Laurent Sagart
Most linguists now accept the proposal of Sergei Yakhontov that Middle Chinese syllables in division II had a medial *"-r-" in Old Chinese. William Baxter, following earlier ideas of Edwin Pulleyblank, suggested that "chongniu"-III syllables had medials *"-rj-" in Old Chinese, while their "chongniu"-IV counterparts had a medial *"-j-" before a front vowel. The later revision by Baxter and Laurent Sagart elides the *"-j-" medial, treating such "Type B" syllables as unmarked, in contrast to "Type A" syllables, which they reconstructed with pharyngealized initials. In this system, Middle Chinese "chongniu"-III or "chongniu"-IV syllables are all Type B syllables, which were distinguished by the presence or absence, respectively, of a medial *"-r-" in Old Chinese.