Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Saigon Phonemics
Author(s): Laurence C. Thompson
Source: Language, Vol. 35, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1959), pp. 454-476
Published by: Linguistic Society of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/411232 .
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Long the economic and cultural center of the southern plains of Viet Nam,
and more recently also the political capital, Saigon has become perhaps the
most cosmopolitan of all Vietnamese cities. Native sons and daughters, however,
continue to speak with the local 'accent', which appears to be typical of the entire
.area. It was this language that I subjected to detailed study during my residence
in Viet Nam (1951-3).1
H. Masp6ro, in the most authoritative of the efforts to classify the Vietnamese
dialects, has divided them into two main groups: Tonkinese-Cochinchinese and
Haut-Annam dialects.2 This means that the speech of the far north of the
country (Tonkinese) and that of the south (Cochinchinese) are more closely
related to one another than either is to the set of dialects spoken along the
narrow north-central coastal strip. Unfortunately, as Maspero points out, studies
of the Haut-Annam dialects and Cochinchinese speech have been scanty and
lacking in precision.3
1 J am grateful for the financial assistance which made this field work possible: to Yale
University and the American Council of Learned Societies for their support from July 1951
to June 1953;to the Ford Foundation for its support from July 1952to June 1953;and to the
Human Relations Area Files, Inc., for assisting with transportation. I am deeply indebted
to Franklin Edgerton, who originally encouraged me to undertake this study and supported
me wholeheartedly throughout; to Murray B. Emeneau, who furnished me with numerous
materials from his work on the northern dialects; and to Bernard Bloch, Kun Chang, Isidore
Dyen, Mary R. Haas, Fang-Kuei Li, and William A. Smalley, with whom I have discussed
various problems of the analysis.
A full grammar of the dialect was presented as my doctoral dissertation at Yale Univer-
sity in 1954.This described mainly the speech of Saigonese who had received fairly extensive
formal education in Vietnamese (the level of educational attainment in French is not a
useful criterion for these purposes), and outlined the phonetic variations of popular speech
and the conventions adopted by learned speakers. The present paper constitutes a consider-
able revision of the section on phonology in the larger work, so far as it pertains to educated
speech. The analysis presented here is based on the speech of Mr. Lam-quang-Hong, Miss
Le-thi-Bai, Miss Nguyen-thi-Cut, Dr. Nguyen-van-Hien, and Miss Truong-thi-Danh, all
of Saigon. I owe thanks especially to Miss Le-thi-Bai and Mr. Huynh Sanh Thong for help
with some of the examples. The dialect is henceforth referred to as Saigonese.
2 Etudes sur la phonetique historique de la langue annamite: Les initiales, Bulletin de
.l'EcoleFrangaise d'Extrdme-Orient(hereafter BEFEO) 12.1-3 (1912).
3 Even after nearly half a century, this is still true. For the Haut-Annam dialects, forms
which Maspero himself collected appear most reliable; the southern forms that he quotes
454
1. GENERAL
In Saigonese a fraction of utterance which begins with an onset of stress and
ends immediately before the next onset of stress or before pause is a SYLLABLE.
No phone is construed to extend over a syllable boundary; an intersyllabic long;
consonant or vowel is taken to be two separate phones, the second beginning with
the new onset of stress.
Syllables are segmented into phones, which are identified by their auditory
qualities (described below in articulatory terms). One general aspect of allegro
seem at some variance with those in my material. He also refers to P. Cadiere, Phonetique
annamite, dialecte du Haut-Annam (Paris, 1902); and Le dialecte du Bas-Annam, BEFEO
11.67-100 (1911). He cites the latter as evidence that Bas-Annam speech (spoken in the
southern part of the central coastal strip) is very close to that of the Saigon area. For
another early account of the southern dialect, see Maurice Grammont, Recherches experi-
mentales sur la prononciation du cochinchinois, Memoires de la SocUete de Linguistique de
Paris 16.69-86 (1909-10). A summary statement of pronunciation of Saigon speech in pho-
nemic terms is presented in R. B. Jones and Huynh Sanh Thong, Introduction to spoken
Vietnamese 1-7 (Washington, 1957). A modern phonemic analysis of northern speech is
presented in M. B. Emeneau, Studies in Vietnamese (Annamese) grammar 5-43 (Berkeley
and Los Angeles, 1951).
4 The nonuniqueness of phonemic solutions of phonetic systems, Bulletin of the Institute
of History and Philology, Academia Sinica (hereafter BIHPAS) 4.363-97 (1934).
5I am indebted to Samuel E. Martin for encouragement to discuss at greater length the
possible alternative analyses, as well as for specific suggestions concerning certain points
in these analyses, and especially for corroboration of the obvious similarities between prob-
lems in Saigonese and those in Mandarin which he treated in his Problems of hierarchy and
indeterminacy in Mandarin phonology, BIHPAS 29.209-29 (1957).
6 A set of postulates for phonemic analysis, Lg. 24.3-46 (1948); Studies in colloquial
Japanese IV, Phonemics, Lg. 26.86-125 (1950).
7 A manual of phonology (Baltimore, 1955).
speech invites mention at this point: before pause and before a voiceless initial
in the succeeding syllable, a final phone is partially or wholly unvoiced.
Phones are grouped into forty-five phonemes: eight defined by features of
stress, five tones, twenty-one nonsyllabics, and eleven syllabics.
2. STRESS
The symbol for a stress contour is placed at the end of its syllable.
/AWf ?kA' '?pihk'! xAwU./ 'Do you know [or just surmise]?'
/toj xAwu ' tij !/ 'I'm not going!'
/'tij xAwI)?/ 'Are [you] going [or not]?'
/xij naw' AWfw'?tij, .../ 'Whenever you go, ...'
Syllables accompanied by /!/ are considerably longer than those accompanied
by other stress contours.
3. TONES
o o
N
Z- Err
? Xo
z <
N
0d! Z U2
-<P-i P4 O 0 JO
a < < . Q
FOBTIS STOP p t t C k ?
FORTISCONTINUANT f 8 S j X10 -
LENIS W t' r 1 g h
NASAL m n 1 1J -
TABLE 1. NONSYLLABICS.
The two apical positions merge in the nasal articulation; /n/ has both retroflex
and nonretroflex allophones. In final position nonsyllabics show fewer distinctions
of both position and manner; they are reduced to a 4-by-3 system: labial /p w m/,
frontal/t j n/, dorsal/k g n/, and glottal /? h/. In such codas, the distribution
of fortis and lenis oral continuants is predictable in the following terms: fortis
postsyllabic oral continuants occur in syllables accompanied by /v/ and in those
accompanied by /'t/ and heavy stresses; elsewhere in codas only lenis al-
lophones occur. Oral continuants which occur in codas are SEMIVOWELS;
other
nonsyllabics are CONSONANTS.
All initial nonsyllabics are weakly labialized before /w u o/. Final stops are
unreleased; final nasals and semivowels are unreleased when they precede a
homorganic onset. Final nasals have freely varying allophones with slight oral
stop onset.
4.1. Labials.
/p/ Simple" fortis (bi)labial stops.
After initial /?/: [b] imploded or plain in free variation; imploded phones are
more common in syllables accompanied by heavy stresses.
10/x/ has an allophone with stop onset.
11The term SIMPLE is used to distinguish these phonemes from dorsovelar phones with
coarticulated full labial closure, which belong to dorsal phonemes (cf. ?4.4 /k n/).
In the definitions of phonemes, phonetic details which are not essential to the definitions
but are of descriptive interest are enclosed in parentheses.
Final: [p].
/?panv/ 'friend', /tApv/ 'to practice'
/f/ Fortis voiceless labial (labiodental) continuants.
/fap'/ 'France'
/w/ Lenis labial oral nonsyllabics.
Initial before /j/: [v] palatalized.
/wja/ 'and'
Before /y/, and after /i y u A/: nonsyllabic [u].
/wyr/ 'Huan [family or given name]', /twy)'/ 'week'; /?iw/ 'cherish',
/kyw'/ 'sheep', /iuw~/ 'sleep', /?tAw/ 'unspecified location', /^Aw/
'gentleman'
Before syllabics other than /y/, and after /e a/: nonsyllabic [u].
/kwen/ 'forget', /kwa/ 'to pass', /waj'/ 'outside'; /new'/ 'if', /?aw/
'bee'
After /e a/: nonsyllabic [o].
/hew/ 'pig', /?taw/ 'sick'
/m/ Simple (bi)labial nasals.
/mam'/ 'fish sauce'
4.2. Apicals.
/t/ Fortis apical nonretroflex stops.
After initial /?/: [d] alveolar, imploded or plain in free variation; imploded
phones are more common in syllables accompanied by heavy stresses.
Final before /t/ in the following syllable: [t] alveolar.
Elsewhere (i.e. initial and final before pause or before phonemes other than
/t/): [t] dental.
/?tij/ 'go'; /?it' 'ta'/ 'little tea'; /toj/ 'I', /9it7/ 'little [quantity]', /sat'
'^Awf/ 'your book', /?it' 'syhr/ 'little milk'
/s/ Fortis (voiceless) apical nonretroflex spirants.
/se/ 'vehicle'
/t'/ Lenis (voiceless aspirated) apical nonretroflex (dental) stops.
/ttoj/ 'stop'
/t/ Fortis (voiceless slightly affricated) apical retroflex (alveolar) stops.
/ta/ 'tea'
/s/ Fortis (voiceless) apical retroflex (alveolar) spirants.
/syhl/ 'milk'
/r/ Lenis (voiced) apical retroflex (alveolar) oral continuants. In free vari-
ation: [r] flap or trill, accompanied or not by spirantization; [z] retroflex.
/ra/ 'go out'
/n/ Apical nasals.
Final before /t/ in the following syllable: [n] alveolar retroflex.
Final before /?t/ in the following syllable: [n] alveolar.
Elsewhere (i.e. initial and final before pause or before onsets other than
/t ?t/): [n] dental.
/?an 'tca/ 'you pay [speaking to male equal]'; /?an ' tij/ 'you're going';
/new'/ 'if', /?an/ 'elder brother', /?an 'sagV/ 'you're afraid'
4.3. Frontals are characterized by the acoustic effect of the front of the
AFTER/i Y U/ AFTER/e/
BEFORE/k/ [h] [h2]
BEFORE/n/ [h2] [h3]
FINAL [h3] _
5. SYLLABICS
FRONT-CENTRALBACKUNROUNDED BACKROUNDED
HIGH i y U
MID e 0o
The vowels of this system occur in diphthongs before their homorganic higher
semivowels (i.e. /ij ej yg ag uw ow/); they do not occur finally.13
The first subsystem has three vowels which occur long in final position; they
13 Phonetic observation suggests that there may be a morphophonemic alternation in
which these sequences of vowel plus homorganic higher semivowel are replaced by simple
vowels under weak stress, but the facts are not clear.
U
UPPER HIGH i Y
is y2 U2
ia
LOWER HIGH ya
i2 Us
o
UPPER MID e
e2 et a 02
a2
MEAN MID
e
LOWER MID 82 e8 03
A A2 3
02
UPPER LOW a aa
a a,
LOWER LOW
a2 a, a4
a
The second subsystem has two vowels which do not occur long;L4they are
characterized by the opposition of lip-spreading (upper low nonback phones) to
its absence (lower mid nonfront phones):
a A
17 Note that here and elsewhere the notation 'after /?/' includes syllabics in initial posi-
[a]
/tIak'/ 'waterfall',/cap'/ 'last month of year', /jap'/ 'armor', /jlakv/
'music',/?up'/ 'oppress',/haCk'/'sing'
[l2]
/t'a13'/ 'month', /caw'/ 'greet', /ja'/ 'price', /jpaw/ 'reciprocally',/a'/
'Asia',/haj/ 'two'; /tacp'/ 'to answer',/lakv/ 'lackingin flavor'
[a3]
/t'am/ 'be greedy',/cam'/ 'Cham[a once powerfulpeople of south central
Viet Nam]', /jam'/ 'dare',/Jiam'/ 'bored',/?am'/ 'darken',/ham'/ 'jaw';
/ka'/ 'fish', /gawv/ 'husked rice', /maj/ 'tomorrow', /?pauv/ 'friend'
[04]
/nom/ 'south', /kam/ 'orange'
6.3. Second subsystem.
/a/ Nonback upper low syllabics, accompaniedby lip-spreading.
Before /k i/: [a].
/mak'/ 'expensive',/?aU/ 'eat'
Before /p w m t n/: [a2].
/gapv/ 'meet', /?awU/ 'bee',/lam'/ 'to great extent', /sat'/ 'book',/manV/
'strong'
/A/ Lowermid nonfrontsyllabics,without lip-spreading.
BEFORE /j/ FINAL AND BEFORE /j/ ELSE-
WITH HEAVY STRESSES WITH LIGHT STRESSES WHERE
AFTER/pfWmCj1j1xgij/18 [A] 1
} [A] [A2]
AFTER /t st' t e r n k ? h/ [A2]j
[A]
/'?pAj/ 'close relation to speaker', /'kwAj'/ 'disturb', /'mAj'/ 'unspecified
number', /xAwU cawu' ?'tij' 'cAj'/ 'sooner or later', /'jAj'/ 'paper', /'lAj'/
'take', /'flAjV 'viscous, gluey', /'xAj-/ 'excite' [infrequent], / 'gAj/ 'cane',
/')AJ/ 'stupid'; /?cA/ 'for benefit of', /??tA'/ 'location near hearer', /?Aj'/
'just mentioned', /kAj/ 'stick [wood]', /hAj/ 'interesting'
[A2]
/'tAj/ 'west',/"?tAj/ 'location nearspeaker',/'sAj/ 'build',/t'Aj '/ 'teacher',
/'tAJ'/ 'scratched', /'SAJ'/ 'dry [by heat]', /'rAj/ 'sift [flour]', /'nAj'/
'this', /'kAj/ 'stick [wood]', /'Aj'/ 'just mentioned', /'hAj/ 'interesting';
/0tApp/ 'to practice', /'jAw'/ 'oil', /'nAm'/ 'mushroom', /fAU/ 'manure', etc.
6. DISTRIBUTION
OF PHONEMES
6.1. Syllables and syllable types. Distributional facts are most conveniently
stated in terms of the syllable, the smallest unit of Saigonese speech which
occurs in isolation. Each syllable contains the followingelements,presentedin
the conventional order in which they are written (optionally means that the
18/f/ does not occur before final /A/ or /AJ/.
element occurs only in some syllables; elements not so labeled occur in all syl-
lables): (a) one relative stress; (b) an onset-a single nonsyllabic or cluster;19
(c) one vowel; (d) optionally a coda-a single nonsyllabic or cluster; (e) one
tone; and (f) one stress contour.
Syllables may be meaningfully classified according to their terminations:
Type I. Without coda /ca/'father'
Type II. With coda
A. Semivowel /maw/ 'fast'
B. Nasal /kcm/ 'orange', /?awf/ 'gentleman'
C. Stop /mokV/ 'one', /hawkv/ 'to study'
6.2. Onsets are shown in Table 2. Note that aside from /?p ?t wj/ all clusters
have /w/ as second element, and that the only three-phoneme cluster is /?tw/.
/?pacUv/ 'friend', /faw '/ 'room', /wa/ 'flower', /wja'/ 'and', /mokv/
'one'; /toj/ 'I', /?tuw^/ 'enough', /twyg'/ 'week', /jij '?twaU/ 'supersti-
tion', /se/ 'vehicle', /swaj'/ 'mango', /t'oj/ 'stop', /t'wij^/ 'water [as one
of the elementsl',/Iay 'tea', /twihu'/ 'transmit', /sagv/ 'be afraid', /swaUV/
'prepare', /roj'/ 'already',/new'/ 'if'; /cyh/ 'not yet', /cwihBv/ 'conversa-
tion topic', /jug'/ 'to use', /jwihg/ 'destiny', /lAw/ 'long [time]', /lwj '/
'species', /piiw'/ 'much', /jiwaj'/ 'exhausted'; /ka'/ 'fish', /kwa/ 'cross
over', /xJ'/ 'difficult', /xwaj/ 'potato', /gej'/ 'chair', /gwa'/ 'be left spouse-
less', /loIu/ 'good-tasting', /wcj '/ 'outside'; /?an/ 'elder brother', /haj7/
'ask'.
The clusters /wj kw/ tend to disappear in less careful speech; the resulting
forms are the same as the corresponding popular forms. Since these clusters
are distinguished in the official orthography but are not present in the popular
speech of the dialect area, it is reasonable to suggest that in the educated dialect
of Saigon they represent artificial restorations under the influence of the written
language.
/wj/ is replaced by /j/ /ja'/ 'and'
/kw/ is replaced by /w/ /wa/ 'cross over'
The cluster /gw/ is exceedingly rare: only the form /gwa'/ 'be left spouseless'
was recorded. Dictionaries list a few forms which would indicate a cluster */nw/,
but none of these occur in the speech of the informants used.
6.3. Syllabics.
Back rounded syllabics /u o a/ do not occur after /w/; /A/ occurs after /w/
only before/j/.
/kwAj'/ 'disturb'
19In one sense the onset is an optional element; but since the option consists of the occur-
rence or absence of /?/ and since all syllables without onset have alternates with the onset
/?/, it is more economical to consider the presence of an onset as constant.
i- y- u- e- a- o- e- a- o- a- A-
- - - - - - e o - A
-j ii yj uj ej aj oj - aj oj - AJ
-w iw yw uw ew - ow ew aw - awk/q Aw(k/l)
- - - - - - -
-g- yg og
-h ih(k/n) yh(k/nJ) uh(k/n) - - - ehk/q - - - -
-t it - - et - - - - - at -
-n in - - en - - - - - an -
-p ip yp up ep ap op ep ap op ap ap
-m im ym um em am om em am am am am
-k - yk uk - ok ok ek ak ok ak ak
-3 - yn un - an on cx a0 01 an A1
TABLE 3. COMBINATIONSOF SYLLABICSAND CODAS
The notation /Aw(k/n)/ should be read: /A/ occurs with a coda /w/ and with the
complex codas /wk wn/; the notation /awk/n/ should be read: /a/ occurs with the
complex codas /wk wn/ but not with the simple coda /w/; and similarly for similar
notations.
/j/ does not occur after /e a/, but only after /i y u e a o a A/.
/?tij/ 'go', /yj'/ 'person', /muj'/ 'salt', /wjej'/ 'return home', /maj /
'invite', /toj/ 'I', /hacj/ 'two', /haj7/ 'ask', /nAj/ 'this'
/t n/ occur only after /i e a/.
/?it'/ 'little [quantity]', /lin'/ 'soldier', /het'/ 'completed', /nen/ 'there-
fore', /$at'/ 'book', /?an/ 'elder brother'
/k n/ do not occur after /i e/, but only after /y u a o a a a A/.
/mykv/ 'ink', /?tyi'/ 'don't', /luk'/ 'time [as specific period]', /tun'/
'correct', /?ak'/ 'pepper', /lan'/ 'large', /tok'/ 'good', /UoD/ '[spoken]
word', /hak'/ 'sing', /Sac'/ 'shine', /akV/ 'sweet', /nOn/ 'good-tasting',
/mak'/ 'expensive', /naUv/ 'heavy', /mAk'/ 'lose', /IAU'/ 'time, instance'
/n/ does not occur after /e/, but four occurrences of /ek/ were recorded:
/?Ek' '?ck'/ 'pig's cry [onomatopoetic]', /?ehn '?ck'/ id., /sa~ '?tek'/
'name of a province of South Viet Nam [of probable Cambodian origin]',
/mek'/ 'announce' (variant of /mat'/ id.)
/wk wU/ occur only after /a A/.
/hawkv/ 'to study', /nawi'/ 'hot', /?Awk'/ 'snail', /^Aw/ 'gentleman'
6.6. Stress contours.
/./ and /?/ occuronly in pause-groupfinal.
/toj xAwn '?tij./ 'I'm not going.'
/'?tij XAWI?/ 'Are [you] going?'
/ !/ occurs only with heavy stresses.
/?Awfl ?kA' '?pihk'!xAwn./ 'Do you know [or just surmise]?' /toj XAWf
"?tij!/ 'I'm not going!'
7. SAMPLETEXT
As an example of a connected text in the dialect, a short narrative is trans-
scribed below; the story is a personal experience related by Dr. Nguyen-van-Hien.
Each sentence in the transcription is numbered, and these numbers correspond
to numbered sentences in the free translation which follows.
/1. luk' 'tyhk',?toj ?kA' haj?kan 'ca', t'AkV 'nowv,?wja' jejv 't'yhn. 2.?mokv
?kan?cA' 'mykv, wjc' "mokv 0kan)?cA' 'fehn'. 3. t'yhn' 'lejv, toj 'jAn" ?cun'
?nA' ?tijjawV 'caj,?moj~ buj^ 'ciw', taj' 'tok'. 4. 0mokv 'hom, tojjAnF ?cun'
'?ten' 0mok gawk' ry'. 5. ?cpac kwa mokv ?0oj jia' 'kih, 0t'in' 'lin', ?haj
?kan 'ca' t'ihkv 'la' ?wja' t'Akv 'jyg~, ?tow~ ?uh' 'ra, ?uh" ?Am' 'len,?wja'
?rianran?muhn' 'kan'?cun' toj. 6. ?tokv nokv 'kwa'! 7. toj lihn' kuj'?suhn' ?om
'cAm' ?tyhkv 0kag?cA' mykv, ?tan?luhn' 'kuhn' 0?ag"cABI toj. 8. kan'?kaB
?cA' 'fehn' wjij'
sagv waci, nen 'tAwn len 'tuhn cajV 'ton'. 9. haj?kao ?CA' 'lan'
?tuj^ few saw. 10. xij wan"lajv,t'ij' ?kan 'fehn' ?kuh" toj??tac ?pihg' mAk',
tawi)Stam' 'ka^, ?jyj' tihi)' 'nuj'. 11.tai)^Baj' 'vta', ?^wja' kwa homn'aaw, ?toj
kim' 'maj^, kim' 'luhn, xAWn '?tyhkv. 12. ?ten' "jia' 'nAj', ?ten' ?"pa' 'kih,
haj" 'ttam, "ma'XAWBaj 't Aj' fehB' ^ag^ ?tAw.13. Vtit 't Ao, toj
k)
wjow naj tawn 'ryn', tim' 'kim','pjyn,xAwB t'Aj' tam 'jacn "kanca' naw' het'.
14. t'Ak' wjawg v,?toj 'tag' wjej', ?An hAnv?wjow 'kun'.15.?toj nij^ loj~ "tajc
'toj,
toj tfjaj 'nyh'?luk' ?pAk' tak' ?Aj'. 16.?kan ?CA' mykvta^ 'wje~, t'AkV
'?puhn ', ?wjij' mAk' '?painv. 17. toj?kun- '?puhn', moj~ xij 'niji ?ten' na'./
1. I used to have two very cute, lovable dogs. 2. A black one and a brown one.
3. I used to take them out for a walk every nice afternoon. 4. One day I took them
to a certain part of the woods. 5. As we were passing one house, suddenly two big,
vicious dogs rushed out, barking and showing their teeth as if they wanted to
bite us. 6. It was very sudden and unexpected. 7. I immediately bent over and
managed to pick up the black dog cowering at my feet. 8. But the brown one,
very much frightened, looked up at me, then crowded past and ran away. 9. The
two big dogs set out in pursuit. 10. When I turned to look, my brown dog had
disappeared in a field at the bottom of the hill. 11. All that day and the next I
kept looking and looking, but it was no use. 12. I went from house to house in-
quiring, but no one had seen the brown dog anywhere. 13. I went myself right
into the forest to search, but found no trace of any dog at all. 14. Discouraged,
I returned home, feeling very sorry. 15. I felt at fault: I should have taken pre-
cautions against such an eventuality. 16. The black dog looked very sad, for he
had lost his companion. 17. I feel sad, too, whenever I think about her.
8. ALTERNATIVEANALYSES
ONSETS CODAS
t'(w)
t(w) t (w) c(w) k(w) t (w/h)k
b b
d(w)
g(w) g
r
f(j)
s(w) s(w) x(w)
m n ji(w) i (w) m n (w/h)3
l(w)
w j(w) h w j h
TABLE 5. FIRST NONSYLLABIC REANALYSIS: ONSETS AND CODAS
t[h(w)]
t[r(w)]
tj (w)]
t(w) k(w)
b
d(w)
g(w)
r
f(j)
s[r(w)] x(w)
s(w)
m n[j(w)] l;(w)
l(w)
w j (w) h
TABLE 6. SECOND NONSYLLABIC REANALYSIS: ONSETS.
an analysis extracting [?] as predictable. Table 5 shows the occurring onsets and
codas in such a system. Here we have put [-p] and [b-] together in /b/, [f-] and
[v-] (occurring only before /j/) together in /f/.22 And we have placed [i] in /g/
and [A] in /h/ as before. The appearance now tempts us to introduce clusters:
we can place retroflex articulation in the /r/ phoneme, laminoalveolar articulation
in /j/, and aspiration in /h/. We have an option here of interpreting [c p] as
22 Here Martin favors putting [v] with
[b], and presumably [p f] together in another
phoneme. This analysis would make a happy correspondence to certain idiolects in which
speakers pronounce [bj] in positions where most Saigonese say [vj] or simply [j]; the speakers
in question are few, and with many of them this feature disappears in allegro speech. Since
these individuals seem always to have had extended affiliations with the Vietnamese edu-
cational system, the phenomenon has the earmarks of a hyperurbanizing tendency. It is
interesting that Maspero mentions this pronunciation in quite a different context: '...
l'inaptitude des populations chames annamitisees a prononcer certains sons annamites a
donn6 naissance, en cochinchinois, A des sons nouveaux: p' pour f, et bvpour v' (Etudes 3).
It is especially interesting to note that the [b] involved in this cluster is phonetically quite
different from the preglottalized phone of the regular educated dialect (my /?p/): it is
lenis and never preglottalized or imploded. To return to Martin's suggestion: although
presumably this argument would fall into the category of his 'off-hand notions of "phonetic
similarity" ' (Problems 229), it seems relevant to point out that [p b] are stops, fortis,
bilabial, whereas [b v] have in common only a general labial position and voicing-[v] is
lenis, labiodental, and a spirant.
either /tj nj/ or as /kj ij/, although the definition of /j/ for the latter alternative
is difficult. (We might also interpret [1]as /rj/, although it would prove difficult
to define /r/.) We then have a considerably more symmetrical inventory. Table 6
shows the resulting onsets with the laminoalveolars interpreted as /tj nj/; the
codas are the same as those shown in Table 5.
8.2. Syllabic systems. The positing of eleven syllabic phonemes, even in such
a balanced system as that shown in ?5 above, will displease advocates of symbol
economy. At first glance variations in length seem to provide an opportunity
to reduce the number: the official spelling system implies by the symbol a that
our /a/ is the short variety of /a/, and our /A/ has likewise for some time been
considered the short variety of /a/.23
Other differences of length are equally noticeable. For northern speech A. G.
Haudricourt has suggested that we should recognize six short and long pairs
(each pair presumably constituting one phoneme).24For Saigonese, however, a
problem of indeterminacy arises immediately: so far as I have been able to ob-
serve, the differences of length which are regularly present in syllables accom-
panied by heavy stresses disappear entirely under weak stress; with medium
stress there is considerable variation; but under all stress conditions the vowel
qualities remain distinct.25 But the phonetic reality of weakly stressed syllables
is extremely elusive; future investigation may reveal length distinctions in them.
Leaving aside for a moment the question of these indeterminate lengths in
weakly stressed syllables, we may return to a consideration of other aspects of
the nine-vowel inventory achieved by this reanalysis. Having extracted length
as distinctive in the case of /a A/ we have syllable terminations without con-
sonantal codas as shown in Table 7.
Utilizing the other differences of length apparent in heavily stressed syllables,
we arrive at the reanalysis shown in Table 8. In this analysis we have eliminated
the qualitative distinction between /e o/ and /e o/, reducing the basic syllabic
inventory to seven vowels: /i y u e A o a/.
In addition to the difficulty of apparently lacking length distinctions under
23 It has not been possible to trace the beginning of this treatment, but it is significant
that Vietnamese school texts teach children in spelling to read the printed symbol d (my
/A/) as /a/ with high rising tone /'/, parallel to the reading of a (for my /a/) as /a'/. Recent
phoneticians, such as Le-van-Ly (Le parler vietnamien [Paris, 1948]) and Le-ngoc-Tru
(Chanh-ta Viet-Ngu [Saigon, 1951]), recognize these sounds as related in a way which would
suggest that they are short and long varieties of the same phonemes. Jones and Thong (1-2)
analyze my /a/ as my /a/ plus length, but do not link the other two vowels; Martin favors
extracting either length or shortness in both cases.
24 Les voyelles breves du vietnamien, BSLP 48.90-3 (1952). For his phonetic information
he cites Le-van-Ly 17-44; Emeneau; and Nguyen Bat-tuy, Chuva van Viet khoa-hoc(Saigon,
1951). It should be emphasized that Haudricourt's analysis concerns only an apparent
subsystem of the Tonkinese syllabic pattern, and some of his distinctions are exemplified
by only a very few forms; it is thus quite a different matter from the reanalysis we are about
to consider.
25Except for the weakly stressed alternate of /u/, which I hear as [A]; some native
speakers have insisted that the vowel here is (phonemically) distinct from /A/ and should
be assigned rather to /o/. It should be noted that the native speaker may be influenced by
the orthography, which is based on the stressed form; a similar problem arises with the
morpheme /kaj '/, 'general classifier', under weak stress, which I hear as clearly /?kAj'/.
iy u - - - i yj uj iw yw uw
e A(A) o - A - - ej Aj Aj oj ew AW - ow
e a(a-)o e- a - - aj oj ew - aw -
FINAL /g/ FINAL /h/
yg ih yh uh
Ag -
- - - ij - uj iw - uw yg
- A - ej AJ oj ew AW(k/I) ow Ag
- - awk/ -
APICAL CODAS
- - - - - - y*w
yj
it/n - -
e - o - Aj oj e-w -
-
et/n
a a-j a-w
at/n
weak stress, this analysis has an added problem: the distinctions implied between
/ip im up um/ and /iPp im u p u m/ presume the assignment of phones to
/i u/ which are assigned in ?5 to /e o/ before /p m/; these phones are the same
as or lower than phones which must remain assigned to /e o/ in other positions.
Unless re-examination of the phonetic reality reveals different criteria for defining
/i u/ in these positions, the analysis must therefore be abandoned.26
8.3. Reinterpretations of semivowels. It seems important to mention two other
possible ways of handling the combinations of syllabic and nonsyllabic vowel
phones. The first partly follows the pattern implied in the official orthography,
adopted also by Jones and Thong, as well as by Emeneau for Tonkinese (where
the circumstances are somewhat different) :27it involves the assignment of vowels
with their homorganic off-glides to one phoneme for each span. That is, instead
of /ij ej yg ag uw ow/ we have simply final /i e y a u o/ respectively. An especially
attractive feature of this reanalysis is the elimination of the high back unrounded
semivowel coda with its limited distribution. Column A of Table 9 shows the
resulting syllable terminations without codas and with codas involving semi-
vowels.
26 In addition, tape-recorded materials leave considerable doubt whether the /i p i m/
of this analysis always represent vowels which are distinctively longer than /ip im/, even
with the louder stresses.
27 Jones and Thong 1-2; Emeneau 5, 10. The phonetic descriptions of Jones and Thong
seem to imply different phonetic facts in these cases: diphthongization is specifically ruled
out in the case of /e/ and not mentioned in the other cases.
A B
i y u NO CODAS - - -
e a o
e a o
- A
- yi Uj /j]/ CODAS ii yi ui
aj oj ei ai oi
- ai oe
- _ Aj
A] - Ai
iw yw - /W/ CODAS iu yu uu
ew - _ eu - ou
EW aw - Eo ao -
- AW AU
/g/ CODAS yy
ay
ih yh uh /h/ CODAS iA yA UA
9. THEORETICALIMPLICATIONS
9.2. 'Leftover' phonemes. The leftovers in the first system of ?8.1 are /t' 1/.
Our new point of view suggests redefining the voiced spirant manner as voiced
oral continuant manner, so that /1/ may be added in the laminoalveolar column,
although it will also occur to us that /j/ could fill the same position. At first
/t'/ seems to defy any reanalysis in these terms; but the fact that /t'/ alone
among the stops is lenis suggests that we re-examine the list of lenis phones. It
was precisely this re-examination which led to the revised overall system pre-
sented in ?4.
A similar approach to the vowel system suggests the interpretation of /a A/
as the short varieties of /CIa a/, as described in ?8.2. Since other factors are also
involved here, I shall reserve the discussion for ?9.4; but it must be noted here
that the posing of this question is frequently suggestive in another direction, even
if it results in no reanalysis: it may call attention to the existence of subsystems
to which some or all of the leftovers belong.
9.3. Anomalous sequences. It is this consideration which brings out the ab-
surdity of the second analysis of nonsyllabics proposed in ?8.1. Of the anomalous
sequences /fj th tr tj sr nj/ only /fj/ and possibly /th/ represent actually oc-
curring sequences on the phonetic level. The occurrence of all these sequences
before /w/ in onset clusters, like those involving single nonsyllabics, is pointed
up by this approach; and we are prompted to notice the further anomaly that
*/rw hw nw/ do not occur on either the phonemic or the phonetic level, while
we have posited /trw srw thw njw/. The reanalysis involving /kj nj/ instead of
/tj nj/ presents similar problems. Note that this question actually amounts to
an expansion of the general principle of cluster patterning in phonemic analysis,
although the point of view is somewhat different.
9.4. Parallels and contrasts implied by anomalous items. A further weakness
of the second reanalysis of ?8.1 appears when we note that the anomalous se-
quence /fj/, justifiable in terms of Question 3, is apparently parallel to /tj nj/,
although the latter represent quite dissimilar and nonparallel phonetic facts.
In the reanalysis of /a A/ (cf. ?8.2 and Table 7), the implied length contrasts
between /a- A / and /i e u o/, as well as /A/, are generally justifiable on the basis
of phonetic facts; but the apparent contrasts with /y e 3/ are spurious. Similarly,
the parallels in length suggested by /A/ compared with /i e u o/ are valid; those
implied between /A/ and /y ? o/ are not. Examination of the rest of the distribu-
tional table for this analysis multiplies the examples, and shows that /a/ is
involved in similar anomalies.
These considerations led us to assign phonemic status to all differences in
length, and resulted in the system presented next in ?8.2 (cf. Table 8). Although
we find this analysis untenable for other reasons, it is useful to consider here an
interesting aspect of the distributional pattern, in order to demonstrate a more
intricate working of the principle under discussion. In this analysis we note that
the diphthongs with postsyllabic /h/ complement the long vowels almost exactly
in final position and before /k n/. This suggests including vowel length in the /h/
phoneme, and yields the syllable terminations shown in Table 10.
In this system, Question 4 would not be posed for the clusters of /h/ with dor-
sals or for final /h/, because the distributions show symmetrical patterns. But the
asymmetry which appears in the clusters of /h/ with /j w/ prompts a considera-
tion of parallels and contrasts. In the asymmetrical distributions with /j w/
there is no conflict: the clusters shown represent always the same phonetic
reality-long vowel plus coda-and the vacancies indicate the real lack of such
sequences. The same consistency is shown before labial codas. But the apparent
parallel /yh: yhj/ represents a different reality from the parallel /ah: ahj/;
similarly, while /ah: ahp/ represents the phonetic facts directly, /ih: ihp,
yh: yhp, uh: uhp/ suggest phonetically nonexistent parallels. This case suggests
a kind of divided rating for such a system: the distortion resulting in this system
is clearly less disturbing than that of the system discussed at the beginning of
this section. Generalization on the basis of one case is undesirable, but this
example will encourage us to examine others and perhaps arrive at a gradation of
credit for varying degrees of distortion.
9.5. Consideration of the nonsyllabic and syllabic systems presented in ?4
and ?5 in the light of this principle shows that their asymmetrical aspects, both
in inventory and distribution, represent the phonetic reality quite directly. It
is on this basis that they were chosen. Note in this connection that the choice
of the best interpretation of semivowels rests not only on the symmetry of the
nonsyllabic system, but also on the fact that the pattern of syllable terminations
displays more symmetry in terms of this interpretation than the second solution
discussed in ?8.3 (Table 9, Column B).
If we had more meaningful criteria for identifying asymmetry (or symmetry)
in stress and tone systems, the same procedure might be applied with profitable
results to these systems also.