Editing Vietnamese language (section)

===Tones===
[[File:Vietnamese tone northern.svg|thumb|upright=1.6|Pitch contours and duration of the six Northern Vietnamese tones as spoken by a male speaker (not from Hanoi). [[Fundamental frequency]] is plotted over time. From Nguyễn & Edmondson (1998).]]

Each Vietnamese syllable is pronounced with one of six inherent [[Tone (linguistics)|tone]]s,{{efn|Tone is called {{lang|vi|thanh điệu}} or {{lang|vi|thanh}} in Vietnamese. Tonal language in Vietnamese translates to {{lang|vi|ngôn ngữ âm sắc}}.}} centered on the main vowel or group of vowels. Tones differ in:
* length (duration)
* [[pitch contour]] (i.e. pitch melody)
* pitch height
* [[phonation]]

Tone is indicated by diacritics written above or below the vowel (most of the tone diacritics appear above the vowel; except the ''<span lang="vi" dir="ltr">nặng</span>'' tone dot diacritic goes below the vowel).{{efn|The name of each tone has the corresponding tonal diacritic on the vowel.}} The six tones in the northern varieties (including Hanoi), with their self-referential Vietnamese names, are:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name and meaning
! Description
!Contour
! Diacritic
! Example
! Sample vowel
!Unicode
|-
| '''''ngang''' &nbsp;'' 'level'
| mid level
|˧
| align="center" | <small>(no mark)</small>
| ''ma'' &nbsp;'ghost'
| align="center" | ''{{Audio|Vi ngang tone.ogg|a}}''
|
|-
| '''''huyền''' &nbsp;'' 'deep'
| low falling (often breathy)
|˨˩
| align="center" | {{IPA|◌̀}} ([[grave accent]])
| ''mà'' &nbsp;'but'
| align="center" | ''{{Audio|Vi huyen tone.ogg|à}}''
|U+0340 or U+0300
|-
| '''''sắc''' &nbsp;'' 'sharp'
| high rising
|˧˥
| align="center" | {{IPA|◌́}} ([[acute accent]])
| ''má'' &nbsp;'cheek, mother (southern)'
| align="center" | ''{{Audio|Vi sac tone.ogg|á}}''
|U+0341 or U+0301
|-
| '''''hỏi''' &nbsp;'' 'questioning'
| mid dipping-rising
|˧˩˧
| align="center" | {{IPA|◌̉}} ([[hook above]])
| ''mả'' &nbsp;'tomb, grave'
| align="center" | ''{{Audio|Vi hoi tone.ogg|ả}}''
|U+0309
|-
| '''''ngã''' &nbsp;'' 'tumbling'
| creaky high breaking-rising
|˧ˀ˦˥
| align="center" | {{IPA|◌̃}} ([[tilde]])
| ''mã'' &nbsp;'horse (Sino-Vietnamese), code'
| align="center" | ''{{Audio|Vi nga tone.ogg|ã}}''
|U+0342 or U+0303
|-
| '''''nặng''' &nbsp;'' 'heavy'
| creaky low falling constricted (short length)
|˨˩ˀ
| align="center" | {{IPA|◌̣}} ([[dot (diacritic)|dot below]])
| ''mạ'' &nbsp;'rice seedling'
| align="center" | ''{{Audio|Vi nang tone.ogg|ạ}}''
|U+0323
|}

Other dialects of Vietnamese may have fewer tones (typically only five).

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Tonal differences of three speakers as reported in Hwa-Froelich & Hodson (2002).<ref>Deborah, H.-F., W., H. B., & T., E. H. (2002). Characteristics of Vietnamese Phonology. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 11(3), 264–273. https://doi.org/10.1044/1058-0360(2002/031)</ref> The curves represent temporal pitch variation while two sloped lines (//) indicates a [[glottal stop]].
|-
! Tone !! Northern dialect !! Southern dialect !! Central dialect
|-
| ''Ngang (a)''|| [[File:Vietnamese-tone-ngang-northern.png|30px]] || [[File:Vietnamese-tone-ngang-southern.png|30px]] || [[File:Vietnamese-tone-ngang-central.png|32px]]
|-
| ''Huyền (à)''|| [[File:Vietnamese-tone-huyen-northern.png|30px]] || [[File:Vietnamese-tone-huyen-southern.png|30px]] || [[File:Vietnamese-tone-huyen-central.png|30px]]
|-
| ''Sắc (á)''|| [[File:Vietnamese-tone-sac-northern.png|x30px]] || [[File:Vietnamese-tone-sac-southern.png|x30px]] || [[File:Vietnamese-tone-sac-central.png|x20px]]
|-
| ''Hỏi (ả)''|| [[File:Vietnamese-tone-hoi-northern.png|60px]] || [[File:Vietnamese-tone-hoi-southern.png|60px]] || [[File:Vietnamese-tone-hoi-central.png|30px]]
|-
| ''Ngã (ã)''|| [[File:Vietnamese-tone-nga-northern.png|50px]] || [[File:Vietnamese-tone-nga-southern.png|60px]] || [[File:Vietnamese-tone-nga-central.png|30px]]
|-
| ''Nặng (ạ)''|| [[File:Vietnamese-tone-nang-northern.png|30px]] || [[File:Vietnamese-tone-nang-southern.png|35px]] || [[File:Vietnamese-tone-nang-central.png|30px]]
|}

In Vietnamese poetry, tones are classed into two groups: ([[tone pattern]])

{| class="wikitable"
! Tone group
! Tones within tone group
|-
| ''bằng'' "level, flat"
| ''ngang'' and ''huyền''
|-
| ''trắc'' "oblique, sharp"
| ''sắc'', ''hỏi'', ''ngã'', and ''nặng''
|}

Words with tones belonging to a particular tone group must occur in certain positions within the poetic verse.

[[Catholic Church in Vietnam|Vietnamese Catholics]] practice a distinctive style of prayer recitation called {{lang|vi|[[đọc kinh]]}}, in which each tone is assigned a specific note or sequence of notes.

==== Old tonal classification ====
Before Vietnamese switched from a Chinese-based script to a Latin-based script, Vietnamese had used the traditional Chinese system of classifying tones. Using this system, Vietnamese has 8 tones, but modern linguists only count 6 phonemic tones.

Vietnamese tones were classified into two main groups, ''bằng'' (平; 'level tones') and ''trắc'' (仄; 'sharp tones'). Some tones such as ''ngang'' belong to the ''bằng'' group, while others such as ''ngã'' belong to the ''trắc'' group. Then, these tones were further divided in several other categories: ''bình'' (平; 'even'), ''thượng'' (上; 'rising'), ''khứ'' (去; 'departing'), and ''nhập'' (入; 'entering').

''Sắc'' and ''nặng'' are counted twice in the system, once in ''khứ'' (去; 'departing') and again in ''nhập'' (入; 'entering'). The reason for the extra two tones is that syllables ending in the stops /p/, /t/, /c/ and /k/ are treated as having entering tones, but phonetically they are exactly the same.

The tones in the old classification were called ''Âm bình'' 陰平 (''ngang''), ''Dương bình'' 陽平 (''huyền''), ''Âm thượng'' 陰上 (''hỏi''), ''Dương thượng'' 陽上 (''ngã''), ''Âm khứ'' 陰去 (''sắc''; for words that do not end in /p/, /t/, /c/ and /k/), ''Dương khứ'' 陽去 (''nặng''; for words that do not end in /p/, /t/, /c/ and /k/), ''Âm nhập'' 陰入 (''sắc''; for words that do end in /p/, /t/, /c/ and /k/), and ''Dương nhập'' 陽入 (''nặng''; for words that do end in /p/, /t/, /c/ and /k/).
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="2" |Traditional tone category
!Traditional tone name
!Modern tone name
!Example
|-
| rowspan="2" |'''''bằng'' 平 ''<nowiki/>'<nowiki/>''level''<nowiki/>''''''
| rowspan="2" |'''''bình'' 平 ''<nowiki/>'<nowiki/>''even''<nowiki/>''''''
|''Âm bình'' 陰平
|''ngang''
|ma 'ghost'
|-
|''Dương bình'' 陽平
|''huyền''
|mà 'but'
|-
| rowspan="6" |'''''trắc'' 仄 ''<nowiki/>'<nowiki/>''sharp''<nowiki/>''''''
| rowspan="2" |'''''thượng'' 上 ''<nowiki/>'<nowiki/>''rising''<nowiki/>''''''
|''Âm thượng'' 陰上
|''hỏi''
|rể 'son-in-law; groom'
|-
|''Dương thượng'' 陽上
|''ngã''
|rễ 'root'
|-
| rowspan="2" |'''''khứ'' 去 ''<nowiki/>'<nowiki/>''departing''<nowiki/>''''''
|''Âm khứ'' 陰去
|''sắc''
|lá 'leaf'
|-
|''Dương khứ'' 陽去
|''nặng''
|lạ 'strange'
|-
| rowspan="2" |'''''nhập'' 入 ''<nowiki/>'<nowiki/>''entering''<nowiki/>''''''
||''Âm nhập'' 陰入
|''sắc''
|mắt 'eye'
|-
|''Dương nhập'' 陽入
|''nặng''
|mặt 'face'
|}