(Brunelle, 2014) Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt)

chapter 13
Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt)

Marc Brunelle
1 Background
Vietnamese, the official language of Vietnam, belongs to the Vietic branch of

the Austroasiatic family. It is by far the largest Austroasiatic language, with
about 80 million native speakers and 5–10 million second language speakers
(based on the ethnic minority figures in the 2009 Vietnamese census). Among
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these, 2–3 million speakers live abroad, including about 1 million in the US
(2000 US census) and probably close to half a million in Cambodia.
Paradoxically, the largest Austroasiatic language is typologically very diver-
gent from its Austroasiatic neighbors because intensive contact with Chinese
dramatically restructured its lexicon and affected its phonology. Vietnamese
was also written in a Chinese derived script, chữ nôm, from the 14th to the
early 20th century, but is now exclusively written in quốc ngữ, a Latin script
developed by Portuguese Catholic missionaries from the 16th century and first
fully codified in Alexandre De Rhodes (1651)’s Vietnamese-Latin-Portuguese
dictionary.
Vietnamese exhibits strong dialectal variation (Hoàng 1989). Although it is
often described as having three main dialects (northern, central and south-
ern), the linguistic reality is far more complex. The northern dialect (from
Thanh Hoá province to the Chinese border) and southern dialect (from Khánh
Hoà province to the southern tip) are relatively homogeneous, but the area
in between is a patchwork of often mutually unintelligible dialects that can-
not be lumped together as a unified ‘Central Vietnamese’. In practice, mutual
intelligibility is insured by the existence of interlocked national and regional
standards. The national standard promoted by the national media is based on
the Hanoi variety, but it is competing with a southern standard, based on the
Hồ Chí Minh City variety, that extends its influence all the way to central Viet-
nam and is used in southern-based media broadcast nationwide. To these two
major standards, one must add a number of regional standards, often based on
the variety of the largest city in a given area.
In this article, examples will be given in quốc ngữ, alongside narrow IPA
transcriptions representing the surface form of the standard northern dialect
(peculiarities of the southern phonological system will be briefly discussed in
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the phonology section). Phonetic transcriptions are given in IPA, except tone
notation, because IPA tone marks do not allow a precise notation of the com-
plex Vietnamese tone contours and of their voice qualities. Instead, I follow
an alphanumerical system developed in Tai and Chinese historical linguistics.1
Glossing follows the Leipzig conventions, but I use a dot to link the elements
of polysyllabic words (including opaque compounds), which are separated by
a space in the native orthography.
Vietnamese is a well-described language, with several dictionaries and
comprehensive grammars. The first systematic grammars date back to the 19th
century (Aubaret 1867; Trương 1883) and influential grammars in English were
published in the second half of the 20th century (Emeneau 1951; Nguyễn 1997;
Thompson 1965). Since this is a reference book, the citation strategy I adopt
is to privilege recent work published in English, the language of this volume,
sometimes at the expenses of seminal but less up-to-date work or materials
published in other languages. I would nonetheless emphasize that exhaustive
research on Vietnamese also requires a good knowledge of the considerable
literature published in Vietnamese, French and even Russian.
2 Phonetics/Phonology
2.1 Word/Syllable Structure

Vietnamese is often described as the stereotypical monosyllabic language.
This is a gross oversimplification. Besides monosyllables (1), it also comprises a
large number of transparent native compounds (2) and of semi-opaque Sino-
Vietnamese compounds (3). There is also a small, but significant number of
polysyllabic loanwords (4).
(1) Monosyllabic words

a. sân [sə̆ nA1] ‘yard’ c. máy [măjB1] ‘machine’
b. bay [ɓăjA1] ‘to fly’ d. bàn [ɓanA2] ‘table’
1 In this system each tone receives a combination of a letter and a number. ‘A’ tones derive
from originally open syllables, ‘B’ tones derive from creaky syllables and syllables originally
closed by a glottal stop, and ‘C’ tones stem from syllables originally closed by an –h. ‘D’ tones
are found in checked syllables. ‘1’ is used for tones found on syllables that originally had a
voiceless onset, while ‘2’ is used for syllables that originally had a voiced onset.
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vietnamese ( tiếng việt ) 911
(2) Native disyllabic compounds (semantically transparent)

a. sân bay [sə̆ nA1 ɓăjA1] yard + to fly ‘airport’
b. quán ăn [kwanB1 ɁănA1] shop + eat ‘restaurant’
c. bàn ghế [ɓanA2 ɣeB1] table + chair ‘furniture’
d. cây cỏ [kɛ̆jA1 kɔC1] tree + grass ‘vegetation’
(3) Semi-opaque Sino-Vietnamese disyllabic “compounds”

a. tiểu hổ [tiewC1.hoC1] to be small + tiger ‘cat (esp. cat meat)’
b. Hà Nội [haA2.nojB2] river + interior ‘Hanoi’
c. tham gia [tʰamA1.zaA1] to attend + to add ‘to participate’
d. khu biệt [xuA1.ɓietD2] area + to part ‘to distinguish, distinctive’
(4) Polysyllabic loanwords

a. Sài Gòn [sajA2.ɣɔnA2] < Khm. prej nokor (forest city) ‘Saigon’
b. ban công [ɓanA1.kowŋ͡mA1] < Fr. balcon ‘balcony’
c. phô tô cóp pi [foA1.toA1.kɔpD1.piA1] < Fr. photocopie ‘photocopy’
d. Niu Di Lân [niwA1.ziA1.lɤ̆nA1] < Engl. ‘New
Zealand’
Native disyllabic compounds (2) can be either subordinative (2ab) or coordi-

native (2cd). These categories will be further defined in §3.1, but what mat-
ters here is that both of these types are semantically transparent. Polysyllabic
loanwords (4), on the other hand, are opaque, e.g. cannot be decomposed
into morphemes or roots. Sino-Vietnamese compounds (3) fall somewhere
in between and thus have an interesting status in the language. While they
obey Chinese constituent structure (modifier + head rather than native head +
modifier) and are mostly composed of units that cannot be normally used as
free standing words (exceptions here: hổ in 3a and khu in 3d), they are not
necessarily semantically opaque (or at least not for educated speakers). Their
status is very similar to Greek and Latin roots in Western languages, which are
not productive morphemes, but whose meaning can be uncovered or at least
guessed from their occurrence in sets of semantically related words.
There is little evidence of word stress in subordinative compounds. In fact,
the prominence structure of such compounds is phonetically indistinguish-
able from that of phrases in natural conditions (Nguyễn & Ingram 2007a).
Evidence for a greater prominence of the final syllable has been found in
coordinative compounds and reduplicated forms (Nguyễn & Ingram 2007a;
Nguyễn & Ingram 2007b), but at this point it is difficult to know for certain if
this relatively small effect is due to word stress or word-final lengthening.
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The syllable (5) is composed of an obligatory simple onset (which can be a

glottal stop), followed by an optional medial glide -w-. The rhyme consists of
a monophthong or diphthong that can be closed by a coda. A minimal weight
requirement forces rhymes to have at least two moras, which prevents the
occurrence of short vowels in open syllables. All syllables must bear tone.
(5) T
C(w)V(V)(C)
2.2 Phoneme Inventory and Phonotactics

The inventory of onsets is given in (6).
(6) Vietnamese onsets
Northern standard Southern standard

t ʧ k Ɂ t ʧ/ʈ c k Ɂ
tʰ tʰ
ɓ ɗ ɓ ɗ g
f s x h f s (ʂ) x h
v z ɣ v
m n ɲ ŋ m n ɲ ŋ
l r, l j
There are significant differences between the main two dialects. Southern
Vietnamese maintains a contrast between a slightly affricated retroflex stop
(spelled tr-) and a palatal stop (spelled ch-) that are merged in the Northern
dialect. This contrast between palatals and postalveolars is also maintained
for voiceless fricatives in hyper-formal speech: a contrast between /s-/ (spelled
x-) and /ʂ-/ (spelled s-) is taught in schools and relatively frequent in southern
media. A second important difference is that the Northern Vietnamese voiced
velar fricative /ɣ-/ is realized as [g-] in Southern Vietnamese. The last impor-
tant difference is that Southern Vietnamese /r-/ and /j-/ are merged into /z-/ in
Northern Vietnamese. There is also a strong tendency to realize /v-/ as [j-] in
Southern dialects, but this is substandard.
The medial glide /-w-/ has two allophonic variants, [-ɥ-] before front vowels
and [-w-] before other vowels. It is phonotactically banned after labial onsets
in both dialects (except in a handful of French loanwords). There is a tendency
to reduce Cw- sequences in Southern dialects by deleting the glide (in /sw-/
and /tw-/), deleting the onset (in /kw-/, /gw-/ and /hw-/) or merging the two
elements of the cluster (/xw/ → [f]).
Codas are a subset of onsets, as shown in (7). The only significant departure
to this generalization is the presence of a voiceless bilabial stop /p/, absent in
onsets.
(7) Vietnamese codas

Northern dialect Southern dialect
p t k p t~k
m n ŋ m n~ŋ
w j w j
The two velar codas undergo significant allophonic variation. In Northern

Vietnamese, they become palatalized as [- jk, - jŋ] after front monophthongs
and labio-velarized as [-k͡p, -ŋ͡m] after back monophthongs. The only excep-
tion to this generalization are the rhymes [-ăjk, -ăjŋ], in which palatalized
consonants surface after a central vowel. This has led Haudricourt (1952) to
reanalyze these rhymes as underlying /ɛ̆k, ɛ̆ŋ/, thus acounting for the other-
wise unexplained absence of palatal and velar codas after the vowel /ɛ/ and
shedding light on the behavior of long /ɛː/ and /ɔː/ in loanwords. Southern
Vietnamese has an even more complex allophonic distribution of codas. It
does not have palatals and has lost the contrast between alveodentals and
velars in favor of an allophonic distribution predictable from vowels. In a nut-
shell, front monophthongs can only co-occur with bilabial and alveodental
codas while central and back vowels can only be followed bilabials or velars.
This complicated phonotactic problem is a central issue in Vietnamese pho-
nology (reanalyzed in English in Phạm 2006).
The Northern Vietnamese vowel system (8) has three contrastive heights
and three contrastive degrees of frontness. There are also three underlying off-
gliding diphthongs and two pairs of vowels contrasting only in length: /ă ~
aː/ and /ə̆ ~ əː/ (in further IPA transcriptions, a brevis is used for the contras-
tive short vowels [ă, ə̆ ] and their allophones; length is otherwise unmarked).
Two additional long vowels, /ɛː/ and /ɔː/, are rare and overwhelmingly found
in loanwords. A slightly controversial point is the exact place of articulation
of the central vowels, which are often claimed to be back. Although recent
acoustic evidence suggest a fairly backed place of articulation, which could
support the choice of the symbol /ɯ, ɤ/ rather than /ɨ, ə/ (Kirby 2011), articula-
tory evidence is still needed. Overall, vowels display relatively little allophonic
variation: /o/ and /ɔ/ have diphthongized variants, [ow] and [ɔw~aw], before
velar codas and the diphthongs /ie, ɨə, uo/ are realized as [iə, ɨə, uə] in open
syllables.
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(8) Northern Vietnamese vowels

ie ɨə uo
i ɨ u
e ə̆/əː o
ɛ̆/(ɛː) ă/aː ɔ̆ /(ɔː)
The Southern Vietnamese vowel system is slightly different from that of

Northern Vietnamese. The Northern diphthongs are realized as long vowels
/iː, ɨː, uː/ in the South and the short vowels /ă/ and /ə̆ / merge to /ă/ except
before glides. There are also tendencies to high vowel laxing and diphthongiza-
tion of long vowels.
The last point that needs to be addressed is the phonotactic distribution
and allophonic realization of rhymes composed of a vowel and a coda glide.
First of all, /-j/ is never found after front vowels, while /-w/ is never attested
after back vowels, while central vowels can be followed by either. Moreover,
the contrasts between /ăj ~ ə̆ j/ and /ăw ~ ə̆w/ tend to be neutralized in North-
ern Vietnamese: this results in [ɛ̆j, ɔ̆w]. In contrast, Southern Vietnamese /ăj/
and /ăw/ merge with /aːj/ and /aːw/, yielding [aːj, aːw].
2.3 Suprasegmentals
Northern Vietnamese has six phonemic tones in open syllables and syllables
closed by a sonorant. Only two tones are found in syllables closed by stops (or
checked syllables): they are often treated as allophonic variants of tones B1 and
B2—which is reflected in the orthography—and have tone shapes that are very
similar to B1 and B2, though slightly shorter (Vũ 1981; Vũ 1982). A peculiarity
of Northern Vietnamese is the importance of phonation in the realization of
some tones (Brunelle et al. 2010; Michaud 2004; Nguyễn & Edmondson 1997).
Besides the pitch contours given in (9), three tones have specific phonation
types: tone B2 ends in a dramatic glottal stop, C1 has a tense/slightly creaky
phonation towards its end and tone C2 has a strong glottal constriction at its
lowest point. Note that tone D2 shows no evidence of glottalisation, contrary
to B2, despite a similar contour (Michaud 2004).
Two of the tones represented in (9) have other, more conservative, variants.
Tone B1 is often realized as a high-rising tone (especially by older speakers and/
or outside Hanoi), while tone C1 is still often produced as a falling-rising tone
by more conservative speakers.
(9) Northern Vietnamese tone system in unchecked syllables, female speaker (from
Brunelle & Jannedy 2013)
Tone
350 C2 A1 (ngang) ˦
A2 (huyȇn) ˨˩
B1 (sắc) ˨˧/˦˥
B2 (nặng) ˦˧
300 C1 (hōi) ˦˧
Mean f0
A1 C2 (ngã) ˦˥
B1
B2
C1
250
A2
200
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Time (msec)
The importance of voice quality in Northern Vietnamese tones has led some
researchers to question the importance of pitch in this system (Phạm 2001).
However, experimental studies conducted since have revealed that both prop-
erties are important for perception, even if pitch is less important than previ-
ously assumed (Brunelle 2009b; Kirby 2010).
The Southern Vietnamese tone system, by contrast, only has five tones in
unchecked syllables due to a merger of C1 and C2. It also has two checked
tones, D1 and D2, which are relatively similar to B1 and B2 (Vũ 1981; Vũ 1982).
Contrary to Northern Vietnamese, it makes no use of phonation contrasts.
The Southern Vietnamese tone system is given in (10). Note that the idiosyn-
cratic realization of tones B2 and C1/C2 shown in (10) are not typical in that
their final portions are flat. Most speakers have final rises at the end of these
tones.
Despite significant tonal coarticulation (Brunelle 2009a), no phonological
tone sandhis have been reported in Vietnamese dialects. However, some types
of reduplication provide evidence that tones are organized into phonological
classes (see §3.3).
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(10) Southern Vietnamese tone system in unchecked syllables, one male speaker
(from Brunelle & Jannedy 2013)
Tone
180
A1 (ngang) ˦
B1 A2 (huyȇn) ˧˨
160 B1 (sắc) ˦˥
B2 (nặng) ˧˩˩/˧˩˨
C1-C2 (hōi-ngã) ˧˨˨/˧˨˧
Mean f0
140 A1
A2
120
C1-C2
100
B2
80
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Time (msec)
3 Word Formation
3.1 Compounding
As already briefly mentioned in §2.1, there are two major types of native com-
pounds, coordinative and subordinative (Nguyễn 1997). Coordinative com-
pounds (11) are composed of two juxtaposed lexical words of the same class
that have no syntactic relationship. Semantically, coordinative compounds
usually designate a class of objects of which the two members of the com-
pound are a subset. Examples of coordinate compounds made up of the three
lexical parts of speech are given in (11).
(11) Coordinative compounds (N = noun, SV = stative verb, V = action verb)
N+N
a. cha mẹ [ʧaA1 mɛB2] father + mother ‘parents’
b. quần áo [kwə̆ nA2 ɁawB1] pant + shirt ‘clothes’
SV+SV
c. lười biếng [lɨəjA2 ɓieŋB1] to be lazy + to be lazy ‘lazy’
d. nghèo khổ [ŋɛwA2 xoC1] to be poor + to be miserable ‘extremely poor’
V+V
e. mua bán [muəA1 ɓanB2] to buy + to sell ‘to trade’
f. đi qua đi lại [ɗiA1 kwaA1 ɗiA1 lajB2] go+cross+go+come ‘to keep coming and going’
It has been proposed (Nguyễn 1997) to distinguish generalizing compounds,

e.g. compounds composed of two members of a set but which denote the
entire set (like 11b), from other coordinative compounds. However, there is no
special reason to establish a clear theoretical distinction between these two
types: the semantic scope of given compounds is largely lexicalized and even
sometimes open to interpretation. While some speakers perceive bàn ghế (2c)
‘table + chairs’ as meaning ‘furniture in general’, other speakers insist that it
only means ‘tables, chairs and stools’. Interestingly, there is a small number of
quadrisyllabic compounds, like (11f), which are composed of two juxtaposed
short phrases.
There is also a rich array of subordinative compounds (12). These follow the
usual constituent order of native Vietnamese (§5.1), in which heads precede
modifiers.
(12) Subordinative compounds (N = noun, SV = stative verb, V = action verb)
N+N
a. cá heo [kaB1 hɛwA1] fish + pig ‘dolphin’
b. mì gói [miA2 ɣojB1] wheat noodle + pack ‘instant noodle’
N+V
c. người làm [ŋɨəjA2 lamA2] person + work ‘maid’
d. bài hát [ɓajA2 hatD1] written piece + to sing ‘song’
N+SV
e. thuốc tây [tʰuokD1 tɛ̆jA1] drug + to be western ‘Western medicine’
f. canh chua [kăjŋA1 ʧuəA1] soup + to be sour ‘k.o. soup’
V+V
g. làm thuê [lamA2 tʰɥeA1] to work + to rent ‘to work as hired hand’
h. kiếm ăn [kiemB1 ɁănA1] to look for + to eat ‘to earn a living’
V+SV
i. ăn chay [ɁănA1 tʃăjA1] to eat + to be vegetarian ‘to be vegetarian’
j. coi thường [kɔjA1 tʰɨəŋA2] to watch + to be ordinary ‘to underestimate’
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SV+N
k. chán đời [ʧanB1 ɗəjA2] to be bored + life ‘extremely bored’
l. mù chữ [muA2 ʧɨC2] to be blind + letter ‘illiterate’
SV+SV
m. tối mù [tojB1 muA2] to be dark + to be blind ‘pitch dark’
n. chết đói [ʧetD1 ɗɔjB1] to be dead + to be hungry ‘starving’
The same headedness structure is also found in longer compounds, as shown

in (13). In these compounds, not only does the main head precede the modifier,
but the embedded compound also follows that structure.
(13) Complex native compounds

a. máy hút bụi [măjB1 hutD1 ɓujB2] machine + (to suck + dust)
‘vacuum cleaner’
b. xe đạp điện [sɛA1 ɗapD2 ɗienB2] (vehicle + to trample) + electricity
‘electric bicycle’
Based on this, it has been argued that Vietnamese compounds are nothing
more than lexicalized phrases (Noyer 1998). In fact, in the absence of clear
word-level stress or of regular cliticization phenomena, there is little evidence
for the existence of the prosodic word in Vietnamese (but see Phạm 2008).
Besides semantically transparent native compounds, there is a large category
of Sino-Vietnamese compounds that, as discussed in §2.1, are semi-opaque. Since
a large majority of the Vietnamese lexicon is composed of Chinese loanwords,
it is important to define what a Sino-Vietnamese compound is. However, this
is not a trivial issue (Cao 1985). Stereotypical Sino-Vietnamese compounds
contain at least one Sino-Vietnamese bound morpheme (where a bound mor-
pheme is a syllable that cannot be a free standing word), like giải phóng [zajC1.
fɔŋ͡mB1] ‘liberation’, in which neither giải nor phóng can be free-standing. By
that definition, Sino-Vietnamese compounds would not be real compounds,
but would be polysyllabic words. The problem is that some compounds are
semantically transparent, while obeying the Sino-Vietnamese order of constit-
uents, in which the modifier precedes the head rather than the opposite native
order. An example is bệnh viện [ɓejŋC2-vienC2] ‘hospital’, which is composed
of free-standing words (bệnh = ‘disease’, viện = ‘institute’), but has a modifier-
head order. On the one hand, such words do not follow regular compound for-
mation rules and should thus be treated as polysyllables. On the other, they
are composed of roots that can be free-standing words, which suggests they
are compounds. If we add to this conundrum individual variation in the rich-
ness and structure of the lexicon, we are left with a problem that is unlikely
to be solved by a categorical classification. In the end, even if the meaning of
their constituting morphemes is not obvious to (most) speakers, the fact that
morphemes and syllables coincide makes Sino-Vietnamese morphemes more
easily parsable than Latin or Greek roots in Western languages: few native
English speakers are aware of the internal morphemic structure of a word like
‘con+cep+tion’, but all Vietnamese speakers are aware that giải phóng ‘libera-
tion’, is composed of two morphemes, even if their meanings are especially
opaque.
Whenever complex compounds (14) are composed of one native monosyl-
labic and one Sino-Vietnamese disyllabic word, the Sino-Vietnamese element
is treated as a single word and the compound follows native order.
(14) Hybrid compounds (Sino-Vietnamese compounds are underlined)

a. thứ điện tử [tʰɨB1 ɗienB2-tɨC1] letter + (electricity + seed)
‘email (electronic letter)’
b. hoa đơn đỏ [hwaA1-ɗənA1 ɗɔC1] (to return + bill) + red
‘official (red) receipt’
3.2 Derivational Morphology

A few morphemes are occasionally treated as affixes in Vietnamese linguistics
(Nguyễn 1997: 60–66). However, as they are phonologically and morphologi-
cal indistinguishable from other Sino-Vietnamese monosyllabic morphemes,
the reasons to label them as ‘affixes’ seem to be 1) their fixed position as the
initial or final edge of the word, 2) their transparent semantics and 3) their
productivity. Examples of productive ‘prefixes’ include tiền [tienA2] ‘pre-’, bán
[ɓanB1] ‘semi-’ and siêu [siewA1] ‘super-’, while examples of productive suffixes
include học [hɔwk͡pD2] ‘-logy’ and hoá [hwaB1] ‘-ize’. Thus ‘presyllable’ is tiền
âm tiết [tienA2 Ɂə̆ mA1-tietD1] and ‘nominalization’ is danh từ hóa [zăjŋA1-tɨA2
hwaB1]. Overall, the main derivational processes in Vietnamese are, once again,
akin to compounding.
3.2.1 Deriving Nouns

A few morphemes can be used to derive nouns from active and stative verbs.
The first one is the noun việc [viekD2] ‘business, matter’, which can be appended
to any verb to nominalize it. Thus, sữa chửa [sɨəC2 ʧɨəC1] ‘to repair’, can be nom-
inalized into việc sửa chữa [viekD2 sɨəC1 ʧɨəC2] ‘repair’. Another nominalizer is
the bound prefix sự, [sɨB2] which derives abstract nouns from stative verbs.
For instance, kiên nhẫn [kienA1-ɲə̆ nC2] ‘to be patient’ can be nominalized into
sự kiên nhẫn [sɨB2 kienA1-ɲə̆ nC2] ‘patience’. Besides việc and sự, the normal
strategy to derive nouns from verbs is to use a classifier that defines them as
a countable unit. More details are given in the section dealing with classifiers
(§4.2.3), but classifiers used to nominalize verbs include cuộc [kuokD2] ‘period
of time’ and suất [swətD1] ‘unit of occurrence’, while those used to nominalize
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stative verbs include cái [kajB1] ‘abstract noun’, nỗi [nojC2] ‘unit of negative
emotion’, niềm [niemA2] ‘unit of positive emotion’, and tính [tijŋB1] ‘character’.
3.2.2 Deriving Verbs

Aside from the suffix hoá (§3.2), that can be used to derive verbs in ‘-ize’
from any noun or stative verb, there are no strategies for deriving verbs in
Vietnamese.
3.3 Reduplication
Vietnamese has a rich array of reduplication strategies that have been exten-
sively described and classified (for instance, Emeneau 1951). They consist in
reduplicating a syllable, while changing one or more of its constituents (onset,
whole rhyme, tone or vowel). A few examples are given in (15).
(15) Examples of reduplication (from Emeneau 1951)

vội [vojB2] ‘to be hurried’ vội vàng [vojB2-vaŋA2] ‘to be hurried’
chồm [ʧomA2] ‘to spring up’ chồm chỗm [ʧomA2-ʧomC2] ‘to crouch down’
vấp [və̆ pD1] ‘to stumble’ vấp váp [və̆ pD1-văpD1] ‘to meet difficulties’
cộp [kopD2] ‘to knock’ lộp cộp [lopD2-kopD2] ‘to make noise with
shoes walking’
A crucial observation here is that reduplication strategies are largely lexical-

ized. They are usually limited to a handful of words (sometimes a single one),
rarely have clear derivational semantics and are not normally applied to new
words. Only a few strategies seem to have real productivity. A quasi-exhaustive
list (there might be individual and dialectal variation) is given in (16).
(16) Productive reduplication strategies

a. Full reduplication: Attenuation of stative verbs
đỏ [ɗɔC1] ‘red’ đỏ đỏ [ɗɔC1-ɗɔC1] ‘reddish’
nhẹ [ɲɛB2] ‘light’ nhẹ nhẹ [ɲɛB2-ɲɛB2] ‘rather light’
b. Tone changes to pair A: Attenuation of stative verbs (same meaning as 16a)

đỏ [ɗɔC1] ‘red’ đo đỏ [ɗɔA1-ɗɔC1] ‘reddish’
nhẹ [ɲɛB2] ‘light’ nhè nhẹ [ɲɛA2-ɲɛB2] ‘rather light’
c. Tone changes to pair A, coda stop nasalizes (checked syllable variant of 16b):
Attenuation of stative verbs
mát [matD1] ‘fresh’ man mát [manA1-matD1] ‘rather fresh’
sạch [săjkD2] ‘clean’ sành sạch [săjŋA2-săjkD2] ‘rather clean’
d. Rhyme changes to -ẻ/ẽ [-ɛCX]: Intensification of stative verbs

vui [vujA1] ‘happy’ vui vẻ [vujA1-vɛC1] ‘very happy’
mạnh [măjŋB2] ‘strong’ mạnh mẽ [măjŋB2-mɛC2] ‘very strong’
e. Rhyme changes to -iếc/iệc [-iekDX]: Sarcastic generalizing noun reduplication

sách [sajkA1] ‘book’ sách siếc [sajkA1-siekD1] ‘damned books and stuff’
kẹo [kɛwB2] ‘candy’ kẹo kiệc [kɛwB2-kiekD2] ‘damned candies and sweets’
Most of the tone alternations involved in reduplication (especially the pro-

ductive reduplication strategies in (16) follow well-defined tone classes.
Vietnamese tones are organized along several phonological classes that corre-
spond to their diachronic sources but no longer match their phonetic shapes.
There are two registers, grouping together tones A1, B1, C1, D1 vs. A2, B2, C2, D2,
and four tone pairs, A1-A2, B1-B2, C1-C2 and D1-D2. In reduplication strategies
(16b) and (16c), the tone of the base changes to pair A, without changing reg-
ister. In strategy (16d), the tone is changed to pair C, again without changing
register. A similar process happens in (16e), where the tone of the reduplicant
must belong to pair D, but keeps the same register as the base (although here
many speakers seem to always prefer tone D1).
Reduplicated forms can occasionally alternate with other words in complex
expressives. An example formed along strategy (16e) is mỳ Ý [miA2 ɁiB1] ‘spa-
ghetti (noodle + to be Italian)’, which can be turned into mỳ Ý mỳ iếc [miA2 ɁiB1
miA2 ɁiekD1] ‘damned pastas’.
3.4 Sound Symbolism

Sound symbolic expressions are very prevalent in Vietnamese (for a summary,
see Brunelle & Lê 2013). Besides reduplication, the language has a number of
phonesthemes, e.g. arbitrary sound sequences that occur repeatedly in words
with a similar connotation (17), and a large quantity of ideophones. Ideo-
phones are onomatopoeic expressions that can be used as action verbs or
stative verbs to express physical or psychological states. For instance, the ideo-
phone oàm oạp [wamA2 wapD2] conveys the sound that waves make as they
break on the shore. There are even a few ideophonic expressions where minute
sound changes correlate with changes in the intensity of an action, as in (18).
(17) Rhyme –ep [ɛp]: to compress, to squeeze, to flatten

ép [ɁɛpD1] ‘to press, to crush’ bẹp [ɓɛpD2] ‘flattened’
dẹp [zɛpD2] ‘flat’ lép [lɛpD1] ‘flat’
kẹp [kɛpD2] ‘to pinch’ khép [xɛpD1] ‘to close gently’
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nẹp [nɛpD2] ‘splint’ nép [nɛpD1] ‘to crouch’

ẹp [ɁɛpD2] ‘to deflate, to flatten’ xẹp [sɛpD2] ‘to flatten, to deflate’
hẹp [hɛpD2] ‘narrowly delimited, confined’
(18) Varying degrees of intensity in [k- ɲ-] sequence denoting ‘to complain’
càu nhàu [kăwA2-ɲăwA2] ‘to complain (mildly irritating)’
cằn nhằn [kănA2-ɲănA2] ‘to complain (more irritating)’
cảu nhảu [kăwC1-ɲăwC1] ‘to complain (very irritating)’
4 Phrase and Clause Structure
To follow the same structure as other chapters, we will discuss phrase structure
before addressing the question of word classes (§5). More details on parts of
speech can be found in that section. Note that from this point on, ‘to’ (and ‘to
be’ for stative verbs) will be omitted from word-to-word glosses to facilitate
parsing and alignement.
4.1 Noun Phrases

Based on Nguyễn (1997) and Nguyễn (2013), the noun phrase can be described
as having up to ten slots, as in (19).
(19)
TOT QUANT FOC CLF/MEAS NOUN MAT COL/SIZE ATTRIB
Cả bảy cái con cò gỗ cao bị mất
[kaC1 ɓajC1 kajB1 kɔnA1 kɔA2 ɣoC2 kawA1 ɓiB2 mə̆ tD1
all seven foc clf crane wood tall pass lost
DEM POSS
này của bác
năjA2 kuəC1 ɓakD1]
prox poss uncle2
‘All these seven lost tall wooden cranes of yours.’
The ten slots are the following:

1. TOT is a totality marker, which in practice, can only be tất cả [tə̆ tD1 kaC1]
or cả [kaC1] ‘all’.
2 See §5.2.1 for the use of kinship terms as pronouns.
2. QUANT is a quantifier, which can be either a numeral or the pluralizers

những [ɲɨŋC2] or các [kakD1] (§5.2.3).
3. FOC can only be cái [kajB1], which although homophonous with a classi-
fier, is here used as a focus marker (Nguyễn 2013).
4. CLF/MEAS is used for sortal or mensural noun (nouns behaving syntacti-
cally like classifiers).
5. NOUN is the noun itself.
6. MAT is the material from which the noun is made.
7. COL/SIZE is a slot reserved for stative verbs denoting color or size.
8. ATTRIB is used for other stative verbs or for relative clauses modifying
the noun. Relative sentences can be introduced by the complementizer
mà, but this is optional, as exemplified by the relative bị mất in (36).
9. DEM is used for demonstratives (§5.2.1).
10. POSS is the slot containing possessor phrases. Possessors are headed by
the preposition của [kuəC1] ‘of’, but it can occasionally be omitted when
the possessed noun is a kinship term.
A noun phrase must contain at least a noun (20a), a classifier or a mensural

noun followed by any post nominal modifier (20b). Nounless NPs are also pos-
sible: they must contain a numeral sequence composed of cả and a numeral
(20c) or of a quantifier followed by a classifier or mensural noun (20d).
(20) a. Cò sản xuất ở Trung Quốc.

[kɔA2 sanC1.swə̆ tD1 ɁəC1 ʧuŋ͡mA1.kwokD1]
crane produce reside China
‘Cranes are produced in China.’
b. Con gỗ sản xuất ở Trung Quốc.

[kɔnA1 ɣoC2 sanC1.swə̆ tD1 ɁəC1 ʧuŋ͡mA1.kwokD1]
clf wood produce reside China
‘The wooden ones are produced in China.’
c. Cả bảy sản xuất ở Trung Quốc.

[kaC1 ɓăjC1 sanC1.swə̆ tD1 ɁəC1 ʧuŋ͡mA1.kwokD1]
all seven produce reside China
‘All seven are produced in China.’
d. Bảy con sản xuất ở Trung Quốc.

[ɓăjC1 kɔnA1 sanC1.swə̆ tD1 ɁəC1 ʧuŋ͡mA1.kwokD1]
seven clf produce reside China
‘Seven ones are produced in China.’
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4.2 Verb Phrases

4.2.1 Preverbal Markers
The function words that are directly part of the verb phrase (as opposed to
phrase-final ones) are all preverbal. Nguyễn (1997) grouped them into seven
slots, shown in (21).
(21) cũng đều vẫn/còn TENSE/ASP/MD rất NEGATION hay/năng VERB
Most of these slots can only be occupied by a single (or two semantically iden-
tical) function word(s). This is the case with cũng [kuŋ͡mC2] ‘also’, đều [ɗewA2]
‘equally’, vẫn/còn [və̆ nC2/kɔnA2] ‘still’, rất [zə̆ tD1] ‘very’, hay/năng [hăjA1/năŋA1]
‘often’. TENSE/ASPECT/MOOD can be filled in by a variety of tense-aspect-
mood markers like thường [tʰɨəŋA2] ‘habitual’, sẽ [sɛC2] ‘future’, sắp [săpD1]
‘immediate future’, đang [ɗaŋA1] ‘progressive’, đã [ɗaC2] ‘perfective’, vừa/mới
[vɨəA2/məjB1] ‘recent perfective’ (more details in §5.2.4). Occasionally, two
tense-aspect markers can co-occur in that slot, like đã đang ‘to be in the pro-
cess of V already’ and sẽ đang ‘will be in the process of V’. NEGATION can be
filled in by không [xowŋ͡mA1] ‘negative’, chẳng/chả ‘emphatic negative’ [ʧăŋC1/
ʧaC1], chưa [ʧɨəA1] ‘negative perfective’ and VERB can contain any stative or
action verb.
Although this template does capture the order of preverbal markers, it is
important to note that many of them cannot co-occur for semantic reasons.
Further, there seems to be a pragmatic limit of four or five markers after which
the interpretation of the verbal phrase becomes impossible.
4.2.2 Complements
Besides preverbal markers, action verbs can be followed by several types of
complements, as in (22).
(22) VERB (NP) (PREP/V2 NP)
Depending on their transitivity, verbs can take zero, one or two complements.
Although most bivalent verbs require a direct and an indirect object, there is
a handful a ditransitive verbs, like cho [ʧɔA1] ‘to give’, tặng [tăŋB2] ‘to offer’, kể
[keC1] ‘to narrate’, viết [vietD1] ‘to write’. The basic order of arguments can be
reversed (23), in which case a preposition (§5.2.5), or more frequently a co-verb
with a prepositional use, must introduce the second NP complement. Note
that the argument closest to the verb seems to be mildly focalized.
(23) a. Mỗi khi về Việt Nam, Hương tặng họ hàng

[moiC2 xiA1 veA2 vietD2.namA1 hɨəŋA1 tăŋB2 hɔB2.haŋA2
each moment return Vietnam Hương offer relatives
thuốc kháng sinh.

tʰuokD1 xaŋB1.sijŋA1]
drug antibiotics
‘Every time she goes back to Vietnam, Hương offers relatives antibiotics.’
b. Mỗi khi về Việt Nam, Hương tặng thuốc

[moiC2 xiA1 veA2 vietD2.namA1 hɨəŋA1 tăŋB2 tʰuokD1
each moment return Vietnam Hương offer drug
kháng sinh cho họ hàng.

xaŋB1.sijŋA1 ʧɔA1 hɔB2.haŋA2]
antibiotics give relatives
‘Every time she goes back to Vietnam, Hương offers antibiotics to relatives.’
Interestingly, inversion is ruled out with cho [ʧɔA1] ‘to give’ in (24), because it is
impossible to use it both as a main verb and as a co-verb with a prepositional
meaning.
(24) a. Hương cho họ hàng thuốc.

[hɨəŋA1 ʧɔA1 hɔB2.haŋA2 tʰuokD1]
Hương give relatives drug
‘Hương gives relatives drugs.’
b. *Hương cho thuốc họ hàng.

[hɨəŋA1 ʧɔA1 tʰuokD1 hɔB2.haŋA2]
Hương give drug relatives
‘Hương gives drugs to relatives.’
4.2.3 Adverbial Modifiers

The verb can also take adverbial modifiers. If the adverbial modifier is a stative
verb, it must be positioned immediately after the verb (25a). Placement after
the first NP is questionable (25b–c), perhaps because a stative verb can be
syntactically interpreted as modifying the preceding noun. The final posi-
tion is probably ruled out for the same reason (25d–e), although it gets stron-
ger ungrammaticality judgments. Interestingly, if the adverbial modifier is a
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phrasal adverb, like một cách miễn cưỡng [motD2 kajkD1 mienC2-kɨəŋC2] (one
+ manner + reluctant) ‘in a reluctant way’, (25d–e) become grammatical. This
is probably because phrasal adverbs cannot be confused with noun modifiers,
contrary to stative verbs.
(25) a. Hương tặng miễn cưỡng một hộp thuốc kháng sinh
[hɨəŋA1 tăŋB2 mienC2.kɨəŋC2 motD2 hopD2 tʰuokD1 xaŋB1.sijŋA1
Hương offer reluctant one box drug antibiotics
cho họ hàng.
ʧɔA1 hɔB2.haŋA2]
give relatives
‘Hương reluctantly offers a box of antibiotics to relatives.’
b. ?Hương tặng một hộp thuốc kháng sinh miễn cưỡng

[hɨəŋA1 tăŋB2 motD2 hopD2 tʰuokD1 xaŋB1.sijŋA1 mienC2.kɨəŋC2
Hương offer one box drug antibiotics reluctant
cho họ hàng.
ʧɔA1 hɔB2.haŋA2]
give relatives
‘Hương offers a box of antibiotics reluctantly to relatives.’
c. ?Hương tặng cho họ hàng miễn cưỡng một hộp thuốc

[hɨəŋA1 tăŋB2 ʧɔA1 hɔB2.haŋA2 mienC2.kɨəŋC2 motD2 hopD2 tʰuokD1
Hương offer give relatives reluctant one box drug
kháng sinh.
xaŋB1.sijŋA1]
antibiotics
‘Hương offers relatives reluctantly a box of antibiotics.’
d. *Hương tặng một hộp thuốc kháng sinh cho họ hàng

[hɨəŋA1 tăŋB2 motD2 hopD2 tʰuokD1 xaŋB1.sijŋA1 ʧɔA1 hɔB2.haŋA2
Hương offer one box drug antibiotics give relatives
miễn cưỡng.
mienC2.kɨəŋC2]
reluctant
‘Hương offers a box of antibiotics to relatives reluctantly.’
e. *Hương tặng cho họ hàng một hộp thuốc kháng sinh

[hɨəŋA1 tăŋB2 ʧɔA1 hɔB2.haŋA2 motD2 hopD2 tʰuokD1 xaŋB1.sijŋA1
Hương offer give relatives one box drug antibiotics
miễn cưỡng.
mienC2.kɨəŋC2]
reluctant
‘Hương offers relatives a box of antibiotics reluctantly.’
Unlike action verbs, stative verbs can only be modified by a complement that
defines their scope (Nguyễn 1997). This is exemplified in (26).
(26) a. Lâm thông minh nhưng rất dốt lịch sử Đảng.

[lə̆ mA1 tʰowŋ͡mA1.mijŋA1 ɲɨŋA1 zə̆ tD1 zotD1 lijkD2.sɨC1 ɗaŋC1]
Lâm intelligent but very ignorant history party
‘Lâm is intelligent, but really bad at Party history.’

b. Măng cụt mắc mà dễ bán.
[măŋA1.kutB2 măkD1 maA2 zeC2 ɓanB1]
mangosteen expensive but easy sell
‘Mangosteen are expensive, but easy to sell.’
Adverbial modifiers can also be adverbial clauses, which are introduced by a

preposition. Although these are technically sentential adjuncts rather than
a part of the verb phrase, they are discussed here to be coherent with other
chapters. Important types of adverbial clauses are introduced by function
words like nếu [newB1] for conditional clauses, để [ɗeC1] for purposive clauses,
tại vì [tajC2 viA2] for causal clauses, etc. A number of markers can be used for
time clauses, like khi [xiA1] and lúc [luk͡pD1], and hồi [hojA2], which is used for
past time clauses only.
4.2.4 Serial Verb Constructions

A crucial aspect of Vietnamese verb phrases is the omnipresence of serial verb
constructions. A first type of such constructions is illustrated in (23b), where
the verb tặng selects the coverb cho to introduce its indirect object. Other
relatively lexicalized co-verbs are also used to express aspects, as mentioned
in (§5.2.4). Examples of such verbs include thử [tʰɨC1] ‘to try’, xem [sɛmA1] ‘to
watch’, bù [ɓuA2] ‘to compensate’. This is illustrated in (27).
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(27) a. Huyền phải học bù vì làm biếng

[hwienA2 fajC1 hɔwk͡pD2 ɓuA2 viA2 lamA2 ɓieŋB1
Huyền ought study compensate because make lazy
cả tuần.
kaC1 twə̆ nA2]
all week
‘Huyền must catch up on her studying because she’s been lazy all week.’
b. Tối hôm qua cả lớp mời giáo viên Mỹ đi

[tojB1 homA1-kwaA1 kaC1 ləpD1 məjA2 zawB1.vienA1 miC2 ɗiA1
night day-past all class invite teacher USA go
ăn thử thịt chó.

ɁănA1 tʰɨC1 tʰitD2 ʧɔB1]
eat try meat dog
‘Last night, the whole class invited the American teacher to go try dog meat.’
Another frequent type of serial construction consists of a V1, the main verb,
and a V2, a movement verb used as a co-verb to indicate the direction, physical
or figurative, of the action (Hanske 2013), as in (28). The directional co-verbs
are ra [zaA1] ‘go out’, vào [vawA2] ‘enter’, lên [lenA1] ‘go up’, xuống [suoŋB1] ‘go
down’, đi [ɗiA1] ‘go’, lại [lajB2] ‘come back’, về [veA2] ‘return’.
(28) a. Trẻ em leo lên đồi cát đỏ.

[ʧɛC2 ʔɛmA1 lɛw A1 len A1 ɗojA2 katD1 ɗɔC1]
young younger.sibling climb go.up hill sand red
‘Kids climb up the red sand dunes.’
b. Cả cơ quan đi vào Sài Gòn chơi.

[kaC1 kəA1.kwanA1 ɗiA1 vawA2 sajA2.ɣɔnA2 ʧəjA1]
all office go enter Saigon play
‘The whole office goes on a trip to Saigon.’
However, serial verb constructions can also be composed of several main verbs
with a temporal sequence (lexicalized compound verbs like nấu ăn [nɔ̆wB1
ɁănA1] (cook + eat) ‘to cook’ are not analyzed as serial verb constructions here).
These structures are used to express a sequence of tightly related events, but
also causality and purpose. When verbs are action verbs, they can either share
complements or each have their own complements. In any case, objects must
follow the first verb. In (29a), for instance, mua and đem share a single object,
which must follow mua. In (29b), each object follows the verb that heads it.
There are also complex sentences in which nouns phrases can be the object of
one verb and the subject of another. In (29c), not only is tiền the object of đốt
and the subject of xuống, but tổ tiên is one of the objects of cho (the other, tiền,
is not repeated) and the subject of mua.
(29) a. Dũng đi mua báo đem về cho ông.

[zuŋ͡mC2 ɗiA1 muəA1 ɓawB1 ɗɛmA1 veA2 ʧɔA1 owŋ͡mA1]
Dũng go buy newspaper bring return give grandfather
‘Dũng goes to buy the newspaper and bring it back for her grandfather.’
b. Dũng lấy báo An Ninh Thế Giới gói cá.

[zuŋ͡mC2 lɛ̆jB1 ɓawB1 ɁanA1.nijŋA1 tʰeB1.zəjB1 ɣɔjB1 kaB1]
Dũng take newspaper security world wrap fish
‘Dũng takes the newspaper “The World’s Security” to wrap fish.’
c. Mẹ Dũng đốt tiền xuống cho tổ tiên mua đồ.

[mɛB2 zuŋ͡mC2 ɗotD1 tienA2 suoŋB1 ʧɔA1 toC1.tienA1 muəA1 ɗoA2]
Mother Dũng burn money go.down give ancestor buy thing
‘Dũng’s mother burns money to the ancestors so that they can buy things.’
Finally, serial verb constructions can also be composed of an action verb and
a stative verb. In such cases, the stative verb specifies the result of the action
verb or the manner in which it is realized. This is illustrated by the sequences
đánh chết and ngủ không sâu in (30a–b).
(30) a. Nhà bác khổ vì sét đánh chết cả

[ɲaA2 ɓakD1 xoC1 viA2 sɛtD1 ɗăjŋB1 ʧetD1 kaC1
House aunt miserable because lightning hit dead all
đàn trâu.
ɗanA2 ʧɔ̆w A1]
herd buffalo
‘My family is miserable because lightning killed the whole buffalo herd.’
b. Duy ngủ không sâu vì hàng xóm đang xây nhà.

[zɥiA1 ŋuC1 xowŋ͡mA1 sɔ̆w A1 viA2 haŋA2.sɔmB1 ɗaŋA1 sɛ̆jA1 ɲaA2]
Duy sleep neg deep because neighbor prog build house
‘Duy does not sleep well because the neighbors are building a house.’
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4.3 Sentence Structure

Vietnamese root sentences can be composed of a subject noun phrase and
a verb phrase (along with optional adjuncts). This is the case of sentences
(23–30) above. However, contrary to what is depicted in most examples above,
Vietnamese is heavily pro-drop. Subjects and objects can both be dropped if
they can be inferred from the context, which is a way of encoding givenness.
Another aspect in which previous examples are not representative is that
most Vietnamese natural utterances follow a theme-rheme scheme (also topic-
comment), where a sentence-initial theme, which can be either a noun phrase
or a verb phrase, is modified by a rheme, which can be either a noun phrase, a
verb phrase or a root sentence (Cao 1992). As shown in (31), the rheme is gener-
ally, but not obligatorily, introduced by the equative copula là [laA2] or by the
copula thì [tʰiA2], which puts special focus on the theme.
(31) a. Lái xe an toàn là hạnh phúc của mọi

[lajB1 sɛA1 anA1.twanA2 laA2 hăjŋB2.fuk͡pD1 kuəC1 mɔjB2
drive vehicle safe cop happiness poss each
gia đình.
zaA1.ɗijŋA2]
family
‘Driving safe is the happiness of all families.’
b. Bún riêu (thì) ai cũng thích.

[ɓunB1-ziewA1 tʰiA2 ɁajA1 kuŋ͡mC2 tʰijkB1]
vermicelli-crab cop who also like
‘Everybody likes crab vermicelli soup (as opposed to other dishes)’.
Some sentences only consist of a rheme (Cao 1992), as in (32).
(32) Mệt quá!

[metD2 kwaB1]
tired too.much
‘Too tired!’
While other sentences have multiple embedded themes and rhemes (Cao
1992), as shown in (33).
(33) a. Bún riêu ai cũng thích thì em ăn

[ɓunB1-ziewA1 ɁajA1 kuŋ͡mC2 tʰijkD1 tʰiA2 ɁɛmA1 ɁănA1
vermicelli-crab who also like cop younger.sibling eat
một bát nũa.

motD2 ɓatD1 nɨəC2]
one bowl again
‘Everybody likes crab vermicelli soup, so you have another bowl.’
While the importance of the theme-rheme configuration in Vietnamese is not

controversial, trying to reduce all sentences to such a template is problematic.
Such a solution would involve reinterpreting subject-verb sentences as theme-
rheme sequences, even if they do not contain clause linkers. This has been the
subject of considerable debate in Vietnamese linguistics.
4.4 Complex Sentences Structures

4.4.1 Sentence Types
As shown by the non-exhaustive examples in (34), yes-no questions are
derived by adding a final particle to the end of the sentence. Open questions
are formed by replacing a constituent with an in situ wh-word.
(34) Base sentence:

Lan tập thể dục.
[lanA1 tə̆ pD2 theB1.zuk͡pD2]
Lan practice exercise
‘Lan works out.’
a. Không [xoŋ͡mA1] ‘not’: yes-no question

Lan tập thể dục không? ‘Is Lan working out?’
b. Chưa [ʧɨəA1] ‘not yet’: yet-question

Lan tập thể dục chưa? ‘Has Lan worked out yet?’
c. À [ʔaA2] ‘isn’t it’: confirmation question

Lan tập thể dục à? ‘Lan is working out?’
Variation in intonation is also used for marking interrogatives, as well as

imperatives and the emotional content of a sentence (summary in Brunelle
et al. 2012). However, intonational strategies seem to be highly idiosyncratic
and optional. Final particles are a much more reliable cue (§5.2.7).
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4.4.2 Superlatives and Comparatives

Superlatives are formed by adding nhất [ɲə̆ tD1] ‘first’ to a stative verb. Infe-
riority superlatives can be formed by adding ít . . . nhất [ɁitD1 . . . ɲə̆ tD1] to the
same stative verbs. Action verb phrases can also be turned into superlatives
by adding nhiều nhất [ɲiewA2 ɲə̆ tD1] ‘the most’ / ít nhất [itD1 ɲə̆ tD1] ‘the least’.
Examples are given in (35).
(35) a. Thành phố lớn nhất Việt Nam là Sài Gòn.

[tʰăjŋA2.foB1 lənB1 ɲə̆ tD1 vietD2.namA1 laA2 sajA2.ɣɔnA2]
city large first Vietnam cop Saigon
‘The largest city in Vietnam is Saigon.’
b. Thành phố ít nóng nhất Việt Nam là Lào Cai.

[tʰăjŋA2.foB1 ɁitD1 nɔwŋ͡mB1 ɲə̆ tD1 vietD2.namA1 laA2 lawA2.kajA1]
city little hot first Vietnam cop Lào Cai
‘The coolest city in Vietnam is Lao Cai.’
c. Thành phố có hồ nhiều / ít nhất là Hà Nội.

[tʰăjŋA2.foB1 kɔB1 hoA2 ɲiewA2 / ɁitD1 ɲə̆ tD1 laA2 haA2.nojB2]
city exist lake lot / little first cop Hanoi
‘The city that has the most / fewest lakes is Hanoi.’
d. Thành phố có nhiều / ít hồ nhất là Hà Nội.

[tʰăjŋA2.foB1 kɔB1 ɲiewA2 / ɁitD1 hoA2 ɲə̆ tD1 laA2 haA2.nojB2]
city exist lot / little lake first cop Hanoi
‘The city that has the most / fewest lakes is Hanoi.’
Comparatives are formed by adding hơn [hənA1] / ít hơn [ɁitB1 hənA1] after a
stative verb. As with superlatives, the only way to form a comparative with an
action verb phrase is to first modify it with the stative verbs nhiều or ít. This is
shown in (36).
(36) a. Sài Gòn đông hơn Hà Nội / ít đông hơn

[sajA2.ɣɔnA2 ɗoŋ͡mA1 hənA1 haA2.nojB2 / ɁitD1 ɗoŋ͡mA1 hənA1
Saigon crowded more Hanoi few crowded more
Hà Nội.
haA2.nojB2]
Hanoi
‘Saigon is more/less crowded than Hanoi.’
b. Hà Nội có nhiều / ít hồ hơn Sài Gòn.

[haA2.nojB2 kɔB1 ɲiewA2 / ɁitD1 hob2 hənA1 sajA2.ɣɔnA2]
Hanoi exist lot / few lake more Saigon
‘Hanoi has more/fewer lakes than Saigon.’
c. Hà Nội có hồ nhiều / ít hơn Sài Gòn.

[haA2.nojB2 kɔB1 hoB2 ɲiewA2 / ɁitD1 hənA1 sajA2.ɣɔnA2]
Hanoi exist lake lot / few more Saigon
‘Hanoi has more/fewer lakes than Saigon.’
4.4.3 Relatives and Subordinate Clauses

As mentioned in §4.1, relative clauses can be headed by the complementizer
mà [maA2] or just be juxtaposed to the noun phrase they modify, as in (37). The
modified noun phrase is gapped in the relative, as in most Western languages.
(37) a. Nhà (mà) Ø bán giòchả ở đầu

[ɲaA2 maA2 ɓanB1 zɔA2-ʧaC1 ɁəC1 ɗɔ̆wA2
house comp sell boiled.sausage-fried.sausage reside head
đường giàu.
ɗɨəŋA2 zăwA2]
street rich
‘The family that sells sausage at the beginning of the street is rich.’
b. Giò chả (mà) họ bán Ø hơi béo.

[zɔA2-ʧaC1 maA2 hɔD2 ɓanB1 həjA1 ɓɛwB1]
boiled.sausage-fried.sausage comp they sell slightly fat
‘The sausage that they sell is a bit fat.’
Subordinate clauses introduced by verbs are normally headed by the equative

là [laA2] which acts as a complementizer (38a). The only exceptions to this are
verbs that can also take the quotative complementizer rằng [zăŋA2], like nói
[nɔjB1] ‘to say’, bảo [ɓawC1] ‘to tell’, kể [keC1] ‘to narrate’, biết [ɓietD1] ‘to know’,
nghĩ [ŋiC2] ‘to think’ and tưởng [tɨəŋC1] ‘to think wrongly’. This is shown
in (38b).
(38) a. Nhiều người Hà Nội gốc thấy là mình tinh tế

[ɲiewA2 ŋɨəjA2 haA2.nojB2 ɣowk͡pD1 tʰɛ̆jB1 laA2 mijŋA2 tijŋA2.teB1
many clf Hanoi root see cop oneself sophisticated
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hơn người khác.

hənA1 ŋɨəjA2 xakD1]
more clf different
‘Many old-time Hanoians think that they are more sophisticated than other
people.’
b. Người Hà Tây lại nghĩ rằng người Hà Nội gốc

[ŋɨəjA2 haA2.tɛ̆jA1 lajB2 ŋiC2 zăŋA2 ŋɨəjA2 haA2.nojB2 ɣowk͡pD1
clf Hà.Tây again think comp clf Hanoi root
hơi kiêu ngạo.

həjA1 kiewA1.ŋawB2]
slightly arrogant
‘As for Hà Tây people, they think that old-time Hanoians are a bit arrogant.’
4.4.4 Passives
There are a few passive-like constructions in Vietnamese. The first two, là and
do, have an obligatory agent (39a–b). Once again, là is behaving as a default
copula that links a theme and a rheme. Do is similar but puts emphasis on the
agent (là do is also possible, with the same meaning). Được and bị, on the other
hand, are used for describing actions in which the patient undergoes negative
and positive experiences, respectively (39c–d). Contrary to do and là, they do
not require an agent.
(39) a. Quyển sách này là *(Vũ Trọng Phụng) viết ở

[kɥienC1 săjkD1 năjA2 laA2 vuC2 ʧɔwŋ͡mB2 fuŋ͡mB2 vietD1 ɁəC1
clf book prox cop Vũ Trọng Phụng write reside
Hà Nội.
haA2.nojB2]
Hanoi
‘This book was written by Vũ Trọng Phụng in Hanoi.’
b. Quyển sách này do *(Vũ Trọng Phụng) viết ở

[kɥienC1 săjkD1 năjA2 zɔA1 vuC2 ʧɔwŋ͡mB2 fuŋ͡mB2 vietD1 ɁəC1
clf book prox pass Vũ Trọng Phụng write reside
Hà Nội.
haA2.nojB2]
Hanoi
c. Quyển sách này được (Vũ Trọng Phụng) viết

[kɥienC1 săjkD1 năjA2 ɗɨəkD2 vuC2 ʧɔwŋ͡mB2 fuŋ͡mB2 vietD1
clf book prox pass Vũ Trọng Phụng write
ở Hà Nội.
ɁəC1 haA2.nojB2]
reside Hanoi
d. Quyển sách này bị (Vũ Trọng Phụng) đốt ở

[kɥienC1 săjkD1 năjA2 ɓiB2 vuC2 ʧɔwŋ͡mB2 fuŋ͡mB2 ɗotD1 ɁəC1
clf book prox pass Vũ Trọng Phụng write reside
Hà Nội.
haA2.nojB2]
Hanoi
‘This book was burned by Vũ Trọng Phụng in Hanoi.’
Another difference between là/do and được/bị is that the latter can head
clauses with a subject gap (40) or even precede nouns or stative verbs (41). This
wide range of complements makes được and bị somewhat untypical for passive
constructions (Simpson & Hồ 2013).
(40) a. Lan được chọn vào Đảng.

[lanA1 ɗɨəkD2 ʧɔnB2 vawA2 ɗaŋC1]
Lan pass choose enter party
‘Lan was chosen to enter the Party.’
b. Lan bị bắt vào Đảng

[lanA1 ɓiB2 ɓătD1 vawA2 ɗaŋC1]
Lan pass catch enter party
‘Lan got forced to enter the Party.’
(41) a. Tuấn được bằng khen / vui.

[twənB1 ɗɨəkD2 ɓăŋA2 xɛnA1 / vujA1]
Tuấn pass certificate praise happy
‘Tuấn receives a certificate of praise / Tuấn is happy.’
b. Tuấn bị tai nạn / ướt.

[twənB1 ɓiB2 tajA1.nanB2 / ɁɨətD1]
Tuấn pass accident wet]
‘Tuấn has an accident / Tuấn gets wet.’
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5 Word Classes
5.1 Lexical Words

Vietnamese distinguishes three types of lexical words: nouns, action verbs and
stative verbs (adjectives).
5.1.1 Nouns
Nouns refer to physical entities or abstract concepts. They can be modified by
demonstratives. Vietnamese nouns can be divided into count nouns and mass
nouns; mass nouns are far more common than count nouns (Cao 2003 [1980]).3
The class of count nouns includes time expressions (ngày [ŋăjA2] ‘day’, năm
[nămA1] ‘year’, etc.) and a number of nouns that are difficult to attribute to
well-defined semantic categories (tỉnh [tijŋC1] ‘province’, màu [măwA2] ‘color’ ,
bài [ɓajA2] ‘text’, etc.). All other nouns need to be individualized by a classifier
before being countable (§5.2.2). Interestingly, the use of a classifier is optional
with kinship terms (bác [ɓakD1] ‘uncle’, cô [koA1] ‘aunt’, cháu [ʧăwB1] ‘nephew,
grandchild’, etc.), making them difficult to classify as count or mass nouns.
5.1.2 Verbs
Verbs can be divided into two categories: action verbs and stative verbs. Action
verbs denote actions while stative verbs denote states, like adjectives in West-
ern languages. The decision to lump the latter category with verbs derives from
their verb-like properties. Stative verbs can appear as predicates in the same
way as action verbs, as shown in (42).
(42) a. Phương ăn.

[fɨəŋA1 ɁănA1]
Phương eat
‘Phương eats’.
b. Phương cao.
[fɨəŋA1 kawA1]
Phương tall
‘Phương is tall’.
3 Alternatively, Nguyễn (2013) considers that most Vietnamese nouns are ‘mass-like’ or
‘non-individuated’.
However, the two categories are syntactically distinct in that some adverbs can
only modify one of the two categories and in that imperative markers can only
modify action verbs, as illustrated in (43).
(43) a. Phương ngủ nhiều. b. *Phương rất ngủ. c. Phương ngủ đi!
[fɨəŋA1 ŋuC1 ɲiewA2] [fɨəŋA1 zə̆ tD1 ŋuC1] [fɨəŋA1 ŋuC1 ɗiA1]
Phương sleep much Phương very sleep Phương sleep imp
‘Phương sleeps a lot.’ ‘Phương very sleeps.’ ‘Sleep, Phương!’
d. *Phương cao nhiều e. Phương rất cao f. *Phương cao đi!

[fɨəŋA1 kawA1 ɲiewA2] [fɨəŋA1 zə̆ tD1 kawA1] [fɨəŋA1 kawA1 ɗiA1]
Phương tall much Phương very tall Phương tall imp
‘Phương is tall a lot.’ ‘Phương is very tall’ ‘Be tall, Phương!’
Stative verbs can also modify verbs, thus having adverb-like behavior, as
in (44b). In fact, Vietnamese does not have an independent class of lexical
adverbs.
(44) a. Phương vui- vẻ. b. Phương đi chơi vui- vẻ.

[fɨəŋA1 vujA- vɛC1] [fɨəŋA1 ɗiA1 ʧəjA1 vujA1- vɛC1]
Phương happy- red Phương go play happy- red
‘Phương is very happy.’ ‘Phương goes out happily.’
Vietnamese also has two verb-like copulas, có [kɔB1], an existential or possessive cop-
ula, and là [laA2], an equative. Có can either mean ‘there is’ or ‘to have’, as shown in (45).
It behaves just like a verb in every respect. Là has a more complex behavior. Although it
must be used as an equative copula between a subject and a nominal predicate (46a),
it can also be used as a non-verbal connector linking a theme to a rheme (see §4.3
and §5.2.6) and does not behave as a regular verb with respect to verbal modifiers
(contrast 46b with 46c).
(45) a. Có một con chuột qua đường.

[kɔB1 motD2 kɔnA1 ʧuotD2 kwaA1 ɗɨəŋA2]
cop one clf rat cross street
‘There is a rat crossing the street.’
b. Thảo có một cái xe máy mới.

[tʰawC1 kɔB1 motD2 kajB1 sɛA1 măjB1 məjB1]
Thảo cop one clf vehicle machine new
‘Thảo has a new moped.’
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(46) a. Thảo là cánbộ của khoa.

[tʰawC1 laA2 kanB1.ɓoB2 kuəC1 xwaA1]
Thảo cop cadre poss faculty
‘Thảo is an employee of the faculty.’
b. Thảo không phải là cán bộ của khoa.

[tʰawC1 xoŋ͡mA1 fajC1 laA2 kanB1.ɓoB2 kuəC1 xwaA1]
Thảo neg ought cop cadre poss faculty
‘Thảo is not an employee of the faculty.’
c. Thảo không làm ở khoa.

[tʰawC1 xoŋ͡mA1 lamA2 ɁəC1 xwaA1]
Thảo neg work reside faculty
‘Thảo does not work at the faculty.’
5.2 Function Words

5.2.1 Pronouns
There is a relatively limited set of personal pronouns. The most common are
given in (47).
(47) Common pronouns

tôi [tojA1] ‘neutral 1SG’
ta [taA1] ‘1SG or 1PL inclusive, familiar/3SG impersonal’
mình [mijŋA2] ‘1SG or 1PL inclusive, familiar’
tao [tawA1] ‘1SG used with social equals or inferiors (or as an insult)’
mày [măjA2] ‘2SG used with social equals or inferiors (or as an insult)’
nó [nɔB1] ‘3SG or 3PL for inanimate objects, animals or social
inferiors’
chúng [ʧuŋ͡mB1] ‘3PL for inanimate objects, animals or social inferiors’
chúng tôi [ʧuŋ͡mB1 tojA1] ‘1PL exclusive’
chúng ta [ʧuŋ͡mB1 taA1] ‘1PL inclusive’
họ [hɔB2] ‘3PL used for people’
However, Vietnamese normally uses non-shifting kinship terms instead of

pronouns. For example, the normal way of addressing an elderly woman for
a young speaker would be to use bà [ɓaA2] ‘grandmother’, while referring to
oneself as cháu [ʧăwB1] ‘grandchild’. As such, the normal way of expressing
the third person is not pronominal but consists in using a kinship term with a
demonstrative: ông ấy [oŋ͡mA1 Ɂɛ̆jB1] means ‘that grandfather (he)’, chị này [ʧiB2
năjA2] means ‘this older sister (she)’. Kinship terms can be combined with the
demonstratives used for any of three degrees of distance. Proximal demonstra-

tives are này/ đây [năjA2/ɗăjA1], medial are đó/đấy/ấy [ɗɔB1/ɗə̆ jB1/Ɂə̆ jB1] and
distal are kia [kiəA1] and nọ [nɔB2].
There are also three pronouns that can be used both as WH-words and
as indefinite pronouns: ai [ɁajA1] ‘who?; anybody, everybody’, đâu [ɗɔ̆wA1]
‘where?; anywhere, everywhere’, gì [ziA2] ‘what?; anything, everything’ (Trần
& Bruening 2013).
5.2.2 Classifiers
Vietnamese has a small set of sortal classifiers, like cái [kajB1] (inanimate
objects), con [kɔnA1] (animal, some objects), chiếc [ʧiekD1] (vehicles and furni-
ture), niềm [niemA2] (positive emotions), but regular nouns are also frequently
used as classifiers, like cuốn [kuonB1] ‘roll’, cây [kɛ̆jA1] ‘tree’, quả [kwaC1] ‘sphere,
fruit’. The function of classifiers is to individualize the noun they precede. In
(48a), an unspecified mass of chicken is referred to. In (48b), specific chickens
are being killed.
(48) a. Uyên mổ gà trong lavabô.

[ɥienA1 moC1 ɣaA2 ʧɔŋ͡mA1 laA1.vaA1.boA1]
Uyên cut.open chicken inside sink
‘Uyên kills (a) chicken(s) in the sink.’

b. Uyên mổ con gà trong lavabô.
[ɥienA1 moC1 kɔnA1 ɣaA2 ʧɔŋ͡mA1 laA1.vaA1.boA1]
Uyên cut.open clf chicken inside sink
‘Uyên kills the chicken(s) in the sink.’
Classifiers are normally used between nouns and numerals or pluralizers

(although they can optionally be dropped in lists or repetitive tasks). This is
exemplified in (49).
(49) a. Uyên mổ ba con gà trong lavabô.

[ɥienA1 moC1 ɓaA1 kɔnA1 ɣaA2 ʧɔŋ͡mA1 laA1.vaA1.boA1]
Uyên cut.open three clf chicken inside sink
‘Uyên kills three chickens in the sink.’
b. Uyên mổ các con gà trong lavabô.

[ɥienA1 mo C1 kakD1 kɔnA1 ɣaA2 ʧɔŋ͡mA1 laA1.vaA1.boA1]
Uyên cut.open PL clf chicken inside sink
‘Uyên kills the chickens in the sink.’
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Whenever the context is clear, classifiers can substitute with the nouns they
refer to, as in (50).
(50) Nhà Uyên có hai con trâu: môt con đực

[ɲaA2 ɥienA1 kɔB1 hajA1 kɔnA1 ʧɔ̆w A1 motD2 kɔnA1 ɗɨkD2
house Uyên cop two clf buffalo one clf male
và một con cái.

vaA2 motD2 kɔnA1 kajB1]
and one clf female
‘Uyên’s family has two buffaloes: one male and one female.’
Con đực ngu như bò.

[kɔnA1 ɗɨkD2 ŋuA1 ɲɨA1 ɓɔA2]
clf male stupid like cow
‘The male one is as stupid as a cow’.
5.2.3 Numerals, Quantifiers and Intensifiers

The Vietnamese numeral system shows no traces of non-decimal bases. Basic
numbers are given in table (51). Numbers above ten are compositional. Thus
13 is mười ba [mɨəjA2 ɓaA1] ‘ten three’ and 286 is hai trăm tám mươi sáu [hajA1
ʧămA1 tamB1 mɨəjA1 săwB1] ‘two hundred eight ten six’. Complex numbers are
subject to minor tone and onset changes. For instance, mười ‘ten’ changes to
mươi in tens and the number 5 goes from năm [nămA1] to lăm [lămA1] after
tens. Besides regular Mon-Khmer numbers, there is a Sino-Vietnamese parallel
set that is used in Sino-Vietnamese compounds (and in some games).
(51) Basic numerals

one một motD2
two hai hajA1
three ba ɓaA1
four bốn ɓonB1
five năm nămA1
six sáu săwB1
seven bảy ɓăjC1
eight tám tamB1
nine chín ʧinB1
ten mười mɨəjA2
twenty hai mươi hajA2 mɨəjA1
hundred trăm ʧămA1

thousand nghìn (N), ngàn (S) ŋinA2, ŋanA2
million triệu ʧiewB2
billion tỷ tiC1
Plural is only optionally marked in Vietnamese. They are two nominal plural-
izers: các [kakD1] and những [ɲɨŋC2]. Các refers to an entire set of elements,
while những [ɲɨŋC2] refers to a subset of a larger set. While count nouns can be
immediately preceded by these two pluralizers, pluralized mass nouns need to
be individualized by classifiers. Pronouns and kinship terms can also be plural-
ized by adding các [kakD1], chúng [ʧuŋ͡mA1], bọn [ɓɔnB2] or a numeral before
them. Thus, các anh [kakD1 ɁăjŋA1] or bọn anh [ɓɔnB2 ɁăjŋA1], mean ‘you (older
brothers)’.
Since an exhaustive description of quantifiers is impossible in this short
sketch, universal quantifiers will be used as an illustration. When used between
a verb and a subject, indefinite pronoun or indefinite expression (marked with
nào [nawA2] ‘which’), cũng [kuŋ͡mC2] ‘also’ takes on the meaning ‘all’ (52a–b).
Another option is to use the universal quantifier tất cả [tə̆ tD1 kaC1] before the
subject (52c). To express ‘all’ in other positions, one needs to use tất cả (52d).
(52) a. Ai cũng muốn đi đón Tuấn ở sân bay.

[ɁajA1 kuŋ͡mC2 muonB1 ɗiA1 ɗɔnB1 twə̆ nB1 ɁəC1 sə̆ nA1 ɓăjA1]
who also want go pick.up Tuấn reside yard fly
‘Everybody wants to go pick up Tuấn at the airport.’
b. Bác nào cũng muốn đi đón Tuấn ở

[ɓakD1 nawA2 kuŋ͡mC2 muonB1 ɗiA1 ɗɔnB1 twə̆ nB1 ɁəC1
older.uncle.aunt which also want go pick.up Tuấn reside
sân bay.
sə̆ nA1 ɓăjA1]
yard fly
‘All the uncles and aunts want to go pick up Tuấn at the airport.’
c. Tất cả họ hàng muốn đi đón Tuấn ở sân bay.

[tə̆ tB1.kaC1 hɔB2.haŋA2 muonB1 ɗiA1 ɗɔnB1 twə̆ nB1 ɁəC1 sə̆ nA1 ɓăjA1]
every relatives want go pick.up Tuấn reside yard fly
‘All the relatives want to go pick up Tuấn at the airport.’
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d. Tuấn phải đi đón tất cả họ hàng ở sân bay.

[twə̆ nB1 fajC1 ɗiA1 ɗɔnB1 tə̆ tB1.kaC1 hɔB2.haŋA2 ɁəC1 sə̆ nA1 ɓăjA1]
Tuấn ought go pick.up every relatives reside yard fly
‘Tuấn must go pick up all the relatives at the airport.’
‘Every’, with a focus on a whole group, is mọi [mɔjB2], whereas ‘each’, with a
focus on individual elements of the group is mỗi [mojC2]. Từng [tɨŋA2] is used
to express the idea of ‘each, in turn’. These are illustrated with an example
modified from Thompson (1965) in (53).
(53) a. Công an đi đến mọi nhà để điều tra.

[kowŋ͡mA1.ɁanA1 ɗiA1 ɗenB1 mɔjB2 ɲaA2 ɗeC1 ɗiewA2.ʧaA1]
police go arrive every house in.order.to investigate
‘The police goes to every house to investigate.’
b. Công an đi đến mỗi nhà để điều tra.

[kowŋ͡mA1.ɁanA1 ɗiA1 ɗenB1 mojC2 ɲaA2 ɗeC1 ɗiewA2.ʧaA1]
police go arrive each house in.order.to investigate
‘The police goes to each house to investigate.’
c. Công an đi đến từng nhà để

[kowŋ͡mA1.ɁanA1 ɗiA1 ɗenB1 tɨŋA2 ɲaA2 ɗeC1
police go arrive each.in.turn house in.order.to
điều tra.
ɗiewA2.ʧaA1]
investigate
‘The police goes to each house in turn to investigate.’
As shown in (54), intensifiers include nhiều [ɲiewA2] ‘much, a lot’ and ít [ɁitD1]
‘few, little’, which mostly behave like stative verbs in that they can modify both
nouns and action verbs (ít also means ‘rarely’, in which case it is preverbal).
However, contrary to other stative verbs, they precede the noun they modify
when they are not used as the main predicate (54c)
(54) a. Tuấn ăn nhiều / ít.

[twə̆ nB1 ɁănA1 ɲiewA2 / ɁitD1]
Tuấn eat much / little
‘Tuấn eats a lot / little.’
b. Quần áo của Tuấn nhiều/ ít.

[kwə̆ nA2 ɁawB1 kuəC1 twə̆ nB1 ɲiewA2 / ɁitD1]
pant shirt poss Tuấn much / little
‘Tuấn has many / few clothes.’
c. Tuấn có nhiều / ít bạn đi du học

[twə̆ nB1 kɔB1 ɲiewA2 / ɁitD1 ɓanB2 ɗiA1 zuA1.hɔwk͡pD2]
Tuấn exist much / little friend go study.abroad
‘Tuấn has many / few friends who went to study abroad.’
The intensifier rất [zə̆ tD1] ‘very’ modifies (and precedes) either stative or action
verbs, as in (55). Hơi [həjA1] ‘little’, follows the same syntactic placement as rất.
The fact that rất and hơi can modify ít and nhiều, as in (55c) is additional evi-
dence that the latter are actually stative verbs.
(55) a. Tuấn rất thích đi nhậu.

[twə̆ nB1 zə̆ tD1 tʰijkD1 ɗiA1 ɲɔ̆wB2]
Tuấn very like go drink.alcohol.and.eat.light.food
‘Tuấn likes going out for drinks very much.’
b. Đứa bạn rất vui tính của Tuấn cũng

[ɗɨəB1 ɓanB2 zə̆ tD1 vujA1 tijŋB1 kuəC1 twə̆ nB1 kuŋ͡mC2
clf friend very happy character poss Tuấn also
đi nhậu.
ɗiA1 ɲɔ̆w B2]
go drink.alcohol.and.eat
‘Tuấn’s very fun friend also goes out for drinks.’
c. Tuấn nhậu rất nhiều / ít!

[twə̆ nB1 ɲɔ̆wB2 zə̆ tD1 ɲiewA2 / ɁitD1]
Tuấn drink.alcohol very much / little
‘Tuấn drinks very little / much.’
On the other hand, lắm [lămB1] ‘very’ and quá [kwaB1] ‘too much, extremely’
are always phrase-final and modify the entire predicate, as in (56a). As shown
is (56b), they cannot have scope over a stative verb only, contrary to rất.
944 brunelle
(56) a. Tuấn thích đi chơi lắm / quá!

[twə̆ nB1 tʰijkD1 ɗiA1 ʧəjA1 lămB1 / kwaB1]
Tuấn like go play very / too.much
‘Tuấn likes to go out a lot!’
b. *Đứa bạn cao lắm / quá của Tuấn là người

[ɗɨəB1 ɓanB2 kawA1 lămB1 / kwaB1 kuəC1 twə̆ nB1 laA2 ŋɨəjA2
clf friend tall very / too.much poss Tuấn cop clf
Hơ Mông.
həA1.mowŋ͡ɱA1]
Hmong
‘Tuấn’s very tall friend is Hmong.’
5.2.4 Tense, Aspect and Mood Markers

Tense, aspect and mood marking is optional in Vietnamese and is not marked
through affixation. However, there are a number of verbal particles that encode
tense, aspect and mood (Đỗ-Hurinville 2009b). A subset is given in (57). TAM
markers can either immediately precede the verb (§4.2.1) or stand at the end
of the sentence (§5.2.7). Note that there is significant debate about the exact
semantics of many of these TAM markers, and that proposed translations are
indicative only. Overall, (57a–e) seem to convey aspectual distinctions, while
(57f–h) also convey some notion of tense. Examples (57i–l) mark moods. As
mentioned in §4.2.1, combinations of TAM markers are possible, although sub-
ject to semantic restrictions.
(57) Base sentence:

Lan về quê.
[lanA1 veA2 kweA1]
Lan go.back hometown
‘Lan goes back to her hometown’.
a. Đang [ɗaŋA1] (preverbal): progressive

Lan đang về quê ‘Lan is going back to her hometown.’
b. Rồi [zojA2] (clause-final): accomplished, with currently relevant state

Lan về quê rồi ‘Lan is back in her hometown.’
c. Đã [ɗaC2] (preverbal): perfective, accomplished

Lan đã về quê (rồi) ‘Lan went back to her hometown.’
d. Đã [ɗaC2] (clause-final): the action must be completed before the realization of
another action
Lan về quê đã ‘Lan goes back to her hometown first.’
e. Vẫn [və̆ nC2] (preverbal): continuative

Lan vẫn về quê ‘Lan still goes back to her hometown.’
f. Vừa [vɨəA2], mới [məjB1] (preverbal): recent past

Lan vừa/mới về quê ‘Lan just went back to her hometown.’
g. Sắp [săpD1] (preverbal): immediate future

Lan sắp về quê ‘Lan is on the verge going back to her hometown.’
h. Sẽ [sɛC2] (preverbal): incertain future/conditional

Lan sẽ về quê ‘Lan will/would go back to her hometown.’
i. Hãy [hăjC2] (preverbal): mild imperative

Lan hãy về quê ‘Lan should go back to her hometown.’
j. Đi [ɗiA1] (clause-final): imperative

Lan về quê đi! ‘Lan, go back to your hometown!’
k. Đừng [ɗɨŋA2] (preverbal): prohibitive

Lan đừng về quê! ‘Lan, don’t go back to your hometown!’
l. Được [ɗɨəkD2] (clause-final): ability/permission/success (Enfield 2001)

Lan về quê được. ‘Lan can go back to her hometown. / Lan is allowed to go back to
her hometown. / Lan is able to go back to her hometown.’
Many of these final particles can also occupy other syntactic positions, a multi-
functionality that has been analyzed as a consequence of syntactic movement
(Duffield 2013). Besides these verbal particles, a number of verbs frequently co-
occur as co-verbs in lexicalized serial verb constructions. Many of these verbs
have taken on a lexicalized meaning, like còn [kɔnA2] ‘to continue to V’, thử
[tʰɨC1] ‘to try to V’, xem [sɛmA1] ‘to V and see’. They are treated in more detail
in §4.2.
946 brunelle
5.2.5 Prepositions
Vietnamese has prepositions, but no postpositions. Prepositions listed in
Nguyễn (1997) include của [kuəC1] ‘of (possessive)’, bằng [ɓăŋA2] ‘by means
of, made of’, với [vəjB1] ‘with’, tại [tajB2] ‘at’, vì [viA2] / tại vì [tajB2 viA2] / bởi
[ɓəjC1] / bởi vì [ɓəjC1 viA2] ‘because, in favor of’, từ [tɨA2] ‘since, from’, do [zɔA1]
‘by, because of’. However, a number of prepositions also listed by Nguyễn
(1997) are actually verbs, and as such, can be treated as co-verbs in serial verbs
constructions (§4.2). The most frequent such verbs are ở [ɁəC1] ‘to stay, to be
at’, đến [ɗenB1] / tới [təjB1] ‘to arrive’, cho [ʧɔA1] ‘to give’. Examples are given
in (58a–c). Some other verbs, like về [veA2] ‘to go back’ and để [ɗeC1] ‘to put’,
seem to be more grammaticalized in that their prepositional meaning is fairly
different from their main verbal meaning (58d–e). A discussion of the gram-
maticalization processes involved in formation of prepositions can be found
in Đỗ-Hurinville (2010).
(58) a. Lan bị tai nạn xe ở đâu?

[lanA1 biB2 tajA1.nanB2 sɛA1 ɁəC1 ɗɔ̆wA1]
Lan neg.exp accident vehicle reside where
‘Where did Lan have an accident?’
b. Lan ngủ trưa từ một giờ đến ba giờ.

[lanA1 ŋuC1 ʧɨəA1 tɨA2 motD2 zəA2 ɗenB1 ɓaA1 zəA2]
Lan sleep noon from one hour arrive three hour
‘Lan naps from one to three.’
c. Lan nấu rau muống cho chồng nó.

[lanA1 nɔ̆w B1 zăwA1.muoŋB1 ʧɔA1 ʧoŋ͡mA2 nɔB1]
Lan cook morning.glories give husband 3
‘Lan cooks morning glories for her husband.’
d. Lan kể chuyện về hàng xóm.

[lanA1 keC1 ʧwienB2 veA2 haŋA2.somB1]
Lan tell story go.back neighbor
‘Lan is telling stories about the neighbors.’
e. Chúng nó ăn tiền để nuôi con.

[tʃuŋ͡mB1 nɔB1 ɁănA1 tienA2 ɗeC1 nuojA1 kɔnA1]
pl 3p eat money put feed child
‘They take bribes to feed their children.’
There is also a class of preposition-like spatial elements (trong [ʧɔwŋ͡mA1]

‘inside’, ngoài [ŋwajA2] ‘outside’, dưới [zɨəjB1] ‘bottom’, trên [ʧenA1] ‘top’, giữa
[zɨəC2] ‘middle’, etc.) that are sometimes analyzed as a special sub-class of
nouns (Đỗ-Hurinville 2010; Nguyễn 1997; Thompson 1965). They are optional
in the main predicate and emphasize the physical location of the action, as
in (59a). Otherwise, they function as prepositions and are obligatory, as in
(59b–c). In the latter examples, the presence of the verb lên ‘to go up’ before
trên ‘top’ would entail a second event.
(59) a. Kiên lên (trên) gác.

[kienA1 lenA1 ʧenA1 ɣakD1]
Kiên go.up top rooftop
‘Kiên goes up to the rooftop.’
b. Kiên phơi áo trên gác.

[kienA1 fəjA1 ɁawB1 ʧenA1 ɣakD1]
Kiên dry shirt top rooftop
‘Kiên dries shirts on the rooftop.’
c. Trên gác Kiên phơi áo.

[ʧenA1 ɣakD1 kienA1 fəjA1 ɁawB1]
top rooftop Kiên dry shirt
‘On the rooftop, Kiên dries shirts.’
5.2.6 Conjunctions, Linkers and Discourse Markers

Vietnamese has conjunctions (Paris & Lê 2013) like và [vaA2] ‘and’, hay [hăjA1]
‘or’, hoặc [hwăkD2] ‘either’, nhưng [ɲɨŋA1] / mà [maA2] ‘but’ and markers of
clausal subordination like nếu [newB1], ‘if’, dù [zuA2] / tuy [tɥiA1] ‘although’,
cho nên [ʧɔA1 nenA1] / nên [nenA1] ‘for this reason’. It also has two linkers which
are used to concatenate themes and rhemes (§4.3): là [laA2], the default equa-
tive copula and thì [tʰiA2], an attributive copula, which have been claimed
to respectively background and focus the theme (Clark 1996; Đỗ-Hurinville
2009a). Besides these, there are also discourse markers such as backchannel
utterances and repair initiation markers (Hà 2012).
5.2.7 Final Particles

There is a rich array of clause final particles that are used to express emotional
nuances. A small set of examples is given in (60). Note that many of the sen-
tence type markers (§4.4.1) and of the tense-aspect-mood markers (§5.2.4)
948 brunelle
could be analyzed as final particles, but they are not repeated here. Some of the
intensifiers in §5.2.3 (quá, lắm) could also arguably be treated as final particles.
(60) Base sentence:

Anh ăn cơm
[ɁăjŋA1 ɁănA1 kəmA1]
older.brother eat cooked.rice
‘You eat a meal.’
a. Nhé [ɲɛB1]: invitation

Anh ăn cơm nhé! ‘Go ahead and eat your meal.’
b. Thế [theB1]: ‘thus’, interrogative reinforcement (Southern Vietnamese vậy)

Sao anh ăn cơm thế? ‘Why do you eat your meal like that?’
c. Ạ [ɁaB2]: politeness, deference (Northern Vietnamese)

Anh ăn cơm ạ. ‘You eat your meal.’
d. Chứ [tʃɨB1]: of course

Anh ăn cơm chứ! ‘You eat your meal, of course!’
6 Semantics and Pragmatics
6.1 Specialized Vocabulary

An exhaustive description of Vietnamese specialized lexicon is obviously out
of the question here, but two areas of the vocabulary have been chosen as illus-
trations. The first one is the lexicon related to rice, in (61).
(61) ruộng [zuoŋB2] ‘irrigated rice field’ rẫy [zɛ̆jC2] ‘dry (rice) field’
mạ [maB2] ‘rice seedling’ lúa [luəB1] ‘rice plant’
rơm [zəmA1] ‘rice straw’ thóc [thɔwk͡pD1] ‘unhusked rice’
trấu [ʧɔ̆w B1] ‘rice husk’ lứt [lɨtD1] ‘whole rice’
cám [kamB1] ‘rice bran’ gạo [ɣawB2] ‘husked rice’
tẻ [tɛC1] ‘normal rice’ nếp [nepD1] ‘sticky rice’
cốm [komB1] ‘young sticky rice’ xôi [sojA1] ‘steamed sticky rice’
cơm [kəmA1] ‘cooked rice’ cháo [ʧawB1] ‘rice porridge’
bún [ɓunB1] ‘rice vermicelli’
Another representative part of the specialized lexicon is communist formu-

laic terms that have been bleached of their political connotations and are now
used in everyday life (61).
(62) Original meaning Bleached meaning

cơ quan [kəA1-kwanA1] ‘administrative organ’ ‘office’
cán bộ [kanB1-ɓoB2] ‘cadre’ ‘employee’
báo cáo [ɓawB1-kawB1] ‘to report’ ‘to state, to declare’
nhất trí [ɲə̆ tD1-ʧiB1] ‘to be unanimous’ ‘to agree’
thành tích [tʰăjŋA2-tijkD1] ‘achievement’ ‘fake achievements’
phong trào [fɔwŋ͡mA1-ʧawA2] ‘movement’ ‘fashion, fad’
6.2 Language Use

As the national language of Vietnam, Vietnamese is used in all spheres of life,
both in speech and writing, by the overwhelming majority of the population
(UNESCO estimates literacy at 92.8%). A large majority of Vietnamese speak-
ers are monolingual, but a number of foreign languages are also spoken. Eng-
lish is the second language taught in schools in most provinces; there does
not seem to be a serious assessment of the actual number of its speakers, but
their level of fluency is usually extremely low. French has lost a lot of ground
since the colonial period, but is still spoken by 623,000 people, generally fairly
fluently (OIF 2010). Languages of the Soviet bloc (Russian, German, Czech,
Hungarian . . .) are still spoken to various degrees by former guest workers and
exchange students. Interestingly, Korean and Japanese have become increas-
ingly popular foreign languages in recent years, because of growing Northeast
Asian economic and cultural influence. Chinese is probably spoken by close
to one million people, but it is more than a foreign language: while there is
an important number of second language speakers, due to longstanding Chi-
nese cultural and political influence, a large proportion of the 823,000 ethnic
Chinese (2009 Vietnamese census), who mostly live in Hồ Chí Minh City, still
speak southern Chinese varieties (Cantonese, Hokkien, Hainanese) as their
first language.
There is a significant number of ethnic minority people for which Vietnam-
ese is a second language (10–15% of the population). For them, Vietnamese is
the language of education, the media and bureaucracy. Some ethnic minority
languages are losing ground to Vietnamese, like the Tai-speaking Tày and Nùng
of Northern Vietnam. There is a strong Vietnamese influence on many minor-
ity languages, especially on their lexicon.
950 brunelle
6.3 Focus Marking

A final issue that has not yet been satisfactorily explored, but deserves men-
tioning, is information structure in Vietnamese. The order of presentation of
focused and backgrounded information not only underlies the syntactic orga-
nization of theme-rheme alternations (§4.3) and the ellipsis of arguments
(§4.4.2), but is also crucial in determining the use of classifiers (§5.2.2), quanti-
fiers (§5.2.3) and focus particles (Hole 2013).
7 Sample Glossed Text
Excerpt from the novel Số Đỏ (‘Dumb Luck’), chapter 5, by Vũ Trọng Phụng

(1936)
Câm đi, đồ ngu! Khi người ta cổ động đàn

[kə̆ mA1 ɗiA1 ɗoA2 ŋuA1 xiA1 ŋɨəjA2.taA1 koC1.ɗowŋ͡mB2 ɗanA2
mute imp thing stupid moment one propagandize flock
bà
ɓaA2]
grandmother
‘Shut up, stupid thing! When one campaigns for women . . .’
thì phải biết là cũng có năm bảy thứ đàn bà!

[tʰiA2 fajC1 bietD1 laA2 kuŋ͡mC2 kɔA1 nămA1 ɓăjC1 tʰɨB1 ɗanA2 ɓaA2]
cop ought know cop also exist five seven kind flock grandmother
‘One has to know that there are several kinds of women!’
Khi người ta nói phụ nữ . . .

[xiA1 ŋɨəjA2.taA1 nɔjB1 fuB2.nɨC2]
moment one speak women
‘When one says women . . .’
là nói vợ con chị em người khác,

[laA2 nɔjB1 vəB2 kɔnA1 ʧiB2 ɁɛmA1 ŋɨəjA2 xakD1]
cop speak wife child older.sister younger.sibling person different
‘One is talking about other people’s wives, sisters and children, . . .’
chứ không phải vợ con chị em của ta!

[ʧɨB1 xowŋ͡mA1 fajC1 vəB2 kɔnA1 ʧiB2 ɁɛmA1 kuəC1 taA1]
but neg ought wife child older.sister younger.sibling poss one
‘but not their own wives, sisters and children!’
Mợ đã hiểu chưa? Người khác thì được, mà

[məB2 ɗaC2 hiewC1 ʧɨəA1 ŋɨəjA2 xakD1 tʰiA2 ɗɨəkD2 maA2
mother ant understand not.yet person different cop allowed but
mợ,
məB2]
mother
‘Do you understand? It’s fine for other people, but you . . .’
mợ là vợ tôi,
[məB2 laA2 vəB2 tojA1]
mother cop wife I
‘you are my wife’
thì mợ không thể tân thời như người khác được!

[tʰiA2 məA1 xowŋ͡mA1 tʰeC1 tə̆ nA1.tʰəjA2 ɲɨA1 ŋɨəjA2 xakD1 ɗɨəkD2]
cop mother neg possible modern like person different allowed
‘so you can’t be modern like other people!’
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chapter 13

Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt)

Vietnamese, the official language of Vietnam, belongs to the Vietic branch of

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���5 | doi ��.��63/9789004283572_019

2.1 Word/Syllable Structure

(1) Monosyllabic words

(2) Native disyllabic compounds (semantically transparent)

(3) Semi-opaque Sino-Vietnamese disyllabic “compounds”

(4) Polysyllabic loanwords

Native disyllabic compounds (2) can be either subordinative (2ab) or coordi-

The syllable (5) is composed of an obligatory simple onset (which can be a

2.2 Phoneme Inventory and Phonotactics

(6) Vietnamese onsets

Northern standard Southern standard

(7) Vietnamese codas

The two velar codas undergo significant allophonic variation. In Northern

(8) Northern Vietnamese vowels

The Southern Vietnamese vowel system is slightly different from that of

(11) Coordinative compounds (N = noun, SV = stative verb, V = action verb)

It has been proposed (Nguyễn 1997) to distinguish generalizing compounds,

(12) Subordinative compounds (N = noun, SV = stative verb, V = action verb)

The same headedness structure is also found in longer compounds, as shown

(13) Complex native compounds

(14) Hybrid compounds (Sino-Vietnamese compounds are underlined)

3.2 Derivational Morphology

3.2.1 Deriving Nouns

3.2.2 Deriving Verbs

(15) Examples of reduplication (from Emeneau 1951)

A crucial observation here is that reduplication strategies are largely lexical-

(16) Productive reduplication strategies

b. Tone changes to pair A: Attenuation of stative verbs (same meaning as 16a)

d. Rhyme changes to -ẻ/ẽ [-ɛCX]: Intensification of stative verbs

e. Rhyme changes to -iếc/iệc [-iekDX]: Sarcastic generalizing noun reduplication

Most of the tone alternations involved in reduplication (especially the pro-

3.4 Sound Symbolism

(17) Rhyme –ep [ɛp]: to compress, to squeeze, to flatten

nẹp [nɛpD2] ‘splint’ nép [nɛpD1] ‘to crouch’

4 Phrase and Clause Structure

4.1 Noun Phrases

The ten slots are the following:

2 See §5.2.1 for the use of kinship terms as pronouns.

2. QUANT is a quantifier, which can be either a numeral or the pluralizers

A noun phrase must contain at least a noun (20a), a classifier or a mensural

(20) a. Cò sản xuất ở Trung Quốc.

b. Con gỗ sản xuất ở Trung Quốc.

c. Cả bảy sản xuất ở Trung Quốc.

d. Bảy con sản xuất ở Trung Quốc.

4.2 Verb Phrases

(21) cũng đều vẫn/còn TENSE/ASP/MD rất NEGATION hay/năng VERB

(22) VERB (NP) (PREP/V2 NP)

(23) a. Mỗi khi về Việt Nam, Hương tặng họ hàng

thuốc kháng sinh.

b. Mỗi khi về Việt Nam, Hương tặng thuốc

kháng sinh cho họ hàng.

(24) a. Hương cho họ hàng thuốc.

b. *Hương cho thuốc họ hàng.

4.2.3 Adverbial Modifiers

b. ?Hương tặng một hộp thuốc kháng sinh miễn cưỡng

c. ?Hương tặng cho họ hàng miễn cưỡng một hộp thuốc

d. *Hương tặng một hộp thuốc kháng sinh cho họ hàng

e. *Hương tặng cho họ hàng một hộp thuốc kháng sinh

(26) a. Lâm thông minh nhưng rất dốt lịch sử Đảng.

Adverbial modifiers can also be adverbial clauses, which are introduced by a

4.2.4 Serial Verb Constructions

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��5 | doi ��.��63/9789004283572_019

d. Phương cao nhiều e. Phương rất cao f. Phương cao đi!