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Concept
Vietnamese phonology
Summary
The phonology of Vietnamese features 19 consonant phonemes, with 5 additional consonant phonemes used in Vietnamese's Southern dialect, and 4 exclusive to the Northern dialect. Vietnamese also has 14 vowel nuclei, and 6 tones that are integral to the interpretation of the language. Older interpretations of Vietnamese tones differentiated between "sharp" and "heavy" entering and departing tones. This article is a technical description of the sound system of the Vietnamese language, including phonetics and phonology. Two main varieties of Vietnamese, Hanoi and Saigon, which are slightly different to each other, are described below.
Initial consonants which exist only in the Northern dialect are in red, while those that exist only in the Southern dialect are in blue.
/w/ is the only initial consonant permitted to form consonant clusters with other consonants.
/p/ occurs syllable-initially only in loan words, but some speakers pronounce as /ɓ/ (as in sâm banh, derived from French champagne).
The glottalized stops are preglottalized and voiced: [ʔɓ, ʔɗ] (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 characteristic implosive pronunciation. However, sometimes the glottal closure is released prior to the oral release in which case the stops are pronounced [ʔb, ʔd]. Therefore, the primary characteristic is preglottalization with implosion being secondary.
/ɓ, m/ are bilabial, while /f, v/ are labiodental.
/t, th/ are denti-alveolar ([t̪, t̪h]), while /ɗ, n, l/ are apico-alveolar.
/c, ɲ/ are phonetically lamino-palatoalveolar (the blade of the tongue makes contact behind the alveolar ridge).
/ʈ, c/ are often slightly affricated [ʈ͡ʂ, t͡ɕ], but they are unaspirated.
A glottal stop [ʔ] is inserted before words that begin with a vowel or /w/:
{| cellpadding="5" style="line-height: 1.0em;"
| ăn
| 'to eat'
| /ăn/
| →
| [ʔăn]
|-
| uỷ
| 'to delegate'
| /wi/
| →
| [ʔwi]
|}
d, gi and r are all pronounced /z/.
Official source
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