User:Tphcm/Vietnamese Phonology

Vietnamese Phonology describes the sound system of the Vietnamese language, including its phonetics and phonology. This article concentrates on the two most commonly encountered variants: the spoken languages of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Syllable structure
Vietnamese words are generally monosyllabic, such as the examples một 'one' and hai 'two'. The phonotactics of the Vietnamese language restrict syllables to the following internal structure:


 * Onset: the initial consonant (optional)
 * Rime (obligatory)
 * Syllable glide (The labial-velar approximant ) (optional)
 * Nucleus: vowels (monophthongs, diphthongs or triphthongs) (obligatory)
 * Coda: final consonants (optional)
 * Tone (one of six possible tones)

The structure of a Vietnamese word can be represented as:

[Onset] + Glide] + Vowel + [Coda + Tone

For example, the most common Vietnamese family name Nguyễn shows all five possible components of a Vietnamese syllable:


 * Onset: 'Ng'.
 * Glide: 'u'.
 * Nucleus: 'yê' . Here, the nucleus is a diphthong.
 * Coda: 'n'.
 * Tone: This is the ngã tone with tone contour '315', and it is written here with a tilde over 'ê'.

Simpler combinations are possible, such as in the words for the two syllable morpheme y tá (nurse). The first syllable has got a nucleus, but no onset, glide nor coda. The second has got an onset and a nucleus, but neither glide nor coda. However, both these syllables have tone - the ngang and s&#7855;c respectively.

Consonants
This table shows the consonant phonemes in Vietnamese. Not all of them are present in all varieties of Vietnamese.


 * 1)  is generally present only at the end of words, except for words derived from French.
 * 2)  is unaspirated, while  is aspirated. These are different phonemes in all varieties of Vietnamese.
 * 3) Something about North South differences.
 * 4) These are doubly articulated consonants, and only occur in the coda.
 * 5) See note.
 * 6) The glottalized stops are preglottalized and voiced:   (i.e., the glottis is always closed before the oral closure). This glottal closure is often not released before the release of the oral closure, resulting in the characteric implosive pronunciation. However, sometimes the glottal closure is released prior to the oral release in which case the stops are pronounced as . Therefore, the primary characteristic is preglottalization with implosion being secondary.
 * 7)  is generally still present in the northern and central regions), but is often elided to  or palatized as . In addition to this, there is  that is present among other speakers. These pronunciations are remnants of a merger and sound change involving  in southern speech.
 * 8) In southern speech, the phoneme  has a number of variant pronunciations that depend on the speaker. More than one pronunciation may even be found within a single speaker. It may occur as a retroflex fricative, a postalveolar fricative , a flap , a trill , or a fricative flap/trill . This sound is generally represented in Vietnamese linguistics by the symbol < r >
 * 9) This is the glide.
 * Among the coronals:
 * are dental:.
 * are alveolar:.
 * are apical (i.e. with the tongue tip).
 * are laminal (i.e. with the tongue blade).
 * are phonetically palatoalveolar (i.e. the blade of the tongue makes contact behind the alveolar ridge).
 * is often slightly affricated, although much less than English . (Note that the English affricate is also aspirated and usually apical, unlike Vietnamese). This affrication, however, is not obligatory.

Phonological processes

 * A glottal stop is inserted before words that begin with a vowel or the glide :


 * {| cellpadding="5" style="line-height: 1.0em;"


 * ăn
 * 'to eat'
 * uỷ
 * 'to delegate'
 * }
 * uỷ
 * 'to delegate'
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }


 * When stops occur at the end of words, they are unreleased :


 * {| cellpadding="5" style="line-height: 1.0em;"


 * đáp
 * 'to reply'
 * mát
 * 'cool'
 * khác
 * 'different'
 * }
 * 'cool'
 * khác
 * 'different'
 * }
 * khác
 * 'different'
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }


 * When the velar consonants follow, they are articulated with a simultaneous bilabial closure  (i.e. doubly-articulated) or are strongly labialized.


 * {| cellpadding="5" style="line-height: 1.0em;"


 * đục
 * 'muddy'
 * độc
 * 'poison'
 * ung
 * 'cancer'
 * ong
 * 'bee'
 * }
 * ung
 * 'cancer'
 * ong
 * 'bee'
 * }
 * ong
 * 'bee'
 * }
 * ong
 * 'bee'
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
The 22 consonants of the Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) variety (a.k.a. Saigon variety):

Phonetics
The HCMC Vietnamese variety is essentially the same as the Hanoi with the following exceptions:


 * is generally not present in HCMC. When it is pronounced, it is often a spelling pronunciation in which case it always occurs palatalized with a following it: . In addition to this, there is  that is present among other speakers. These pronunciations are remnants of a merger and sound change involving  in southern speech ( is generally still present in the northern and central regions).
 * Hanoi is not present in HCMC.
 * HCMC is generally slightly more palatalized than the Hanoi variety:.
 * In southern speech, the phoneme has a number of variant pronunciations that depend on the speaker. More than one pronunciation may even be found within a single speaker. It may occur as a retroflex fricative, a postalveolar fricative , a flap , a trill , or a fricative flap/trill . This sound is generally represented in Vietnamese linguistics by the symbol < r >.
 * Among the coronals:
 * is dental:.
 * are alveolar:.
 * are apical:.
 * are laminal:.
 * Unlike Hanoi, the glide in HCMC when at the beginning of a syllable is not preceded by a glottal stop.

Regional consonant variation
At the beginning of syllables, Hanoi appear as HCMC. HCMC appears as Hanoi, HCMC  appear as Hanoi , and HCMC  appear as Hanoi. The table below summarizes these sound correspondences:


 * {| border="1" cellpadding="6" style="border-collapse: collapse; background: #f9f9f9; margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid #ccc; line-height: 1.4em; text-align: center;"

! colspan="5" | Syllable onsets ! rowspan="2" | Hanoi ! rowspan="2" | HCMC ! colspan="3" | Example ! word ! Hanoi ! HCMC
 * - style="background: #f2f2f2;"
 * - style="background: #f2f2f2;"
 * - style="background: #f2f2f2;"
 * style="text-align: left;" | vợ  "wife"
 * style="text-align: left;" | da  "skin"
 * style="text-align: left;" | ra  "to go out"
 * rowspan="2" |
 * rowspan="2" |
 * style="text-align: left;" | chi  "what/why/how"
 * style="text-align: left;" | trắng  "white"
 * rowspan="2" |
 * rowspan="2" |
 * style="text-align: left;" | xa  "far"
 * style="text-align: left;" | số  "number"
 * }
 * style="text-align: left;" | ra  "to go out"
 * rowspan="2" |
 * rowspan="2" |
 * style="text-align: left;" | chi  "what/why/how"
 * style="text-align: left;" | trắng  "white"
 * rowspan="2" |
 * rowspan="2" |
 * style="text-align: left;" | xa  "far"
 * style="text-align: left;" | số  "number"
 * }
 * style="text-align: left;" | trắng  "white"
 * rowspan="2" |
 * rowspan="2" |
 * style="text-align: left;" | xa  "far"
 * style="text-align: left;" | số  "number"
 * }
 * rowspan="2" |
 * rowspan="2" |
 * style="text-align: left;" | xa  "far"
 * style="text-align: left;" | số  "number"
 * }
 * style="text-align: left;" | số  "number"
 * }
 * style="text-align: left;" | số  "number"
 * }
 * }
 * }

There are also sound mergers involving syllable-final consonants among the different regional varieties. These correspondences differ from the initial consonant correspondences discussed above. Coronals in Hanoi appear as velars  in HCMC, except when the coronals occur after the higher front vocalics, in which case HCMC  remain the same as Hanoi. Additionally, Hanoi appear as HCMC  when they occur after  (otherwise they are ):

As can be seen above, vowels also vary among different regions.

Monophthongs
The IPA vowel chart of monophthongs (i.e., simple vowels) below is a composite of the phonetic descriptions of Nguyễn (1997), Thompson (1965), and Han (1966). This is a vowel description of Hanoi Vietnamese (i.e., other regions of Vietnam may have different inventories).


 * All vowels are unrounded except for the three back rounded vowels:.
 * and are pronounced short — shorter than the other vowels.
 * : Short (orthographic ă) and long  (orthographic a) are different phonemic vowels, differing in length only (and not quality). (The  symbol indicates a long vowel.)
 * : Han (1966) suggests that short (orthographic â) and long  (orthographic ơ) and differ in both height and length, but that the difference in length is probably the primary distinction. Thompson (1965) seems to suggest that the distinction is due to height (as he does for all Vietnamese vowels), although he also notes the length difference.
 * (orthographic ư) is close central unrounded and backed and lowered: . Many descriptions, such as Thompson (1959, 1965), Nguyễn (1970), Nguyễn (1997), consider this vowel to be close back unrounded: .  However, Han's (1966) instrumental analysis indicates that it is more central than back. Brunelle (2003) and Pham (2003) also transcribe this vowel as central.
 * The high and upper-mid vowels have phonetic offglides:, particularly in open syllables:


 * {| cellpadding="4" style="line-height: 1.0em;"


 * chị
 * 'elder sister'
 * quê
 * 'countryside'
 * tư
 * 'fourth'
 * mơ
 * 'to dream'
 * thu
 * 'autumn'
 * cô
 * 'paternal aunt'
 * }
 * 'fourth'
 * mơ
 * 'to dream'
 * thu
 * 'autumn'
 * cô
 * 'paternal aunt'
 * }
 * thu
 * 'autumn'
 * cô
 * 'paternal aunt'
 * }
 * cô
 * 'paternal aunt'
 * }
 * cô
 * 'paternal aunt'
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }
 * }

Diphthongs and triphthongs
In addition to monophthongs, Vietnamese has many diphthongs and triphthongs. Most of these consist of a vowel followed by /j/ or /w/. (Phonologically speaking, it is best to consider these as a sequence of a vowel and a consonant.) Below is a chart (Nguyễn 1997) listing the diphthongs & triphthongs of general northern speech.


 * never follows front vowels.
 * never follows rounded vowels.

Regional vowel variation
Thompson (1965) says that in Hanoi words spelled with ưu and ươu are pronounced as, respectively, whereas other dialects in the Tonkin delta pronounce them as and. Hanoi speakers that do pronounce these words with and  are using a spelling pronunciation.

Thompson (1965) also notes that in Hanoi the diphthongs, iê, ươ , uô , may be pronounced as , respectively (as the spelling suggests), but before and in open syllables these are always pronounced.

Tone
Vietnamese vowels are all pronounced with an inherent tone. Tones differ in


 * pitch
 * length
 * contour melody
 * intensity
 * glottality (with or without accompanying constricted vocal cords)

Unlike many Native American, African, and Chinese languages, Vietnamese tones do not rely solely on pitch contour. Vietnamese often uses instead a register complex (which is a combination of phonation type, pitch, length, vowel quality, etc.). So perhaps a better description would be that Vietnamese is a register language and not a "pure" tonal language (Pham 2003).

In Vietnamese orthography, tone is indicated by diacritics written above or below the vowel.

6-tone analysis
The six tones in the Hanoi and other northern varieties are:

There is much variation among speakers concerning how tone is realized phonetically. There are differences between varieties of Vietnamese spoken in the major geographic areas (i.e. northern, central, southern) and smaller differences within the major areas (e.g. Hanoi vs. other northern varieties). In addition, there seems to be variation among individuals. More research is needed to determine the remaining details of tone realization and the variation among speakers.

Below are details about tone realization in the northern varieties.

Ngang tone:


 * The ngang tone is produced with modal voice phonation (i.e. with "normal" phonation).

Huyền tone:


 * The huyền tone has accompanying breathy voice phonation in some speakers, but this is lacking in other speakers: bà = or.

Hỏi tone:


 * The hỏi is pronounced low falling in the beginning of the syllable, and rises slightly after that.

Ngã tone:


 * For some speakers, the ngã tone is pronounced falling-rising, with the rising part noticably higher than the Hỏi tone. Hỏi = 313; ngã = 315. In Southern Vietnam this tone is merged with the hỏi tone (same pitch levels).

Sắc tone:


 * The sắc tone is produced with modal voice although the vocal cords are often tenser than the ngang tone. In some speakers, the sắc tone has the same tone contour as the ngã tone (i.e. 35). In other speakers, the ngã tone is noticeably higher than the sắc tone: sắc = 34 or 24; ngã = 35 or 45.

Nặng tone:


 * The nặng is pronounced falling and glottalized.

Endnotes
(1-2)

Thompson (1959, 1965) posits a glottal stop phoneme in a more abstract analysis of Hanoi Vietnamese that would eliminate the phonemes by involving sequences of glottal stop + consonant. Specifically, he proposes:

This analysis also simplifies the syllable description: all syllables have obligatory onsets.

In the southern varieties, does not occur before.

(3)

Below are three linguists' different descriptions of Vietnamese vowels. Which one is correct? You will have to make your own observations. Thompson and Han are not native speakers of Vietnamese, but Nguyễn is a native speaker.

Thompson (1965) says that the vowels  (orthographic â) and  (orthographic ă) are shorter than all of the other vowels, which is shown here with the length mark  added to the other vowels. His vowels above are only the basic vowel phonemes. Thompson gives a very detailed description of each vowel's various allophonic realizations.

Han (1966) uses acoustic analysis, including spectrograms and format measuring & plotting, to describe the vowels. She states that the primary difference between orthographic ơ & â and a & ă is a difference of length (a ratio of 2:1). ơ =, â = ; a = , ă =. Her format plots also seem show that may be slightly higher than  in some contexts (but this would be secondary to the main difference of length). However, it must be pointed out that Han only considers F1 and F2 but not F3.

Another thing to mention about Han's studies is that she uses a rather small number of participants and, additionally, although her participants are native speakers of the Hanoi variety, they all have lived outside of Hanoi for a significant period of their lives (i.e. in France or Ho Chi Minh City).

Nguyễn (1997) is probably simplifying his vowel description somewhat, making it more symmetrical (which is good phonology). He says that this is not a "complete grammar" but rather a "descriptive introduction". So, his chart above is more a phonological vowel chart rather than a phonetic one.

Below is a table comparing the different descriptions to the orthography. Notice that this website is mostly following Han (1966).