6 Vietnamese tones

Tonal
Vietnamese has 6 tones,
five of which need marks

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

ba
trois
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Ngang: E.g. ba
Huyn (`): E.g. b
Ng (~): E.g. b
Hi (?): E.g. b
Sc (): E.g. b
Nng (.): E.g. b

grand marc
-mre

pture

roi

tous
1

The structure of a Vietnamese

syllable
BASE SYLLABLE (2376)
(Initial)
Rhyme (155)
(Medial) Nucleus (Ending )
(22)
(1)

(16)

(8)

Tone (6)
E.g. TON - MATHEMATICS
initial /t/

medial /w/

nucleus /a/

ending /n/

tone /_5/
/twan_5/

22 consonants (ph m): initial (m u)

16 vowels (nguyn m): nucleus (m
chnh)
01 pre-tonal: medial (m m)
08 final consonants: ending (m cui)
06 Vietnamese tones (du)

Tone
Tone
Tone
Tone
Tone
Tone

1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:

Level (ngang) tone

Falling (huyn) tone
Broken (ng) tone
Curve (hi) tone
Rising (sc) tone
Drop (nng) tone

Vietnamese phonology
system
22 consonants: initial
16 vowels: nucleus
01 pre-tonal: medial
08 final consonants: ending

BASE SYLLABLE (2376)

(Initial)
Rhyme (155)
(Medial) Nucleus (Ending )
(22)
(1)

(16)

(8)

Tone (6)

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Initial consonants (22) in

Vietnamese
Character

ngh, ng
th
tr
ch
nh
ph
kh
gi, d
gh, g

IPA symbol
(no.)

(119)
t, th
(103+401)
(105)
c (107)
(118)
f (128)
X (142)
z (133)
(141)

(104)

Character

c, k, q
b
m
n
l
x
s
h
v
r
p

IPA symbol
(no.)

k (109)
(102)
m (114)
n (116)
l (155)
s (132)
(136)
h (146)
v (129)
(137)
p (101)

16 vowels (including 03
dipthongs) in Vietnamese
Character

i, y

e
a
o

IPA symbol
(no.)

Character

i (301)
(316)
u (308)
e (302)
(315)
o (307)
(303)
a (304)
(306)
(315+505)

a (anh, ach)
, a (au, ay)
o (ong, oc)
i, ia, y,
ya
, a

IPA symbol
(no.)

(303+505)
(304+305)
(306+305)
ie, ie, ie
(301+302)
, ,

(316+315)
u, ua
uo, uo,
red symbols: short
vowels, which
uo
cannot appear individually
without
(308+307)
any Ending

01 pre-tonal and 08 final

consonants
in Vietnamese
01 pre-tonal (medial)
Character

o, u

IPA symbol
(no.)

w (170)

red symbol:
semi-vowels

08 final consonants
(ending)

Character

p
t
c, ch
m
n
nh, ng
o, u
y, i

IPA symbol
(no.)

p (101)
t (103)
k (109)
m (114)
n (116)
(119)
w (170)
j (153)

Some rules in Vietnamese

vowels
No.

of vowels in a vowel-combination not exceed 3

khuya /Xwie_1/, ngoo /ww_2/

Medial

u is after q or before narrow/quite-narrow-vowels (y, ,

, , y, ya)
o is before wide/quite-wide-vowels (e, a, )

Ending

(pre-tonal)

(Final consonants)

u, i is after a vowel;
o is after a or e, y is after a or

Nucleus

if o is before ng or c / /
if a is before nh or ch //; before u, y //; after y
/e/; otherwise /a/

BASE SYLLABLE (2376)

(Initial)
Rhyme (155)
syllables
(22) (Medial) Nucleus (Ending )

8 types of
(structure-based)

(1)

(16)

(8)

Tone (6)

RHYME
INITIAL

Medial

Nucleus

v
v

v
v
v
v
v
v

v
v

v
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Endin
g

v
v
v

Example
a /a_1/
o /aw_5/
t /ta_2/
n /dan_6/
oa /ua_1/
on /wan_5/, oai
/wai_1/
loa /lwa_1/, qu
/kwa_4/

8 thanh iu
1:

Ngang
2: Huyn
3: Ng
4: Hi
5a: Thanh sc, m tit khng kt thc bi /p/
hoc /t/ hoc /k/
5b: Thanh sc, m tit kt thc bi /p/ hoc /t/
hoc /k/
6a: Thanh nng, m tit khng kt thc bi /p/
hoc /t/ hoc /k/
6b: Thanh nng, m tit kt thc bi /p/ hoc /t/
hoc /k/
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References
1. on Thin Thut (1977). Ng m ting
Vit (Vietnamese phonetics), i hc v
Trung hc chuyn nghip Publisher,
Hanoi
2. on Xun Kin (1998). Xem li mt
vn ng m ting Vit: Cu trc m
tit (Syllable Structure), Tp san Hp lu
48

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Thank you for

your attention!

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