of initials, and mispronunciations of finals. Addressing the mistakes of the first group is relatively simple, since an initial is always identical with a single consonantal segment in Pīnyīn . Of course, there are a number of difficult cases among the initial sounds (e. g. the so called retroflex initials zh, ch, sh, r , or the so called palatal initials j , q , x ). Their incorrect pronunciation may arise from the absence of a similar sound in the native language of the student. This is often the case with the affricate zh, or the fricative x , or the aspirated affricates q, ch (note that the aspirated affricates are rather rare in languages). Yet, on the other hand, the presence of a similar, but not entirely identical sound in the native language of the student may distort his/her pronunciation as well. For example, Americans tend to pronounce the Mandarin initial consonant r with rounded lips, since in English the initial r is more or less labialized [Cruttenden 2001: 206] (the remaining features of both sounds are basically identical: both are apical postalveolar approximants). What- ever the case, the difficulties with the pronunciation of initials do not surpass the difficulties with pronouncing a single segment. Mistakes can be cured by proper instruction about the articulation of the consonant in question (let us remind ourselves that most of the initial consonants have only one allophone and that the assimilations of initials to the following vocalic element are rather subtle). For instance, for the so called retroflex initials zh, ch, sh, r the teacher must make clear the following points: first, their place of articulation is postalveolar ; second, they should be articulated with the very tip of the tongue, i. e. apically (not with the un- derside of the tip, i. e. subapically, nor with the blade of the tongue, i. e. laminally); third, the tip of the tongue is only raised upwards, not bent backwards (as is the case of truly retroflex consonants of Tamil or other Dravidian languages). The situation with the component of a final is much more compli- cated. A final is a complex structure: it can consist of a single segment