Simplified Fanqie (反切)

[ParkeNYU]

Achieving literacy in even the most basic current form of Fanqie requires knowledge of at least 350 characters. After looking through patterns in the Early Middle Chinese rime books (切韻/廣韻/集韻), I determined three easy paths to simplification without sacrificing any distinctions:

1) Using the traditional four-corner tone marks (꜀平, ꜂上, 去꜄, and 入꜆) allowed me to write only the rime group (韻系) and not the tone-specific rime itself (韻目/韻部). These marks also allow the user to omit the "切" suffix normally appended to each Fanqie value, since the marks themselves adopt this function.
2) Indicating roundness (合口呼), distinct from the default openness (開口呼), was possible by underlining the tone marks (꜁平, ꜃上, 去꜅, and 入꜇). This practice had traditionally been reserved for distinguishing the lower tone register (陽調) from the default upper tone register (陰調), which is unnecessary in Middle Chinese, as the voicing of the initial consonant consistently distinguishes the tone registers.
3) By adding four new rime groups, namely 伽(戈三), 遮(麻三), 驚(庚三), and 終(東三), I was able to completely abolish the four-grade system (等呼), since each rime group now has an inherent grade. The four characters were chosen based on the most consistent possible four-tone series for each: 伽〇〇〇, 遮者柘〇, 驚警敬戟, and 終〇眾粥, respectively.

The resulting system has only 107 characters (42 initials and 65 finals) rather than 350, with two characters (上字/下字) and one roundness/tone marking (呼調號) per reading. These values preserve all of the pronunciation data from the Early Middle Chinese rime books, with the exception of the 重紐 doubles (which may be optionally marked). These values may be directly converted into ParseRime (析韻), Pingshui (平水韻), Wenyim (漢語苑音), and Late Middle Chinese rime table (韻鏡) values, or otherwise indirectly converted into Sinoxenic readings or those of the literary register (文讀) of any Chinese topolect (方言).

Here are some samples of the format:
中 ꜀知終 (知開三平東)
國 見登꜇ (見合一入德)
華 ꜁匣麻 (匣開二平麻)
夏 ꜂匣麻 (匣開二上馬)
文 ꜁微文 (微合三平文)
化 曉麻꜅ (曉合二去禡)

So what purpose does this format serve?
1) It provides a fairly reliable means of determining patterns in the phonetic components of semantic-phonetic compound characters (形聲字).
2) It's crucial for writing poetry and songs that are likely to rhyme in all tongues.
3) It's a convenient and concise way to provide as much reading information as possible for a given language's literary register, as Early Middle Chinese data encompasses the widest range of lects whilst being less obscure and controversial than Old Chinese.

[Hofmann]

I can't find a typeface that shows the tone marks. Which one are you using?

[CathaySpecific]

ParkeNYU, it's "rhyme group", not "rime group".  unless you're also aiming to reform English phonetic representation, in wich kase I hoalhartedly support u.

[Guest realmayo]

it's "rhyme group", not "rime group".

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rime_table

 

Some scholars use the French spelling "rime", as used by the Swedish linguist Bernhard Karlgren, for the categories described in these works, to distinguish them from the concept of poetic rhyme.

[ParkeNYU]

Hofmann, the safest bet is Arial Unicode MS. The Unicode values of these corner marks range from U+A700 through U+A707, in the block entitled 'Modifier Tone Letters'.

 

http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/UA700.pdf

[ParkeNYU]

I have here an alternative version that allows any Middle Chinese value from the original rime books (切韻/廣韻/集韻) to be written with just two characters from a pool of only 256 characters (including one medial bar for non-rhyming labialisation inserted between the two characters):

 

職麥藥軫痕山侵嚴覃效紙賄遮影精幫

東清江震很產寢儼感宵寘隊者曉清滂

董靜講質恨襉沁釅勘小脂泰柘匣從並

送勁絳臻魂鎋緝業合笑旨廢模云心明

屋昔櫛覺混元寒凡談蕭至佳姥以邪端

終青庚諄慁阮旱范敢篠之蟹暮來莊透

眾迥梗準沒願翰梵闞嘯止卦魚歌初定

粥徑映稕欣月曷乏盍侯志皆語哿崇泥

冬錫陌術隱仙桓鹽咸厚微駭御箇生知

宋登驚唐焮獮緩琰豏候尾怪虞戈俟徹

沃等警蕩迄線換豔陷尤未夬麌果章澄

鍾嶝敬宕文薛末葉洽有豪齊遇過昌娘

腫德戟鐸吻先刪添銜宥皓薺咍伽常見

用蒸耕陽問銑潸忝檻幽號霽海麻書溪

燭拯耿養物霰諫恬鑑黝肴祭代馬船群

一證諍漾真屑黠怗狎幼巧支灰禡日疑

[陈献 Xian]

I studied Chinese historical linguistics for one semester here... so hope these attachments could do some help.

Historical linguistics：Historical linguistics is the study of language change.docx

hand out Karlgren's MC finals page 1.pdf

handout Karlgren's MC finals page 2-6.pdf

Old Chinese Karlgren.pdf

[ParkeNYU]

Thanks, I have also studied these.