Pronunciation of Written Vietnamese, Part 2: Consonants
by tonytran2015 (Melbourne, Australia).
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Pronunciation of Written Vietnamese in former RVN (based on Standard Vietnamese used in the South, 1954-1975).
Part of the fun of traveling is understanding the local culture. This blog helps you know about written Vietnamese and pronunciate it to communicate with Vietnamese.
1. Standard Vietnamese sounds.
The Standard Pronunciation of Vietnamese Language in Republic of Vietnam, 1956-1975 have been made based on the hearing of the pronunciation by readers on Radio and TV broadcast programs, the lyrics from songs produced during that period and from actual conversations with many many people I met from most parts of that country.
That language had been successfully used for communication in that country.
Here are the results of my transcription which may help future people find out the actual pronunciation of people in now defunct Republic of Vietnam (1956-1975, commonly known as South Vietnam) if they ever need to restore the language.
2. My phonetic tables of Vietnamese
Figure: Table of Vietnamese consonnants. Click to enlarge.
Figure: Table of Vietnamese vowels. Click to enlarge.
The tables are made to help Westerners pronounce written Vietnamese and also to help with future reconstruction of the actual Standard Pronunciation of people in now defunct Republic of Vietnam (1956-1975, commonly known as South Vietnam) if they ever need to restore that language.
The tables of pronunciations have been established using the methods used by IPA.
1/ The table here gives the Standard Pronunciation of the defunct RVN. That language is found to be still easy to read, nationally non-ambiguous writing, and communicable nationwide. The current spoken language inside Vietnam IS CLOSE TO BUT IS NOT THE SAME. The current spoken language inside Vietnam is described in the web pages
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_language ,
https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%E1%BB%AF_Qu%E1%BB%91c_ng%E1%BB%AF,
There will be CONFLICTING information on the pronunciations between those two websites and this website. It is UP TO THE USER TO SELECT THE METHOD OF LEARNING PRONUNCIATION most appropriate to him.
2/ The Phonetic Transcriptions can never be identical for different speakers even from the same village! Therefore phonetizers should be satisfied that his alphabetization is acceptable when reproduction from his alphabetization is easily recognized and readily accepted by all listeners.
3/ Here I tried to use best approximate familiar IPA symbols [18]. Otherwise there will be a proliferation of IPA symbols and that would defeat the main aim of alphabetization symbols !
4/ There are three columns in this table. The first column represents the Vietnamese single or double or triple consonants, the second the corresponding IPA notation for Standard Northern pronunciation, the third the corresponding IPA notation for acceptable Standard Southern pronunciation. Radio and television announcers and speakers and singers in the former RVN adhered to this standard and were understood and appreciated nationwide.
5/ The Vietnamese is given its IPA alphabetizations as in the table.
Notes for using the tables of Vietnamese consonants:
Consonant c
The Spanish “c” has two separate sounds, hard and soft. When appearing in the combinations “ca”, “co” and “cu”, the hard Spanish “c” closely resembles the English “k” sound. The difference is that when pronouncing the hard Spanish “c” there is no puff of air, as there is with the English “k”. When appearing in the combinations “ce” and “ci”, the “c” is softer. Spaniards pronounce this like the “z”, while Latin Americans pronounce it like the “s”. (https://studyspanish.com/pronunciation/listen-and-repeat/letter_c, Note: Click the “Continue” button to proceed. Swipe right to go to the next word, swipe left to go to the previous word and tap to hear the word again. Or use the control buttons below).
Consonants c, k and q:
There are differences between Vietnamese c, k, and q.
Example 1:
Pronounce “con tôm” and “Kon-Tum” and feel the positions of the point of articulation and the glottal stop.
Pronounce “con cá, con cua” and “con két, con kiển” and feel the positions of the point of articulation and the glottal stop.
Pronounce “cá cơm” and “cá kèo” and feel the positions of the point of articulation and the glottal stop.
Pronounce “cua” and “qua” and feel the positions of the point of articulationand the glottal stop.
Pronounce “cuốc” and “quốc” and feel the positions of the point of articulation and the glottal stop.
Pronounce “két” and “quét” and feel the positions of the point of articulation, the glottal stop and the gliding dipthong “u” to “ét” .
Pronounce “ký” and “quý” and feel the positions of the point of articulation , the glottal stop and the gliding dipthong “u” to “ý”.
Pronounce “kế” and “quế” and feel the positions of the point of articulation, the glottal stop and the gliding dipthong “u” to “ế”.
Vietnamese c has no glottal stop. Vietnamese k has a medium glottal stop. Vietnamese q has an even more sudden glottal stop.
Consonant ch
I approximated the pronunciation for by Southerners by English “ch” as in “chat, church, chunk” in English.
English “ch” has the familiar ipa notation ipa /tʃ/, it has more aspiration than Southern Vietnamese “ch”. The actual pronunciation by Southerners is [j] preceded by a [t] . However there is no IPA phonetic symbol such as [tj with a ligation on top]. So I have to choose the closest familiar IPA phonetic symbol ipa /tʃ/ which is for “ch” in English “chat, church, chunk”. I do RECOMMEND foreigners to read Vietnamese as “ch” in “church” in English, such pronunciation is understood nationwide.
It is known among Vietnamese speakers that saying the word make the tongue flap from its initial position with its tip touching the back of the upper front gum to the final position with its tip resting on its lowest position behind the back of the rear of the lower front gum. On the other hand the tip of the tongue stay touching the back of the upper front gum when pronouncing “ch” in English.
Consonant d
The Vietnamese consonant d is pronounced by Southerners as IPA [j] while by Northerners as as [z] quickly changing to [j] (If an IPA notation is made for that way of pronunciation, it would be [zj with ligation on top]) or as [dz with ligation on top].
It is noted that there have been disputes on how to accurately represent some Vietnamese spoken words like one which have been commonly written as :
Some Northerners had successfully had their names registered in Vietnamese as “Dzu” rather than “Du” prior to 1975 (The laws of RVN required that people names must be Vietnamese words.). Their arguments were that Standard Vietnamese word phonetically would be read by some as IPA [ju] or as IPA [zj u] while their name should always be read as IPA [dz u].
“Đ/đ and D/d” in Vietnamese have uncommon pronunciations. They originated from old Portuguese alphabet. They also causes difficulty in printing/typing and pronunciation for foreigners. “Đ/đ” in Vietnamese has pronunciation of “d” in English and in French.”D/d” in Vietnamese has pronunciation of semi-vowel “y” in English “yes” and in French “Il y a”.
Note:
Written Vietnamese was Latinized by Poruguese in the 16th century. So we should expect some similarity between Vietnamese and Brazilian Portuguese which is close to Old Portuguese. D in old Portuguese (now still in use in Brazilian Portuguese) is pronounced more like Vietnamese D than Vietnamese Đ.
d = [ʤ] before i or a final unstressed e, [d] elsewhere. However in parts of Santa Catarina and Paraná and the north and north east of Brazil, d in the final -de is pronounced [d]. In those same regions (except Paraná) djis pronounced [di] or [dʲi].
https://omniglot.com/writing/portuguese.htm,
D in current (European) Portuguese is not that exceptional (https://www.practiceportuguese.com/learning-notes/pronunciation-guide-for-european-portuguese-consonants/).
Consonants x, s
“X/x and S/s” in Vietnamese have uncommon pronunciations compared to other Latinized notations. That causes difficulty in pronunciation for foreigners. “X/x” in Vietnamese has pronunciation of “s” in English and in French.”S/s” in Vietnamese has pronunciation of “sh” in English and “ch” in French.
Double consonants.
Vietnamese also has more consonnants than supplied by the Latin alphabet. Double consonants are used to denote additional consonants like
ng for IPA[ŋ] in Vietnamese “nga”
nh for IPA[ɲ] in Vietnamese “nha”,
ch, th, kh, etc…
There are also double consonants with one following the other like tr.
Consonant ph
ph such as in Vietnamese “phe” is pronounced IPA[p] followed by IPA[h]. So Vietnamese “phe” is pronounced as IPA/p/ followed by IPA/hɛ/. Vietnamese “phở” is pronounce as IPA/p/ followed by IPA/hə/.
ph can also be pronounced as IPA[ɸ] with a strong aspiration. Vietnamese has no consonant equivalent to IPA[f] in English. Vietnamese ph is pronounced with two lips closed together then aspiration, while English f, IPA[f], is pronounced with upper teeth resting on the lower lip then aspiration.
Notes for using the tables of Vietnamese vowels:
1/ The table here gives the Standard Pronunciation of the defunct RVN. That language is found to be still easy to read, nationally non-ambiguous writing, and communicable nationwide. The current spoken language inside Vietnam IS CLOSE TO BUT IS NOT THE SAME. The current spoken language inside Vietnam is described in the web pages
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_language,
https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%E1%BB%AF_Qu%E1%BB%91c_ng%E1%BB%AF,
There will be CONFLICTING information on the pronunciations between those two websites and this website. It is UP TO THE USER TO SELECT THE METHOD OF LEARNING PRONUNCIATION most appropriate to him.
2/ The Phonetic Transcriptions can never be identical for different speakers even from the same village! Therefore phonetizers should be satisfied that his alphabetization is acceptable when reproduction from his alphabetization is easily recognized and readily accepted by all listeners.
3/ Here I tried to use best approximate familiar IPA symbols. Otherwise there will be a proliferation of IPA symbols and that would defeat the main aim of alphabetization symbols !
4/ There are twelve principal Vietnamese vowels (sound which can be sustainably pronounced):
a, ă, â, e, ê, i, o, ô, ơ, u, ư, y
Vietnamese y is ALWAYS A VOWEL, it never takes the role of semi-vowel [j] unlike English “y” (in English “yes”) or French “y” (in “il y a”).
5/ They are grouped into six groups based on six Latin vowels a, e, i, o, u, y. The original phonetizers considered that (a, ă, â) are closely related and similarly for (e, ê), (o, ô), (u, ư).
6/ Vietnamese “y” differs from Vietnamese “i” : The pronunciation for Vietnamese y is similar to IPA [i] or IPA [i:] but made with the point of articulation closer to the throat than for [i:].
IPA [i] is pronounced with the tip of the tongue nearly touching the gap between the upper and lower front teeth while Vietnamese y is pronounced with the tip of the tongue lowered and withdrawn to behind the back of the lower front gum.
Example 1:
Pronounce Vietnamese “i” as in IPA [i] and Vietnamese “y” as in “y tá” and feel the positions of the tongue and the point of articulation.
Pronounce “ĩ” as in “bĩ cực” and “ỹ” as in “mỹ” and feel the positions of the tongue tongue and the point of articulation .
Pronounce “i” as in “mì hoành thánh” and “y” as in “mỹ” and feel the positions of the tongue.
Pronounce “iến” as in “tiến” and “yến” and feel the positions of the tongue.
Pronounce “iết” as in “tiết” and “yết” as in “yết hầu”, “yết kiêu” and feel the positions of the tongue.
Pronounce “iếu” as in “hiếu” and “yếu” as in “yếu tố” and feel the positions of the tongue.
Example 2:
Pronounce “mái nhà” and “máy móc” and feel the positions of the tongue.
Pronounce “cài đặt” and “cày bừa” and feel the positions of the tongue.
Pronounce “thúi” and “thúy” and feel the positions of the tongue.
7/ Vietnamese <ô> is closer to IPA [õ] than IPA [o]. The IPA symbol for a nasal vowel is a tilde ~ over the corresponding oral vowel.
IPA [o] is like “eau” in French “beau” https://www.thoughtco.com/understanding-the-french-language-using-ipa-4080307
8/ Vietnamese <â> is closer to IPA [ʌ with a tilde] than IPA [ʌ]. The IPA symbol for a nasal vowel is a tilde ~ over the corresponding oral vowel.
IPA [ʌ] is like English “cut” https://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm
9/ Vietnamese <ư> is a vowel. <ư> is pronounced like IPA [ʊ] but with the point of articulation moved to the back. The speaker can first pronunciate IPA [ʊ] then move his point of articulation back to the throat to hear the sound of Vietnamese <ư>.
Altneraivetly, listen to IPA[u] and IPA[ʊ]. Now pronounce IPA[u]. Then leave the mouth and tongue in such positions and try to make the sound like for IPA[ʊ]. Whatever vowel is pronounced now is very close to the Vietnamese vowel <ư>.
10/- There are many more than five “Latin cardinal vowels” in Vietnamese. Diacritics supply some of those extra vowels by modifying the “vocalization point” (or “point of articulation”) of the “Latin cardinal vowels”. So there are more available vowels. The so obtained vowels are: ă, â, ê, ơ, ô, ư.
For example, the <ă> and <â> are vocalized as <a> with the “vocalization point” respectively “moved extremely to the back” or “moved to the front with closer lips”; the <ơ> and <ô> are vocalized as <o> with the “vocalization point” respectively “moved half way to the back” or “moved to the front with closer lips”. The principle also applies to vowels <ê>, <ư>.
11/-Vietnamese has many more vowels than Latin languages. So it must be written with many vowels of the ipa chart (https://www.ipachart.com/ ).
However this is NOT a practicable option in any writing system. It would have poor legibility, would require agmentation of characters from other alphabets and may not be easily read from afar. So the knowledgeable Portuguese transcribers of Vietnamese who invented Chữ Quốc Ngữ used some Western diacritics to denote the more common vowels
a, ă, â, e, ê, i, o, ơ, ô, u, ư
and used combined double vowels to denote less common vowels
ai (in mai), ao, au, âu, eo, ia, iu, ua, ưa.
These vowels are definitely NOT diphthongs as their pronunciation can be sustained to any arbitrary duration.
(Listen to the chants from hawkers in Saigon (1960):
“Ai ăn chè đậu xanh nước dừa đường tán không”.
The Vietnamese <ai> is loadest and sustained
….<ai>….. not repeating like a broken record of gliding ipa/ai/ as described by ipa/ai/… ipa/ai/…ipa/ai/… ipa/ai/ .
Listen to the Hát Bộ theatre chants from actors in Saigon (1960):
“Âu ta là Quang Vân Trường….”.
The Vietnamese <âu> is loadest and sustained
….<âu>….. not repeating like a broken record of gliding ipa/ou/ as described by ipa/ou/…ipa/ou/ …ipa/ou/…ipa/ou/.)
Besides them there are truely diphthongs (gliding vowels) which are also denoted by double vowels
ay (in cay), ây (in gây, cây), oa (in hoa, họa, hỏa, thoa, ), oe (in khoe), uơ (in thuở, a huờn), uô (in uống thuốc), ưu (in hưu), ươ (in nước), …
The pronunciation of these true diphthongs CANNOT be sustained to arbitrarily long durations.
On top of diphthongs there are also the distinctive Vietnamese triphthongs denoted by triple vowels:
yêu, iêu (in kiêu căng, hỏa thiêu, thiếu niên), uya (in khuya), uyê (in uyên ương, vườn thượng uyển, chuyên môn, chuyện trò, huyên náo, khuyên răng, khuyễn mã, dự khuyết, tuyển lựa, chim quyên ai trái nhãn lòng, quyến quít, quyển sách, quỷ quyệt), ươu (in ung bướu, cướu nước, nướu răng, rượu chè),…
References
[1]. Pronunciation of Written Vietnamese in former RVN
[2]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_language
[3]. https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%E1%BB%AF_Qu%E1%BB%91c_ng%E1%BB%AF
[4]. https://www.internationalphoneticalphabet.org/ipa-sounds/ipa-chart-with-sounds/
[5]. https://www.ipachart.com/
[6]. https://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm
[7]. https://www.thoughtco.com/understanding-the-french-language-using-ipa-4080307
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