Middle Chinese

Middle Chinese is a reconstructed language system represented chiefly by Chinese rhyme dictionaries from roughly the sixth through tenth centuries. It is a scholarly model, not a single directly recorded spoken dialect.

Qieyun: A Chinese rhyme dictionary compiled in 601 that classifies syllables through fanqie spellings and rhyme categories. Its categories are the main evidence behind the traditional reconstruction of Middle Chinese.
Historical linguistics: The study of how languages change and how their earlier forms can be reconstructed. Middle Chinese is inferred through comparative and documentary methods rather than direct recordings.
Lu Fayan: A Chinese scholar associated with compiling the Qieyun in 601. His work established the dictionary tradition central to Middle Chinese reconstruction.
Baxter's Middle Chinese reconstruction: William H. Baxter’s influential phonological reconstruction of Middle Chinese, published in 1992. It is a widely used modern account with explicit phonetic values for traditional categories.
Fanqie: A traditional Chinese spelling method that indicates a syllable’s initial and final using two other characters. Qieyun uses fanqie to encode syllable pronunciations without phonetic letters.
Comparative method: A method for reconstructing ancestral languages by comparing systematic correspondences among related languages. Sino-Xenic readings and Chinese varieties help test sound values proposed from rhyme books.
Sui dynasty: A Chinese dynasty that ruled from 581 to 618 and reunified much of China. The Qieyun was compiled during this period, amid efforts to codify literary pronunciation.
Karlgren's Middle Chinese reconstruction: Bernhard Karlgren’s early twentieth-century reconstruction of ancient Chinese pronunciation using comparative evidence. Its phonetic interpretations differ from later systems, especially in their treatment of rhyme-book categories.
Chinese phonology: The study of the sound systems and historical development of Chinese languages. Middle Chinese reconstruction is one central part of Chinese phonological history.
Sino-Xenic pronunciations: Historical readings of Chinese characters borrowed into Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese. These borrowings preserve evidence for Chinese sounds at different periods.

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