a quick IPA guide to the

Vietnamese alphabet
by Bi Hong Duy / Dzee H! Bui
revised December 10, 2012
Orgnay, Vetnamese was wrtten usng a Chnese-based scrpt known as Ch Nm
(Southern scrpt) or Nm. Durng the 17
th
century, Portuguese |esuts ntroduced a Latn-
based orthography for Vetnamese caed Ch Qu c Ng (scrpt for the natona anguage),
whch was then perfected and pubshed by a French mssonary named Aexander de Rhodes.
The two systems co-exsted unt the eary 20
th
century, when Ch Nm ded out. Now, ony
Ch Ou c Ng s used.
The Vetnamese aphabet conssts of 17 consonant etters and 12 vowe etters:
a b c d d e g h k m n o p q r s t u v x y
The aphabet suts Northern daects better than Southern ones, due to the atter group
havng drfted further from 17
th
century Vetnamese.
Consonants / Ph m
Vetnamese has 25 consonant etters and dgraphs:
b c ch d d g gh h k kh m n ng ngh p ph qu r s t th tr v x
Note:
<q> never goes aone but aways wth <u>.
<f> mght be used as shorthand for <ph>, but ths usage s not offca.
Onsets / Ph m d u
Beow are the consonant etters and dgraphs found n nta poston:
B b || mposve
C c |k| tenus
Ch ch |c|
D d |z / || /|/ n the South; /z/ n the North; evoved from / /
d || mposve
G g || aso <gh>
H h |h|
K k |k| tenus
Kh kh |x|
L || shfted to <n> n Northern workng cass speech (NWCS)
M m |m|
N n |n| shfted to <> n NWCS
Ng ng | | aso <ngh>
Nh nh || cearest Portuguese nfuence
P p |p| ony n oanwords; merged wth <b> for most speakers
Ph ph |f|
R r |z / , | // or // n the South; /z/ n the North
S s |s / | now ony /s/ s commony heard
T t |t| tenus
Th th |t
h
| asprated
Tr tr |c| aso /t/ n the South (pedantry)
V v |v / || /|/ South; /v/ North
X x |s| evoved from //
Stemmng from Portuguese tradton, <g> and <ng> have to be wrtten dfferenty before
front vowes n order to preserve ther phonetc vaue. So before <e>, <>, <> and
<y>, we wrte <gh> and <ngh> nstead. E.g.: ga vs. ghi; ng vs. nghe
Its common for Northern speakers from the countrysde and the workng cass to mx up <>
and <n>, wth <> becomng <n> far more often then the other way around. Ths trend
s qute stgmatsed.
Codas / Ph m cu
Vetnamese, ke most Austroasatc anguages, has fary restrcted syabe codas. Out of the
23 consonant etters and dgraphs, ony 8 can stand n a fna poston: c ch m n ng nh t
c |k, kp| /kp/ s aophonc after rounded vowes
ch |k - t|
In the North, ke fna <c>. In the South, ke fna
<t>.
m |m|
n |n / | /n/ n the North; compcated n the South
ng | , m| / m/ s aophonc after rounded vowes
nh | - n| <ng> North; <n> South
p |p|
t |t - k| /t/ n the North; compcated n the South
Notes!
A obstruent codas - <c>, <ch>, <p>, <t> - are unreeased. Engsh speakers and speakers
of European anguages n genera have the habt of reeasng ther voceess stops very
strongy.
Its not certan what consonants <ch> and <nh> truy represented at the tme the aphabet
was made; those sounds are ost to hstory. Another theory s that these dgraphs were an
effort on the mssonares part to compromse between the two groups of daect.
<ch> and <nh> foows <a>, <> and <> ONLY.
<ng> NEVER foows <>, <> or <y>.
For / m/ and /kp/, smpy cose your ps after the / / and /k/. Ths s one feature that earners
often forget about.
In Northern daects, the "anh# rhyme s pronounced ||, dsntnct from ng | |
Treatment of <n> and <t> n $outhern daects:
- After <e, o, u, > : they are recognsed as <ng> and <c>, and behave exacty ke
them. -on s a speca case; see beow.
- After <, >: they stay as /n/ and /t/, but have a centrasng effect on the vowe they
foow.
- After <>: aso recognsed as <ng> and <c>, but /o/ s engthened. E.g. t t |to:kp| vs.
t c |tokp|; c%n |ko: m | vs. c%ng |ko m |.
- The &"on# rhyme s pronounced ke -oong, not -ong. For detas, see Monophthongs.
'o(e)s / Ngu*+n m
As a member of the Austro-Asatc famy, Vetnamese has a arge vowe nventory.
Monophthongs / Nguyn m d n
The Vetnamese vowe system s based on 9 vowes (or 11 f we count the dfference n
ength). They are wrtten wth 12 etters and 1 dgraph:
A a | :|
| |
A || short n checked syabes and dphthongs / trphthongs*
E e | | /
|
/ n NWCS
E |e|
I | - | See note
O o | |
Oo oo | | See note
O |o|
| / :| /:/ n checked syabes (to contrast wth )
U u |u|
||
Y y | - | See note
<> and <y> are NOT nterchangeabe when formng dphthongs and trphthongs (e.g ui
vs. u*). The Mnstry of Educaton suggested that <y> shoud be used n Hn-V t words
(words borrowed from Cassca Chnese), whe <> s for natve words, but n reaty ths
matter s setted by mtaton and habt.
|| s speed as <oo> to sgnfy that the foowng <ng> s pronounced | |, wth open ps,
not | m|. E.g.: Cose ps after cong |k m|, but NOT after coong |k |. Hence, ts the
coda that changes. The vowe tsef stays the same, not drawn out or pronounced any
dfferenty.
* E.g.: d + n = dn
Dphthongs / Nguyn m d
Dpthongs are formed by takng core vowes, then "gdng" them. There are two types of
gdes n Vetnamese:
Prevocac Gde: ,he -.g)ide
Ths gde takes pace before the vowe sets n. An exampe of ths gde n Engsh s when you
turn de)) nto d(e)). Because the Portuguese anguage doesnt have the etter <w>, the
|esuts used vowe etters to wrte t down nstead.
Before <a>, < > and <e>, we use <o> to mark the gde:
oa |w :| Southern workng cass speech (SWCS): / :/ or / :/
o |w | short <oa> n checked syabes
oe |w |
Before <>, <> and <y>, we use <u>
u |we|
u |w:|
u |w| short <u > n checked syabes*
uy |w| <y> cannot be repaced wth <> for ths dphthong
* E.g.: qu + n = q un
IMPORTANT: <uy> s dstnct from <u>
In the North, <qu> stands for /kw/, wth the w-gde beng an ntegra part of ths dgraph. In
the South t becomes a smpe /w/.
Ths gde doesn't go wth the 3 rounded vowes /o u/.
You mght come across /u c (e.g qu c ga - naton), whch seemngy goes aganst ths
rue. In reaty, ts a homophone of cu c - whch fas nto the -glide beow; Southerners
unround the core vowe and make t sound ke "w c".
A recent deveopment n Southern daects (especay among workng cass speakers): Ths
gde gets deleted after a consonant. For exampe, ng thu to pay tax woud sound
the same as ng th to body-doube n a move. The dgraph <oa> s commony
pronounced as /:/, n addton to the / : / expected under ths sound change, whe <qu>
stays as /w/.
Postvocac Gdes:
These three gde take pace after the vowe has set n. Three gdes beong to ths type.
. ,he .g)ide! marked by wrtng <> or <y> after the core vowe etter.
a | : |
ay | | SWCS: merged wth <a>
y | | SWCS: shfted to | |
o | |
|o | SWCS: merged wth <o>
|: |
u |u | <> cannot be repaced wth <y> for ths dphthong
| |
Ths gde doesn't appy to /e/, // and //.
Letters that stand for short vowes - < > and <> - receve <y> nstead of the reguar
<>.
. ,he .g)ide! Marked by wrtng <u> or <o> after the core vowe etter. In practce ths one
s coser to |
w
| (postvocac abasaton .e. roundng your ps at the end, but ony sghty).
ao | : |
au | | SWCS: merged wth <ao>
u | | SWCS: shfted to | |
eo | |
u |e | SWCS: merged wth <u>
u | - |
u | | SWCS: |u|
Lke the w-gde, ths gde doesn't go wth the three rounded vowes.
And aso not wth < >, ony ts short verson <>.
. ,he .g)ide!
a, | |
ua, u |u |
a, | |
The atter n each par s how the dphthong woud be wrtten n a checked syabe
ha + n = hn
ua + n = un
h a + ng = h ng
Trphthongs / Nguyn m ba
Trphthongs are made by addng gdes to dphthongs. It's mosty about addng the w-gde to
a postvocac dphthong; the core vowe s now "wrapped" n gdes, head and ta. Words wth
trpthongs are not common and may be hard to spe even for natve speakers.
. (.g)ide 0 .dihthong:
oa |w : | |w| + a khoa, o , qu.
oay |w | |w| + ay tr khoy, oay hoay.
uy
|w |
|w| + y qu y, khu y d ng.
. (.g)ide 0 .dihthong:
oeo |w | |w| + eo ngo n ngoo, o t o o.
uyu |w | |w| + u khc khu u
- w-glide + -diphthong:
uya, uy |w | |w| + a
uy n a checked syabe. E.g. khuya + n =
khuyn
- Oddballs: These are interesting. Each consists of a core vowel and then two postvocalic glides in a row.
u /
yu
| | a + | |
ch u, yu, yu k u.
u
|u | ua + | |
nu, ru , chu .
| |
a + | |
m, c, d .
u | |
a + | |
Merged wth <u> n the North and becomes |u| n the
South, especay among the workng cass. E.g: h u N:
hu, S: h u, hu
,ones / ,hanh d u
Ony vowe etters may receve tone marks.
,one Descrition Diacritic Name o1 diacritic
(thanh) ngang Fat, unwaverng a (none) (khng d u)
(thanh) s c Hgh, rsng (acute accent) d u s c
(thanh) huy n Low, fang (grave accent) d u huy n
(thanh) h
Low, fang then
rsng
(sma hook above) d u h
(thanh) ng Hgh, creaky/broken (tde) d u ng
(thanh) n ng Low, creaky/broken (dot beow) d u n ng
Note that Southern daects have ony 5 tones. They merge h and ng nto a new tone. Ths
tone aso starts ow, then aso fas and rses ke the orgna h tone.
Down South, the n ng tone s aso much ess creaky. It fact, one can say that ts smpy ow
and breathy.
Exampes usng "ma":
ma ghost
m cheek / mom
m but, though
m tomb
m horse (n Chnese compound words)
m rce seedng
Exampes usng "t":
t arge bow
t to accuse before the aw or the authorty
t smpe-mnded, nave for ones age
t nest
t a Northern word for bow
Wth dphthongs and trphthongs, there are more than one vowe etter. So where to pace the
tone mark then? 2ns(er! ,he vo(e) )etter that is second-to-last in the s*))ab)e3
Exampes wth dphthongs: d u, b *, cu n .
Exampes wth trphthongs: o4i, 5hu u, /u* n
There are exceptons to ths rue:
You never put the tone mark on the <u> n <qu>. Exampes: /u4, not /6a.
In <u> : <> receves the dacrtc, <u> doesn't.
For <oa> and <oe> n open syabes, ts aso acceptabe to pace tone marks on the ast
vowe etter. E.g: )7a and )o8 are both accepted (though )7a s more commony seen).
Quic5 Qui99es
Qui9 2! Suppose you have a random tone mark. Whch etter woud you put t on?
1) oa, oan, tuy, huynh
2) ma, quy, dng
4) c , khuyu, chuyn
Qui9 :! For each syabe, pont out the etter that stands for the core vowe:
1) d, v, u, chy, tr
2) khe, do n, qu, truy, hu
3) mu, tru, gu, deo, h u
4) cha, chn, mua, n ng, cu n
5) ng , kh uya, ngoo, du , quay
6) go vn, ch c thuy n, khuy kh a, p o
Souton
A.
1) o or a / a / u / y
2) a / /
3) / y /
B.
1) / a / u / / o
2) e / a / a / y /
3) a / / / e /
4) / / u / / u
5) / y / e / u / a
6) a, / , y / , a / , e