never goes alone but always with .
•
might be used as shorthand for , but this usage is not official.
•
Onsets / Phụ âm đ ầu Below are the consonant letters and digraphs found in initial position:
Bb
ɓ
[ ]
implosive
C c [k] tenuis Ch ch ch [c] D d [z / j] /j/ in the the South; South; /z/ in the the North; North; evolved evolved from from /ʝ /
Đđ
[ ]
ɗ
implosive
Gg
[ ]
ɣ
also
Hh Kk Kh kh Ll Mm Nn Ng ng
[h] [k] [x] [l] [m] [n] [ŋ]
Nh nh [ɲ]
tenuis shifted toin Northern working class speech (NWCS) shifted to in NWCS also clearest Portuguese influence
P p [p] Ph ph [f] Rr Ss
only in loanwords; merged with for most speakers
ɹ, ɣ] [s / ʂ]
ɹ
[z /
ɣ
/ / or / / in the South; /z/ in the North now only /s/ is commonly heard
Tt [t] Th th [th]
tenuis
Tr tr
also /t / in the South (pedantry)
[c]
aspirated
ɹ
Vv
[v / j] /j/ South; /v/ North
Xx
[s]
ɕ
evolved from / /
Stemming from Portuguese tradition,and have to be written written different differently ly before before front vowels vowels in order to preserve preserve their phonetic phonetic value. So before before , <ê>, and , we write and instead. E.g.: ga vs. ghi; ngô vs. nghe
•
It’s common for Northern speakers from the countryside and the working class to mix upand , with becoming far more often then the other way around. This trend is quite stigmatised. stigmatised.
•
Codas / Phụ âm cuố i Vietnamese, like most Austroasiatic languages, has fairly restricted syllable codas. Out of the 23 consonant letters and digraphs, only 8 can stand in a final position: c ch m n ng nh p t
c
[k, kp]
ch
[k ~ t]
m
[m]
n
[n / ŋ]
/n/ in the North; complicated in the South
ng nh
[ŋ, ŋm] [ŋ ~ n]
/ŋm/ is allo allophon phonic ic after after rounded rounded vowels vowels
p t
[p] [t ~ k]
/kp/ is allophonic after rounded vowels In the North, like final. In the South, like final .
North; South /t/ in the North; complicated in the South
Notes:
All obstruent codas -, , ,
- are unreleased. English speakers and speakers of European languages languages in general general have the habit habit of releasing their voiceless voiceless stops stops very strongly.
•
It’s not certain what consonantsand truly represented at the time the alphabet was made; those sounds are lost to history. Another theory is that these digraphs were an effort on the missionaries’ part to compromise between the two groups of dialect.
•
and follows , <ê> and ONLY.
•
NEVER follows <ê>, or .
•
For /ŋm/ and /kp/, /kp/, simply simply close close your lips lips after the the /ŋ/ and /k/. /k/. This is is one feature feature that that learners learners often forget about.
•
In Northern dialects, the “–anh” rhyme is pronounced [ɑɪŋ], disntinct from “–ăng” [ɑŋ]
•
Treatment ofand in Southern dialects:
•
- After: they the y are recog r ecognise nised d as and , and behave exactly like them. “-on” is a special case; see below. - After <ê, i>: they stay as /n/ and /t/, but have a centralising effect on the vowel they follow. - After <ô>: also recognised as and , but /o/ is lengthened. E.g. tố t [to:kp] vs. tố c [tokp]; côn [ko:ŋm] vs. công [koŋm]… - The “–on” rhyme is pronounced like –oong, not –ong. For details, see ‘Monophthongs’. ‘Monophthongs’.
Vowels / Nguyên âm As a member of the Austro-Asiatic family, Vietnamese has a large vowel inventory.
Mono Monopht phtho hongs ngs / Nguy Nguyên ên âm âm đơn The Vietnamese vowel vowel system is based on 9 vowels (or 11 if we count the difference difference in length). They are written with 12 letters and 1 digraph:
Aa
Ăă
[ɑ:] [ɑ]
Ââ
[ ]
Ee Êê Ii Oo O o oo Ôô
[] / j / in NWCS [e] [i ~ ] See note [ ] [ ] See note [o]
Ơơ
[ / :]
Uu
[u]
Ư ư
[
Y y
[i ~ ]
ɤ
short ơ in checked syllables and diphthongs / triphthongs*
ɛ
ɛ
ɪ
ɔ ɔ
ɤ ɤ
ɤ
/ :/ in checked syllables (to contrast with â)
ɯ] ɪ
See note
andare NOT interchangeable when forming diphthongs and triphthongs (e.g ui vs. uy). The Ministry of of Education suggested that that should be used in Hán-Việ t words (words borrowed from Classical Classical Chinese), while is for native words, but in reality this matter is settled by imitation i mitation and habit.
•
[ɔ] is spelled asto signify signify that the following following is pronounced pronounced [ŋ ], with open lips, lips, not [ŋm]. E.g.: Close lips after cong [k ŋm], but NOT after coong [k ŋ]. Hence, it’s the coda that changes. The vowel itself stays the same, not drawn out or pronounced any differently.
•
ɔ
ɔ
* E.g E.g.: .: dơ + n = dân dân
•
Diphthongs / Nguyên âm đôi Dipthongs are formed by taking core vowels, then "gliding" them. There are two types of glides in Vietnamese:
Prevocalic Glide: The W-glide This glide takes place place before the vowel sets in. An example of this glide in English is when you
turn dell into dwell. Because the Portuguese language doesn’t have the letter, the Jesuits used vowel vowel letters to write it down down instead. Before Before , , <ă> and , , we use use to to mark mark the glide:
oa oă oe
[wɑ:] Southern Southern workin working g class class speec speech h (SWCS (SWCS): ): /ɑ:/ or /ɔ:/ [wɑ] shortin checked syllables [w ] ɛ
Before <ê>, <ơ> and, we use
uê
[we]
ɤ [wɤ] sho short rt in checked checked syll syllab ables les**
uơ
[w :]
uâ uy
[wi]cannot be replaced with for this diphthong
* E.g.: E.g.: quơ + n = quân
•
IMPORTANT:is distinct from
•
In the North,stands for /kw/, with the w-glide being an integral part of this digraph. In the South it becomes a simple /w/.
•
This glide doesn't doesn't go with the 3 rounded rounded vowels /o u/. You might come come across quố c (e.g “qu “quố c gia” – nation), nation), which seeming seemingly ly goes against against this rule. In reality, it’s a homophone of cuố c – which falls into the ə-glide below; Southerners unround unround the core core vowel vowel and make make it sound sound like like "wấ c".
•
ɔ
A recent development in Southern dialects (especially among working class speakers): This glide gets deleted after a consonant. For example, đóng thuế “to pay tax” would sound the same as đóng thế “to body-double in a movie”. The digraphis commonly pronounced as / :/, in addi additio tion n to the the /ɑ:/ expected under this sound change, while stays as /w/.
•
ɔ
Postvocalic Glides: These three glide take take place after the vowel has set in. Three glides belong to this type. - The
ɪ
-glide: marked by writing orafter the core vowel letter.
ai ay
[ɑ: ] [ɑ ]
ây
[ ]
SWCS SW CS:: shi shift fted ed to [ɑɪ]
oi ôi
[ ] [o ]
SWCS: merged with
ơi
[ :]
ui
[u ] cannot be replaced withfor this diphthong
ư i
[
ɪ
ɪ
ɤ
ɪ
SWCS: merged with
ɔɪ
ɪ
ɤ
ɪ
ɪ
ɯ] ɪ
This glide doesn't doesn't apply to /e/, / / and /i/.
•
ɛ
Letters that stand stand for short vowels - <ă> and <â> - receiveinstead of the regular .
•
- The
ʊ
-glide: Marked by writing orafter the core vowel letter. In practice this one
is closer to [w] (postvocalic labialisation labialisation i.e. rounding your lips at the end, but only slightly).
ao au
[ɑ: ] [ɑ ] SWCS: merged with
âu
[
eo êu iu
[ ] [e ] SWCS: merged with[i ~ ]
ư u
[
ʊ
ʊ
ɤ]
SWCS: shifted to [ɑʊ]
ʊ
ɛʊ
ʊ
ʊ
ɪʊ
ɯ
] SWCS: [u]
ʊ
Like the w-glide, this glide doesn't go with the three rounded vowels.
•
And also also not with with <ơ>, only its its short short version version <â>. <â>.
•
- The
ə-glide:
i a, i ê ua, uô
[iə] [uə]
ưa, ươ
[
ɯə]
The latter in each pair is how the diphthong would would be written in a checked syllable syllable hia + n = hiên lua + n = luôn hưa + ng = hương
•
Triphthongs / Nguyên âm ba Triphthongs are made made by adding glides glides to diphthongs. diphthongs. It's mostly about about adding the w-glide w-glide to a postvocalic diphthong; the core vowel is now "wrapped" in glides, head and tail. Words with tripthongs are not common and may be hard to spell even for native speakers. - w-glide + ɪ -diphthong:
oai
[wɑ: ]
[w] + ai
khoai, loại, quái…
oay
[wɑ ]
[w] [w] + ay ay
trái trái kho khoáy áy,, loay loay hoay hoay… …
uây
[w ]
ɤ
[w] + ây
quậy, khuấ y động…
ɪ
ɪ
- w-glide +
ɪ
ʊ
-diphthong:
oeo
[w ]
[w] + eo
ngoằn ngoèo, oặt oẹo…
uyu
[wi ]
[w] + iu
khúc khuỷ u
ɛʊ
ʊ
- w-glide + ə-diphthong ə-diphthong::
uya, uyê
[wiə]
[w] + ia
uyê in a checked syllable. E.g. khuya + n = khuyên
- Oddballs: Oddballs: These are interesting. Each consists of a core vowel and then two postvocalic glides in a row.
iêu / yêu
[iə ]
ia + [ ]
chi ều, yê yêu, yê yêu kiề u…
uôi
[uə ]
ua + [ ]
nuôi, ru ồi, chuố i…
ươi
ɯə ] [ɯə ] ɪ
ư a + [ ]
mười, cưới, đười ươi…
ʊ
ư a + [ ]
Merged with in the North and becomes [u] in the South, especially among the working class. E.g: hươ u à N: hiêu hiêu,, S: S: hư u, hu
ươu
ʊ
ɪ
[
ʊ
ɪ
ɪ
ʊ
Tones / Thanh dấ u Only vowel letters may receive tone marks. Tone
Description
Diacritic
Name of diacritic
(thanh) ngang
Flat, unwavering
a (none)
(khô (k hông ng dấ u)
(thanh nh)) sắc
High, rising
á (acute accent)
dấu sắc
(tha (t hanh nh)) hu huy y ề n
Low, falling
à (grave accent)
dấu huyền
(thanh nh)) hỏi
Low, falling then rising
ả (small hook above)
dấu hỏi
(thanh) ngã
High, igh, cre creak aky y/bro /broke ken n
ã (t (tild ilde)
dấ u ngã
(th tha anh nh)) nặng
Low, creaky/broken
ạ (dot below)
dấu nặng
Note that Southern Southern dialects have have only 5 tones. tones. They merge merge hỏ i and ngã into a new tone. This tone also starts low, then also falls and rises like the the original hỏ i tone. Down South, South, the nặng tone is also also much less creaky. It fact, fact, one can say that it’s simply simply low and breathy. Examples using "ma": ma ghost má cheek / mom mà but, though mả tomb mã horse (in Chinese compound words) mạ rice seedling Examples using "tô": tô large bowl tố to accuse before the law or the authority t ồ simple-minded, simple-mind ed, naïve for one’s age tổ nest tộ a Northern word for bowl With diphthongs and triphthongs, there are more than one vowel letter. So where to place the tone mark then? Answer: The vowel letter that is second-to-last in the syllable. Examples with diphthongs: dấu, bảy, cuố n. Examples with triphthongs: oái, khuỷu, quyể n There are exceptions exceptions to this rule: You never put the tone mark mark on the in. Examples: Examples: quá, not qúa.
•
In : <ê> receives the diacritic, doesn't.
•
Forand in open syllables, it’s also acceptable to place tone marks on the last vowel letter. E.g: lòa and loà are both accepted (though lòa is more commonly seen).
•
Quick Quizzes Quiz A: Suppose you have a random tone mark. Which letter would you put it on? 1) loa, loan, tuy, huynh 2) mai, quây, điêng 4) cươi, khuyu, chuyên
Quiz B: For each syllable, point out the letter that stands for the core vowel: 1) đôi, vài, lui, chây, trói 2) khỏe, đo đoạn, quá quá,, truy truy,, huề 3) màu, trêu, gấ u, đeo, hư u 4) chia, chiên, mua, nư ớng, cuộn 5) ngư ời, khuya, uya, ngoèo ngoèo,, đu đuố i, quay quay 6) giá giáo o vi viên, ên, chi chiếc thu thuy yề n, kh khuây uây kh khỏ a, lậ p loè loè
Solution A. 1) o or a / a / u / y 2) a / â / ê 3) ơ / y / ê B. 1) ô / a / u / â / o 2) e / a / a / y / ê 3) a / ê / â / e / ư 4) i / i / u / ư / u 5) ư / y / e / u / a 6) a, i / i, y / â, a / â, e