Vietnamese alphabet

The correspondence between the orthography and pronunciation is somewhat complicated. In some cases, the same letter may represent several different sounds, and different letters may represent the same sound. This is because the orthography was designed centuries ago and the spoken language has changed, as shown in the chart directly above that contrasts the difference between Middle and Modern Vietnamese.

⟨i⟩ and ⟨y⟩ are mostly equivalent, and there is no concrete rule that says when to use one or the other, except in sequences like ⟨ay⟩ and ⟨uy⟩ (i.e. tay "arm, hand" is read as /tă̄j/ while tai "ear" is read as /tāj/). There have been attempts since the late 20th century to standardize the orthography by replacing ⟨y⟩ with ⟨i⟩ when it represents a vowel, the latest being a decision from the Vietnamese Ministry of Education in 1984. These efforts seem to have had limited effect. In textbooks published by Nhà Xuất bản Giáo dục ("Publishing House of Education"), ⟨y⟩ is used to represent /i/ only in Sino-Vietnamese words that are written with one letter ⟨y⟩ alone (diacritics can still be added, as in ⟨ý⟩, ⟨ỷ⟩), at the beginning of a syllable when followed by ⟨ê⟩ (as in yếm, yết), after ⟨u⟩ and in the sequence ⟨ay⟩; therefore such forms as *lý and *kỹ are not "standard", though they are much preferred elsewhere. Most people and the popular media continue to use the spelling that they are most accustomed to.

The uses of ⟨i⟩ and ⟨y⟩ to represent the phoneme /i/ can be categorized as "standard" (as used in textbooks published by Nhà Xuất bản Giáo dục) and "non-standard" as follows.

This "standard" set by Nhà Xuất bản Giáo dục is not definite. It is unknown why the literature books use Lí while the history books use Lý.

The table below matches the vowels of Hanoi Vietnamese (written in the IPA) and their respective orthographic symbols used in the writing system.

	Front		Central		Back
	Sound	Spelling	Sound	Spelling	Sound	Spelling
Centering	/iə̯/	iê/ia*	/ɨə̯/	ươ/ưa*	/uə̯/	uô/ua*
Close	/i/	i, y	/ɨ/	ư	/u/	u
Close-mid/ Mid	/e/	ê	/ə/	ơ	/o/	ô
			/ə̆/	â
Open-mid/ Open	/ɛ/	e	/a/	a	/ɔ/	o
			/ă/	ă

Notes:

• The vowel /i/ is:
  • usually written ⟨i⟩: /sǐˀ/ = sĩ (a suffix indicating profession, similar to the English suffix -er).
  • sometimes written ⟨y⟩ after ⟨h⟩, ⟨k⟩, ⟨l⟩, ⟨m⟩, ⟨n⟩, ⟨s⟩, ⟨t⟩, ⟨v⟩, ⟨x⟩: /mǐˀ/ = Mỹ "America"
    • It is always written ⟨y⟩ when:

1. preceded by an orthographic vowel: /xwīə̯n/ = khuyên "to advise";
2. at the beginning of a word derived from Chinese (written as ⟨i⟩ otherwise): /ʔīə̯w/ = yêu "to love".

• The vowel /ɔ/ is written ⟨oo⟩ before ⟨c⟩ or ⟨ng⟩ (since ⟨o⟩ in that position represents /ăw/): /ʔɔ̌k/ = oóc "organ (musical)"; /kǐŋ kɔ̄ŋ/ = kính coong. This generally only occurs in recent loanwords or when representing dialectal pronunciation.
• Similarly, the vowel /o/ is written ⟨ôô⟩ before ⟨c⟩ or ⟨ng⟩: /ʔōŋ/ = ôông (Nghệ An/Hà Tĩnh variant of ông /ʔə̆̄wŋ/). But unlike ⟨oo⟩ being frequently used in onomatopoeia, transcriptions from other languages and words "borrowed" from Nghệ An/Hà Tĩnh dialects (such as voọc), ⟨ôô⟩ seems to be used solely to convey the feel of the Nghệ An/Hà Tĩnh accents. In transcriptions, ⟨ô⟩ is preferred (e.g. các-tông "cardboard", ắc-coóc-đê-ông "accordion").

		Rising Vowels	Rising-Falling Vowels	Falling Vowels
	nucleus (V)	/w/ on-glides	/w/ + V + off-glide	/j/ off-glides	/w/ off-glides
front	e	/wɛ/ oe/(q)ue*	/wɛw/ oeo/(q)ueo*		/ɛw/ eo
	ê	/we/ uê			/ew/ êu
	i	/wi/ uy	/wiw/ uyu		/iw/ iu
	ia/iê/yê*	/wiə̯/ uyê/uya*			/iə̯w/ iêu/yêu*
central	a	/wa/ oa/(q)ua*	/waj/ oai/(q)uai, /waw/ oao/(q)uao*	/aj/ ai	/aw/ ao
	ă	/wă/ oă/(q)uă*	/wăj/ oay/(q)uay*	/ăj/ ay	/ăw/ au
	â	/wə̆/ uâ	/wə̆j/ uây	/ə̆j/ ây	/ə̆w/ âu
	ơ	/wə/ uơ		/əj/ ơi	/əw/ ơu
	ư			/ɨj/ ưi	/ɨw/ ưu
	ưa/ươ*			/ɨə̯j/ ươi	/ɨə̯w/ ươu
back	o			/ɔj/ oi
	ô			/oj/ ôi
	u			/uj/ ui
	ua/uô*			/uə̯j/ uôi

Notes:

The glide /w/ is written:

• ⟨u⟩ after /k/ (spelled ⟨q⟩ in this instance)
• ⟨o⟩ in front of ⟨a⟩, ⟨ă⟩, or ⟨e⟩ except after ⟨q⟩
• ⟨o⟩ following ⟨a⟩ and ⟨e⟩
• ⟨u⟩ in all other cases; note that /ăw/ is written as ⟨au⟩ instead of *⟨ăw⟩ (cf. ⟨ao⟩ /aw/), and that /i/ is written as ⟨y⟩ after ⟨y⟩

The off-glide /j/ is written as ⟨y⟩ except after ⟨â⟩ and ⟨ă⟩, where it is written as ⟨y⟩; note that /ăj/ is written as ⟨ay⟩ instead of *⟨ăy⟩ (cf. ai /aj/).

The diphthong /iə̯/ is written:

• ⟨ia⟩ at the end of a syllable: /mǐə̯/ = mía "sugar cane"
• iê before a consonant or off-glide: /mǐə̯ŋ/ = miếng "piece"; /sīə̯w/ = xiêu "to slope, slant"

Note that the ⟨i⟩ of the diphthong changes to ⟨y⟩ after ⟨u⟩:

• ⟨ya⟩: /xwīə̯/ = khuya "late at night"
• ⟨yê⟩: /xwīə̯n/ = khuyên "to advise"

⟨iê⟩ changes to ⟨yê⟩ at the beginning of a syllable (⟨ia⟩ does not change):

• /īə̯n/ = yên "calm"; /ǐə̯w/ yếu "weak, feeble"

The diphthong /uə̯/ is written:

• ⟨ua⟩ at the end of a syllable: /mūə̯/ = mua "to buy"
• ⟨uô⟩ before a consonant or off-glide: /mūə̯n/ = muôn "ten thousand"; /sūə̯j/ = xuôi "down"

The diphthong /ɨə̯/ is written:

• ⟨ưa⟩ at the end of a syllable: /mɨ̄ə̯/ = mưa "to rain"
• ⟨ươ⟩ before a consonant or off-glide: /mɨ̄ə̯ŋ/ = mương "irrigation canal"; /tɨ̌ə̯j/ = tưới "to water, irrigate, sprinkle"

As early as 1620, with the work of Francisco de Pina, Portuguese and Italian Jesuit missionaries in Vietnam began using Latin script to transcribe the Vietnamese language as an assistance for learning the language.[1][3] The work was continued by the Avignonese Alexandre de Rhodes. Building on previous dictionaries by Gaspar do Amaral and António Barbosa, Rhodes compiled the Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum, a Vietnamese–Portuguese–Latin dictionary, which was later printed in Rome in 1651, using their spelling system.[1][13] These efforts led eventually to the development of the present Vietnamese alphabet. For 200 years, chữ Quốc ngữ was used within the Catholic community.[14][15]

In 1910, the French colonial administration enforced chữ Quốc ngữ.[16] The Latin alphabet then became a means to publish Vietnamese popular literature, which was disparaged as vulgar by the Chinese-educated imperial elites.[17] Historian Pamela A. Pears asserted that by instituting the Latin alphabet in Vietnam, the French cut the Vietnamese from their traditional Hán Nôm literature.[18] An important reason why Latin script became the standard writing system in Vietnam but not in Cambodia and Laos, which were both dominated by the French for a similar amount of time under the same colonial framework, had to do with the Nguyễn Emperors of Vietnam heavily promoting its usage.[19] According to the historian Liam Kelley in his 2016 work "Emperor Thành Thái’s Educational Revolution" neither the French nor the revolutionaries had enough power to spread the usage of chữ Quốc ngữ down to the village level.[19] It was by imperial decree in 1906 of Emperor Thành Thái, that parents could decide whether their children will follow a curriculum in Hán văn (漢文) or Nam âm (南音, "Southern sound", the contemporary Vietnamese name for chữ Quốc ngữ).[19] This decree was issued at the same time when other social changes, such as the cutting of long male hair, were occurring.[19] The main reason for the popularisation of the Latin alphabet in Vietnam/Đại Nam during the Nguyễn dynasty (the French protectorates of Annam and Tonkin) was because of the pioneering efforts by intellectuals from French Cochinchina combined with the progressive and scientific policies of the French government in French Indochina, that created the momentum for the usage of chữ Quốc ngữ to spread.[19]

From the first days it was recognized that the Chinese language was a barrier between us and the natives; the education provided by means of the hieroglyphic characters was completely beyond us; this writing makes possible only with difficulty transmitting to the population the diverse ideas which are necessary for them at the level of their new political and commercial situation. Consequently we are obliged to follow the traditions of our own system of education; it is the only one which can bring close to us the Annamites of the colony by inculcating in them the principles of European civilization and isolating them from the hostile influence of our neighbors.[20]

— In a letter dated January 15, 1866, Paulin Vial, Directeur du Cabinet du Gouverneur de la Cochinchine

Since the 1920s, the Vietnamese mostly use chữ Quốc ngữ, and new Vietnamese terms for new items or words are often calqued from Hán Nôm. Some French had originally planned to replace Vietnamese with French, but this never was a serious project, given the small number of French settlers compared with the native population. The French had to reluctantly accept the use of chữ Quốc ngữ to write Vietnamese since this writing system, created by Portuguese missionaries, is based on Portuguese orthography, not French.[21]

Between 1907 and 1908, the short-lived Tonkin Free School promulgated chữ quốc ngữ and taught French language to the general population.

In 1917, the French system suppressed Vietnam's Confucian examination system, viewed as an aristocratic system linked with the "ancient regime", thereby forcing Vietnamese elites to educate their offspring in the French language education system. Emperor Khải Định declared the traditional writing system abolished in 1918.[17] While traditional nationalists favoured the Confucian examination system and the use of chữ Hán, Vietnamese revolutionaries, progressive nationalists, and pro-French elites viewed the French education system as a means to "liberate" the Vietnamese from old Chinese domination and the unsatisfactory "outdated" Confucian examination system, to democratize education and to help bridge Vietnamese to European philosophies.

The French colonial system then set up another educational system, teaching Vietnamese as a first language using chữ quốc ngữ in primary school and then the French language (taught in chữ quốc ngữ). Hundreds of thousands of textbooks for primary education began to be published in chữ quốc ngữ, with the unintentional result of turning the script into the popular medium for the expression for Vietnamese culture.[22]

Typesetting and printing Vietnamese has been challenging due to its number of accents/diacritics.[23][24][25] This had led to the use of accent and diacritic-less names in Overseas Vietnamese, such as 'Nguyen' instead of the proper 'Nguyễn'. Contemporary Vietnamese texts sometimes include words which have not been adapted to modern Vietnamese orthography, especially for documents written in chữ Hán. The Vietnamese language itself has been likened to a system akin to "ruby characters" elsewhere in Asia. French, which left a mark on the Vietnamese language in the form of loanwords and other influences, is no longer as widespread in Vietnam, with English or International English the preferred European language for commerce in part due to American-influenced globalization.

Different ways in which tone marks can be presented on letters that already have diacritic, e.g. (`) on letter ê when computerising Vietnamese

The universal character set Unicode has full support for the Latin Vietnamese writing system, although it does not have a separate segment for it. The required characters that other languages use are scattered throughout the Basic Latin, Latin-1 Supplement, Latin Extended-A and Latin Extended-B blocks; those that remain (such as the letters with more than one diacritic) are placed in the Latin Extended Additional block. An ASCII-based writing convention, Vietnamese Quoted Readable and several byte-based encodings including VSCII (TCVN), VNI, VISCII and Windows-1258 were widely used before Unicode became popular. Most new documents now exclusively use the Unicode format UTF-8.

Unicode allows the user to choose between precomposed characters and combining characters in inputting Vietnamese. Because in the past some fonts implemented combining characters in a nonstandard way (see Verdana font), most people use precomposed characters when composing Vietnamese-language documents (except on Windows where Windows-1258 used combining characters).

Most keyboards on modern phone and computer operating systems, including iOS,[26] Android[27] and MacOS,[28] have now supported the Vietnamese language and direct input of diacritics by default. Previously, Vietnamese users had to manually install free softwares such as Unikey on computers or Laban Key on phones to type Vietnamese diacritics. These keyboards support input methods such as Telex, VNI, VIQR and its variants.