Yuet Tsit IME (粵切輸入法)

[ParkeNYU]

 

Yuet Tsit (or 粵切, from 粵音反切) is a Cantonese phonetic input method that employs fanqie (反切) principles to construct Cantonese syllables, in this case [initial] + [final] (+[tone]). There's no need to learn any new phonetic symbols, nor is there a need to choose from one of the many different Cantonese Romanisations available, and the keyboard layout uses the same 26 keys and positions of English, allowing easy access to the Latin alphabet with the [SHIFT] key for mixed text without switching keyboards. If you're literate in basic Cantonese, you're already set to go!

 

 

(CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE AND ANIMATE)

 

You can type as fast as two keystrokes per character for medium accuracy (toneless) or three keystrokes per character for maximum accuracy (toned). If the IME guesses your intended character correctly in the candidate window, then there's no need to even enter one of the eight optional tones, whose keys are greyed out at the beginning of a syllable's construction. The syllabic nasal 唔 is entered by typing [馬][五] (essentially double-tapping the same key) with no possible tone entry (the output of 唔 is forced), whilst all other syllabic nasals (including 呣) are entered by typing [牙][五], since [牙] also represents a null onset. Finals that are not possible with certain initial consonants will be greyed out and thus unavailable for those syllables; different final keys will appear based on the specific initial chosen, taking advantage of the complementary distribution found in Cantonese phonology (though the layout remains consistent as no key is relocated):

 

 

A few minor conflations have arisen as a result of layout simplification—notably that between the homorganic sets of nasal (-m/-n/-ng) and stop (-p/-t/-k) codas—but these cases are all etymologically and/or phonologically grounded; an advanced setting will provide the option to hold down and/or swipe certain keys to force an alternative output to disambiguate the following conflations, including obsolete* distinctions, for maximum accuracy:

 

Initials

[那]→[啦][哪]

[牙]→[鴉][雅]

[乍]→[茲][支]*

[叉]→[差][蚩]*

[沙]→[司][詩]*

Finals

[肆]→[四][試]

[心]→[金][甘]*

[生]→[層][棖]

[成]→[丙][餅]

Tones

[陰入]→[㊤][㊦]

 

The eight optional tone indicators reflect the traditional quadrant system (◵◴◷◱◰◳◶◲, based on the original markings ꜀(1) ꜂(2) (3)꜄ ꜁(4) ꜃(5) (6)꜅ (7/8)꜆ (9)꜇ respectively) with key positions reflecting that arrangement (as seen in the physical keyboard layout below):

 

[Tomsima]

Only just saw this, as usual love seeing your projects. Is there a working android version to try out by any chance?

[ParkeNYU]

Glad you like it! Unfortunately, I need the help of a programmer first... ?

[ParkeNYU]

Some slight modifications to certain readings were necessary to allow for the aforementioned complementary distribution:

 

啤 bi1 → be1/pe1
嗶 bi1 → bat1/bei1*
噼 pet1 → pit(1/3)*/pik(1/3)*
眯瞇 mi1 → mei1/mai5
掉調 deu6 → diu6
嘟 dut1 → dyut(1/3)
舐 lem2 → lim2
夾 gep6 → gip6
? wen1 → wan1
啫 zoe1 → ze1
噷 hm1 → (ha)m1
哼 hng6 → (ha)ng6

[ParkeNYU]

A sample input-to-output sequence:

 

那肆◰沙成◲化山◳馬尼◳牙亞◷ → 你食飯未呀

 

Yuet Tsit uses 10~15 keystrokes for this phrase: l e (r) s v (n) f j (i) m e (i) a q (u)

Jyutping uses 15~20 keystrokes for this phrase: n e i (5) s i k (6) f a a n (6) m e i (6) a a (3)

 

Yuet Tsit is thus anywhere from a quarter (toned) to a third (toneless) faster than Jyutping, at least for this common phrase.

[Tomsima]

Gotta love that aesthetic

[ParkeNYU]

@Tomsima

 

Thanks, I updated my previous post with a better .gif!

[ParkeNYU]

I have here a beginner's guide written in Cantonese.