Vietnamese phonology

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This article is a technical description the sound system of the Vietnamese language, including phonetics and phonology.

Contents

Consonants

Two main varieties of Vietnamese, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, are described below.

Hanoi

The 21 consonants of the Hanoi variety:

  Bilabial Labio-
dental		 Dental/
Alveolar		 Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m   n ɲ ŋ  
Plosive unaspirated p   t c k (ʔ)[1]
aspirated     tʰ      
glottalized     ɓ         ɗ      
Fricative   f  v s̪  z̪   x  ɣ h   
Approximant     l j w  
1 Thompson[1] posits a glottal stop phoneme in a more abstract analysis of Hanoi Vietnamese that would eliminate the phonemes /ɓ, ɗ, v/ by involving sequences of glottal stop + consonant (ʔC). Specifically, he proposes:

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

Analysis of final ch, nh

The analysis of syllable-final ch and nh in Hanoi Vietnamese has had different analyses. One analysis, that of Thompson (1965) has them as being phonemes /c, ɲ/, where /c/ contrasts with both syllable-final t /t/ and c /k/ and /ɲ/ contrasts with syllable-final n /n/ and ng /ŋ/. Final /c, ɲ/ is, then, identified with syllable-initial /c, ɲ/.

Another analysis has final ch and nh as representing predictable allophonic variants of the velar phonemes /k/ and /ŋ/ that occur after upper front vowels /i/ (orthographic i) and /e/ (orthographic ê).

Arguments for the second analysis include the limited distribution of final [c] and [ɲ], the gap in the distribution of [k] and [ŋ], which do not occur after [i] and [e], and the patterning of [k]/[c] and [ŋ]/[ɲ] in certain reduplicated words. Additionally, final [c] is not usually articulated as far forward as the initial [c]: [c] and [ɲ] are pre-velar [k̟, ŋ̟]. The preceding upper front vowels are co-articulated as well, resulting in centralized variants:

/ik/ → ich [ïk̟]
/iŋ/ → inh [ïŋ̟]
/ek/ → êch [ëk̟] or [əɪk̟]
/eŋ/ → ênh [ëŋ̟] or [əɪŋ̟]

Finally, this analysis interprets orthographic ach and anh as having a vowel nucleus with a front component. One interpretation considers the orthographic a in these sequences as underlyingly a diphthong /aj/ with a high front off-glide (thus equating it with orthographic ay) — in other words, [ac] is /ajk/ and [aɲ] is /ajŋ/. Another interpretation of the orthographic a is that it is underlyingly the vowel /ɛ/, which becomes phonetically centralized and diphthongized: /ɛk/ → [aɪk̟], [/ɛŋ/ → [aɪŋ̟].[2]

The first analysis closely follows the surface pronunciation of a slightly different Hanoi dialect than the second. In this dialect, the [a] in [ac] and [aɲ] is not diphthongized but is actually articulated more forward, approaching a front vowel [æ]. This results in a three-way contrast between the rimes ăn [æ̈n] vs. anh [æ̈ŋ̟] vs. ăng [æ̈ŋ]. For this reason, a separate phonemic /ɲ/ is posited.

Phonological processes

ăn 'to eat' /an/ → [ʔan]
uỷ 'to delegate' /wi/ → [ʔwij]
đáp 'to reply' /ɗaːp/ → [ʔɗaːʔp̚]
mát 'cool' /maːt/ → [maːʔt̚]
khác 'different' /xaːk/ → [xaːʔk̚]
đục 'muddy' /ɗuk/ → [ʔɗuʔk͡p̚]
độc 'poison' /ɗɜwk/ → [ʔɗɜwʔk͡p̚]
ung 'cancer' /uŋ/ → [ʔuŋ͡m]
ong 'bee' /awŋ/ → [ʔawŋ͡m]

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

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

  Bilabial Labio-
dental		 Dental/
Alveolar		 Post-
alveolar		 Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m   n   ɲ ŋ  
Plosive
and
Affricate		 unaspirated p   t ʈʂ c k (ʔ)
aspirated     t̺ʰ        
glottalized ɓ   ɗ        
Fricative   f (vʲ) s ʂ r   x ɣ h
Approximant     l   j w  

Phonetics

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

Regional consonant variation

At the beginning of syllables, Hanoi /v, z/ appear as HCMC /j/. HCMC /r/ appears as Hanoi /z/, HCMC /c, ʈʂ/ appear as Hanoi /c/, and HCMC /s, ʂ/ appear as Hanoi /s/. The table below summarizes these sound correspondences:

Syllable onsets
Hanoi HCMC Example
word Hanoi HCMC
/v/ /j/ vợ   "wife" /vəː/ /(v)jəː/
/z/ da   "skin" /zaː/ /jaː/
/r/ ra   "to go out" /zaː/ /raː/
/c/ /c/ chi   "what/why/how" /ci/ /cɪ/
/ʈʂ/ trắng   "white" /caŋ/ /ʈʂaŋ/
/s/ /s/ xa   "far" /saː/ /saː/
/ʂ/ số   "number" /so/ /ʂo/

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 /t, n/ in Hanoi appear as velars /k, ŋ/ in HCMC, except when the coronals occur after the higher front vocalics /i, e, j/, in which case HCMC /t, n/ remain the same as Hanoi /t, n/. Additionally, Hanoi /k, ŋ/ appear as HCMC /t, n/ when they occur after /i, e, j/ (otherwise they are /k, ŋ/):

Syllable codas
Hanoi HCMC Example
word Hanoi HCMC
/t/ /k/ hát   "to sing" /haːt/ /haːk/
/k/ thác   "waterfall" /tʰaːk/ /tʰaːk/
/n/ /ŋ/ xuân   "spring" /swɜn/ /swɨŋ/
/ŋ/ vâng   "to obey" /vɜŋ/ /(v)jɜŋ/
/t/ after /i, e, j/ /t/ ít   "few, small in quantity" /it/ /ɪt/
/k/ after /i, e, j/ ếch   "frog" /ɜjk/ /ɜt/
/n/ after /i, e, j/ /n/ đến   "to arrive" /ɗen/ /ɗɜn/
/ŋ/ after /i, e, j/ lính   "soldier" /liŋ/ /lɨn/

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

Vowels

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).[2] This is a vowel description of Hanoi Vietnamese (i.e., other regions of Vietnam may have different inventories).

  Front Central Back
Close i ɨ u
Close-mid e əː o
Open-mid ɛ ɜ ɔ
Open   a   aː  
chị 'elder sister' /ci/ → [cɪj] quê 'countryside' /kwe/ → [kwej]
tư 'fourth' /tɨ/ → [tɨɰ] mơ 'to dream' /məː/ → [məːɰ]
thu 'autumn' /tʰu/ → [tʰʊw] cô 'paternal aunt' /ko/ → [kow]

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/. Below is a chart[5] listing the diphthongs & triphthongs of general northern speech.

/ɜ/ Diphthongs /j/ Diphthongs/
Triphthongs		 /w/ Diphthongs/
Triphthongs
/iɜ/ /əːj/ /iw/
/ɨɜ/ /ɜj/ /ew/
/uɜ/ /aːj/ /ɛw/
/aj/ /əːw/
/ɨj/ /ɜw/
/uj/ /aːw/
/oj/ /aw/
/ɔj/ /ɨw/
/ɨɜj/ /iɜw/
/uɜj/ /ɨɜw/

Regional vowel variation

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

Thompson (1965) also notes that in Hanoi the diphthongs, iê /iɜ/, ươ /ɨɜ/, uô /uɜ/, may be pronounced as /ie, ɨəː, uo/, respectively (as the spelling suggests), but before /k, ŋ/ and in open syllables these are always pronounced /iɜ, ɨɜ, uɜ/.

Tone

 Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (May 2008)

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

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.[6]

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

Six-tone analysis

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.

Northern varieties

The six tones in the Hanoi and other northern varieties are:

Name Description Chao Tone Contour Diacritic Example
ngang "level" mid level ˧ (33) (no mark) ba 'three'
huyền "hanging" low falling (breathy) ˨˩ (21) or (31) ` bà 'lady'
hỏi "asking" mid falling(-rising), harsh ˧˩˧ (313) or (323) or (31)  ̉ bả 'poison'
ngã "tumbling" mid rising, glottalized ˧ˀ˥ (3ˀ5) or (4ˀ5) ˜ bã 'residue'
sắc "sharp" mid rising, tense ˧ˀ˥ (3ˀ5) ´ bá 'governor'
nặng "heavy" mid falling, glottalized, short ˧ˀ˨ʔ (3ˀ2ʔ) or ˧ˀ˩ʔ (3ˀ1ʔ)  ̣ bạ 'at random'
Northern Vietnamese (non-Hanoi) tones as uttered by a male speaker in isolation. From Nguyễn & Edmondson (1998)
Hanoi tones as uttered by a female speaker in isolation. From Nguyễn & Edmondson (1998)
Hanoi tones as uttered by a different female speaker in isolation. From Nguyễn & Edmondson (1998)

Ngang tone:

Huyền tone:

Hỏi tone:

Ngã tone:

Sắc tone:

Nặng tone:

Southern varieties

 Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (May 2008)

North-central and Central varieties

 Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (May 2008)

North-central and Central Vietnamese varieties are fairly similar with respect to tone although within the North-central dialect region there is considerable internal variation.

Eight-tone analysis

 Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (May 2008)

Syllables and phonotactics

According to Hannas (1997), the standard national orthography (Quốc Ngữ) can represent 6,200 syllables (tones included[vague] ), but only about 4,500 to 4,800 are used depending on dialect (Quốc Ngữ is designed to accommodate different dialects).[8]

The Vietnamese syllable structure follows the scheme:

(C1)(w)V(C2)+T

where

  • C1 = initial consonant onset
  • w = bilabial glide /w/
  • V = vowel nucleus
  • C2 = final consonant coda
  • T = tone.

In other words, a syllable can optionally have one onset consisting of single consonant or a consonant and the glide /w/ and an optional coda. The vowel nucleus may have an additional glide element.

More explicitly, the syllable types are as follows:

Syllable Example Syllable Example
V wV
VC wVC
VC wVC
CV CwV
CVC CwVC
CVC CwVC

C1:

Any consonant may occur in as an onset with the following exceptions:

w:

V:

The vowel nucleus V may be any of the following 14 monophthongs or diphthongs: /i, ɨ, u, e, əː, o, ɛ, ɜ, ɔ, a, aː, iɜ, ɨɜ, uɜ/.

G:

C2:

The optional coda C2 is restricted to labial, coronal, & velar stops /p, t, k/ and nasals /m, n, ŋ/.

T:

Syllables are spoken with an inherent tone contour. All tone contours are possible for open syllables (syllables without consonant codas). If the syllable is closed only 2 contours are possible, that is the sắc and the nặng tone.

Notes

2 

Below is a table comparing four linguists' different transcriptions of Vietnamese vowels as well as the orthographic representation. Notice that this article is mostly following Han (1966).

comparison of orthography & vowel descriptions
Orthography Wikipedia Thompson[9] Han[10] Nguyễn[11] Đoàn[12]
i i iː i i i
ê e eː e e e
e ɛ ɛː ɛ a ɛ
ư ɨ ɯː ɨ ɯ ɯ
u u uː u u u
ô o oː o o o
o ɔ ɔː ɔ ɔ ɔ
ơ əː ɤː ɜː əː ɤː
â ɜ ʌ ɜ ə ɤ
a aː æː ɐː ɐː aː
ǎ a ɐ ɐ ɐ a

Thompson (1965) says that the vowels [ʌ] (orthographic â) and [ɐ] (orthographic ă) are shorter than all of the other vowels, which is shown here with the length mark [ː] 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 formant measuring and 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 = /ɜː/, â = /ɜ/; a = /ɐː/, ă = /ɐ/. Her formant plots also seem show that /ɜː/ may be slightly higher than /ɜ/ in some contexts (but this would be secondary to the main difference of length).

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) has a simpler, more symmetrical description. He says that his work 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.

See also

References

  1. ^ Thompson (1959) and Thompson (1965)
  2. ^ Although there are some words where c and ng occur after orthographic /ɛ/, these words are few and are mostly loanwords or onomatopoeia
  3. ^ Thompson (1959) and Thompson (1965)
  4. ^ Han (1966)
  5. ^ From Nguyễn (1997)
  6. ^ Pham (2003:?)
  7. ^ For example, Nguyễn & Edmondson (1998) show a male speaker from Nam Định with lax voice and a female speaker from Hanoi with breathy voice for the huyền tone while another male speaker from Hanoi has modal voice for the huyền.
  8. ^ Hannas (1997:88)
  9. ^ Thompson (1965)
  10. ^ Han (1966)
  11. ^ Nguyễn (1997)
  12. ^ Đoàn (1980)

Bibliography

External links

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