Vietnamese alphabet

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Template:Short description Template:More citations needed Template:Infobox writing system

The Vietnamese alphabet (Template:Langx, Template:IPA) is the modern writing script for the Vietnamese language. It is a Latin-based script whose spelling conventions are derived from the orthography of Romance languages such as Portuguese, Italian, and French.<ref name="Haud">Haudricourt, André-Georges (2010). "The Origin of the Peculiarities of the Vietnamese Alphabet." Mon-Khmer Studies 39: 89–104. Translated by Alexis Michaud from: Haudricourt, André-Georges [1949]. "L'origine Des Particularités de L'alphabet Vietnamien." Dân Việt Nam 3: 61–68.</ref> It was originally developed by Francisco de Pina and other Jesuit missionaries in the early 17th century.<ref name="Jacques 2002" />

The Vietnamese alphabet contains 29 letters,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> including 7 letters using four diacritics: Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, and Template:Vr. There are an additional 5 diacritics used to designate tone (as in Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, and Template:Vr). The complex vowel system and the large number of letters with diacritics, which can stack twice on the same letter (e.g. Template:Lang meaning 'first'), makes it easy to distinguish the Vietnamese orthography from other writing systems that use the Latin alphabet.<ref name="Friederichsen2009">Template:Cite book</ref>

The Vietnamese system's use of diacritics produces an accurate transcription for tones despite the limitations of the Roman alphabet. On the other hand, sound changes in the spoken language have led to different letters, digraphs and trigraphs now representing the same sounds.

Letter names and pronunciation

Template:IPA notice

Vietnamese uses 22 letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet. The 4 remaining letters aren't considered part of the Vietnamese alphabet although they are used to write loanwords, languages of other ethnic groups in the country based on Vietnamese phonetics to differentiate the meanings or even Vietnamese dialects, for example: Template:Vr or Template:Vr for southerner pronunciation of Template:Vr in standard Vietnamese.

In total, there are 12 vowels (Template:Lang) and 17 consonants (Template:Lang, literally 'extra sound').

Cursive Vietnamese alphabet
Vietnamese alphabet<ref name="Vietnam Alphabet">Template:Cite web</ref>
Letter Input keys Name IPA
TELEX VNI Hanoi Nghệ An Sài Gòn
A, a Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
Ă, ă AW A8 Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
Â, â AA A6 Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
B, b Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
C, c Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
D, d Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
Đ, đ DD D9 Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
E, e Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
Ê, ê EE E6 Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
G, g Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
H, h Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
I, i Template:Lang ngắn Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
K, k ca Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
L, l e-lờ Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
M, m em-mờ Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
N, n en-nờ Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
O, o Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
Ô, ô OO O6 Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
Ơ, ơ OW O7 Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
P, p Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
Q, q Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
R, r e-rờ Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
S, s ét-si Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
T, t Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
U, u Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
Ư, ư UW/W U7 Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
V, v Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
X, x ích-xì Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
Y, y Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
Notes
Vietnamese unused letters
Letter Name (when
pronounced) 		Hà Nội Nghệ An Sài Gòn
IPA Phoneme IPA Phoneme IPA Phoneme
F, f Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
J, j Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
W, w Template:Lang / đớp lưu Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
Z, z dét Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA

Middle Vietnamese alphabet

The Vietnamese alphabet in the Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum of Alexandre de Rhodes has 23 letters:

Upper case A B ꞗ C D đ E G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y
Lower case a b c d e g h i k l m n o p q r ſ/s t v/u x y

In this dictionary, there are fewer letters than the modern alphabet. The letters ă, â, ê, ô, ơ, and ư are regarded as separate letters in the modern alphabet and are used in the dictionary, but Rhodes (the author) does not regard them as separate letters. In the dictionary, a letter with diacritics, like à, ạ, ă, ằ, and ặ, are not separate from the letter Template:Lang; à, ạ, ă, ằ, and ặ are just regarded as the letter Template:Lang with diacritics.

In the alphabet, there is a letter, the letter b with flourish ꞗ, that has fallen out of use. It was used to represents the voiced bilabial fricative /β/.<ref>André-Georges Haudricourt. "The two b's in the Vietnamese dictionary of Alexandre de Rhodes". HAL, Alexis Michaud dịch, trang 1.</ref>

Two letters, ꞗ and đ, are neither upper nor lower case.<ref>Alexandre de Rhodes. Dictionarium Anamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum. Romae, Sacra Congregationis de propaganda fide, năm 1651, trang chứa cột 65, cột 191 trong phần chính văn của sách (sách không được đánh số trang).</ref> So according to that orthography, the names of the two provinces Đồng Nai and Lâm Đồng will be đồng Nai and Lâm đồng. In the modern alphabet, the lower case version of đ is đ, and upper case version of đ is Đ.

There are two variants of minuscule s: the long s, ſ, and the short s, s. In the modern alphabet, the long s, ſ, is no longer used, and the short s, s, is the only variant of s.

Normal v in the dictionary has two variants: the normal v, v, and the curving-bottom v, u.<ref>Kenneth J. Gregerson. "A study of Middle Vietnamese phonology". Bulletin de la Société des Études Indochinoises, Nouvelle Série – Tome XLIV, Nº 2, 1969, page 151, 173.</ref> In the 17th century, v and u were not different letters, v being a variant of u.<ref name="Haud" />

Consonants

The alphabet is largely derived from Portuguese with some influence from French,Template:Citation needed although the usage of Template:Vr and Template:Vr was borrowed from Italian (compare Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang) and that for Template:Vr from (Latinised) Greek and Latin (compare Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Lang, Template:Wikt-lang), mirroring the English usage of these letters (compare Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang).

There is one trigraph, Template:Vr, and ten digraphs: Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr.

Consonants
Grapheme Pronunciation (IPA) Notes
Syllable-initial Syllable-final
Northern Central Southern Northern Central Southern
B b Template:IPAslink
C c Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink~Template:IPAslink Template:Vr is used instead when preceding Template:Vr.
Template:Vr is used instead of Template:Vr if a Template:IPA on-glide exists.
Realized as Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink word-finally following rounded vowels Template:Vr.
Ch ch Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink [[Vietnamese phonology#Analysis of final ch.2C nh|Multiple phonemic analyses of the Northern realization of final Template:Vr have been proposed]].
D d Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink In Middle Vietnamese, Template:Vr represented Template:IPAslink. The distinction between Template:Vr and Template:Vr is now purely etymological in most modern dialects, although it is noted that some Southerners may pronounce Template:Vr as Template:IPAslink if distinction from Template:Vr is strictly necessary.
Đ đ Template:IPAslink
G g Template:IPAslink
Gh gh Used instead of Template:Vr before Template:Vr, seemingly to follow the Italian convention. Template:Vr is not allowed in these environments.
Gi gi Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink~Template:IPAslink In Middle Vietnamese, Template:Vr represented Template:IPAslink. The distinction between Template:Vr and Template:Vr is now purely etymological in most modern dialects, although it is noted that some Southerners may pronounce Template:Vr as Template:IPAslink if distinction from Template:Vr is strictly necessary.

Spelled Template:Vr before another Template:Vr.Template:Efn

H h Template:IPAslink
K k Template:IPAslink Used instead of Template:Vr before Template:Vr to follow the European tradition. Template:Vr is not allowed in these environments.
Kh kh Template:IPAslink In Middle Vietnamese, Template:Vr represented Template:IPAblink
L l Template:IPAslink
M m Template:IPAslink
N n Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink~Template:IPAslink In Southern Vietnamese, word-final Template:Vr is realized as Template:IPAblink if not following Template:Vr.
Ng ng Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink~Template:IPAslink Realized as Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink word finally after rounded vowels Template:Vr.
Ngh ngh Spelling used instead of Template:Vr before Template:Vr in accordance with Template:Vr.
Nh nh Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink [[Vietnamese phonology#Analysis of final ch.2C nh|Multiple phonemic analyses of the Northern realization of final Template:Vr have been proposed]].
P p Template:IPAslink~Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink Only occurs initially in loanwords. Some Vietnamese pronounce it as a Template:Vr sound instead (a similar process occurs among speakers of Arabic, which lacks an unvoiced counterpart to Template:IPAslink).
Ph ph Template:IPAslink In Middle Vietnamese, Template:Vr represented Template:IPAblink
Qu qu /Template:IPATemplate:IPA/ Template:IPAslink Used in place of Template:Vr if a Template:IPA on-glide exists.
R r Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink Realized as Template:IPAblink in Northern spelling pronunciation.

In southern speech, the phoneme /r/, generally represented in Vietnamese linguistics by the letter ⟨r⟩, has a number of variant pronunciations. It may occur as a retroflex fricative Template:IPAblink, an alveolar approximant Template:IPAblink, an alveolar flap Template:IPAblink, a trill Template:IPAblink, a velar fricative Template:IPAblink, and a palatal approximant Template:IPAblink. The last two are not considered standard.

S s Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink Realized as Template:IPAblink in Northern spelling pronunciation.
T t Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink~Template:IPAslink In Southern Vietnamese, word-final Template:Vr is realized as Template:IPAblink if not following Template:Vr.
Th th Template:IPAslink
Tr tr Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink Realized as Template:IPAblink in Northern spelling pronunciation.
V v Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink~Template:IPAslink In Middle Vietnamese, it was spelled with the now-obsolete letter Template:Vr to represent Template:IPAblink.
Can be realized as Template:IPAblink in Southern speech through spelling pronunciation and in loanwords. In traditional performance including Cải lương, Đờn ca tài tử, Hát bội and some old speakers of Overseas Vietnamese, it is pronounced as consonant cluster Template:IPA or Template:IPA.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
X x Template:IPAslink In Middle Vietnamese, Template:Vr was pronounced Template:IPAblink.

Template:Notelist

Vowels

Pronunciation

The correspondence between the orthography and pronunciation is somewhat complicated. In some cases, the same letter may represent several different sounds, and different letters may represent the same sound. This is because the orthography was designed centuries ago and the spoken language has changed, as shown in the chart directly above that contrasts the difference between Middle and Modern Vietnamese.Template:Citation needed

Template:Vr and Template:Vr are mostly equivalent, and there is no concrete rule that says when to use one or the other, except in sequences like Template:Vr and Template:Vr (i.e. Template:Lang 'arm, hand' is read as Template:IPA while Template:Lang 'ear' is read as Template:IPA). There have been attempts since the late 20th century to standardize the orthography by replacing Template:Vr with Template:Vr when it represents a vowel, the latest being a decision from the Vietnamese Ministry of Education in 1984. These efforts seem to have had limited effect. In textbooks published by Nhà Xuất bản Giáo dục ('Publishing House of Education'), Template:Vr is used to represent Template:IPA only in Sino-Vietnamese words that are written with one letter Template:Vr alone (diacritics can still be added, as in Template:Vr, Template:Vr), at the beginning of a syllable when followed by Template:Vr (as in Template:Lang, Template:Lang), after Template:Vr and in the sequence Template:Vr; therefore such forms as *Template:Lang and *Template:Lang are not "standard", though they are much preferred elsewhere. Most people and the popular media continue to use the spelling that they are most accustomed to.Template:Citation needed

Spelling and pronunciation in Vietnamese
Spelling Sound
a  Template:IPA (Template:IPA in some dialects) except as below
 Template:IPA in au Template:IPA and ay Template:IPA (but Template:IPA in ao Template:IPA and ai Template:IPA)
 Template:IPA before syllable-final nh Template:IPA and ch Template:IPA, see
 Vietnamese phonology#Analysis of final ch, nh
 Template:IPA in ưa Template:IPA, ia Template:IPA and ya Template:IPA
 Template:IPA in ua except after q<ref group=note>qua is pronounced Template:IPA except in quay, where it is pronounced Template:IPA. When not preceded by q, ua is pronounced Template:IPA.</ref>
ă  Template:IPA
â  Template:IPA
e  Template:IPA
ê  Template:IPA except as below
 Template:IPA before syllable-final nh Template:IPA and ch Template:IPA, see
 Vietnamese phonology#Analysis of final ch, nh
 Template:IPA in iê Template:IPA and yê Template:IPA
i  Template:IPA except as below
 Template:IPA after any vowel letter
o  Template:IPA except as below
 Template:IPA before ng and c<ref group=note>However, oong and ooc are pronounced Template:IPA and Template:IPA.</ref>
 Template:IPA after any vowel letter (= after a or e)
 Template:IPA before any vowel letter except i (= before ă, a or e)
ô  Template:IPA except as below
 Template:IPA before ng and c except after a u that is not preceded by a q<ref group=note>uông and uôc are pronounced Template:IPA and Template:IPA when not preceded by a q.</ref>
 Template:IPA in uô except after q<ref group=note>quô is pronounced Template:IPA except in quông and quôc, where it is pronounced Template:IPA. When not preceded by q, uô is pronounced Template:IPA.</ref>
ơ  Template:IPA except as below
 Template:IPA in ươ Template:IPA
u  Template:IPA except as below
 Template:IPA after q or any vowel letter
 Template:IPA before any vowel letter except a, ô and i
 Before a, ô and i: Template:IPA if preceded by q, Template:IPA otherwise
ư  Template:IPA
y  Template:IPA except as below
 Template:IPA after any vowel letter except u (= after â and a)

Template:Reflist

The uses of Template:Vr and Template:Vr to represent the phoneme Template:IPA can be categorized as "standard" (as used in textbooks published by Nhà Xuất bản Giáo dục) and "non-standard" as follows.

Standard spellings in Vietnamese
Context "Standard" "Non-standard"
In one-lettered non-Sino-Vietnamese syllables i (e.g.: í ới)
In one-lettered Sino-Vietnamese syllables y (e.g.: y học)
Syllable-initial, not followed by ê i (e.g.: im lặng)
Syllable-initial, followed by ê y (e.g.: yết hầu)
After u y (e.g.: khuyết tật)
After qu, not followed by ê, nh y (e.g.: quý giá) i (e.g.: quí giá)
After qu, followed by ê, nh y (e.g.: xảo quyệt)
After b, d, đ, r, x i (e.g.: địch thủ)
After g, not followed by a, ă, â, e, ê, o, ô, ơ, u, ư i (e.g.: giữ gìn)
After h, k, l, m, t, not followed by any letter, in non-Sino-Vietnamese syllables i (e.g.: mí mắt)
After h, k, l, m, t, not followed by any letter, in Sino-Vietnamese syllables i (e.g.: kì thú) y (e.g.: kỳ thú)
After ch, gh, kh, nh, ph, th i (e.g.: ý nghĩa)
After n, s, v, not followed by any letter, in non-proper-noun syllables i (e.g.: ni cô)
After n, s, v, not followed by any letter, in proper nouns i (e.g.: Vi) y (e.g.: Vy)
After h, k, l, m, n, s, t, v, followed by a letter i (e.g.: ngôi miếu)
In Vietnamese personal names, after a consonant i either i or y, depending on personal preference

This "standard" set by Nhà Xuất bản Giáo dục is not definite. It is unknown why the literature books use Lí while the history books use Lý.

Spelling

Vowel nuclei

The table below matches the vowels of Hanoi Vietnamese (written in the IPA) and their respective orthographic symbols used in the writing system.

Front Central Back
Sound Spelling Sound Spelling Sound Spelling
Centering Template:IPA iê/ia* Template:IPA ươ/ưa* Template:IPA uô/ua*
Close Template:IPA i, y Template:IPA ư Template:IPA u
Close-mid/
Mid 		Template:IPA ê Template:IPA ơ Template:IPA ô
Template:IPA â
Open-mid/
Open 		Template:IPA e Template:IPA a Template:IPA o
Template:IPA ă

Notes:

  1. preceded by an orthographic vowel: Template:IPA = Template:Lang 'to advise';
  2. at the beginning of a word derived from Chinese (written as Template:Vr otherwise): Template:IPA = Template:Lang 'to love'.

Diphthongs and triphthongs

Rising Vowels Rising-Falling Vowels Falling Vowels
nucleus (V) Template:IPA on-glides Template:IPA + V + off-glide Template:IPA off-glides Template:IPA off-glides
front e Template:IPA oe/(q)ue* Template:IPA oeo/(q)ueo* Template:IPA eo
ê Template:IPA uê Template:IPA êu
i Template:IPA uy Template:IPA uyu Template:IPA iu
ia/iê/yê* Template:IPA uyê/uya* Template:IPA iêu/yêu*
central a Template:IPA oa/(q)ua* Template:IPA oai/(q)uai, Template:IPA oao/(q)uao* Template:IPA ai Template:IPA ao
ă Template:IPA oă/(q)uă* Template:IPA oay/(q)uay* Template:IPA ay Template:IPA au
â Template:IPA uâ Template:IPA uây Template:IPA ây Template:IPA âu
ơ Template:IPA uơ Template:IPA ơi Template:IPA ơu
ư Template:IPA ưi Template:IPA ưu
ưa/ươ* Template:IPA ươi Template:IPA ươu
back o Template:IPA oi
ô Template:IPA ôi
u Template:IPA ui
ua/uô* Template:IPA uôi

Notes:

The glide Template:IPA is written:

The off-glide Template:IPA is written as Template:Vr except after Template:Vr and Template:Vr, where it is written as Template:Vr; Template:IPA is written as Template:Vr instead of *Template:Vr (cf. Template:Lang Template:IPA).

The diphthong Template:IPA is written:

The Template:Vr of the diphthong changes to Template:Vr after Template:Vr:
Template:Vr changes to Template:Vr at the beginning of a syllable (Template:Vr does not change):

The diphthong Template:IPA is written:

The diphthong Template:IPA is written:

Tone marks

Vietnamese is a tonal language, so the meaning of each word depends on the pitch in which it is pronounced. Tones are marked in the IPA as suprasegmentals following the phonemic value. Some tones are also associated with a glottalization pattern.

There are six distinct tones in the standard northern dialect. The first one ("level tone") is not marked and the other five are indicated by diacritics applied to the vowel part of the syllable. The tone names are chosen such that the name of each tone is spoken in the tone it identifies.

In the south, there is a merging of the Template:Lang and Template:Lang tones, in effect leaving five tones.Template:Citation needed

Order Diacritic Symbol Input keys Name IPA diacritic Vowels with diacritic
TELEX VNI
1 unmarked N/A Z* 0* Template:Lang mid level, Template:IPA A/a, Ă/ă, Â/â, E/e, Ê/ê, I/i, O/o, Ô/ô, Ơ/ơ, U/u, Ư/ư, Y/y
2 acute accent á S 1 Template:Lang high rising, Template:IPA Á/á, Ắ/ắ, Ấ/ấ, É/é, Ế/ế, Í/í, Ó/ó, Ố/ố, Ớ/ớ, Ú/ú, Ứ/ứ, Ý/ý
3 grave accent à F 2 Template:Lang low falling, Template:IPA À/à, Ằ/ằ, Ầ/ầ, È/è, Ề/ề, Ì/ì, Ò/ò, Ồ/ồ, Ờ/ờ, Ù/ù, Ừ/ừ, Ỳ/ỳ
4 hook above ả R 3 Template:Lang mid falling, Template:IPA (Northern); dipping, Template:IPA (Southern) Ả/ả, Ẳ/ẳ, Ẩ/ẩ, Ẻ/ẻ, Ể/ể, Ỉ/ỉ, Ỏ/ỏ, Ổ/ổ, Ở/ở, Ủ/ủ, Ử/ử, Ỷ/ỷ
5 perispomeniTemplate:Efn ã X 4 Template:Lang glottalized rising, Template:IPA (Northern); slightly lengthened Template:Lang tone (Southern) Ã/ã, Ẵ/ẵ, Ẫ/ẫ, Ẽ/ẽ, Ễ/ễ, Ĩ/ĩ, Õ/õ, Ỗ/ỗ, Ỡ/ỡ, Ũ/ũ, Ữ/ữ, Ỹ/ỹ
6 dot below ạ J 5 Template:Lang glottalized falling, Template:IPA (Northern); low rising, Template:IPA (Southern) Ạ/ạ, Ặ/ặ, Ậ/ậ, Ẹ/ẹ, Ệ/ệ, Ị/ị, Ọ/ọ, Ộ/ộ, Ợ/ợ, Ụ/ụ, Ự/ự, Ỵ/ỵ
  • *: Z (in TELEX) and 0 (in VNI) keys are used to remove the mark. For example, in VNI, U2 → Template:Vr, then press 0 → Template:Vr.
  • Unmarked vowels are pronounced with a level voice, in the middle of the speaking range.
  • The grave accent indicates that the speaker should start somewhat low and drop slightly in tone, with the voice becoming increasingly breathy.
  • The hook indicates in Northern Vietnamese that the speaker should start in the middle range and fall, but in Southern Vietnamese that the speaker should start somewhat low and fall, then rise (as when asking a question in English).
  • In the North, a perispomeni indicates that the speaker should start mid, break off (with a glottal stop), then start again and rise like a question in tone. In the South, it is realized identically to the Hỏi tone.
  • The acute accent indicates that the speaker should start mid and rise sharply in tone.
  • The dot or cross signifies in Northern Vietnamese that the speaker starts low and fall lower in tone, with the voice becoming increasingly creaky and ending in a glottal stop.

In syllables where the vowel part consists of more than one vowel (such as diphthongs and triphthongs), the placement of the tone is still a matter of debate. Generally, there are two methodologies, an "old style" and a "new style". While the "old style" emphasizes aesthetics by placing the tone mark as close as possible to the center of the word (by placing the tone mark on the last vowel if an ending consonant part exists and on the next-to-last vowel if the ending consonant does not exist, as in Template:Lang, Template:Lang), the "new style" emphasizes linguistic principles and tries to apply the tone mark on the main vowel (as in Template:Lang, Template:Lang). In both styles, when one vowel already has a quality diacritic on it, the tone mark must be applied to it as well, regardless of where it appears in the syllable (thus Template:Lang is acceptable while Template:Lang is not). In the case of the Template:Vr diphthong, the mark is placed on the Template:Vr. The Template:Vr in Template:Vr is considered part of the consonant. Currently, the new style is usually used in textbooks published by Template:Lang, while most people still prefer the old style in casual uses. Among Overseas Vietnamese communities, the old style is predominant for all purposes.

In lexical ordering, differences in letters are treated as primary, differences in tone markings as secondary and differences in case as tertiary differences. (Letters include for instance Template:Vr and Template:Vr but not Template:Vr. Older dictionaries also treated digraphs and trigraphs like Template:Vr and Template:Vr as base letters.<ref>See for example Template:Cite book</ref>) Ordering according to primary and secondary differences proceeds syllable by syllable. According to this principle, a dictionary lists Template:Lang before Template:Lang because the secondary difference in the first syllable takes precedence over the primary difference in the second syllable.

Structure

In the past, syllables in multisyllabic words were concatenated with hyphens, but this practice has died out and hyphenation is now reserved for word-borrowings from other languages. A written syllable consists of at most three parts, in the following order from left to right:

  1. An optional beginning consonant part
  2. A required vowel syllable nucleus and the tone mark, if needed, applied above or below it
  3. An ending consonant part, can only be one of the following: Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, Template:Vr, or nothing.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

History

Template:Further

A page from Alexandre de Rhodes' 1651 dictionary

Since the beginning of the Chinese rule in 111 BC, literature, government papers, scholarly works, and religious scripture were all written in classical Chinese (Template:Vi-nom, Template:Lang) while indigenous writing with Template:Lang started around the ninth century.Template:Sfn In the 12th century, several Vietnamese words began to be written in Template:Lang, adapted from Chinese characters. The system was based on Chinese characters but supplemented with Vietnamese-invented characters to represent native Vietnamese words. These characters were adapted or created using methods such as phono-semantic compounds (Template:Vi-nom, Template:Lang), double-phonetic compounds (Template:Vi-nom, Template:Lang), and borrowing the character for its pronunciation (Template:Vi-nom, Template:Lang).

Name

People have called the Latinized script of Vietnamese Template:Lang at least since 1867.<ref>John DeFrancis. Colonialism and Language Policy in Viet Nam. The Hague, Mouton Publishers, 1977, page 82–84.</ref> In 1867, scholar Trương Vĩnh Ký published two grammar books. The first book is Template:Lang (Tips to teach and learn French), a Vietnamese book written in Template:Lang about French grammar. In this book, the Latinized script of Vietnamese was called Template:Lang (not Template:Lang). The second book is Template:Lang (Simplification of Annamite grammar), a French book about Vietnamese grammar. In this book, the Latinized script of Vietnamese was called Template:Lang (European alphabet), Template:Lang (Latin characters). On Gia Dinh Bao April 15th issue of 1867, when mentioned the French book about Vietnamese grammar, the name Template:Lang was used to indicate the Latinized script of Vietnamese.<ref>John DeFrancis. Colonialism and Language Policy in Viet Nam. The Hague, Mouton Publishers, 1977, page 82.</ref>

Creation of Template:Lang

As early as 1620, with the work of Francisco de Pina, Portuguese and Italian Jesuit missionaries in Vietnam began using Latin script to transcribe the Vietnamese language as an assistance for learning the language.<ref name="Jacques 2002" /><ref name="Tran 2019" /> The work was continued by the Avignonese Alexandre de Rhodes. Building on previous dictionaries by Gaspar do Amaral and António Barbosa, Rhodes compiled the Template:Lang, a Vietnamese–Portuguese–Latin dictionary, which was later printed in Rome in 1651, using their spelling system.<ref name="Jacques 2002" /><ref name="Tran 2018">Template:Cite journal</ref> These efforts led eventually to the development of the present Vietnamese alphabet. For 200 years, Template:Lang was used within the Catholic community.Template:Sfn<ref name="Ostrowski">Template:Cite book</ref> However, works written in the Vietnamese alphabet saw limited use, while Catholic texts in chữ Nôm were significantly more widespread. Template:Lang thus remained the principal writing system used by Vietnamese Catholics during this period.<ref name="Ostrowski" />

Colonial period

In 1910, the French colonial administration enforced Template:Lang.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Latin alphabet then became a means to publish Vietnamese popular literature, which was disparaged as vulgar by the Chinese-educated imperial elites.<ref name="Nguyên Tùng pp. 135-149">Nguyên Tùng, "Langues, écritures et littératures au Viêt-nam", Aséanie, Sciences humaines en Asie du Sud-Est, Vol. 2000/5, pp. 135-149.</ref> Historian Pamela A. Pears asserted that by instituting the Latin alphabet in Vietnam, the French cut the Vietnamese from their traditional Hán Nôm literature.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> An important reason why Latin script became the standard writing system in Vietnam but not in Cambodia and Laos, which were both dominated by the French for a similar amount of time under the same colonial framework, had to do with the Nguyễn Emperors of Vietnam heavily promoting its usage.<ref name="Người-Việt-Daily-News-Thoát-Hán-2018">Template:Cite web</ref> According to the historian Liam Kelley in his 2016 work "Emperor Thành Thái’s Educational Revolution" neither the French nor the revolutionaries had enough power to spread the usage of Template:Lang down to the village level.<ref name="Người-Việt-Daily-News-Thoát-Hán-2018"/> It was by the imperial decree of Emperor Thành Thái in 1906 that parents could decide whether their children would follow a curriculum in Template:Lang (Template:Vi-nom) or Template:Lang (Template:Vi-nom, 'Southern sound', the contemporary Vietnamese name for Template:Lang).<ref name="Người-Việt-Daily-News-Thoát-Hán-2018"/> This decree was issued at the same time when other social changes, such as the cutting of long male hair, were occurring.<ref name="Người-Việt-Daily-News-Thoát-Hán-2018"/> The main reason for the popularisation of the Latin alphabet in Vietnam/Đại Nam during the Nguyễn dynasty (the French protectorates of Annam and Tonkin) was because of the pioneering efforts by intellectuals from French Cochinchina combined with the progressive and scientific policies of the French government in French Indochina that created the momentum for the usage of Template:Lang to spread.<ref name="Người-Việt-Daily-News-Thoát-Hán-2018"/>

Template:Blockquote

Since the 1920s, the Vietnamese mostly use Template:Lang, and new Vietnamese terms for new items or words are often calqued from Hán Nôm. Some French had originally planned to replace Vietnamese with French, but this never was a serious project, given the small number of French settlers compared with the native population. The French had to reluctantly accept the use of Template:Lang to write Vietnamese since this writing system, created by Portuguese missionaries, is based on Portuguese orthography, not French.<ref name="TBS">Template:Cite web Note 3. "The French had to accept reluctantly the existence of chữ quốc ngữ. The propagation of chữ quốc ngữ in Cochinchina was, in fact, not without resistance [by French authority or pro-French Vietnamese elite] [...] Chữ quốc ngữ was created by Portuguese missionaries according to the phonemic orthography of Portuguese language. The Vietnamese could not use chữ quốc ngữ to learn French script. The French would mispronounce chữ quốc ngữ in French orthography, particularly people's names and place names. Thus, the French constantly disparaged chữ quốc ngữ because of its uselessness in helping with the propagation of French script."</ref>

Mass education

Between 1907 and 1908, the short-lived Tonkin Free School promulgated Template:Lang and taught French language to the general population.

In 1917, the French system suppressed Vietnam's Confucian examination system, viewed as an aristocratic system linked with the "ancient regime", thereby forcing Vietnamese elites to educate their offspring in the French language education system. Emperor Khải Định declared the traditional writing system abolished in 1918.<ref name="Nguyên Tùng pp. 135-149"/> While traditional nationalists favoured the Confucian examination system and the use of chữ Hán, Vietnamese revolutionaries, progressive nationalists, and pro-French elites viewed the French education system as a means to "liberate" the Vietnamese from old Chinese domination and the unsatisfactory "outdated" Confucian examination system, to democratize education and to help bridge Vietnamese to European philosophies.

The French colonial system then set up another educational system, teaching Vietnamese as a first language using Template:Lang in primary school and then the French language (taught in Template:Lang). Hundreds of thousands of textbooks for primary education began to be published in Template:Lang, with the unintentional result of turning the script into the popular medium for the expression for Vietnamese culture.<ref name="Anderson, Benedict. 1991, pp. 128">Anderson, Benedict. 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso. pp. 127-128.</ref>

Late 20th century to present

Typesetting and printing Vietnamese has been challenging due to its number of accents/diacritics.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This had led to the use of accent and diacritic-less names in Overseas Vietnamese, such as Viet instead of the proper Việt. Contemporary Vietnamese texts sometimes include words which have not been adapted to modern Vietnamese orthography, especially for documents written in chữ Hán. The Vietnamese language itself has been likened to a system akin to ruby characters elsewhere in Asia. French, which left a mark on the Vietnamese language in the form of loanwords and other influences, is no longer as widespread in Vietnam, with English or International English the preferred European language for commerce.

Computing

Template:Main

Different ways in which tone marks can be presented on letters that already have diacritic, e.g. (`) on letter ê when computerising Vietnamese

The universal character set Unicode has full support for the Latin Vietnamese writing system, although it does not have a separate segment for it. The required characters that other languages use are scattered throughout the Basic Latin, Latin-1 Supplement, Latin Extended-A and Latin Extended-B blocks; those that remain (such as the letters with dau hoi) are placed in the Latin Extended Additional block. An ASCII-based writing convention, Vietnamese Quoted Readable and several byte-based encodings including VSCII (TCVN), VNI, VISCII and Windows-1258 were widely used before Unicode became popular. Most new documents now exclusively use the Unicode format UTF-8.

Unicode allows the user to choose between precomposed characters and combining characters in inputting Vietnamese. Because in the past some fonts implemented combining characters in a nonstandard way (see Verdana font), most people use precomposed characters when composing Vietnamese-language documents (except on Windows where Windows-1258 used combining characters).

Most keyboards on modern phone and computer operating systems, including iOS,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Android<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and MacOS,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> have now supported the Vietnamese language and direct input of diacritics by default. Previously, Vietnamese users had to manually install free software such as Unikey on computers or Laban Key on phones to type Vietnamese diacritics. These keyboards support input methods such as Telex.

Unicode code points

The following table provides Unicode code points for all non-ASCII Vietnamese letters.

Unmarked Grave Hook Perispomeni Acute Dot
̀ (U+0300) ̉ (U+0309) ̃ (U+0303) ́ (U+0301) ̣ (U+0323)
Uppercase letters
A À (U+00C0) Ả (U+1EA2) Ã (U+00C3) Á (U+00C1) Ạ (U+1EA0)
Ă (U+0102) Ằ (U+1EB0) Ẳ (U+1EB2) Ẵ (U+1EB4) Ắ (U+1EAE) Ặ (U+1EB6)
 (U+00C2) Ầ (U+1EA6) Ẩ (U+1EA8) Ẫ (U+1EAA) Ấ (U+1EA4) Ậ (U+1EAC)
Đ (U+0110)
E È (U+00C8) Ẻ (U+1EBA) Ẽ (U+1EBC) É (U+00C9) Ẹ (U+1EB8)
Ê (U+00CA) Ề (U+1EC0) Ể (U+1EC2) Ễ (U+1EC4) Ế (U+1EBE) Ệ (U+1EC6)
I Ì (U+00CC) Ỉ (U+1EC8) Ĩ (U+0128) Í (U+00CD) Ị (U+1ECA)
O Ò (U+00D2) Ỏ (U+1ECE) Õ (U+00D5) Ó (U+00D3) Ọ (U+1ECC)
Ô (U+00D4) Ồ (U+1ED2) Ổ (U+1ED4) Ỗ (U+1ED6) Ố (U+1ED0) Ộ (U+1ED8)
Ơ (U+01A0) Ờ (U+1EDC) Ở (U+1EDE) Ỡ (U+1EE0) Ớ (U+1EDA) Ợ (U+1EE2)
U Ù (U+00D9) Ủ (U+1EE6) Ũ (U+0168) Ú (U+00DA) Ụ (U+1EE4)
Ư (U+01AF) Ừ (U+1EEA) Ử (U+1EEC) Ữ (U+1EEE) Ứ (U+1EE8) Ự (U+1EF0)
Y Ỳ (U+1EF2) Ỷ (U+1EF6) Ỹ (U+1EF8) Ý (U+00DD) Ỵ (U+1EF4)
Lowercase letters
a à (U+00E0) ả (U+1EA3) ã (U+00E3) á (U+00E1) ạ (U+1EA1)
ă (U+0103) ằ (U+1EB1) ẳ (U+1EB3) ẵ (U+1EB5) ắ (U+1EAF) ặ (U+1EB7)
â (U+00E2) ầ (U+1EA7) ẩ (U+1EA9) ẫ (U+1EAB) ấ (U+1EA5) ậ (U+1EAD)
đ (U+0111)
e è (U+00E8) ẻ (U+1EBB) ẽ (U+1EBD) é (U+00E9) ẹ (U+1EB9)
ê (U+00EA) ề (U+1EC1) ể (U+1EC3) ễ (U+1EC5) ế (U+1EBF) ệ (U+1EC7)
i ì (U+00EC) ỉ (U+1EC9) ĩ (U+0129) í (U+00ED) ị (U+1ECB)
o ò (U+00F2) ỏ (U+1ECF) õ (U+00F5) ó (U+00F3) ọ (U+1ECD)
ô (U+00F4) ồ (U+1ED3) ổ (U+1ED5) ỗ (U+1ED7) ố (U+1ED1) ộ (U+1ED9)
ơ (U+01A1) ờ (U+1EDD) ở (U+1EDF) ỡ (U+1EE1) ớ (U+1EDB) ợ (U+1EE3)
u ù (U+00F9) ủ (U+1EE7) ũ (U+0169) ú (U+00FA) ụ (U+1EE5)
ư (U+01B0) ừ (U+1EEB) ử (U+1EED) ữ (U+1EEF) ứ (U+1EE9) ự (U+1EF1)
y ỳ (U+1EF3) ỷ (U+1EF7) ỹ (U+1EF9) ý (U+00FD) ỵ (U+1EF5)

See also

Footnotes

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References

<references />

Bibliography

  • Gregerson, Kenneth J. (1969). A study of Middle Vietnamese phonology. Bulletin de la Société des Etudes Indochinoises, 44, 135–193. (Published version of the author's MA thesis, University of Washington). (Reprinted 1981, Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics).
  • Template:Cite journal
  • Healy, Dana.(2003). Teach Yourself Vietnamese, Hodder Education, London.
  • Template:Citation.
  • Template:Cite book
  • Nguyen, Đang Liêm. (1970). Vietnamese pronunciation. PALI language texts: Southeast Asia. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Template:ISBN.
  • Nguyễn, Đình-Hoà. (1955). Quốc-ngữ: The modern writing system in Vietnam. Washington, D. C.: Author.
  • Template:Cite journal
  • Nguyễn, Đình-Hoà. (1996). Vietnamese. In P. T. Daniels, & W. Bright (Eds.), The world's writing systems, (pp. 691–699). New York: Oxford University Press. Template:ISBN.
  • Nguyễn, Đình-Hoà. (1997). Vietnamese: Tiếng Việt không son phấn. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Template:ISBN.
  • Pham, Andrea Hoa. (2003). Vietnamese tone: A new analysis. Outstanding dissertations in linguistics. New York: Routledge. (Published version of author's 2001 PhD dissertation, University of Florida: Hoa, Pham. Vietnamese tone: Tone is not pitch). Template:ISBN.
  • Template:Cite book
  • Template:Cite book
  • Thompson, Laurence E. (1991). A Vietnamese reference grammar. Seattle: University of Washington Press. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Template:ISBN. (Original work published 1965).
  • Template:Cite journal
  • Template:Cite book

Further reading

  • Nguyen, A. M. (2006). Let's learn the Vietnamese alphabet. Las Vegas: Viet Baby. Template:ISBN
  • Shih, Virginia Jing-yi. Quoc Ngu Revolution: A Weapon of Nationalism in Vietnam. 1991.

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