Updated May 1, 2001
越南話e語音系統 紹介
Oatlamoe e Giim He-thong Siau-kai
1. Introduction
2. Vietnamese phonology
2.1 Consonants
2.2 Vowels
2.3 Tones
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2.2
Vowels
Comparing to Taiwanese, Vietnamese vowels are much more complicated and difficult. The Vietnamese vocalic system was divided into upper and lower vocalics (Thompson 1987:19). The upper vocalics include six vowels, /i µ u e F o/. They are formed relatively high in the mouth and characterized by a three-way position (front, back unrounded, and back rounded). Lower vocalics include five vowels, /E Ť Ś a A/. They are formed relatively low and characterized by a two-way position distinction (front, back).
Table 2. Vietnamese vowels of Hanoi dialect.
Upper vocalics
/i/ high front or central unrounded vowel. Phonetically, /i/ can be divided into lower high central, upper high front, and lower high front.
Lower high central occurs before /c ř/.
e.g. ich ‘be useful’
linh ‘soldier’
Upper high front occurs before [e A p m] in the same syllable.
e.g. biet ‘to know’
chia ‘to divide’
Lower high front occurs elsewhere, i.e. before [j w t n].
e.g. di [dij] ‘go’
chiu [ciw] ‘endure’
/e/ Upper mid front or central unrounded vowel.
Upper mid central occurs before final /c ř/; and after [i] before [w p m t n] in the same syllable.
e.g. ech ‘frog’
hieu ‘understand’
Upper mid front occurs elsewhere, i.e. before [j w p m t n].
e.g. de [dej] ‘put, place’
den ‘arrive’
het ‘be used up’
/µ/ lower high back unrounded vowel.
e.g. tu, ‘fourth’
ngu,oi ‘person’
/F/ upper mid back unrounded vowel. For Taiwanese speakers, this vowel sounds like /«/ in Taiwanese, though they are not exactly the same.
e.g. cho, ‘market’
so,m ‘be early’
/u/ high back rounded vowel.
Upper high: before [p m]
e.g. chup ‘seize suddenly’
chum ‘earthenware jar’
Lower high: elsewhere.
e.g. nui ‘mountain’
chua ‘Buddhist temple’
/o/ upper mid back rounded vowel.
Higher mean mid: before [j w]
e.g. toi [toj] ‘I’
co [kow] ‘father's sister’
Mean mid strongly centralized: after /u/.
e.g buon ‘be sad’
quoc ‘country’
Upper mid: elsewhere.
e.g. hom ‘day’
tot ‘good’
Lower
vocalics
Three of the lower vacalics, i.e. /E Ť a/ are relatively long and appear in final position. The others, /Ś A/ are very short and do not occur finally.
/E/ lower mid front unrounded vowel.
e.g. nghe ‘listen’
meo ‘cat’
/Ť/ lower mid back rounded vowel.
e.g. kho ‘difficult’
ngon ‘tasty’
/a/ lower low front unrounded vowel. This vowel is similar to father in English or 拜 in Taiwanese.
e.g. bai ‘lesson’
lam ‘to act’
/Ś/ higher low central unrounded vowel.
e.g. may ‘machine’
an ‘to eat’
/A/ relatively low back unrounded vowel. This sound is similar to the vowel in English but.
Lower mid back, strongly centralized: after [w, b, f, v, m], before [j].
e.g. may ‘how many’
phay ‘comma’
Lower mid back: elsewhere.
e.g. tay ‘west’
dau ‘where’