Before the 17th Century, Vietnamese was written using a script
of modified Chinese characters called Chunom.1 Today,
modern Vietnamese is written using the Latin alphabet minus j, w
and z, which can still be appear in loan words. The Vietnamese
alphabet also includes the following 14 letters: Ă/ă, Â/â, Ch/ch,
Đ/đ, Ê/ê, Gi/gi, Kh/kh, Ng/ng, Nh/nh, Ô/ô, Ơ/ơ, Ph/ph, Th/th, and
Ư/ư.2
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the current
Latin-based Vietnamese writing system was first developed in the
17th Century by Portuguese missionaries and then later improved by
Alexandre de Rhodes, a French missionary who added special marks to
the Latin characters which indicated the tones specific to
Vietnamese.3 In the beginning, this writing system was
only used for Christian texts, but later began to gain in
popularity. By 1910, it was made official by the French colonial
administration in Vietnam. Qouc-ngu ("national language"), the
Vietnamese writing system's official name, is now taught and used
throughout the country.4
One of the most unique aspects of the Vietnamese language is its
use of a tonal system to indicate the meanings of words which are
spelled the same in terms of consonant and vowel arrangement. In
written Vietnamese, these tones are indicated through the use of
five special marks, which are illustrated in this linked table.
Additional resources on the Vietnamese writing system can be
found on the Web at:
For information on The Vietnamese Writing System,
please see our Quick Facts
Library.
1 "Austroasiatic languages" Encyclopædia Britannica
from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
[Accessed December 15, 2004]
2 "Vietnamese alphabet" Wikipedia
[Accessed December 15, 2004]
3 "Quoc-ngu" Encyclopædia Britannica from
Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
[Accessed December 15, 2004]
4 "Austroasiatic languages" Encyclopædia Britannica
from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
[Accessed December 15, 2004]
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