Phonemic Systems

A phoneme is redefined here as a signifié of each phonogram in the simplest system for a given language. This means to see a phoneme as an expression figure in the Hjelmslevian tradition, not as a bundle of distinctive features.
A phonogram system, i.e. a phonemic system, is simpler in proportion to the degree of well-balancedness between two contradicted demands, namely to minimize the total number of phonograms in use and to shorten the spellings of words. (Such a simplest system is probably a latent goal of romanization.)
The simplicity of the system is assumed to be tested by the phonemic table empirically arranged as follows.
a) Put phonemes with a common property in the same line in order of their tongue positions.
b) Apply symbols +, - and ± respectively to show positive, negative and neutral values, with + and - to phonemes which have contrastive counterparts, and ± to those which have none.
c) The fewer the squares and blanks in the table, the simpler the system.
Examples: Japanese.

V	-B	±B	+B		C	-B	-B'	+B'	+B
-L	i		u		-V	p	t	s	k
+L	e	a	o		+V	b	d	z	g
V'	y		w		±V	m	n	l	h

Chinese.

V	-B	±B	+B		C	-B	-B'	+B'	+B
-L	i	ü	u		-A	b	d	z	g
+L	ï	a	e		+A	p	t	c	k
					-F	f	l	s	h
					+F	m	n	r	ng

A = aspirated　　B = back　　B' = semiback
F = possible syllable final　　L = low　　v = voiced