Nguyen Thi Huynh Loc

Nguyen Ngoc Vu

Contrastive Analysis

Dec 30th 2009

Comparison between English and Vietnamese phonology

Nguyen 1

Abstract

This study is to help Vietnamese students pronounce English precisely and English

learners of Vietnamese pronounce Vietnamese correctly. To do this, I focus on the

comparison between English and Vietnamese phonology. Much vocabulary has been

borrowed from Chinese, especially words that denote abstract ideas in the same way

European languages borrow from Latin and Greek, and it was formerly written using the

Chinese writing system, albeit in a modified format and was given vernacular

pronunciation. The Vietnamese writing system in use today is an adapted version of the

Latin alphabet, with additional diacritics for tones and certain letters. The speakers of

each language develop their mouth muscles to adapt to their language. There are many

differences in the pronunciation between English and Vietnamese, so the native

speaker of Vietnamese can not speak English as exactly as they can speak Chinese or

Korean. Non-native pronunciations of English result from the common linguistic

phenomenon in which non-native users of any language tend to carry the intonation,

phonological processes, and pronunciation rules from their mother tongue into their

English speech. They may also create innovative pronunciations for English sounds not

found in the speaker's first language. In addition, non-native English speakers tend to

substitute their native sounds in place of difficult English sounds or they may even

simply delete those difficult English sounds. This is more common when the distinction

is subtle between English sounds or between a sound of English and of a speaker's

primary language (wikipedia). Therefore, I want to help Vietnamese learners and

English learners pay attention to those difficulties and have better pronunciation.

Nguyen 2

There are two main dialects in Vietnamese, a northern one centered around

Hanoi and a southern one centered around Ho Chi Minh City. The northern dialect of

Vietnamese was chosen as the main comparison because it is considered the official

dialect of Vietnam (Giang M. Tang).

First, we look at the difference of sounds and symbols between English and

Vietnamese. There are many sounds that are similar between English and Vietnamese,

such as [t, b, m, n…]. However, there are also some sounds that exist in English but not

in Vietnamese, and vice versa, such as /dʒ/, /ʃ/, /æ/, /θ/, /ð/, /ʒ/ … in English, and tones

in Vietnamese.

Now let’s move to the distinction between English and Vietnamese phonemes. A

comparison of Vietnamese and English may begin at the smallest unit of language: the

phoneme or speech sound. A phoneme is defined as “the smallest phonetic unit in a

language that is capable of conveying a distinction in meaning” (American Heritage

Dictionary, 2000). Vietnamese has three types of phonemes: tones (sometimes referred

to as tonemes), consonants, and vowels. English phonemes consist of consonants and

vowels; this language does not have lexical tones. (Giang M. Tang 6)

Now we will look at each issue one at a time.

First, we will compare English and Vietnamese consonants.

• English: 24 consonants (Peter Roach)

• Vietnamese: 22 initial consonants & 8 ending consonants (Doan Thien Thuat)

• 8 ending consonants in Vietnamese

– 6 consonants: p, t, k, m, n, ŋ

– 2 semi-consonants (semi-vowels): i ̭̯� , u �

Nguyen 3

• Má, lá, chợ, thơ: no change in final phoneme’s timbre -> zero ending consonant

• Mai, tai, đau, thau: change in final phoneme’s timbre (closing) -> ending consonants

(“CA of English and Vietnamese Consonants” 8)

Besides, Vietnamese chart is more detailed

• More categorizing criteria for manner of articulation in Vietnamese

• Less categorizing criteria for place of articulation in Vietnamese (“CA of English and

Vietnamese Consonants” 12)

Vietnamese: more attention

to tongue position

Flat

Retroflex

Dorsal

English: more attention to other

articulators

Dental

Alveolar

Palatal alveolar

(“CA of English and Vietnamese Consonants “ 3)

Vietnamese: Manner of articulation for fricatives

Voiceless

Voiced

Lateral

English:

- /l/ & /h/: same as Vietnamese

- Dental, Alveolar & Palato-aveolar

Fricatives: different from those in Vietnamese

/w/ & /j/: not exist in Vietnamese

Nguyen 4

/ʧ/ & /ʤ/: difficult for Vietnamese to pronounce (“CA of English and Vietnamese

Consonants” 14)

Here are some mistakes that Vietnamese learners of English may have.

Speakers may not produce final consonants since there are fewer final

consonants in Vietnamese and those that do exist differ in their phonetic quality:

The Vietnamese phonetic system contains 23 initial consonant phonemes: /b/, /f/

(ph), /v/, /m/, /t/, /d/ (đ), /th/ (th), /s/ (x), /z/ (d), /n/, /l/, /_ / (tr), /ʃ/ (s), /_/ (gi, r), /c/ (ch), /_/

(nh), /k/ (c, k, q), /γ/ (g), /χ/ (kh), /N/ (ng), /h/, /p/, /r/6 The possible Vietnamese

consonants are represented in the following chart based on the place and manner of

their production (articulation) (Binh N. Ngo 8).

Giang M. Tang compares Vietnamese and English consonant sounds that occur

at the beginning (syllable-initial) and end (syllable-final) of words or syllables. At the

beginning of words (syllable-initial), Vietnamese and English share the following

consonant sounds: /p, b, d, k, m, n, f, v, s , z, h, l/, the r-flap in “utter” and “y” in “yard.” It

should be noted that /p, k/ in Vietnamese are unaspirated (Dinh & Nguyen, 1998) and

may sound like “b” and “g” to an English speaker. In English, /p, k/ may be aspirated

depending on context (Harris, 1994). At the end of words (syllable-final), Vietnamese

and English share the following consonant sounds: /p, t, k, m, n/ and “ng.” In

Vietnamese, syllable-final /p, t, k/ are unreleased or “held in,” whereas these sounds

may be released in English.

Although Vietnamese and English share certain sounds, there are multiple

consonants specific to each language. In the initial position, Vietnamese-specific

consonants include the dental “t” as in to “big” (much like a Spanish “t”) and the dental

aspirated “t” as in thoû “rabbit,” which is similar to the English “t” but produced between

the teeth. The Vietnamese “g” in gaø “chicken” and “kh” in khoâng “no” are produced

with continuous air flow (fricatives) much like a Spanish “g” in lago “lake” and “j” in jaula

“cage.” Other fricatives include the “r” in raén “snake” (in southern dialects and certain

northern dialects), and its voiceless counterpart “s” as in saùng “morning” (in the

southern dialect), which is similar to the English “sh.”

Table 1

Comparison of Vietnamese and English Consonant Sounds in Syllable-Initial and

–Final Position

Vietnamese

Only

Shared Sounds English Only

Syllable-

Initial

t̪ (to), t̪h (thỏ)

ʈ1 (trời), c (chơi), ʔ,

ʐ (rắn), ȿ (sáng)1

ɣ (gà), x (không)

ŋ (ngủ), ɲ (nhỏ)

p (pin or pie),

b (bà or bear),

d (đen or doll),

k (kéo or kite),

m (má or me)

n (năm or note),

f (phở or fire),

v (và2 or very)

s (xin or send),

z (rồi2 or zebra),

h (hết or hair),

l (làm or love)

j (dì1 or yard)

ɾ (rắn3 or utter)

t (time), g (go), Ɵ (thing), ð

(then),

ʃ (shoe), Ʒ (measure), ʧ

(chain), ʤ (june),

ɹ (rope), w (water),

s-clusters (sk, scr, sm, sn,

str…)

r-clusters (br, cr, scr, dr, gr),

l-clusters (bl, cl, fl, gl),

w-clusters (dw, sw, tw, qu)

Syllable-

Final

p (lớp or hop)

t (ít or bat),

k (gác or luck), m

(làm or lamb),

n (sơn or sun),

ŋ (sông or song)

b (lab), d (sod), g (bag), Ɵ

(bath), ð (bathe), f (laugh), v

(love), s (kiss), z (buzz),

ʃ (ash), Ʒ (rouge), ʧ (itch), ʤ

(bridge),

l (ball)

-pt (slept), -ps (oops), -kt

(walked),

-ks (licks) , -ft (laughed), -sp

(lisp),

-st (list), -sk (brisk) –lp

(help), -lb (bulb),

-lt (wilt), -ld (wild), -lk (bulk),

-lf (elf),

-lv (delve), -lƟ (wealth), -lʧ

(belch),

-lʤ (bulge), -lm (balm), -mp

(bump),

-mf (triumph), -mƟ

(warmth), -nt (mint),

-nd (wand), -nƟ (tenth), -nz

(lens),

-nʧ (wrench), -nʤ (binge), -

ŋk (bank),

-ksƟ (sixth), -kst (whisked),

-lpt (helped),

-mpt (bumped), -mps

(bumps)…

Vietnamese has many consonant sounds that are produced with the tongue tip

curved upward and towards the back of the mouth (retroflex) such as the “tr” in trôøi

“sky,” and “ch” in chôi “to play” (similar to the English “ch”). In addition, Vietnamese has

a glottal stop before words that are written with an initial vowel as in “ng” in ngu û “to

sleep” found in final position of English words such as “song” as well as the Vietnamese

“nh” in nhoû “small” found in the middle of English words such as “ny” in “Kenya”

(similar to a Spanish ñ). It should be noted that some Vietnamese-specific consonants

are produced with the tongue tip retroflexed (3 of 11) as in ga ø”chicken” – two

articulatory places that are considered relatively complex (or “marked,” following

Jakobson, 1968).

English also has consonant sounds not found in Vietnamese. In the initial

position, English-specific sounds include /w/ in “water,” /t/ in “toy” (generally aspirated;

Harris, 1994), /g/ in “girl,” “ch” in “chair,” “dg” in “judge,” “sh” in “shoe” and its rare voiced

counterpart in “measure.” Possibly the most well known consonant sounds specific to

English which are very difficult for second language learners include the English “r,”

“soft th” as in “thing,” and “hard th” as in “this.” In addition to single consonants, English

has numerous consonant clusters (two or more consonant combinations) that involve /s,

r, l, w/ (Harris, 1994; see Table 1). Since Vietnamese only has six consonant sounds at

the end of words (syllable-final position including /b, d, g, f, v, s, z, l/, “soft th,” “hard th”

“sh,” its voiced counterpart in “measure,” “ch” “dg” in “judge,” and consonant clusters

that involve /p, f, t, d, k, l, m, n/. English appears to have a wider variety of more

complex consonant sounds and sound sequences across syllable positions (see Table

1 for examples).

According to Binh N. Ngo, in English the unaspirated /t/ and the aspirated /th/

are the allophones of the phoneme /t/. The aspirated /th/ occurs at the beginning of a

stressed syllable, the unaspirated /t/ in the other positions. In other words, they are in

complementary distribution. For example, in the word taskmaster, the first consonant

t is aspirated /th/, the second one is unaspirated /t/. The unaspirated /t/ and

aspirated /th/ are different phonemes in Vietnamese that distinguish the meanings of

words: ta (we) ≠ tha (to forgive), tơ (silk) ≠ thơ (poetry), tư (private) ≠ thư (letter). On

the other hand, the Vietnamese aspirated consonant /th/, which is indicated by the

combination of the two characters th, should not be confused with the English

consonants /θ/ and /ð/.

The voiceless consonant /t/ should not be mixed up with its voiced

counterpart /d/: ta (we) ≠ đa (banyan tree), tà (evil) ≠ đà (momentum), tá (dozen) ≠ đá

(to kick). In American English some words with the voiceless /t/ tend to be

pronounced with the voiced /d/, for instance: better, water.

Learners should not confuse the three nasal consonants /n/, /_/ and /ŋ/. The

Vietnamese alveolar consonant /n/ is similar to the English /n/. The English

consonant /ŋ/ occurs only at the end of a syllable, for example: sang, long, thing,

single. The Vietnamese /ŋ/ functions both as an initial consonant, e.g. ngà, nghe,

ngủ, and as a final consonant, e.g. ngang. The consonant /_/ rarely occurs in English.

Learners may have trouble producing the initial consonants /_/ and /ŋ/. Their attention

should be focused on the distinctive features of the consonants in terms of the place

of articulation: /n/ is an alveolar consonant made with the contact of the tongue tip

against the alveolar ridge, /_/ is a palatal consonant produced with the back of the

tongue rising toward the hard palate and touching it, /ŋ/ is a velar consonant, which is

created with the blade of the tongue moving backwards and the back of the tongue

contacting the velum (Binh N. Ngo 15)

The palatal consonant /c/ is another specific consonant in Vietnamese. In the

production of this consonant the tongue tip is down near the back of the lower teeth

and contact is made by the tongue blade against the hard palate. The combination of

the characters ch represents the Vietnamese consonant /c/. The sound that

represents /c/ should not be mixed up with the English consonant /t∫/, e.g.

Vietnamese cha, chú, cho versus English char, choose, chop.

English Vowel Chart (“CA of English and Vietnamese Vowels” 13)

Diphthong distribution

Vietnamese

•Mostly centering:

–/ie/ -iê, yê, ia, ya (hiền, miền, tiên)

–/ɯɤ/ -ươ, ưa(hươu, thưa, thương)

–/uo/ -uô, ua(uốngthuốc, lúaúa)

English

•Centering: iə, eə, ʊə

•Closing

–ei, ai, ɔi

–əʊ, aʊ (10)

Vowel contrasts

•Vietnamese has prevocalic /u/ while English does not.

–“Cụạ” vs. “quạ”

–Other examples: noa, noãn, góa, hóa, khoa, quý (“CA of English and Vietnamese

Vowels” 12)

Vowel contrasts

•English has triphthongs while Vietnamese does not

–/eiə/ -player, layer

–/aiə/ -fire, liar

–/ɔiə/ -royal, loyal

–/əʊə/ -lower, mower

–/aʊə/ -power, hour (“CA of English_and_Vietnamese_Vowels” 13)

Phonological processes (khoaanh)

A glottal stop [ʔ] is inserted before words that begin with a vowel or the

glide /w/:

ăn 'to eat' /an/ → [ʔan]

uỷ 'to delegate' /wi/ → [ʔwij]

When stops /p, t, k/ occur at the end of words, they are unreleased and

with accompanying glottal closure [ʔp� , ʔt� , ʔk� ]:

đáp 'to reply' /ɗaːp/ → [ʔɗaːʔp ̚]

mát 'cool' /maːt/ → [maːʔt ̚]

khác 'different' /xaːk/ → [xaːʔk̚]

When the velar consonants /k, ŋ/ follow /u, w/, they are articulated with a

simultaneous bilabial closure [k� p, ŋ� m] (i.e. doubly-articulated) or are strongly

labialized [kʷ, ŋʷ].

đục 'muddy' /ɗuk/ → [ʔɗuʔk͡p ̚]

độc 'poison' /ɗɜwk/ →[ʔɗɜwʔk͡p ̚

]

ung 'cancer' /uŋ/ → [ʔuŋ ͡m]

ong 'bee' /awŋ/ → [ʔawŋ͡m]

These words are really difficult for an American to pronounce easily. They have

to practise a lot.

Here are some difficulties that Vietnamese learners of English may have

(wikipedia):

o Final /b/ is likely to be confused with /p/

o Final /d/ is likely to be confused with /t/

o Final /f/ is likely to be confused with /p/

o Final /v/ is likely to be confused with /b/ or /p/

o Final /s/ is likely to be confused with /ʃ/ or simply omitted

o Final /ʃ/ is likely to be omitted

o Final /z/ is likely to be confused with /ʃ/ or /s/

o Final /tʃ/ is likely to be confused with /ʃ/

o Final /l/ is likely to be confused with /n/

Speakers also have difficulty with English consonant clusters, with

segments being omitted or epinthetic vowels being inserted.

Speakers may not aspirate initial /t/ and /k/, making (American)

listeners perceive them as /d/ and /ɡ/ respectively.

Speakers often have difficulty with the following phonemes:

o /θ/, which is confused with /t/ or /s/

o /ð/, which is confused with /d/ or /z/

o /p/, which is confused with /b/

o /ɡ/, which is confused with /k/

o /dʒ/, which is confused with /z/

o /ʒ/, which is confused with /z/ or /dʒ/

o /s/, which is confused with /ʃ/

o /tɹ/, which is confused with /dʒ/, /tʃ/ or /t/

o /v/, which is confused with /j/

o /ɪ/, which is confused with /i/

o /ʊ/, which is confused with /u/ or /ʌ/

o /ɛ/, which is confused with /æ/

o /æ/, which is confused with /ɛ/ or /ɑ/

Now we come to the comparison between English and Vietnamese vowels (April

McMahon 86).

Binh N. Ngo explains that when the vowel and final systems are introduced,

the attention of learners should be directed to two essential characteristics of the

Vietnamese vowels.

The difference between a rounded vowel and an unrounded vowel, and,

accordingly, between a rounded syllable and an unrounded syllable, is critical. In

English a rounded syllable may occasionally be pronounced as unrounded without

changing the meaning of the word, e.g. the rounded syllable on in the sentence The

computer is on. may have an element of the unrounded sound [αn]. This is

impossible in Vietnamese. Some characters denoting the rounded vowels (u, ô, o)

and unrounded vowels (ư, ơ) seem to be confusing, since the characters ư and ơ

may be perceived as characters representing rounded vowels. Learners should be

introduced to the sounds before seeing the characters. Minimal pairs containing the

oppositions ư/u, ơ/ô and ưa(ươ)/ua(uô) are very helpful, e.g. thư (letter)/thu

(autumn), cớ (reason)/cố (make efforts), mưa (rain)/mua (buy), mượn (borrow)/muộn

(late).

The final consonant following a vowel in some cases significantly changes the

quality of the vowel. As a result, there are several specific types of syllables in

Vietnamese.

When one of three rounded monophthong vowels /u/, /o/ and /ɔ /is followed by

one of two final consonants /N/ or /k/, the rounding of the vowel does not start until

the middle of the articulation, and the lips come together at the end of the articulation,

e.g. cung, công, cong, cúc, cốc, cóc.

When one of the three front vowels occurs before the same final

consonants /N/ and /k/, they are produced shorter than when they precede the other

finals or when they are not followed by any final. The vowel /ε/ is denoted by the

character a, the final /N/ is represented by nh, and ch indicates the final /k/, e.g. kinh,

kênh, canh, kịch, kệch, cạch. The production of canh as \ka_] and cạch as \kạc]

should be avoided.

The "long" and "short" features of vowels are phonologically relevant in both

English and Vietnamese. In Vietnamese there are only two pairs of vowels which

differ from one another as long and short vowels: /a:/ ≠ /a/ and /ə:/ ≠ /ə/. The spelling

rules should be introduced so that learners can recognize the short vowels in written

texts and distinguish the short and long vowels when producing them. In addition,

some exceptions should be highlighted in order to distinguish the short vowels from

their long counterparts. For instance, the short vowel /a/ is represented by :/ in tai,

cao.

A picture of the organs of speech would be of great use, especially for those

students who rely on visual information. The vowel triangle is very helpful in

explaining many spelling rules, e.g. when labialization is denoted by the character u

and when by the character o, or when the consonant /k/ is represented by the

character c and when by the character k. (These rules are certainly inconsistencies of

the Vietnamese alphabet which should be removed in the future).

It is crucial for an instructor to be patient and consistent with the accuracy of

learners' pronunciation, even if it means slow progress at the beginning. Attention

must continue to be focused on accuracy of pronunciation at more advanced levels of

Vietnamese when a learner has acquired more knowledge of vocabulary and

grammar, otherwise a learner may lose the phonetic skills she/he learned at the

beginning (Binh N. Ngo 16, 17).

Like other Southeast Asian languages, Vietnamese has a comparatively large

number of vowels. Below is a vowel diagram of Hanoi Vietnamese (wikipedia).

  Front Central Back

High i [i] ư [ɨ] u [u]

Upper Mid ê [e]

â [ə] / ơ [əː]

ô [o]

Lower Mid e [ɛ] o [ɔ]

1Low ă [a] / a [aː]

Front, central, and low vowels (i, ê, e, ư, â, ơ, ă, a) are unrounded, whereas the

back vowels (u, ô, o) are rounded. The vowels â [ə] and ă [a] are pronounced very

short, much shorter than the other vowels. Thus, ơ and â are basically pronounced the

same except that ơ [əː] is long while â [ə] is short — the same applies to the low vowels

long a [aː] and short ă [a].

In addition to single vowels (or monophthongs), Vietnamese has diphthongs[8]

and triphthongs. The diphthongs consist of a main vowel component followed by a

shorter semivowel offglide to a high front position [ɪ], a high back position [ʊ], or a

central position [ə].

Vowel

nucleus

Diphthong

with front

offglide

Diphthong

with back

offglide

Diphthong

with centering

offglide

Triphthong

with front

offglide

Triphthong

with back

offglide

i – Iu~yu [iʊ�]ia~iê~yê~ya

[iə �]– iêu [iə �ʊ�]

ê – êu [eʊ�] – – –

e – eo [ɛʊ�] – – –

ư ưi [ɨɪ �] ưu [ɨʊ�] ưa~ươ [ɨə �] ươi [ɨə �ɪ �] ươu [ɨə �ʊ�]

â ây [əɪ �] âu [əʊ�] – – –

ơ ơi [əːɪ �] – – – –

ă ay [aɪ �] au [aʊ�] – – –

a ai [aːɪ �] ao [aːʊ�] – – –

u ui [uɪ �] – ua~uô [uə �] uôi [uə �ɪ �] –

ô ôi [oɪ �] – – – –

o oi [ɔɪ �] – – – –

The centering diphthongs are formed with only the three high vowels (i, ư, u) as

the main vowel. They are generally spelled as ia, ưa, ua when they end a word and are

spelled iê, ươ, uô, respectively, when they are followed by a consonant. There are also

restrictions on the high offglides: the high front offglide cannot occur after a front vowel

(i, ê, e) nucleus and the high back offglide cannot occur after a back vowel (u, ô, o)

nucleus.

The correspondence between the orthography and pronunciation is complicated.

For example, the offglide [ɪ �] is usually written as i however, it may also be represented

with y. In addition, in the diphthongs [aɪ �] and [aːɪ �] the letters y and i also indicate the

pronunciation of the main vowel: ay = ă + [ɪ �], ai = a + [ɪ �]. Thus, tay "hand" is [taɪ �] while

tai "ear" is [taːɪ �]. Similarly, u and o indicate different pronunciations of the main vowel:

au = ă + [ʊ�], ao = a + [ʊ�]. Thus, thau "brass" is [tʰaʊ�] while thao "raw silk" is [tʰaːʊ�].

The four triphthongs are formed by adding front and back offglides to the

centering diphthongs. Similarly to the restrictions involving diphthongs, a triphthong with

front nucleus cannot have a front offglide (after the centering glide) and a triphthong

with a back nucleus cannot have a back offglide.

With regards to the front and back offglides [ɪ �, ʊ�], many phonological descriptions

analyze these as consonant glides /j, w/. Thus, a word such as đâu "where",

phonetically [ɗəʊ�], would be phonemicized as /ɗəw/.

Tang M. Giang also compares the vowel systems of Vietnamese (Dinh &

Nguyen, 1998; D.H. Nguyen 2001) and English (erickson, 2001; Harris, 1994). As with

table 1, orthographic letters that correspond to speech sounds are underlined in the

words in parentheses. Vietnamese and English share even single vowels: /i/ as in “see,”

/æ/ as in “had,” /ε/ as in “egg,” /Ɔ/ as in “caught,” /α/ as in “cot,” /ʊ/as in “could” and /u/

as in “blue.” Apart from these shared sounds, Vietnamese contains five additional single

vowels, /e/ as in leâ “pear,” /ɯ/ as in tö “private,” / ɤ/ as in mô “dream,” / ɤ̆� / as in aám

“warm” and /ă/ as in naêm, “year;” and three true diphthongs (Dinh & Nguyen, 1998):

/ie/ as in bieån “sea,” /uo/ as in cuoán “roll” and /ɯɤ/ as in öôùt “wet.” In addition,

there are 20 possible two-vowel combinations in which the principal vowel is combined

with either a medial vowel /-u-/, or a syllable-final semi-vowel “-y” or “-w” and seven 3-

vowel combinations that include all three vowel slots: medial, principal, and final (Dinh &

Nguyen, 1998; see Table 2 for examples). These two- and three-vowel combinations

maintain the overall syllable structure (Dinh & Nguyen, 1998) and are produced in one

“beat.” The vowel sounds specific to Standard American English include three single

vowels: /ɪ/ in “kid,” /ʌ/ in “cut,” and unstressed /ə/ in “attack.” In addition, English has

two rhotacized (r-rounding) vowels /ɝ/in “bird” and its unstressed counterpart /ɚ/ in

“thunder.” There are five English-specific diphthongs: /oʊ/as in “oh,” /aʊ/ as in “cow,” /ai/

as in “eye,” /oɪ/ as in “boy,” and /eɪ/ as in “bake;” as well as four vowel

combinations: /aɪæ/ as in “Diana,” /ieɪ/ as in “pronunciation,” /ioʊ/ as in “stereo,”

and /oʊeɪ/ as in “oasis” (Harris, 1994).

Table 2

Comparison of Vietnamese and English vowels

Vietnamese only Shared sounds English only

Singletons e (lê), ɯ (tư), ɤ̆

(mơ)

ɤ̆� (ấm), ă (năm)

i (xin or see)

æ(làm or had),

ɔ(cho or ought1)

ɑ (mắt2 or cot1)

ʊ (tư or wood)

u (tu or blue)

ɛ (chết2 or egg)

ɪ (kid)

ʌ (cut), ǝ

(attack)

ɚ (thunder) ɝ

(urgent)

Diphthongs ie (biển, mía, yên)

uo (cuốn)

ɯɤ̆ (ướt, trưa)

oʊ (oh), aʊ

(how)

aɪ (eye), ɔɪ

(boy), eɪ (bake)

2-Vowel Combinations

(medial vowel -u- and

principal vowel)

ui (suy), oe (Huế)

oɤ̆ (thủơ), oɤ̆�

(luật)

ɔe (khoe), ɔa (hoa)

2-Vowel Combinations

(principal vowel with

final semi-vowel)

ɤ̆j (chơi), ɯj (chửi)

oj (nồi), uj (lùi), aj

(chai)

ɔj (voi), ɜj (cây), ɐj

(cay)

iw (xíu), ew (kêu)

ɛw (leo), ɯw (lưu)

ɐ:w(áo, rau), ău

(lâu)

3+ vowel combinations

(medial vowel -u- and

principal vowel and

final semi-vowel)

iew (nhiều, yêu)

ɯɤ̆w (hươu), ɔaj

(khoai) uɜj (nuôi),

ɯɤ̆j (mười)

uia (khuya), uej

(uây)

aɪæ (Diana)

ieɪ,

(pronounciation)

ioʊ (stereo),

oʊeɪ (oasis)

The IPA vowel chart of monophthongs (i.e., simple vowels) below is a composite

of the phonetic descriptions of Nguyễn (1997), Thompson (1965), and Han (1966).[2]

This is a vowel description of Hanoi Vietnamese (i.e., other regions of Vietnam may

have different inventories) (khoaanh).

Front Central Back

Close i ɨ u

Close-mid e əː o

Open-mid ɛ ɜ ɔ

Open a aː

All vowels are unrounded except for the three back rounded

vowels: /u, o, ɔ/.

/ɜ/ and /a/ are pronounced short — shorter than the other vowels.

o /a/ vs. /aː/: Short /a/ (orthographic ă) and long /aː/

(orthographic a) are different phonemic vowels, differing in length only

(and not quality). (The [ː] symbol indicates a long vowel.)

o /ɜ/ vs. /əː/: Han (1966) suggests that short /ɜ/ and long /əː/

differ in both height and length, but that the difference in length is probably

the primary distinction. Thompson (1965) seems to suggest that the

distinction is due to height (as he does for all Vietnamese vowels),

although he also notes the length difference.

/ɨ/ is close central unrounded and backed and lowered: [ɨ !"]. Many

descriptions, such as Thompson, Nguyễn (1970), Nguyễn (1997), consider this

vowel to be close back unrounded: [ɯ]. However, Han's[4] instrumental analysis

indicates that it is more central than back. Brunelle (2003) and Pham (2003) also

transcribe this vowel as central.

The high and upper-mid vowels /i, ɨ, u, e, əː, o/ have phonetic

offglides: [ɪj, ɨɰ, ʊw, ej, əːɰ, ow], particularly in open syllables:

c

hị

'elder

sister'/ci/ →[cɪj]

q

uê

'countrysid

e'/kwe/ →[kwej]

t

ư'fourth' /tɨ/ →[tɨɰ]

m

ơ'to dream' /məː/ →[məːɰ]

t

hu'autumn' /tʰu/ →[tʰʊw]

c

ô

'paternal

aunt'/ko/ →[kow]

Diphthongs and triphthongs

In addition to monophthongs, Vietnamese has many diphthongs and triphthongs.

Most of these consist of a vowel followed by /j/ or /w/. Below is a chart listing the

diphthongs & triphthongs of general northern speech.

/ɜ/ Diphthongs/j/ Diphthongs/

Triphthongs

/w/ Diphthongs/

Triphthongs

/iɜ/ /əːj/ /iw/

/ɨɜ/ /ɜj/ /ew/

/uɜ/ /aːj/ /ɛw/

/aj/ /əːw/

/ɨj/ /ɜw/

/uj/ /aːw/

/oj/

Given information about the phonemes or speech-sounds of each language, it is

also important to understand how these sounds combine together to form a syllable.

Syllable structures in Indo-European languages may be described as sequences of

consonants (C) and vowels (V). For instance, in English, there are numerous syllable

structures that are plausible such as CV, CVC, CCVC, CCCVC, (Erickson, 2001) as in

the words “me,” “bat,” “stop,” and “scratch,” respectively. In contrast, linguists in

Vietnam have poisted that representing the Vietnamese syllable using consonant and

vowel sequences inaccurately portrays its structure since CV sequences would not

account for tones, a compulsory element that contributes to lexical meaning, nor the

adjustments in vowel length that contribute to the preservation of the syllable structure

and length (H. T. Nguyen, personal communication, November 15, 2005) (Giang M.

Tang).

Table 3 displays the syllable structure of Vietnamese (Doan, 1999; see also Dinh

& Nguyen, 1998). Double lines delineate the three main syllable components: tone,

syllable-initial sound, and the rime. Tone is present throughout the syllable and carries

lexical meaning (see the lexical-semantic position consists of a medial vowel, principal

vowel, and final sound, of which the principal vowel is the only required vowel in the

syllable (Dinh & Nguyen, 1998). Table 3 displays four word examples that illustrate

possible syllable structures: toaùn “math,” toøa “court,” tan “to melt” and ta “we” or “I.”

Note that the smallest possible syllable, ta, is produced with an initial consonant sound,

principal vowel, and a tone (level tones are not marked orthographically).

Table 3

Vietnamese Syllable Structure

Tone

Syllable-

initial sound

Rime

Medial

/u/

Principal

vowel

Final sound

T o á n

T o à

T a n

T a

Compared to English, Vietnamese has a wider variety of single vowel and vowel

combinations with a total of five unshared singletons and 30 vowel combinations

compared to five unshared singletons and eight vowel combinations in Standard

American English (see Table 2). A complex vowel system may be related to the

Vietnamese syllable structure that allows three possible slots for vowel sounds and two

possible slots for consonants (see syllable structure in Table 3). Correspondingly, the

relatively limited number of consonants may be related to their limited role in a syllable.

A relatively larger vowel inventory may counterbalance a more limited number of

consonants in Vietnamese.

Based on this comparison of Vietnamese and English phonology, we find that

while certain speech sounds are common to both languages, there are many

differences to be noted. First, tones in Vietnamese carry lexical meaning and are

obligatory in the syllable structure. Second, Vietnamese has a more complicated vowel

system, while English has a larger consonant inventory with greater distribution across

syllable positions. Lastly, in regards to complexity, Vietnamese contains multiple

relatively marked retroflex and velar consonant sounds, while English contains complex

structures such as affricates and consonant clusters.

Here is the comparison between the English stress and Vietnamese stress.

Native speakers of English are intuitively aware that certain syllables in each word, and

one syllable in particular, will be more phonetically prominent than others. In father, the

first syllable seems stronger than the second; in about, it is the other way around; and in

syllable, the first syllable stands out from the rest. These more prominent syllables are

stressed (April McMahon 129).

April McMahon also states that English is a stressed-timed language, allowing

approximately the same amount of time to produce each foot (as opposed to syllable-

timed languages, like French, which devote about the same amount of time to each

syllable regardless of stress), cat in a hat and cat flap will have much the same phonetic

duration.

Binh N. Ngo finds that one of the phonetic typological differences between

Vietnamese and English is that Vietnamese is a syllable-timed language in which the

rhythm appears to be fairly even, with each syllable giving the impression of having

about the same duration and force as any other; English is a stress-timed language in

which stressed syllables recur at intervals. Another key difference is that Vietnamese is

a tone language in which the pitch levels are used to distinguish words; English is a

non-tonal language.

Stress does not create interference for English-speaking learners studying

Vietnamese if at the very beginning they are introduced to Vietnamese as a language

in which words in a phrase or in a sentence are in most cases pronounced with the

same duration and force. However, they should be careful with pauses in a sentence

or in a phrase that should be placed properly, otherwise a misunderstanding may

occur, for instance:

Nhiều người nói / tiếng Ý hay lắm. (Many people say Italian sounds very

beautiful.) versus Nhiều người / nói tiếng Ý hay lắm. (There are many people who

speak Italian very well.) That is, the two syllables of a two-syllable compound should

be spoken together. At a higher level of the language structure, words in a phrase

should be pronounced together with one another. It is a good idea to split a long

sentence into phrases between which short pauses are made, whereas there should

not be any pause between the syllables of a two-syllable word (a compound, a

reduplicative etc.).

Tones:

Vietnamese uses tones as phonemes since a change in tone indicates a change

in meaning. For example, ma “ghost” and maù “cheek” are two distinct words that only

differ in tone, the level (khoâng daáu) tone and rising (saéc) tone, respectively. D. H.

Nguyen (2001) describes the six tones of the northern Vietnamese dialect: level

(khoâng daáu), falling (huyeàn), creaky (ngaõ), dipping-rising (hoûi), rising (saéc),

and constricted (naëng). In the southern dialect, the creaky (ngaõ) and the dipping-

rising (hoûi) tones are both produced as the dipping-rising tone (hoûi). Therefore, there

are only five tones produced in the southern regions (Tang Giang 6).

Vietnamese is a tonal language and speakers may try to use the Vietnamese

tonal system or use a monotone with English words. They may also associate tones

onto the intonational pattern of a sentence and becoming confused with such

inflectional changes (wikipedia).

The six tones in Vietnamese cause a variety of difficulties for learners, both in

producing and maintaining the tones in speech flow.” (Binh N. Ngo 12)

“Vietnam is a contour tone language, which is strongly syllabic in its phonological

organization and morphology” (Thu Nguyen and John Ingramn 1).

Linguists distinguish register tones and contour tones. The pitch of register tones

hardly goes up and down during the production of a particular tone. In contrast, contour

tones have more than one pitch.

“In the Vietnamese language, the syllable is the smallest meaningful unit that

cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts” (Binh N. Ngo 7)

“Vietnamese is a tonal language in which changes of the pitch level and/or

contour signal a change in meaning” (Binh N. Ngo 12)

In English, as in many other European languages, the intonation may function

as the only means of distinguishing various types of sentences, for example: He is

coming. versus He is coming? In Vietnamese intonation is rarely used as a way to

form questions. If an assertive statement ends in a word with the high-rising tone, the

voice should be raised at the end of the sentence, for example: Hôm nay trời nóng

lắm. (It is really hot today.) On the other hand, if a question ends in a word with the

low-falling tone, the voice should be lowered at the end of the question, for example:

Hôm nay trời nóng lắm à? (Is it really hot today?) In many European languages the

pitch of voice in an assertive statement is usually dropped at the end. In Vietnamese

the meanings of the sentences Ông ấy đi tu. (He has become a Buddhist monk.) and

Ông ấy đi tù. (He has been sent to prison.) are completely different. Learners'

attention should be drawn to the fact that the Vietnamese language uses certain

grammatical patterns for assertive, negative and interrogative statements. Intonation

in Vietnamese is strictly restricted by the tones.” (Binh N. Ngo 14)

Discussion

The problem is that whereas a totally new and unfamiliar sound simply has to be

learned from scratch, an old sound in a new role requires further processes of

adjustment (April McMahon 31). For example, our Vietnamese learners of English have

to suppress her instinctive and subconscious division of the aspirated and unaspirated

sounds ([t] and [th]), and learn to produce both in the same context.

There are some features that we should pay more attention in English because

this feature does not exist in Vietnamese, such as the rule for aspiration sounds.

For an English learning child, it is quite important that voiceless stops are

aspirated at the beginning of syllables, and there are no sequences of [s] plus a voiced

stop; consequently, English speakers will rank these constraints high. However, for

children learning a language without aspiration like Vietnamese, these constraints will

not match the linguistic facts they hear, they will therefore be ranked low down in the

list, so they have no obvious effect. That’s why we have much difficulty learning English

consonant clusters.

Vietnamese transfer to English (Giang M. Tang 20)

Adult L2 learners often transfer L1 skills onto their L2 (McDonald, 200). Transfer

from L1 to L2 is often referred to as positive transfer. The following description is meant

to highlight salient linguistic features specific to English with which Vietnamese

speakers may have difficulty. Obviously not all Vietnamese adult L2 learners will

demonstrate all characteristics of Vietnamese-influenced English.

Table 6 summarizes examples of potential interactions from Vietnamese to

English across phonology, lexical semantics, and morpho-syntax. In regards to

phonology, Vietnamese adult L2 learners often have difficulty pronouncing English

sounds not found in Vietnamese such as consonant clusters, affricates, vowels with r-

rounding /ɚ,ɝ/, and lax vowel /ɪ/ see Tables 1 and 2). Consonant clusters may be

simplified or deleted depending on the word position (D.L.Nguyen, 1970b; Riney, 1988).

For instance, the initial consonant cluster /str-/ in “string” may be simplified and

produced without the /t/ as “string” [sriŋ], with a tense high vowel [i] instead of the lax

vowel /ɪ/, which is not present in Vietnamese. A consonant cluster in the word-final

position as in “walked” may be deleted and produced as “walk.”

In addition to omitting sounds, L2 learners may substitute English-specific

sounds with Vietnamese sounds or sounds shared between both languages (McDonald,

2000; Riney, 1988). For instance the English “hard th” in “the” may be approximated

with [d], a shared sound, as in [də]. In the final position, a “hard th” may be produced as

the shared sound /t/ as in [smut] for /smuð/ “smooth.” The English “soft th” may be

approximated with the Vietnamese dental aspirated “t” as in [thɔt] for /θɔt/ “thought.” The

English “r” in “run” may be produced as the r-flap (an acceptable allophone for the

Vietnamese “r”) or as /z/ (from the northern Vietnamese dialect): “run” or “zun.” English

final “r” may be omitted as in [sta] for “star.” English final /l/ may be produced with the

semivowel [w] such as [snew] for /sneil/ “snail” (D.L.Nguyen, 1970b). Since tones are

obligatory in every Vietnamese word, Vietnamese speakers may add tones into English,

which would affect intonation patterns.

Table 6

Potential Interactions of Vietnamese (L1) with English (L2)

Lang. level Pattern Example

Phonology

(Sound level)

Simplify initial

consonant clusters

sring for “string”

Delete or simplify final

consonant clusters

bok for “box”

Substitute with Dental aspirated “t” for

Vietnamese consonants “soft th”: [t̪hɔt˺] for “thought”

Substitute with

Vietnamese vowels

cheek for “chick”

Intonation pattern

influenced by tones

Rising and falling on

individual words

Lexical-

Semantic (Word level)

Difficulty using words

that do not have direct

Vietnamese translations

“To do,” “to work,” and

“to make” are all one word in

Vietnamese, làm

Difficulty with endings

that indicate a hange in word

class c

so bore for “so boring”

Syntax

(Grammar)

Omit word endings for

tense

walk for “walked”

Omit word endings for

plurality

two dollar for “two

dollars”

Omit word endings for

verb agreement

she walk for “she

walks”

Omit auxiliary verbs You hungry? for “Are

you hungry?”

Place adjectives after

nouns

car big for “big car”

Difficulty with word You want eat what? for

order in questions “What do you want to eat?”

Lang. Level Pattern Example

Phonology

(Sound level)

Simplify 2-3 vowel

combinations

Says phưng for

phương

Substitute with English

consonants

English “k” for

Vietnamese “kh”

Substitute with English

diphthongs

English “oʊ” for

Vietnamese “o”

Aspiration of /p, t, k/ in

initial or final positions

1) mắth for mắt “eye”

2) English “t” for

Vietnamese dental

aspirated “t” as in thỏ

“rabbit”

Tone errors Says cu “penis” for

cú “owl”

Rising intonation added to

questions

May affect tones

and meaning

Lexical

semantics (Word

meaning)

Difficulty using words that

do not have direct English

translations

mang, vác, khiêng,

xách, bưng are translated

as “to carry” in English

Overgeneralization of

classifiers

cái viết for cây viết

“pen”

Omission of classifiers1 hai chó* for hai con

chó “two dogs”

Difficulty using kinship

terms

Refer to oneself as

con “child” when speaking

to same-aged peers

Difficulty understanding eduplications

r

Morpho-Syntax

(Grammar)

Overuse of function words Use đã, đang, sẽ

when not needed

Difficulty with word order

for possession

Mẹ xe for xe mẹ

Difficulty with word order in

questions

Đâu đi anh? for Anh

đi đâu?

Omission of classifiers1 See above

Place adjectives before

nouns

đẹp bướm for bướm

đẹp

In summary, dominant Vietnamese learners of English may have difficulty with

sound, word, and grammatical aspects of English not found in Vietnamese. For

instance, they may have difficulty producing consonant clusters, affricates, and syllable-

final consonant sounds as well as using English intonation patterns due to the influence

of lexical tone. They may have difficulty using English vocabulary that make lexical-

semantic distinctions not found in Vietnamese and they may depend on the sentence

context (rather than morphology) to express and/or interpret words as different word

classes. These learners may have difficulty producing English word inflections such as

the past tense -ed as well as using English subject-verb inversion and auxiliary verbs

when asking questions.

English Transfer to Vietnamese (Giang M. Tang 23)

It is well known that a person’s L1 may influence their L2 performance in adult L2

learners (e.g., McDonald, 2000; Sato, 1988). Recent studies have also shown that L2

skills may influence L1 performance (Hernandez, Bates, & Avila, 1994; Su, 2001). Table

7 presents potential interaction of English with Vietnamese in Vietnamese American

students learning both languages.

Table 7

Potential interactions of English (L2) with Vietnamese (L1)

These are predictions of negative transfer patterns based on a cross-linguistic

analysis. Future empirical evidence is needed to refute or support these patterns. At the

phonological (sound) level, the tone production of these students may be affected since

tones do not have lexical meaning in English. Vietnamese students in an English

language environment may have difficulty perceiving and/or producing tones correctly.

Oftentimes, the older Vietnamese generation may be amused by their children’s

“American accent” and tease them for tonal errors that change lexical meaning. For

instance, a child may want to say con cú “an owl” but may drop the rising (sắc) tone and

say con cu “penis.” A related difficulty is the influence of English intonation patterns. In

English many questions are asked with a rising intonation at the end of the sentence.

Students who are acquiring both languages may have a rising intonation in Vietnamese,

which alters tones and may affect meaning or intelligibility.

In regards to sound-substitution, the Vietnamese aspirated dental “t” as in thỏ

“rabbit” and the velar fricative “kh” as in không “no” may be produced as an English “t”

and “k,” respectively. In addition, Vietnamese final consonant sounds, which are

typically unreleased (Dinh & Nguyen, 1998), may be produced with some aspiration (or

at least an audible release) since English final consonants can be released (Harris,

1994). Vietnamese single vowels may become elongated or diphthongized, such as

with the vowel /o/ being produced as the English diphthong /oʊ/. Vietnamese two- or

three-vowel combinations may be simplified due to the relatively few number of vowel

combinations in English (see Table 2).

English skills may influence Vietnamese performance in Vietnamese American

students across the sound. For instance, children may have difficulty with consonant

and vowel sounds not shared in English (see tables 1 and 2) as well as misuse or omit

lexical tone (Giang M. Tang 23, 24, 25).

Conclusion

These are the differences and difficulties for Vietnamese learners of English and

vice versa. As teachers, we should pay attention to these differences and try to correct

the mistakes made by our students. Anyway, because we can not achieve the perfect

pronunciation of foreign speakers, we should not pay too much attention to those

mistakes. Otherwise, our students will become ashamed of making mistakes and they

will develop the feeling of inferiority.

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