Vietnamese language

Spoken in

• Austro -Asiatic languages Mon-Khmer languages Việt - Muong languages Vietnamese

Vie

Vie

The Vietnamese language ( Vietnamese, tiếng Việt Annamitisch, Hán nom㗂 越; tiếng Việt Nam ,㗂 越南, or Việt Ngu ,越 语) is the official language in Vietnam. It is spoken by about 84 million people as a native language, of which about 80 million people in Vietnam (88% of the population) and an estimated 4 million to overseas Vietnamese.

Although Vietnamese with Chinese is not related, it consists mainly (about 70% ) of words of Chinese origin. One must distinguish between the Sino- Vietnamese and the vietnamisierten words. The former are regarded as indigenous, even though they are actually of Chinese origin.

Vietnamese is a tonal and monosyllabic language (the smallest unit of meaning consists of only one syllable). Due to the decades-long war in Vietnam and the subsequent foreclosure of the country until the 1980s, Vietnamese is one of the linguistically less researched languages.

• 4.1 consonants 4.1.1 Notes
• 4.1.2 Phonological processes

• 4.2.1 Simple vowels
• 4.2.2 diphthongs and triphthongs

• 7.1 history
• 7.2 consonants
• 7.3 vowels
• 7.4 tones
• 7.5 Vietnamese Unicode

Classification

The genetic classification of the Vietnamese language is not now disputed, it belongs to the Mon-Khmer languages ​​within the Austro-Asiatic language family. This is due to the linguist Jean Przyluski and A.-G. Haudricourt back, the Vietnamese with the Muong language (㗂 𡙧 ) compared which, although no tonal language, but is still demonstrably related to the Vietnamese. In a much-publicized article Haudricourt declared in 1954, the Tonogenese the Vietnamese language, namely that she was not originally a musical language and the six tones were out until later.

History

The history of the Vietnamese language is not clear beyond doubt. The prevailing opinion today goes back to Henri Maspero. After this there was a proto- Vietnamese language, which was similar in flexion and consonant combinations other languages ​​in the Austro - Asiatic language family. These properties have been lost later; Instead, the Vietnamese language similar to other Southeast Asian languages ​​has developed (such as the Tai - Kadai languages, which were also written with Chinese characters). Thus came to sounds and the insulating linguistic structure in Vietnam.

This previous language was probably first native to the region around the Red River in present-day northern Vietnam and came only with the slow expansion of the Vietnamese influence southward into what is now central and even much later in today's South Vietnam.

Simultaneously to this extent, there was a political dominance of China over Vietnam, which was to last 1,000 years. The Chinese took the Chinese language for literary and official language, they thus became the language of the ruling class of the country. By the 10th century, a kind of Sino - Vietnamese had been formed, which contained a high number of Chinese vocabulary and was also written with Chinese characters. Especially from the socio-political and cultural spheres numerous words were adopted in the Vietnamese language.

After the end of the Chinese domination of Vietnam, the Vietnamese vernacular got more important again. This language was also written with Chinese characters, but which adapted to their needs, Vietnamese scholars gradually, the result was Chu Nom ( 𡦂 喃). This altvietnamesische writing in the 16th century reached its heyday, some writers still write important works in Chu Nom.

In the 17th century, missionaries from Europe developed a Romanization of Vietnamese language. At the same time began European languages, especially French, to affect the Vietnamese. Slowly by the Central Vietnamese language developed out. After the late 19th century, Vietnam a colony of France, the French language was also the official and educational language. Many words from the French came as loanwords in the Vietnamese language, and a significant number of Sino -Vietnamese words took on a new, inspired by Western ideas of importance. The Chinese script remained in use, but the romanized writing spread in the 19th century further. In 1910, the French colonial administration introduced the Latin alphabet officially. After the Independence of Vietnam 1945, she became mandatory and enabled a faster literacy of large populations.

Geographical distribution

Official Status

Vietnamese is the official language exclusively in Vietnam. In Vietnam, it is spoken by the entire population; the many ethnic minorities in the country (including Chinese, Indians and Cambodians as well as numerous hill tribes ) speak the language either as mother tongue or as a second language.

In addition, the language with the emigration of millions of Vietnamese has spread in the whole world. Thus, Vietnamese, especially in the U.S., Australia, Canada and France is spoken by " overseas Vietnamese ". In Germany there are about 100,000 native speakers in France about 200,000, in Poland there are about 5,000.

Dialects

There are three main dialects. The speakers of one dialect can understand speakers of another dialect, provided that the particular dialect - specific pronunciation and choice of words are powerful. However, the dialects do not differ in grammar or syntax. The three main dialects are:

Main differences with respect to the pronunciation of the sounds - the northern dialects tend to be the stronger tones to distinguish from each other than the southern dialects; that affects especially the hoi ( 𠳨 ) tone and the NGA (我) tone.

The majority of Vietnamese songs will be played in the North Vietnamese dialect.

Also, the spelling is similar to the dialect of the capital Hanoi, which lies to the north.

Phonetics and phonology

This section describes the pronunciation of the Vietnamese in the north of the country and in Hanoi.

Consonants

In the pronunciation of Hanoi there are 22 consonant phonemes:

Comments

• / p / in word-initial is only in recent loanwords before (especially from French). In purely Vietnamese words is / p / before only at the end of the word.
• The implosive consonants are voiced and are sometimes described as präglottalisiert: [ ˀ ɓ, ˀ ɗ ]. This glottic closure is, however, sometimes be solved before the oral closure, so that the pronunciation is not implosive, but only voiced is: [ ˀ b, b ˀ ].
• / t ʰ, s, z, l / are sometimes described as dental: [t ʰ, s, z, l].
• / t, ɗ, n / are sometimes described as alveolar [ t ͇, ɗ ͇, n ͇ ].
• / t ʰ, l, t, ɗ, n / are sometimes described as apical: [t ʰ, L, T, ɗ̺, n].
• / s, z, c, ɲ / are sometimes described as laminal [ s, z, C, ɲ̻ ].
• / c, ɲ / are sometimes described as palato - alveolar [ t, n ].
• / c / is sometimes described as mild affriziert: [ tʃ ].

Phonological processes

• In words, the / begin with a vowel or semi-vowel / w, a glottic closure [ ʔ ] is prepended.

• The plosives / p, t, k /, the closure is on the end of a word is not solved audible: [ p, t, k].

• If the velar consonants / k, ŋ / to / u, w / follow, they are pronounced the same time with a bilabial closure - [KP, NM ] - or at least greatly labialized: [k ʷ, ŋ ʷ ].

Vowels

Consists About the vowel system of the Vietnamese language among scientists relatively large disagreement. The simple vowels can also be interpreted as diphthongs and there are different views on the characteristics length and quality.

Simple vowels

• / ɜ / and / ɐ / are less pronounced than the other vowels.
• The difference between short / ɐ / ( in Vietnamese font: ă ) and long / ɐ ː / ( in Vietnamese writing a) is meaningless distinctive.
• The difference between short / ɜ / ( in Vietnamese font: â ) and long / ə ː / ( in Vietnamese magazine O ) is significant distinctive.
• The vowel / ɨ / ( in Vietnamese font u) is sometimes described as [ ɨ̞̠ ] or [ ɯ ].
• The closed and semi-closed ( "high" ) vowels / i, ɨ, u, e, ə ː, o / are diphthongisiert, especially in open syllables: [ ɪj, ɨɰ, ʊw, ej, ə ː ɰ, ow ].

Diphthongs and triphthongs

In addition to the simple vowels ( monophthongs ), the Vietnamese still a number of diphthongs and Triphthongen. Phonologically can describe these diphthongs and triphthongs than vowels followed by a consonant ( [j ] or [ w] ).

• The compounds / ɨw / and / ɨɜw / be in Hanoi colloquially usually / iw / and / iɜw / pronounced.
• The diphthongs / iɜ /, / ɨɜ /, and / uɜ / be in Hanoi sometimes colloquially / ie /, / ɨə ː /, or / u o / pronounced except before / k, ŋ / and in open syllables.

Sound system

The height and the evolution of the pitch in pronouncing a syllable is significant distinctive. This means that an incorrect pronunciation of the sound seems distorted their meaning. Without the sounds of the Vietnamese language would have an extremely high number of homonyms. The tones of the Vietnamese vary in pitch and history, length and Glottalisierung. In Vietnamese writing the notes are indicated by diacritics.

Grammar

The Vietnamese is an isolating language. The words are therefore not inflected, the relationship of a word in a sentence with other words, is only visible by their position in the sentence. Therefore, the sentence structure subject - predicate - object observed in general. Exceptions, such as the bringing forward of the object at the beginning of a sentence for emphasis, are possible.

Since there are no grammatical tenses, the tense is visible only from the context, ie it is clear from the context or by other words (eg adverbs ) specified.

Importantly, the incidence of Zähleinheitswörtern in the Vietnamese language. As in other Asian languages ​​, it is not possible to connect the numeral and the noun directly, but it must be interposed a Zähleinheitswort. These differ according to whether the noun is animate or not, in inanimate nouns are properties like the shape crucial.

Vocabulary

Vietnamese is a language in which every word originally consisted only of a single syllable. To date, the basic vocabulary and grammar all the important words are monosyllabic. Throughout history, however, many two-syllable words have been added to the vocabulary of the language. In polysyllabic words but the individual syllables are not written together.

Polysyllabic words are created by having composed new forms of existing words about Bàn ghe (槃 椅) ( " table - chair ", meaning: "furniture" ) or nước Mat (渃 眜) ( " water eye", meaning " tear" ).

Furthermore polysyllabic loanwords have been included from Chinese into Vietnamese. Are they two syllables, so it can be recognized easily because the Descriptive not standing behind what has been described, but before that. The pronunciation is similar not the standard Chinese, but rather southern Chinese dialects (such as Teochew (Min dialect), Cantonese ). Examples are Dai học (大学, high Daxue Chinese, Cantonese daai6 hok6, Teochew dai6 hag8, IPA: tai hak; lit. " Great Learning ", a chapter of the Book of Rites; modern meaning: " University " ) or Ngu Phap (语法, high yǔfǎ chinese, Cantonese jyu5 faat3, Teochew ghe2 huab4, IPA: gə Huap; lit. "Speech Act ", ie " grammar "). There are a high number of synonym pairs, which is composed a word of Vietnamese components, while there is a word Chinese origin with the same meaning. Mostly, both versions are borrowed from the Chinese, which has passed through felt as native version one sometimes referred to as Vietnamization process. Obvious examples are about Nam and Romania for the year, both of which come from Chinese年.

Words with newer semantic content are usually created by a new entry. This includes, for example, May thu thanh ( 𣛠 收 声) ( " machine - collect - sound ", " radio ").

Due to the decades of French colonial rule, there are a number of French words in Vietnamese that reflect mainly technical expressions or things of everyday life call, which were introduced by the French in the country. These include ga ( from gare, " Station " ), xi- mang (of ciment, " cement " ), bia (啤) (from bière, "beer" ), pho mat (of fromage, " cheese " ) or bánh (饼) (of pain, "bread", bánh from Chinese borrowed饼, biscuit, however, is identical ).

Font

• Main article: Vietnamese font

The Vietnamese language was written in three writing systems:

History

The Vietnamese language was similar to the Korean or Japanese language, heavily influenced by the Chinese language. During the thousand years of Chinese domination (111 BC to 938 ) was Chinese official and the language of education. The Chinese brought with them their language, their literature, philosophy and history to Vietnam. This led to the adoption of many Chinese words in the Vietnamese language, because especially for the Confucian officials examinations in-depth knowledge of the Chinese language and writing were essential.

Probably at the time when the Sino -Vietnamese pronunciation had established, so the earliest from the 11th, but certainly from the 13th century, scholars began Vietnamese to modify the Chinese script.

This began with the standardization of the spelling of a Vietnamese Wortgut, such as proper names. Later own characters were introduced in order to better express words that frequently occurred in Vietnam. There was a Vietnamese own Scripture, Chu Nom. Since the signs have not been set by word origin, since this was unknown to the various authors who have chu nom designed the font for the Chinese in the end was unreadable. The oldest inscriptions of Chu Nom characters can be found on bells in temples and stone inscriptions. Kim Vân Kieu (金 云 翘) is the most important literary work which was written in chu nom. This epic of the writer Nguyen Du (阮 攸) remains one of the classics of Vietnamese literature and is standard reading material at Vietnamese schools.

From the 16th century the missionary activity of the Catholic priests from Europe (especially Portugal, Italy, Spain and France) began. They needed a transliteration of the Vietnamese pronunciation in Latin characters to learn the language of those who wanted to convince them of Christianity. At the same time they hoped that the learning of the Latin alphabet would also facilitate the learning of each European language. The script, which they developed, called Chu Quoc Ngu (font of the national language ). The pioneers in the development of this document were Christofora Borri, Francisco de Pina and Francisco de Buzomi. The missionaries Gaspar d' Amaral, Antoine de Barbosa and Alexandre de Rhodes created independently of each other dictionaries in the Vietnamese language in the sequence. In 1651 the Dictionary Annamiticum Lusitinum et Latinum by Alexandre de Rhodes in Rome was released for printing.

Chu Quoc Ngu ( 𡦂 国语) developed through several modernization and standardization of spellings to a Latin alphabet with two additional letters for vowels that do not exist in Western languages ​​. In addition, the six tones are represented by diacritics. Chu Quoc Ngu is since 1945 the official heads of state and transport font Vietnam.

It is a phonetic script, which means that one can derive the pronunciation very accurately from the notation.

Consonants

Vowels

Tones

The tones are indicated by diacritics (see above). As there are vowels that have already inherently a diacritical mark, with two vowels diacritics are not uncommon.

Not every syllable exists in every pitch; Some syllables found in only one or two of the six possible shades sense.

Vietnamese Unicode

Example

每 𡥵 𠊚 调 得 造化 班 朱 理智 吧 良心 吧 勤 沛 对 处 𢭲 𦣗 𥪝 情 朋友.