International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology

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Consonants, vowels and tones across Vietnamese

dialects

Ben Phạm & Sharynne McLeod

To cite this article: Ben Phạm & Sharynne McLeod (2016) Consonants, vowels and tones
across Vietnamese dialects, International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 18:2,
122-134, DOI: 10.3109/17549507.2015.1101162

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.3109/17549507.2015.1101162

Published online: 06 Feb 2016.

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International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 2016; 18: 122–134

R E V I E W A RT I C L E

Consonants, vowels and tones across Vietnamese dialects

BEN PHAM & SHARYNNE MCLEOD

_
Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, Australia

Abstract
Purpose: Vietnamese is spoken by over 89 million people in Vietnam and it is one of the most commonly spoken languages
other than English in the US, Canada and Australia. This study defines between one and nine different dialects of
Vietnamese spoken in Vietnam. In Vietnamese schools, children learn Standard Vietnamese which is based on the northern
dialect; however, if they live in other regions they may speak a different dialect at home.
Method: This paper describes the differences between the consonants, semivowels, vowels, diphthongs and tones for four
dialects: Standard, northern, central and southern Vietnamese.
Result: The number and type of initial consonants differs per dialect (i.e. Standard ¼ 23, northern ¼ 20, central ¼ 23,
southern ¼ 21). For example, the letter ‘‘r’’ is pronounced in the Standard and central dialects as the retroflex /œ/, northern
dialect as the voiced alveolar fricative /z/ or the trilled /r/ and in the southern dialect as the voiced velar fricative //.
Additionally, the letter ‘‘v’’ is pronounced in the Standard, northern and central dialects as the voiced labiodental fricative
/v/, the southern dialect as the voiced palatal approximant /j/ and in the lower northern dialect (Ninh Binh) as the voiceless
labiodental fricative /f/. Similarly, the number of final consonants differs per dialect (i.e. Standard ¼ 6, northern ¼ 10,
central ¼ 10, southern ¼ 8). Finally, the number and type of tones differs per dialect (i.e. Standard ¼ 6, northern ¼ 6,
central ¼ 5, southern ¼ 5).
Conclusion: Understanding differences between Vietnamese dialects is important so that speech-language pathologists and
educators provide appropriate services to people who speak Vietnamese.

Keywords: Vietnamese, dialect, speech, assessment, analysis, consonants, vowels, semivowels, tones

Introduction
Vietnamese is widely spoken around the world. It is
the official language of Vietnam and is spoken by
most of the population (over 89 million people from
54 ethnic groups) as their first or second language
(Vietnam General Statistics Office, 2013).
Vietnamese is also spoken in many predominantly
English-speaking countries, such as the US,
Australia, Canada and the UK. For example, in
the 2011 US Census, Vietnamese was the fourth
most common language other than English spoken
at home, following Spanish, Chinese and Tagalog
(Ryan, 2013). In Australia, Vietnamese is the sixth
most commonly spoken language other than
English, with 1.1% of the population speaking it as
a home language (Australian Bureau of Statistics,
2013). In Canada, Vietnamese is one of the top 25
languages spoken, spoken by 3.6% of people in
Montréal, 4.7% of people in Calgary, 2.6% of
people in Vancouver, 4.0% of people in Edmonton
and 3.7% of people in Ottawa (Statistics Canada,
2012). It is also recognised as a minority language in
many other countries across the world including
France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia,
Slovenia and Korea. For example, in the Czech
Republic, Vietnamese people are the third largest
foreigner group (Czech Statistics Office, 2009).
Many Vietnamese speakers throughout the world
are likely to be multilingual. Due to the high
proportion of Vietnamese speakers throughout the
world, information about Vietnamese is useful for
speech-language pathologists and educators who
work with monolingual and multilingual
Vietnamese children and adults in many different
countries. Furthermore, the Vietnamese language
has considerable dialectal variation and the effects of
dialectal variants are important to determine correct
or acceptable speech productions in normative
acquisition data, assessment and intervention
(Goldstein & Iglesias, 2001; Phoon, Abdullah, Lee,
& Murugaiah, 2014). Clinical decisions need to be
made with an awareness of language and dialectal
differences. Therefore, it is important for profes-
sionals working with Vietnamese speaking clients in

Correspondence: Ms Ben Pham, Charles Sturt University, RIPPLE, Panorama Ave, Bathurst, 2795 Australia. Email: bpham@csu.edu.au
_
ISSN 1754-9507 print/ISSN 1754-9515 online ß 2015 The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited
Published by Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.3109/17549507.2015.1101162

Vietnam and in other countries to distinguish
between underlying speech and/or language disorder
and language variants.
The aims of this paper are to provide a review of
Vietnamese and English literature to describe:
(1) the different dialects of Vietnamese;
(2) the standardisation of Vietnamese;
(3) the syllables, consonants, semivowels, vowels,
diphthongs and tones within the major dialects
of Vietnamese; and
(4) the clinical application of differences between
Vietnamese dialects for speech-language path-
ologists and educators.
This review was undertaken by examining books
and journal articles about Vietnamese language,
linguistics and phonetics that were available in the
Ha Noi National University of Education library
and the National Library in Ha Noi, Vietnam. The
majority of these books were written in Vietnamese,
but this review draws on books and journal articles
written in Vietnamese, English, French and Russian.
It was not possible to undertake a systematic review
of Vietnamese literature, since Vietnamese manu-
scripts are not systematically included within data-
bases such as EBSCO Host, Medline, SCOPUS
and ERIC.
Vietnamese dialects
There are many terms to describe regional variants
of pronunciation within Vietnam. Dialect (phu o ng
’
’
ng* ) is the most common term used by Vietnamese
linguists to describe the characteristics of the lan-
guage that is spoken in a city/province or in a group
of cities/provinces when compared to Standard
Vietnamese (Cao, 2006; Hai Dân, 1982; HM,
1992; Hu ynh, 1995, 1996a,b, 1997, 1998, 1999,
2013; Nguyvn, 1983; Nguyvn, N. B. 1992; Nguyvn,
T. B. N. 1981; Nguyvn, T. N. 1981; Nguyvn, V. Á.
1981; Nguyvn & Tr;n, 1983; Pham, 1985, 1988;
_ o ng & Nguyvn,
Tr;n, 1986, 1992, 1993, 1995; Tru
’
’
1985; Võ, 1985, 1991; Vũ, 1986). Additional
terminology includes: regional variants, local lan-
guage (phu o ng ngôn or ngôn ng* d iU ra phu o ng), semi-
’
’
’
’
dialect (bán phu o ng ng* ), regional language (ti^eng
’
’
d Uira phu o ng), regional voice (giorng d iU ra phu o ng), local
’
’
’
’
dialect (thO ng* ), local pronunciation (thO âm),
phonological variants (bi ^en thw ng* âm) and accent
(ti ^eng Qua ng Nam, ti
^eng, e.g. ti ^eng Sài Gòn). These
terms differ in the focus (e.g. phonology, lexicon),
geography and cultural usage (e.g. literature, songs).
In this paper, the term dialect has been selected
because of its frequent use in both English and
Vietnamese literature and conversation. As noted by
Alves (2007) and Hu ynh (2014), the main differ-
ences between the Vietnamese dialects are phono-
logical, with some differences in vocabulary.
As a result of the varying terminology to describe
dialects within and between authors, contexts and
times, there has been much discussion about the
Consonants, vowels and tones in Vietnamese 123
number of dialects within Vietnam. Authors writing
in Vietnamese, English, French and Russian have
described between one and nine Vietnamese dialects
(see Supplementary Appendix A). However, the
most common descriptions of Vietnamese dialects
are the northern, central and southern dialects.
According to Hoàng (2004), these three dialects are
differentiated through tonal features and are easily
recognised. Although each dialect includes local
varieties, the division of three dialects generally
reflects the geography, everyday usage and cultural
beliefs. Furthermore, characteristics of these three
dialects have been described by several researchers
(Ðinh & Nguyvn, 1998; Ðoàn, 2003; Hoàng, 2004;
Hwa-Froelich, Hodson, & Edwards, 2002; Nguyvn,
1997; Vu, 1982). Therefore, in the remainder of this
paper, three Vietnamese dialects (northern, central
and southern) are described and are compared with
Standard Vietnamese. Supplementary Appendix B
provides the geographical divisions corresponding to
the three dialects.
Standard Vietnamese is the common language
used by the Vietnamese government in politics, the
military, economy, society, culture, science and the
arts (Huynh, 1999; Phan, 2000; Tr;n, 2010). It is
primarily formulated from the northern dialect
spoken in Ha Noi (the capital city), with additional
key features from other regions (Huynh, 1999). The
role of regional variants in the Vietnamese stand-
ardisation process has been a long-term focus for a
number of Vietnamese researchers (HM, 1992;
Hoàng, 1986; HMng Dân, 1981; Huynh, 1997,
2014; Nguyvn & Tr;n, 1983; Nguyvn, T. B. N.
1981, Nguyvn, T. C. 1981, Nguyvn, V. Á. 1981;
Pham, 1981; Tru o ng & ÐWng, 1981; Võ, 1981; Vũ,
’
’
_
1980, 1981). The Vietnamese government has
implemented Vietnamese standardisation (chu= n
hóa ti^eng Vi g t) since 1945 to create this national
(ngôn ng* qu^oc gia), standard (ti^eng chu= n), common
language (ti^eng phO thông) that is used by the entire
population (ngôn ng* toàn dân). The campaign
slogan to promote standardisation encouraged ‘‘con-
servation of the clarity of the Vietnamese language’’
(Gi* gı̀n s, trong sáng cǔa ti^eng Vi g t) (Pham, 1966,
p. 1). Standard Vietnamese is officially_ used in
schools and other institutional education settings
throughout the country. Standardisation of
Vietnamese also has implications for written orthog-
raphy (i.e. the same spelling of the same word across
regions) which can facilitate the development of
technological applications such as library searches,
language corpus analysis and text scanning.
Vietnamese syllables: Structure and shape
Vietnamese is classified as a syllabic and tonal
language. The syllable is considered to be the
smallest unit of pronunciation and each syllable is
pronounced and written separately (ÐN, 1981; ÐN &
Lê, 2005; Lã, Phan, & Nguyvn, 2011). Vietnamese
124 B. Pham and S. McLeod
_
Table I. Vietnamese syllable structure.

Level 1 Tone
Suprasegmental
Level 2 Initial Rime
consonant Medial Main Final semivowel or
Segmental semivowel vowel consonant
(C 1 ) (w) V (w/C 2 )
Note. Obligatory components are shaded grey.

Table II. Vietnamese syllable shapes without the tone.

Syllable components Syllable symbol Syllable example
1 Vowel V à
2 Vowel Final consonant VC2 im
3 Vowel Final semivowel Vw áo
4 Initial consonant Vowel C1V pho

’
5 Initial consonant Vowel Final consonant C1VC2 võng
6 Initial consonant Vowel Final semivowel C1Vw dMu
7 Medial semivowel Vowel wV oa
8 Medial semivowel Vowel Final consonant wVC2 uyên
9 Vowel Final semivowel wVw oai
10 Initial consonant Medial semivowel Vowel CwV thúy
11 Initial consonant Medial semivowel Vowel Final consonant C1wVC2 luMt
12 Initial consonant Medial semivowel Vowel Final semivowel C1wVw quay

syllables can include five components: the initial components because the absent initial consonant is a
consonant singleton, the medial semivowel, the main glottal stop /?/ and the absence of medial and final
vowel, the final phoneme (either a consonant or sounds are considered to be zero phonemes.
semivowel) and the tone (see Table I) (Cao, 2006;
ÐN & Lê, 2005; Ðoàn, 2003; Nguyvn, 2011; Vu o ng Consonants, vowels and tones that are shared across
’
’

& Hoàng, 1994). dialects

The syllable shape for Vietnamese can be
described as (C1)(w)V(C2/w)T, where C1 is the
initial consonant, w is the semivowel, V is the vowel, Consonants. Vietnamese syllables may include ini-
C2 is the final consonant and T is the tone. There tial consonants (ph… âm d U u) and final consonants
are 12 possible syllable shapes in Vietnamese (ÐN & (ph… âm cu^oi) (Cao, 2006). In Standard Vietnamese,
Lê, 2005; H*u & Vu o ng, 1980) (see Table II). the number of initial consonants reported ranges
’
’

When the initial component is considered, there are
four syllable types: light (V, Vw, VC2), partly light
(wV, wVw, wVC2), partly heavy (C1V, C1Vw,
C1VC2) and heavy (C1wV, C1wVw, C1wVC2) (ÐN
& Lê, 2005; Lã et al., 2011). Light refers to no initial
consonant or semivowel and heavy refers to an initial
consonant and semivowel before the vowel. When
the final component is considered, there are four
syllable types: open (CV, C1wV), partly open
(ending in a semivowel, C1wVw), partly closed
(ending in a nasal consonant) and closed (ending
in a voiceless unreleased plosive) (Ðinh & Nguyvn,
1998; ÐN & Lê, 2005; Ðoàn, 2003; Lã et al., 2011).
At the segmental level, while Cao (2006) groups
the initial consonant and the medial semivowel as
the initial onset (thanh m~^
au or thǔy âm) and the main
vowel and final phoneme as the rime (v n m~^au or
vãn), most other linguists combine the medial
semivowel, main vowel and final consonant/semi-
vowel as the rime (vãn). The main vowel and tone
are compulsory and the remaining components are
either present or absent in a Vietnamese syllable.
According to Ðoàn (2003), every syllable has all five
from 21–24 (see Table III). There is controversy
regarding three consonants /p, ?, r/. H*u and Vu o ng
’
’
(1980) and ÐN and Lê (2005) do not consider these
three phonemes as Vietnamese initial consonants,
while other authors accept /p/ (Hoàng, 2004; Lã
et al., 2011; Nguyvn, 2011) and accept /?/ (Ðoàn,
2003; Hoàng, 2004; Nguyvn, 2011; Pham, 2009)
as initial consonants. The trilled consonant /r/ is
included as a Vietnamese initial consonant by one
author (Hoàng, 2004), but it is considered to be a
variant identified in some local areas and in foreign
loan words by others (ÐN & Lê, 2005; Ðoàn, 2003).
Therefore, in the current paper, two phonemes /?, p/
will be included as initial consonants in Standard
Vietnamese and the phoneme /r/ will be excluded.
This paper, thus, describes 23 Standard Vietnamese
initial consonants.
Most authors describe 16 initial consonants that
are shared across the three dialects (see Table IV).
However, Nguyvn (1997) states that only 11 initial
consonants are indisputably shared across dialects,
stating that /f, t, s, fi, x/ have some differences
between dialects. Nasal phonemes /m, n, fi, ˛/ are
 Consonants, vowels and tones in Vietnamese 125

Table III. Standard Vietnamese consonants and semivowels.

Bilabial Labiodental Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Initial consonants Plosive t„}
p* b td  c k ?*
Nasal m n fi ˛
Trill r*
Fricative fv sz @œ x h
Semivowel** w j
Lateral approximant l
Final consonants Plosive p t k
Nasal m n ˛
Semivowel** w j
*These consonants /p, ?, r/ are controversial between authors.
**In Vietnamese, approximants are called semivowels.

Table IV. Vietnamese consonants and semivowels in Standard Vietnamese and across three dialects.
Grapheme(s) Standard Vietnamese Northern dialect Central dialect Southern dialect
Initial consonants
p /p/ /p/ /p/ /b/
b /b/ /b/ /b/ /b/
th /t„}/ /t„}/ /t„}/ /t„}/
t /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/
d /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/
tr // /c/ // //
ch /c/ /c/ /c/ /c/
c /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/
k /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/
q /k/ /k/ /k/ /w/
— /?/ /?/ /?/ —
m /m/ /m/ /m/ /m/
n /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/
nh /fi/ /fi/ /fi/ /fi/
ng /˛/ /˛/ /˛/ /˛/
ngh /˛/ /˛/ /˛/ /˛/
ph /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/
v /v/ /v/ /v/ /j/
x /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/
s /@/ /s/ /@/ /@/
d /z/ /z/ /z/ /j/
gi /z/ /z/ /z/ /j/
r /œ/ /z/, /r/ /œ/ /œ/, /j/, /z/, /r/, //
kh /x/ /x/ /x/ /x/
g // // // //
gh // // // //
h /h/ /h/ /h/ /h/, /w/
l /l/ /l/ /l/ /l/
Total 23 20 23 21
Initial semivowel
u /w/ /w/ /w/ Omission, /w/
o /w/ /w/ /w/ Omission, /w/
Final consonants
-p /-p/ /-p/ /-p/ /-p/
-t /-t/ /-t/ /-t/ /-t/, /-k/
-c /-k/ /-k/, /-kp/ /-k/, /-kp/ /-k/, /-kp/
-ch /-k/ /-c/ /-c/ /-t/
-m /-m/ /-m/ /-m/ /-m/
-n /-n/ /-n/ /-n/ /-n/, /-˛/
-nh /-˛/ /-fi/ /-fi/ /-n/
-ng /-˛/ /-˛/, /-˛m/ /-˛/, /-˛m/ /-˛/, /-˛m/
Total 6 10 10 8
Final semivowel
-i /-j/ /-j/ /-j/ /-j/
-y /-j/ /-j/ /-j/ /-j/
-u /-w/ /-w/ /-w/ /-w/
-o /-w/ /-w/ /-w/ /-w/
Total 2 2 2 2
Shading indicates that the consonants and semivowels are different from Standard Vietnamese.
126 B. Pham and S. McLeod
_
Table V. Vietnamese vowels in Standard Vietnamese and three dialects.
Grapheme(s) Standard Vietnamese Northern dialect Central dialect Southern dialect
i /i/ /i/ /i/ /i/
y /i/ /i/ /i/ /i/
ê /e/ /e/ /e/ /e/,/"/
e /e/ /e/ /e/ /e/
u /-/ /-/ /-/ /-/
’

u /u/ /u/ /u/ /u/

ô /o/ /o/ /o/ /o/
o /O/ /O/ /O/ /O/
o /"/ /"/ /"/ /"/
’

a /a/ or /A/ /a/ or /A/ /a/ or /A/ and /O/ /a/ or /A/
â /" / /" / /" / /" /
ă, a /A / /A / /A / /A /
a /e / /e / /e / /A /
o /O / /O / /O / /O /
iê /ie/ /ie/ /ie/ /i/
yê /ie/ /ie/ /ie/ /i/
ia /ie/ /ie/ /ie/ /ie/
ya /ie/ /ie/ /ie/ /ie/
uô /uo/ /uo/ /uo/ /u/
ua /uo/ /uo/ /uo/ /uo/
uo /-"/ /-"/ /-"/ /-/
’ ’
’

ua /-"/ /-"/ /-"/ /-"/

Shading indicates that the vowels are different from Standard Vietnamese.

presented in all three dialects, as is the lateral
approximant /l/, although in some regions in the
northern dialect, /l/ is switched with /n/ (Kirby,
2011; Pham, 2013). Plosive and fricative phonemes
are more _ambiguous. For example, /p/ is considered
as a shared phoneme in three dialects by some
authors (Hoàng, 2004), but it is not included as an
initial consonant in the central and southern dialects
by others (Hu ynh, 1999; Hwa-Froelich et al., 2002).
As another example, /œ/ is a shared phoneme in
three dialects (Hwa-Froelich et al., 2002), but does
not commonly occur in the northern dialect (Hoàng,
2004; Hu ynh, 1999; Nguyvn, 1997).
There are six final consonants in Standard
Vietnamese including three plosives /-p, -t, -k/ and
three nasals /-m, -n, -˛/ (Ðoàn, 2003). Most authors
describe six final consonants that are shared across
the three dialects, as found in Standard Vietnamese.
However, there are different variants of the two final
velars /-k, -˛/ in each dialect.
Semivowels. Approximants are called semivowels in
the Vietnamese language. There are two semivowels
in Vietnamese syllables and the transcription con-
ventions use either /w, j/ or /u7, 7i / (Ðoàn, 2003).
Although /u7, 7i / are popularly used in Vietnamese
linguistics literature, within this manuscript we have
chosen to use /w, j/ to be consistent with the
International Phonetic Alphabet. The semivowel
/w/ may be either the medial component of the
syllable (medial semivowel, âm d gU m or ti
^en chı́nh âm)
or the final component (final semivowel, bán âm
cu^
oi); whereas, the semivowel /j/ may only be the
final component of Vietnamese syllables. In syllable
final positions, the three dialects share the same two
semivowels found in Standard Vietnamese (Cao,
2006; Hoàng, 2004). In the medial position, the
northern and the central dialects generally share the
same semivowel found in Standard Vietnamese;
however, there are variants in the southern dialect.
Vowels. Vowels are obligatory in all Vietnamese
syllables. Only one vowel is allowed within a
Vietnamese syllable, so it is known as the main,
primary or nucleus vowel (nguyên âm chı́nh). Most
authors indicate that, in Standard Vietnamese, there
are a total of 14 vowels including nine long singleton
vowels /i, e, e, -, u, o, O, ", A/, two short singleton
vowels /A, "/ and three diphthongs /ie, uo, -"/ (see
Table V). However, Ðoàn (2003) includes two add-
itional short vowels in Standard Vietnamese: /e, O /.
Most authors indicate that are no triphthongs in
Vietnamese syllables (Cao, 2006; ÐN, 1981; ÐN &
Lê, 2005; Ðoàn, 2003); however, Pham (2009) has
suggested that Vietnamese triphthongs are phonetic
units when there are ‘‘combinations of the prevocalic
/w/ and a diphthong, or a diphthong and a final
glide, or the prevocalic and a vowel with a final
glide’’ (p. 14). Within open syllables, the northern,
central and southern dialects use the same long
vowels and diphthongs as found in Standard
Vietnamese (Cao, 2006; Hoàng, 2004). In cases of
semi-open, semi-closed and closed syllables; there
are variants in the three dialects compared to
Standard Vietnamese.
Tones. Tones are compulsory in Vietnamese syl-
lables. A change of tones in a Vietnamese syllable
might indicate a change in word meaning (Cao,
2006; Ðoàn, 2003; Tang & Barlow, 2006).
Commonly, six Vietnamese tones have been

described and are found in Standard Vietnamese: (1)
level (thanh không d ^
au or thanh ngang), (2) falling
(thanh huy ^en), (3) creaky (thanh ngã), (4) dipping-
rising (thanh ho i), (5) rising (thanh sOc) and (6) con-
stricted (thanh nWng) (Cao, 2006; ÐN & Lê, 2005;
Ðoàn, 2003; Lã et al., 2011; Nguyvn & Edmondson,
1998; Pham, 2003; Tang & Barlow, 2006). Two
additional tones (7) and (8), which can be phonolo-
gically considered as allophones of tones (5) rising
and (6) constricted, are contained in syllable final
voiceless stop positions (e.g. b ^
at c p) (Brunelle,
Nguyen, & Nguyen, 2010; Pham, 2003, 2006).
The tones have been shown to vary by dialects
(Hoàng, 1989, 2004; Kirby, 2010; Vu, 1982). In
general, the three dialects share the following tones:
(1) level, (2) falling, (5) rising and (6) constricted.
Additionally, some linguistic descriptions of
Vietnamese tones describe differences in the funda-
mental frequency (F0), shape and voice quality
(Brunelle et al., 2010; Hoàng, 1989).
In Vietnamese linguistics literature, the most
common convention for transcribing the tone is to
place a superscript number within the slashes (e.g.
/t9}wien2/). Other descriptions of the tone include use
of the International Phonetic Alphabet symbols for
tones (e.g. /t9}wien¢/) (Kirby, 2011; Shimizu, 2013)
or tone marks over or under the vowel (e.g. /t9}wi^en/)
(Hoàng, 2004). Within this manuscript we have
chosen to use the superscript within the slashes to be
consistent with conventions used in Vietnam and
other Asian nations such as Hong Kong (e.g. To,
Cheung, & McLeod, 2013).
Northern dialect
Consonants. There are 20 initial consonants in the
northern dialect (Hoàng, 2004; Hu ynh, 1999,
2014; Kirby, 2011) (see Table IV). Although
Hwa-Froelich et al. (2002) count 23 initial con-
sonants in their study, they list three phoneme
pairs (T and T; ˛ and ˛; g and g) that could be
› › ›
considered to be equivalent to /c, ˛, /. Pham
(2009) lists 19 initial consonants excluding /p/, but
suggests that /p/ is identified in several loan words
from French (e.g. pin (battery) /pin…/, pê-daU n
(pedal) /pe…dAn…/). All authors indicate that there
are no retroflex phonemes in the northern dialect
because // is pronounced as either: /c/ (ÐN & Lê,
2005; Hu ynh, 1999), /ts/ (Hoàng, 2004), /f/
(Kirby, 2011) or /T› / (Hwa-Froelich et al., 2002)
and /@, œ/ are pronounced as /s, z/ respectively.
The trilled phoneme /r/ is considered to be a local
variant identified in coastal areas (ÐN & Lê, 2005)
or in foreign loan words (Kirby, 2011).
Final consonants in the northern dialect include
the six consonants in Standard Vietnamese plus four
variants of the two velars /-k, -˛/. There are restric-
tions between which vowels and which final conson-
ants can co-occur (Pham, 2006). When following
Consonants, vowels and tones in Vietnamese 127
the front vowels /i, e, e/, /-k, -˛/ are described as pre-
velars [k«, ˛
« ] (Kirby, 2011), palatals [c, fi] (Hoàng,
2004; Huynh, 1999) or as [k”, ˛”] (Cao, 2006).
When following back rounded vowels /u, o, O/, they
are described as labial-velar phonemes [kp , ˛m ]
(Hoàng, 2004; Huynh, 1999; Kirby, 2011). The
final stops /-p, -t, -k/ are unreleased (Michaud, Vũ,
Amelot, & Roubleau, 2006) and are not accompa-
nied by a glottal stop (Michaud, 2004).
Semivowels. The northern dialect includes the
medial semivowel /w/ and the two final semivowels
/w, j/ (Hoàng, 2004; Huynh, 1999).
Vowels. The northern dialect shares the same vowels
and diphthongs as found in Standard Vietnamese,
including nine long singleton vowels /i, e, e, -, u, o, O,
", A/, four short singleton vowels /ă, ", e, O /, and three
diphthongs /ie, uo, -"/ in all syllable shapes (i.e.
open, semi-open, semi-closed and closed syllables).
In particular syllabic constraints, there are variants
for the vowel /-/ and the diphthong /-"/. The main
vowel /-/ following the final semivowel /-w/ is
pronounced as /i/; for example, l, u (pomegranate)
is produced as /liw6/ in the northern dialect, but
/l-w6/ in Standard Vietnamese. When the diphthong
/-"/ is followed by the final semivowel /-w/, it is
pronounced as the diphthong /ie/; for example, ru ƒ u
’
(wine) is pronounced as /ziew6/ in the northern
dialect, but /œ-"w6/ in Standard Vietnamese (Ðoàn,
2003; Huynh, 1999).
Tones. The northern dialect uses all six tones that
are included in Standard Vietnamese (Brunelle,
2009a; Brunelle et al., 2010; Cao, 2006; Hoàng,
1989, 2004; Huynh, 1999, 2014; Hwa-Froelich
et al., 2002; Kirby, 2010, 2011; Nguyvn &
Edmondson, 1998; Vu, 1982). The six tones in the
northern dialect ‘‘combine pitch and voice quality
contrasts’’ (Brunelle, 2009a, p. 49).
Central dialect
Consonants. The central dialect has been posited
to have archaic linguistic features by many
researchers, since it has the highest number of
consonants (23 initial and 10 final) compared to
the two other dialects (Alves, 2007; Ðinh &
Nguyvn, 1998; Hoàng, 2004; Huynh, 1999;
Hwa-Froelich et al., 2002; Shimizu, 2013;
Thompson, 1965) (see Table IV). The graphemes
‘‘d’’ and ‘‘gi’’ are described as the phoneme /z/ and
the grapheme ‘‘v’’ is described as the phoneme /v/
in the northern-central regions (e.g. Nghe An, Ha
Tinh) and these three graphemes ‘‘d’’, ‘‘gi’’ and
‘‘v’’ are described as the phoneme /j/ in the
southern-central regions (e.g. Quang Nam)
(Alves, 2007; Huynh, 1999; Shimizu, 2013). In
128 B. Pham and S. McLeod
_
the northern-central region, all final consonants
are pronounced the same as the northern dialect,
whereas in the southern-central region all final
consonants are pronounced the same as the
southern dialect (Alves, 2007; Shimizu, 2013).
Semivowels. The central dialect includes the medial
semivowel /w/ and the two final semivowels /w, j/
(Hoàng, 2004; Hu
ynh, 1999).
Vowels. The central dialect shares the same vowels
and diphthongs, as found in Standard Vietnamese,
including nine long singleton vowels /i, e, e, -, u, o,
O, ", A/ and three diphthongs /ie, uo, -"/ in open
syllable shapes. However, these vowels can differ
according to the regions within the centre of
Vietnam. Short vowels within the central dialect
differ according to phonotactic constraints (for an
explanation see Cao, 2006; Hoàng, 2004).
Tones. There are five tones in the central dialect
(Ðoàn, 2003; Hoàng, 1989, 2004; Hu ynh, 1999,
2013, 2014; Hwa-Froelich et al., 2002; Kirby, 2010,
2011; Tang & Barlow, 2006; Vu, 1982); however,
some central regions such as Nghe An only have
three or four tones (Pham, 2005). Creaky tone (3)
does not exist in the central dialect because it is
changed to the constricted tone (6) in the middle
central regions (e.g. Nghe An, Ha Tinh) or the
dipping-rising tone (4) in southern central regions
(e.g. Hue) (Ðinh, 1984; Gordina & Bystrov, 1984;
Hoàng, 2004; Hu ynh, 1999). It is also noted that
creaky (3) and dipping-rising (4) tones are sub-
stituted in the northern central regions (e.g. Thanh
Hoa).
Southern dialect
Consonants. There are 21 initial consonants in the
southern dialect including two approximants /w, j/
(see Table IV). The approximant /w/ is produced as
the initial semivowel due to the omission of the
original initial consonant in syllables commencing
with /k, ˛, ?, h/ (e.g. quà (gift) is pronounced as /wa2/
in the southern dialect but as /kwa2/ in Standard
Vietnamese). The phoneme /j/ is substituted for two
Standard Vietnamese phonemes /v, z/; for example,
voi (elephant), già (old), and dao (knife) are
pronounced as /jOj1/, /ja2/ and /jaw1/ in the southern
dialect, but as /vOj1/, /za2/ and /zaw1/ in Standard
Vietnamese, respectively (Hoàng, 2004; Huynh,
1996a, 1999, 2014; Hwa-Froelich et al., 2002;
Tang & Barlow, 2006). According to Hoàng
(2004), the trilled phoneme /r/ occurs in the south-
ern dialect, but it may also be substituted by /œ, z, j,
/ (e.g. rùa (turtle) may be pronounced as /ruo2/,
/œuo2/, /juo2/ or /uo2/).
Final consonants in the southern dialect include
the six consonants from Standard Vietnamese plus
two variants of the two velars /-k, -˛/. When
following back rounded vowels /u, o, O/, they are
produced as labial-velar phonemes [-kp, -˛m], but
when following the front vowels /i, e, e/ and the short
vowel /A  /, /-k, -˛/ are described as /-t, -n/. For
example, chanh (lemon) is pronounced as /cA  n1/ in
1
the southern dialect, but as /ce ˛ / in Standard
Vietnamese (Hoàng, 2004; Huynh, 1999).
Syllables ending with the grapheme ‘‘n’’ are
pronounced as either of two phonemes: /-n/ (occur-
ring after front vowels; for example, tin (belief) /tin1/)
and /-˛/ (occurring after back vowels or diphthongs;
for example, ăn (eat) /A ˛1/ and ti^en (money) /ti˛2/).
Syllables ending with the grapheme ‘‘t’’ are pro-
nounced as either of two phonemes: /-t/ (occurring
after front vowels; for example, ı́t (less) /it5/) and /-k/
(occurring after back vowels or diphthongs; for
example, myt (one) /mok6/, u {t (wet) /-k5/).
’
Therefore, they create homonyms when speaking,
but there are differences in the written forms.
For example, the two words u {t (wet) and u {c
’
(wish) have the same pronunciation /-k5/ in the
southern dialect (Huynh, 1999).
Semivowels. The southern dialect differs from the
northern and central dialects regarding semivowels.
While the southern dialect does include the medial
semivowel /w/ and the two final semivowels /w, j/
(Hoàng, 2004; Huynh, 1999), there are two differ-
ent realisations of the medial semivowel that have
been described as a ‘‘simplication process’’ (Pham,
2009, p. 6).
First, the medial semivowel /w/ is omitted in
heavy syllables (C1wV, C1wVw, C1wVC2) that
contain front and central vowels /i, e, e, A, "  , ie/
(Huynh, 1999) or in syllables that begin with
alveolar or palatal initial consonants /t, t9}, s, @, z, l,
, c/ (Pham, 2009). For example, the syllable shape
C1wV, thu^e (tax) is pronounced as /t9}e5/ in the
southern dialect, but /t9}we5/ in Standard
Vietnamese, the northern and central dialects.
Another example using the C1wVC2 syllable shape
is found in toán (maths), which is pronounced as
/tOn5/ in the southern dialect, but /twAn5/ in
Standard Vietnamese, the northern and central
dialects (Hoàng, 2004; Huynh, 1999). The addition
of the semivowel also changes the two main vowels:
 / becomes /O, -/, respectively (e.g. lu t (law) is
/A, "
pronounced as /l-t6/ in the southern dialect but
/lw" t6/ in Standard Vietnamese, the northern and
central dialects. The omission of the medial semi-
vowel /w/ also occurs in heavy syllables beginning
with the consonant /x/, where the surviving conson-
ant /x/ becomes /f/. For example, kho e (healthy) is
pronounced as /fe4/ in the southern dialect, but
/xwe4/ in Standard Vietnamese, the northern and
central dialects. However, this particular situation is
observed only in rural areas that speak the southern
dialect and does not occur with educated speakers
(Cao & Lê, 2005; Huynh, 1999; Nguyvn, 2005).

Second, the medial semivowel /w/ becomes the
initial semivowel due to the omission of the original
initial consonant in syllables commencing with velars
or glottals /k, ˛, ?, h/; for example, qu n (trousers) is
pronounced as /w"  ˛2/ in the southern dialect, but as
2
/kw" n / in Standard Vietnamese, the northern and
central dialects (Hoàng, 2004; Hu ynh, 1999).
Commencing words with /w/ by deleting the initial
consonants /k, h/ is very noticeable among speakers
from Ho Chi Minh City, even in the speech of
television and radio announcers, regardless of their
educational background (Nguyvn, 2005); whereas,
the loss of the initial consonant /˛/ is common in
rural areas in the south.
Vowels. The southern dialect has the number of
vowels and diphthongs as found in Standard
Vietnamese and two other dialects, including nine
long singleton vowels /i, e, e, -, u, o, O, ", A/, three
short singleton vowels /A , O / and three diphthongs
, "
/ie, uo, -"/. In southern dialect, there are four
variants in vowel production compared with
Standard Vietnamese. First, the main vowel /e/
following the final consonants /-n, -fi, -t, -c/ is
pronounced as /"/; for example, bên (side) is
pronounced as /b"n1/ instead of /ben1/. Second,
the diphthong /ie/ following the final phonemes
/-m, -p, -˛, -k, -w/ is pronounced as the single
vowel /i/; for example, tiêm (inject) is pronounced
as /tim1/ instead of /tiem1/. Third, the diphthong
/-"/ following the final phonemes: /-m, -p, -˛, -k,
-w, -j/ is pronounced as the single vowel /-/; for
example, d uU {ng (sugar) is pronounced as /d-˛2/ in
’
the southern dialect instead of /d-"˛2/ in Standard
Vietnamese. Finally, the diphthong /uo/ following
the final phonemes /-m, -n, -˛, -t, -k, -j/ is
pronounced as the single vowel /u/; for example,
mu on (want) is pronounced as /mu˛5/ instead of
^ diphthong /uo/ (e.g. tai (ear) /tAi1/) and
/muon5/ in Standard Vietnamese.
Tones. There are five tones in the southern dialect
(Brunelle, 2009a; Ðoàn, 2003; Hoàng, 1989,
2004; Hu ynh, 1999, 2013, 2014; Hwa-Froelich
et al., 2002; Kirby, 2010, 2011; Tang & Barlow,
2006; Vu, 1982). The five tones in the southern
dialect ‘‘rely exclusively on pitch’’ (Brunelle,
2009a, p. 49) and do not differ according to
voice quality as in the northern dialect. In the
southern dialect, the merger of creaky (3) and
dipping-rising (4) tones becomes either a creaky
(3) tone (Ðinh & Nguyvn, 1998; Hoàng, 2004), a
dipping-rising (4) tone (Hoàng, 1989) or a medial
tone so-called the creaky-dipping-rising (3–4) tone
(Huynh, 1999).
Orthography: Phonemes to graphemes across dialects
Consonants. The orthography of the initial and final
consonants is mostly presented by one grapheme; for
Consonants, vowels and tones in Vietnamese 129
example, /b/ illustrated as ‘‘b’’. There is an exception
for nine consonants /f, t9}, z, c, x, , , fi, ˛/ illustrated
by a group of two or three graphemes (see Table IV);
for example, /˛/ is illustrated as ‘‘ng’’ or ‘‘ngh’’. The
consonants /k, , ˛, z/ are illustrated by more than
one grapheme; for example, /k/ is written as ‘‘c’’, ‘‘k’’
and ‘‘q’’ (see Table IV). The final consonant /-k/ is
illustrated by three graphemes ‘‘c’’, ‘‘ch’’ and ‘‘t’’:
‘‘ch’’ occurs after the main vowels /i, e, e / (e.g. in the
rimes ich, êch, ach) in Standard Vietnamese, and ‘‘t’’
occurs after back vowels (e.g. in the rimes ot, ôt, o t)
’
in the southern dialect. The final consonant /-˛/ is
illustrated by three graphemes ‘‘ng’’, ‘‘nh’’ and ‘‘n’’:
‘‘nh’’ occurs after the main vowels /i, e, e / (e.g. in the
rimes inh, ênh, anh) in Standard Vietnamese, and
‘‘n’’ occurs after the back vowels (e.g. in the rimes
on, ôn, ân) in the southern dialect (ÐN & Lê, 2005;
Ðoàn, 2003) (see Table IV).
Semivowel /w/. The orthography of the medial
semivowel /w/ is illustrated by two graphemes:
 ‘‘u’’ occurring after the initial consonant /k/ (graph-
eme ‘‘q’’) or prior to the main vowels /i/ (grapheme
 / (e.g. quýt (mandarin) /kwit5/) and
‘‘y’’), /e/ and /"
 ‘‘o’’ occurring after the main vowels /e, A, A  / (e.g. hoa
(flower) /hwA1/).
The orthography of the final semivowel /w/ is
illustated by two graphemes:
 ‘‘u’’ after the main vowels /i, e, -, A , "
 /, and two
diphthongs /ie, -"/ and
 ‘‘o’’ after the main vowels /e, A/ (e.g. c u dao (circuit
breaker) /k" w2zAw1/).
The orthography of the final semivowel /j/ is
illustrated by two graphemes:
 ‘‘i’’ after the back vowels /u, -, O, o, ", A/ and the
 ‘‘y’’ after the short vowels /A  i1/)
 , " / (e.g. tay (hand) /tA
(ÐN & Lê, 2005; Ðoàn, 2003; Lã et al., 2011).
Vowels. The orthography of the main singleton
vowel is mostly presented by one grapheme; for
example, /e/ illustrated as ‘‘e’’. There is an exception
for the main vowel /i/ that is illustrated by two
graphemes ‘‘i’’ and ‘‘y’’ in open syllables that begin
with the consonants /m, k, h, @, l/. The main vowels
/A, A
 , e / are illustrated by one grapheme ‘‘a’’; for
example, /A/ in the rime an, /A  / in the rimes au, ay
and /e / in the rimes anh, ach.
The orthography of the diphthong /ie/ is illu-
strated by four graphemes:
 ‘‘ia’’ in open syllables (e.g. mı́a (sugar cane) /mie5/),
 ‘‘ya’’ in open syllables with the medial semivowel (e.g.
khuya (late) /xwie1/),
 ‘‘iê’’ in semi-closed and closed syllables without the
medial semivowel (e.g. ti ^en (money) /tien2/) and
 ‘‘yê’’ in semi-closed and closed syllables with the
medial semivowel and syllables beginning with the
130 B. Pham and S. McLeod
_
glottal /?/ (e.g. khuyên (advice) /xwien1/ and y
^em (bib) Another difficulty relates to inconsistency in using
/?iem5/). Vietnamese phonetic symbols within an author’s
The orthography of the diphthong /uo/ is illu- writing and between authors. For example, the
strated by two graphemes: grapheme ‘‘th’’ has been transcribed as following
phoneme symbols: /t’, t„}, tk/. The grapheme ‘‘tr’’ has
 ‘‘ua’’ in open syllables (e.g. mua (buy) /muo5/) and been transcribed as following phoneme symbols: /,
 ‘‘uô’’ in semi-open, semi-closed and closed syllables
, T, f, @/; and grapheme ‘‘r’’ has been transcribed
(e.g. mu^on (want) /muon5/).
as phoneme symbols: /, —, r, œ/. Therefore, it is
The orthography of the diphthong /-"/ is ambiguous as to whether these should be counted as
illustrated by two graphemes: separate phonemes, variants or allophones.
 ‘‘u a’’ in open syllables (e.g. mu a (rain) /m-"5/) and
’ ’

’
 ‘‘u o ’’ in semi-open, semi-closed and closed syllables Clinical implications for the assessment of Vietnamese
’

(e.g. mu ƒ n (borrow) /m-"n6/). children’s speech

’

Due to the differences between consonants, vowels,

Tones. The orthography of the tones (thanh d Ui g u) is
illustrated by diacritics (d
^
au thanh) marked above or
below the main vowels in the syllables. The tones are
described and named according to the shapes of the
diacritics. Six tones include: (1) level, no mark
illustrated (thanh không d^
au or thanh ngang), (2) fall-
ing, illustrated as 1 (thanh huy ^en), (3) creaky,
illustrated as  (thanh ngã), (4) dipping-rising,
illustrated as (thanh ho i), (5) rising, illustrated
as 2 (thanh s c) and (6) constricted as . (thanh n ng)
(Cao, 2006; ÐN & Lê, 2005; Ðoàn, 2003; Lã et al.,
2011; Nguyvn & Edmondson, 1998; Tang & Barlow,
2006).
Difficulties with determining the Vietnamese phonetic
symbols
One of the difficulties with reading and interpreting
the phonetic symbols within Vietnamese literature
relates to the written transmission of the symbols.
Some Vietnamese authors have selected to use
orthography rather than phonetic symbols, possibly
due to the limitations of technology. Books written
before computerisation used typewriters (without
access to typewritten phonetic symbols) and some
authors inserted written symbols by hand. For
example, there is confusion between some phoneme
pairs such as: /b, /, /h, ¨/, /d, / and /x, /.
semivowels and tones across Vietnamese dialects,
the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training
(MOET) and some Vietnamese authors have indi-
cated that dialect is an important consideration
when conducting speech and language assessments
with children speaking Vietnamese (Nguyvn, 2011;
Tang & Barlow, 2006; The Vietnamese Ministry of
Education and Training, 2006). First, it is essential
to review case history information about the dialect
of family members. Determine the dialect spoken by
family members living at home (including parents,
grandparents, aunts, uncles and house assistants or
ô-sin). If the children are no longer living in Vietnam,
determine whether they learned Standard
Vietnamese at school. Discuss with the parents the
relevance of the prestige and political importance of
different dialects to their family. There are three
points to consider: (1) similar to English dialects,
there are dialects that carry more prestige and others
that are more stigmatised, (2) perceptions about
dialect could influence how parents and families
interact with interpreters and Vietnamese-speaking
professionals when there is a dialectal mismatch or
when the professional speaks a stigmatised dialect,
and (3) parents may vary in their attitudes about
having their child learn a more standard form of
Vietnamese vs their own regional dialect(s).

Table VI. Vietnamese articulation and phonology tests according to dialect.

Name Author Dialect Areas assessed
Evaluation of the Ability to Nguyvn (2011) Southern Consonants, semi-vowels, vowels,
Articulate (pronounce) tones, syllable shape
Syllables of Vietnamese-
Speaking Children in
Kindergarten (Ðánh giá kha
năng phát âm âm ti^et cǔa trě
m~au giáo nói ti
^ ^eng Vigt)
Southern Dialect Vietnamese Tang and Barlow Southern Consonants, vowels, tones
Phonological Probe (2006)
Articulation Test: Vietnamese Cheng (1991) Northern, Central, and Southern Consonants, vowels
Vietnamese Consonant Word List Hwa-Froelich et al. Northern, Central, and Southern Consonants, vowels
and Vietnamese Vowel Word (2002)
List
Operation Smile Vietnamese Ducote (n.d) Northern, Central, and Southern Consonants
Articulation Screening Test
Vietnamese Speech Assessment Pham, Lê & McLeod Standard, Northern, Central, Consonants, semivowels, vowels,
_(2015) and Southern tones, syllable shapes

Second, choose an assessment tool that is appro-
priate for the child’s dialect. Currently there are a
few non-standardised word lists that are available for
assessing Vietnamese children’s speech sounds (see
Table VI). Many are designed for children who use
the southern dialect. It is important to check with
the parents whether the vocabulary items are rele-
vant for their dialect (e.g. a pig is called heo in the
southern dialect, but lƒ n in the northern dialect). If
the speech-language pathologist speaks Vietnamese
or has a Vietnamese interpreter available, it is
important to determine the match between their
dialect and the dialect of the child. For example,
some researchers suggest that listeners may misiden-
tify tones if they do not speak the same dialect
(Brunelle, 2009b).
Third, when analysing Vietnamese children’s
speech, the target pronunciation should be informed
by considering the child’s dialects and the way that
their parent(s) pronounce each target word. For
example, consider a child who speaks Standard
Vietnamese at school, his mother speaks central
Vietnamese, father speaks southern Vietnamese and
grandfather speaks northern Vietnamese at home.
If this child is asked to produce the word rau
(vegetable), then he could be expected to pronounce
the word as /œ w1/ (standard and central), /z w1/
or /r w1/ (northern), or as / w1/ (southern).
Therefore, any of these pronunciations would be
considered to be correct. However, if he omitted the
initial consonant [ w] or produced it as [t w], then
these would be considered an error. In this child’s
case, consideration of dialect is essential for calcu-
lation of percentage of consonants correct (PCC)
and when analysing phonological processes and
undertaking an analysis of substitutions, omissions,
distortions and additions (SODA). Parents could
assist with determining the accuracy of the child’s
pronunciation of each word to estimate the propor-
tion of Whole Word Correctness (PWC, Ingram &
Ingram, 2001).
Fourth, assess children’s vocal quality since this
may impact their production of tones. For example,
research about teachers with muscle tension dys-
phonia who spoke the northern dialect has shown
that restriction in the ability of the laryngeal muscles
to vary tonal pitch can affect their production of
high-pitch targets in tones 1, 3 and 5 that can result
in increased vocal fatigue (Nguyvn & Kenny, 2009a,
b, c; Nguyvn, Kenny, Tr;n, & Livesey, 2009).
Finally, it is important to determine whether the
Vietnamese children are monolingual or multilin-
gual. If they speak more than one language, then
there may be interference between the perception
and production of languages and dialects spoken
(Nguyvn, Ingram, & Pensalfini, 2008; Pittam &
Ingram, 1992). When considering resources that
provide contrastive analyses between languages such
as Vietnamese and English, ensure that the
Vietnamese and English dialects (e.g. Standard
Consonants, vowels and tones in Vietnamese 131
American English, Australian English) match the
child’s dialect in each language. For example, Hwa-
Froelich et al. (2002) and Tang (2007) compare
Vietnamese with Standard American English.
Differential diagnosis of speech sound disorder vs
speech difference must include consideration of the
dialects spoken by the child and family members
(McGregor, Williams, Hearst, & Johnson, 1997).
Once a diagnosis is made, then the family should be
involved in determining appropriate intervention
goals.
Summary and conclusions
Five characteristics of Vietnamese language that
differ between dialects should be considered by
speech-language pathologists and educators when
working with Vietnamese speakers. These charac-
teristics are:
(1) The number, distribution and type of consonants
across initial and final syllable positions (e.g. initial
consonants: Standard ¼ 23, northern ¼ 20, central ¼
23, southern ¼ 21; final consonants: standard ¼ 6,
northern ¼ 10, central ¼ 10, southern ¼ 8);
(2) The use of semivowels in the medial position (e.g. the
southern dialect omits the semivowel);
(3) The use of vowels in specific word contexts;
(4) The distribution of diphthongs in specific word
contexts; and
(5) The number of tones (e.g. Standard ¼ 6, north-
ern ¼ 6, central ¼ 5, southern ¼ 5).
This review of Vietnamese and English literature
provides guidelines for the assessment and analysis
of Vietnamese speech. Future study is needed to
document Vietnamese children’s speech acquisition
across dialects and to determine the impact of
learning additional languages (e.g. English) on
Vietnamese speech acquisition.
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Supplementary material available online

Appendix A and Appendix B