Introduction

Linguists agree that in language, differences between dialects occur at all

three levels of phonetics (different when pronouncing the same language),
vocabulary (different when the same thing is called with different words) and
grammar (the same idea but expressed in different sentences).

However, the greatest degree of difference is in phonetics, then vocabulary,

and differences in grammar are the least. The same goes for Vietnamese.

The study of phonetic differences is the first task to focus on.

We will learn the phenomenon of pronouncing in a different way words like

(con) buffalo, although written uniformly, but Northern Vietnamese people still
pronounce it as (con) chau, all words such as wisdom, intellectual, perceptual,
grateful, stagnant ... North Vietnamese people all pronounce “chí, chi,
chì”... while the Central Vietnamese never "mistakenly" talk those sounds.

Similarly, people who pronounce "Northern accent" will find it difficult to

understand why Thanh Hoa people write as well but pronounce as boots, write as
“sister” but pronounce them as sticks, Southern people pronounce them
beautifully, Quang Ngai people write two people but pronounce them poorly,
leading to the joke "make up the accent", e.g. Eng no eng, blame the dog eng, go
to bed...

Therefore, the problem of local phonetics is raised to find ways to handle

differences in education (spelling teaching, word learning, and also the process of
speaking–listening–reading–writing), as well as in communication.

The study of phonetic differences aims to unify speech and writing, facilitate
transactions of people in all regions, and be even more useful in educational
work, especially at the high school level.

You will learn and define what dialects are, and what Vietnamese dialects
are. Next, we will list and describe the complex picture of dialects in

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Vietnamese. You yourself, even if you are not yet a linguist, need to come up
with solutions.

Findings and Discussions

1. Benchmarks for comparison

We are talking about a comparison of phonetic differences. So first of all, it

is necessary to clearly define the norm and then find the difference – to put it
simply, what is the difference from the norm? Say an object is "tilted," i.e. it is
"not straight" like the vertical of a rope. To say an object is not "square to sharp"
is to compare its deviation to that of "norm" – a Greek word for the name "ruler".

So where is the "string" and the "ruler" in the phonetic realm?

Linguists have long pointed out: it is (a) the difference between dialects; and
(b) the difference between dialect and the language of the whole
population. Thanks to that comparison, we recognize dialects – or languages with
local colors.

Can standard (a) be used to compare dialect phenomena with each other? It
is clear that there are phonetic differences between dialects, but we cannot
arbitrarily assert that one is more "standard" than the other.

And so, in search of phonetic differences, we have only one way to compare
dialects with the common language of the whole population. Why does this
universal language deserve to be considered the norm? The only reason is that the
phonetic system of this universal language was formed a long time ago, so it was
fully studied and described very early.

Up to now, the level of phonetics expressed in the Vietnamese language unit

has been almost completely understood. Each Vietnamese language satisfies the
structure of (a) the first sound, (b) the accompaniment, (c) the main sound, and
(d) the last sound.

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 Bar of sound

First consonants Rhyme section

accompaniment major tones final syllables

Each voice within the above structure can also have one of six tones; and
they are made up of 23 consonants as initial vocal components, 14 vowels (9
single vowels, 3 diphthongs, 2 short vowels) that form the major or
accompaniment sound; 8 consonants and semi-consonants to form the final
syllable. This system is associated with uniform and universally accepted
regulations, forming the Vietnamese spelling code. Everyone can use Vietnamese
dictionaries as the basis for that spelling code.

In addition to that scientific basis, there is also the following psychological

state: when listening to a strange voice, people around you consider it "strange"
because it deviates from the standard language of the whole population, which is
tacitly acknowledged by everyone: North or Hanoi.

2. Limit the scope of comparison

Such a comparison is phonetically, actionative, within the framework of the

syllable that sounds a sound (GS. Nguyen Tai Can called it "sound one"). The
study and comparison of units of sounds larger than syllables (such as stress
when pronouncing a language, such as intonation when speaking a sentence) will
be learned in seventh grade, without making comparisons in this lesson.

The description and comparison of phonetic differences here will boil down
to dialects. This article will help you how to work positively on the phenomenon
of differences in Vietnamese phonetics. It is the students, who are present in all
locations in the country, who will be the researchers present from North to South,
from East to West of our country, and you yourself will count all the differences
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in pronunciation that you come across. Please note the way dialectists work
locally and point out the main features of regional languages.

So far, based on what we know, we can divide Vietnamese into dialect

regions as Hoang Thi Chau divides [3, 91]. Concrete:

– Northern dialect: Northern.

– Chinese dialect: from Thanh Hoa to North of Hai Van Pass.
– Southern dialect: South Central and Southern.

The few examples below are enough to see the most common characteristic
of dialects.

(a) The confusion of the first consonant l/n occurs only in Tonkin, while
from Thanh Hoa onwards there is no confusion of this pair.

(b) The phenomenon of confusion of the rhyme part of the language occurs
most often in the southern provinces, while it is rare or absent in the northern
provinces.

(c) Each such dialect region has its own characteristics so that it can be
divided into sub-dialects – Vietnamese in the Central dialect regions almost every
province is such a sub-dialect: Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh,
Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue.

3. Some dialect materials

3.1. About the Northern dialect

In general, this dialect is centered on Hanoi, which is the locality with the
closest voice to the "standard spelling". As far back as 1651, when A. de Rhodes
printed in Rome the Vietnamese–Portuguese–La Dictionary and the Eight-Day
Sermon have been so determined. The obvious advantage of this dialect is that it
speaks all six tones and the rhyme is richer than other dialects. The "deadly" error
for the inhabitants of this region is concentrated mainly in the first
consonant. These are:

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 (a) Do not distinguish s from x, r from d, tr from ch

+ (con) sâu ≠ xâu; (cá) sấu ≠ xấu; (hoa) sen ≠ xen; (chim) sẻ ≠ xẻ; sâu sắc ≠
xâu xắc,...

+ rau ≠ dau; (chòm) râu ≠ dâu; rể ≠ dể; rễ (cây) ≠ dễ; ruộng (lúa) ≠ duộng,...

+ (bức) tranh ≠ chanh; (buổi) trưa ≠ chưa; trái ≠ chái,...

This error occurs in the entire Northern region. In the way of speaking, the
listener ignores it, so it is not considered an error. But in writing, if there is no
elaborate training in high school, then even in old age sometimes mistakes are
made.

Not to mention that in real life, the linguistic activity of all peoples always
follows a positive trend in a way that eliminates difficult pronunciation (which
linguists call "structural reduction")

Does not require a very "standard" pronunciation. In French, there is a

"nose" sound that is difficult to pronounce immediately with the French. For the
past fifty decades, nasal pronunciation with un rhyme has been "attributed" to
playing as in rhyme without fear of confusion. For example, they all say [brin],
but no one confuses brun (cheveu brun) and brin (blade of grass – brin
d'herbe). In English, pronouncing the word The for example is very difficult,
when practicing to put the tongue forward between the teeth, both
pulling the tongue back and playing. Today it is almost universally accepted by
the Americans as [d] and the French now pronounce it as [z] without being
criticized as zézayer as it used to be. In Vietnamese, the pronunciation of za in,
za block, za dinh is acceptable, as long as the spelling is correct: in, white,
family. First graders learn the book Sail after the Mandatory Spelling Rules
section, there is a Spelling Law section in the sense, after the lesson, they make
their own Spelling Dictionary in the sense, to have a sense of simplified
pronunciation and correct recording.

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 The treatment of Vietnamese phonetics also cannot help but follow that
"simplified" trend. That's not to say it's OK to misspell. Right from the first grade
Vietnamese book Sail after the lesson on Spelling Law according to the
mandatory rule, just remember the law is never wrong: the law of writing the
letter k, gh, ngh before the sound e, ê, i and the law of writing the letter q before
the rhyme with accompaniment. After this lesson on mandatory rules, there was a
lesson on distinguishing spelling by meaning, where students learned to
consciously distinguish the true meaning of words in order to write them
correctly (while respecting the "wrong" pronunciation). In this lesson, students
are allowed to ask the teacher about the meaning of words and how to write them
– teachers are like a living spelling dictionary in class instead of a real-life
Spelling Dictionary that everyone needs to look up.

(b) No distinction or confusion between l and n

+ Leaves (trees) ≠ sling; word (speech) ≠ beg; pig yolk ≠ debt; boil ≠
water; ≠ this,...

+ (drink) ≠ water; ≠ sunshine; Hanoi ≠ Hanoi; Non water ≠ cans,...

This error only occurs in 11 provinces of the Northern Delta. Particularly in

the northern mountainous areas, it is less common. This is a two-way "rush", a
symptom of the tendency to merge a side and tip of the tongue, a progressive
tendency to "simplify the sound".

However, now this trend is being misjudged as a mistake by people with low
culture. In fact, countless educated, even highly educated people suffer from this
confused pronunciation of l and n. But a person who consciously respects correct
phonetics will always be wary of his pronunciation so as not to make this
mistake.

In terms of correcting spelling mistakes of this kind, educated people will

definitely be less likely to make the above mistakes, which is caused by a sense

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of wrong/right to educate themselves, leading to all "wrong" pronunciation
errors.

Therefore, the general remedy of this "drawback" is:

- Awareness of right / wrong for self-training: self-learning, self-

memorization both for spoken and written language.

- If you encounter any "doubtful" case, you must look up the spelling
dictionary to deeply understand why this spelling is different.

In the experience of many people, there may be several "tips" to correct as

follows:

- How to put the tongue of the correct n-sound: choose words with the final
sound –n, such as non, con, hon,... Stay in the tongue position, speak or read in
the very word (syllable) with the first consonant N, such as water, this (child),
this (child), (hun) non,... This only notes the correct sounding n (not l), and it
assumes that we must know what the intended word is, so it is not easy to apply.

- Distinguish s and x: usually, s is inclined to express nouns, x is verbs. For

example: (bird) sparrow/sawn (wood), (child) starling/shuffle (bamboo shoot),
cattle (wood)/shovel (earth),... However, this is a non-radical distinction.

In addition to the general characteristics as mentioned above, in dialects in

the Northern dialect of Vietnam, there are also some dialects with special ways of
speaking, such as the suspension bar expressed in high field phonemes such as
Son Tay; how to say vowels [ a ] to [є ] in Nam Dinh; has gradients [ є ] → [ iє ],
o → uo in Hai Phong; how to pronounce s → th (gun → basket) in coastal Thai
Binh, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh... This distribution is narrow, so we consider it to be
ignored.

3.2. About the Central region dialect

This dialect has 23 initial consonants, so that all 3 tongue sounds are written
as s, r, tr. Reading and misspeaking are mainly in tone and some

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rhymes. Therefore, the main differences can be mentioned (throughout the
region):

(a) There are only 5 bars. For the most part, the question bar and the fall bar
are confused. Specifically: except for Turmeric – Tinh which confuses the fall
bar with the heavy one, in all the remaining subdialects, including Thanh Hoa,
mainly confuse the question bar with the ego. This, too, is encountered in the
Southern dialect. The common feature of the region is that this "rush" is mainly
from the bar to the fall to the heavy.

For example: (up) commune → (up) discharge, (water) → (water) la, pulp
(betel nut) → bait (betel nut), or (socks) all → (socks), the whole commune →
discharge, (learn) the letter → (study),...

The way to handle the tone is nothing but self-study (listening, reading a lot
of familiarity), looking up the dictionary and listening to the lyrics. Students can
play word bar puzzles.

(b) The diphthongs system is monophonic, the second elements in

diphthongs are suppressed, the first element lasts longer than usual. Example:

• →: stubborn, →, →, erect, →, happy →,...

• Uo → u: down → the bucket, the stalk (leaf) → offering, let go → the

abdomen,...

(c) In the final syllable system, the sounds –n, –t → –ng, –k. This
phenomenon occurs from Thua Thien Hue (south of the O Lau River
onwards). Example:

• –n → –ng, shooting →, scarf (face) → insist (wear), table →, spreading →

lang,...

• –t → –c (pronounced /–k/): → sand, cool → marks, knitting →

strabismus,...

This phenomenon will be encountered again in the Southern dialect.

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 The way to deal with rhyme phenomena is similar to learning words with
different tones: learn each case, read books, listen to the radio, practice speaking
and writing, listen and remember the lyrics. And students can play charades
according to pre-composed exercises.

Some provinces in the central region dialect also have some sounds and
some strange rhymes such as: tl consonants in Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang
Tri; rhyme i → ây, ư → âư, u → âu (chị → chậy, nữ → nâữ, mũ → mẫu (in Thanh
Hoa), anh → eng (in Quang Binh), anh → ăn (in Hue),... We can consider these as
narrowly common cases.

2.3. About the Southern dialect

The wide Southern dialect region, stretching from Da Nang to Ca Mau cape,
is a new land, averaging over five hundred years. The whole South Central region
is a transitional dialect area from North Central to South. In general, this is a
relatively unified dialect (compared to the Northern and Central dialects). The
main features can be seen:

- This is a region with five tones. The bar falls and asks in unison, often
speaking into a question bar. In tone, the bars differ from the rest of the dialects,
appearing closer to Northern than to the bass in the Chinese dialect. The
difficulty here still comes back to distinguishing the bars between the question
and the fall.

- Regarding the first consonant:

+ No consonant /v/, replaced with /w/. For example, → culture splash woá,
patch → já, national guard → wók guard,...

+ The accompaniment /–w–/ is gradually disappearing: the law of →

continent, the whole → ship, swallowing →,...

As for the rhyme:

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 + Homogenization of rhymes: –in, –less → –inh, –ich. Such as: → news, →
jackfruit, thin → pounding, → meat, etc.

+ Rhymes –un, –ut → –ung, –australia. For example: → bun snap, blunt →,
(one) bit → (one) wish, → button, mud →.

+ Reading: vowels are slightly longer than normal, to distinguish from short
sounds (mud: u is slightly long, distinguished from short u in boom (explosion)).

+ Some other typical Southern rhymes such as: –→ –inh such as → disease,
→ order, → canal; rhyme –inh → –English as the main (book) → (policy), the
main (right) → (right), (administrative) → (administrative) chief,...; rhyme –
grace → –thanks, such as: Nhan → Nhon, Nhan (rights) → Nhon (rights), Nhan
(Charity) → Nhon (love); rhymes → like glass → glass,...

In general, some of these rhymes are Sino-Vietnamese elements or words,

shaped in writing as independent words, collected into Vietnamese dictionaries or
dialect dictionaries, so they are easy to encounter and look up.

As for how to handle local variations for Southern dialects, it is no different

from how to deal with them in other dialects. As for the rhyme and tone, it is
possible to use the singing of related words in the lyrics. Especially in writing, for
the Southern dialect, there is also the problem of using local words in styles –
functions. This is left by history: currently, it is a "strong dialect" (in the parlance
of the Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Shanghai dialect of China), and in the past, Saigon
was the capital of the Republic of Vietnam regime.

Therefore, it is no wonder that in journalistic works, literary works, Southern

language (although from a phonetic perspective) is still very common in the
works of Son Nam, Doan Gioi, Nguyen Ngoc Tu, and before that Nguyen Dinh
Chieu, Ho Bieu Chanh,...

Conclusion

Above, we have a comprehensive picture of the phonetics of Vietnamese

dialects. How to consider phonetic features wrapped in dialects. In fact, these are
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only the main features that make up the characteristics of each dialect, not
meticulous statistics of the actual characteristics of each dialect.

What is the purpose of understanding dialects? When participating in

statistics to study the dialect where you live, you will help you realize the
purpose of understanding the local phonetics of Vietnamese.

When we recognize local phonetic differences, what do we do? The person

who speaks "lisp" will be self-aware of his or her mistake. In preventing and
correcting local phonetic "errors", we do not wait for a know-how. Each of us
finds the secret to self-education: read (many) books, newspapers, listen to the
radio, watch newspapers, listen to songs, and when writing if we are suspicious,
we must look up the dictionary, and when speaking, we need to be conscious of
where we can pronounce "wrong" with the standard...

Main reference document (author)

1. Nguyen Van Ai (1987), Handbook of Southern Dialects, Cuu Long

Publishing House.

2. Do Huu Chau (1981), Vietnamese vocabulary and semantics, Education

Publishing House.

3. Hoang Thi Chau (2004), Vietnamese Dialectology, Hanoi National

University Press.

4. Bui Minh Duc (2009), Hue Dictionary (Hue, Hue people, Hue culture,
comparative culture), two volumes, Literature Publishing House.

5. Pham Van Hao (ed. – 2009), Vietnamese dialect dictionary, Social

Science Publishing House.

6. Hoang Phe (1995), Spelling Dictionary, Da Nang Publishing House –

Lexicography Center.

7. Tran Thi Ngoc Lang (1995), Southern dialect, Social Science Publishing
House.

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