Editing Vietnamese language (section)

=== Vietnamese alphabet ===
{{main|Vietnamese alphabet}}
A [[romanization|romanisation]] of Vietnamese was codified in the 17th century by the Avignonese [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] missionary [[Alexandre de Rhodes]] (1591–1660), based on works of earlier [[Portuguese discoveries|Portuguese missionaries]], particularly [[Francisco de Pina]], Gaspar do Amaral and Antonio Barbosa.<ref name="Jacques 2002">{{cite book|last1=Jacques|first1=Roland|title=Portuguese Pioneers of Vietnamese Linguistics Prior to 1650 – Pionniers Portugais de la Linguistique Vietnamienne Jusqu'en 1650|date=2002|publisher=Orchid Press|location=Bangkok, Thailand|isbn=974-8304-77-9|language=en, fr}}</ref><ref name="Tran 2019">{{cite conference |url = https://www.academia.edu/41197889 |title = Từ Nước Mặn đến Roma: Những đóng góp của các giáo sĩ Dòng Tên trong quá trình La tinh hoá tiếng Việt ở thế kỷ 17 |last1 = Trần | first1 = Quốc Anh| last2 = Phạm | first2 = Thị Kiều Ly | date = October 2019 |publisher = Committee on Culture, [[Catholic Bishops' Conference of Vietnam]] |conference= Conference ''400 năm hình thành và phát triển chữ Quốc ngữ trong lịch sử loan báo Tin Mừng tại Việt Nam'' |location = Hochiminh City}}</ref>
It reflects a "Middle Vietnamese" dialect close to the Hanoi variety as spoken in the 17th century. Its vowels and final consonants correspond most closely to northern dialects while its initial consonants are most similar to southern dialects. (This is not unlike how [[English orthography]] is based on the Chancery Standard of [[Middle English#Late Middle English|Late Middle English]], with many spellings retained even after the [[Great Vowel Shift]].)

The Vietnamese alphabet contains 29 letters, supplementing the Latin alphabet with an additional consonant letter (''[[D with stroke|đ]]'') and 6 additional vowel letters (''ă'', ''â/ê/ô'', ''ơ'', ''ư'') formed with [[diacritic]]s. The Latin letters ''f'', ''j'', ''w'' and ''z'' are not used.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Alphabet {{!}} Vietnamese Typography |url=https://vietnamesetypography.com/alphabet/ |access-date=2023-06-24 |website=vietnamesetypography.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=admin|date=2014-02-05|title=Vietnamese Language History|url=https://www.vietnam-culture.com/vietnamese-language-history.aspx|access-date=2021-01-30|website=Vietnamese Culture and Tradition|language=en-US}}</ref>
The script also represents additional [[phoneme]]s using ten [[Digraph (orthography)|digraphs]] (''ch'', ''gh'', ''gi'', ''kh'', ''ng'', ''nh'', ''ph'', ''qu'', ''th'', and ''tr'') and a single [[Trigraph (orthography)|trigraph]] (''ngh'').
Further diacritics are used to indicate the [[Tone (linguistics)|tone]] of each syllable:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Diacritic
! Vietnamese name and meaning
|-
| align="center" | <small>(no mark)</small>
| {{lang|vi|ngang}} 'level'
|-
| align="center" | {{IPA|◌̀}} ([[grave accent]])
| {{lang|vi|huyền}} 'deep'
|-
| align="center" | {{IPA|◌́}} ([[acute accent]])
| {{lang|vi|sắc}} 'sharp'
|-
| align="center" | {{IPA|◌̉}} ([[hook above]])
| {{lang|vi|hỏi}} 'questioning'
|-
| align="center" | {{IPA|◌̃}} ([[tilde]])
| {{lang|vi|ngã}} 'tumbling'
|-
| align="center" | {{IPA|◌̣}} ([[dot (diacritic)|dot below]])
| {{lang|vi|nặng}} 'heavy'
|}

Thus, it is possible for diacritics to be stacked e.g. ể, combining letter with diacritic, ê, with diacritic for tone, ẻ, to make ể.

Despite the missionaries' creation of the alphabetic script, {{lang|vi|chữ Nôm}} remained the dominant script in [[Catholic Church in Vietnam|Vietnamese Catholic]] literature for more than 200 years.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ostrowski |first=Brian Eugene |editor-last=Wilcox |editor-first=Wynn |title=Vietnam and the West: New Approaches |date=2010 |publisher=[[Cornell Southeast Asia Program#SEAP Publications|SEAP Publications]], Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca, New York |isbn=978-0-87727-782-8 |chapter= The Rise of Christian Nôm Literature in Seventeenth-Century Vietnam: Fusing European Content and Local Expression |pages=23, 38 }}</ref> Starting from the late 19th century, the Vietnamese alphabet ({{lang|vi|chữ Quốc ngữ}} or 'national language script') gradually expanded from its initial usage in Christian writing to become more popular among the general public.

The romanised script became predominant over the course of the early 20th century, when education became widespread and a simpler writing system was found to be more expedient for teaching and communication with the general population. The [[French Indochina|French colonial administration]] sought to eliminate Chinese writing, Confucianism, and other Chinese influences from Vietnam.{{sfn|Marr|1984|p=145}} French superseded Literary Chinese in administration. Vietnamese written with the alphabet became required for all public documents in 1910 by issue of a decree by the French Résident Supérieur of the protectorate of [[Tonkin]]. In turn, Vietnamese reformists and nationalists themselves encouraged and popularized the use of {{lang|vi|chữ Quốc ngữ}}. By the middle of the 20th century, most writing was done in {{lang|vi|chữ Quốc ngữ}}, which became the official script on independence.

Nevertheless, {{lang|vi|chữ Hán}} was still in use during the French colonial period and as late as [[World War II]] was still featured on banknotes,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://art-hanoi.com/collection/icpaper/p83.html |title=French Indochina 500 Piastres 1951 |website=art-hanoi.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://art-hanoi.com/collection/vnpaper/ho5d.html |title=North Vietnam 5 Dong 1946 |website=art-hanoi.com}}</ref> but fell out of official and mainstream use shortly thereafter. The education reform by [[North Vietnam]] in 1950 eliminated the use of {{lang|vi|chữ Hán}} and {{lang|vi|chữ Nôm}}.<ref>Vũ Thế Khôi (2009). [https://web.archive.org/web/20160914180432/http://www.vusta.vn/vi/news/Thong-tin-Su-kien-Thanh-tuu-KH-CN/Ai-buc-tu-chu-Han-Nom-31759.html "Ai “bức tử” chữ Hán-Nôm?"].</ref> Today, only a few scholars and some extremely elderly people are able to read {{lang|vi|chữ Nôm}} or use it in [[Vietnamese calligraphy]]. Priests of the [[Gin people|Jing]] minority in China (descendants of 16th-century migrants from Vietnam) use songbooks and scriptures written in {{lang|vi|chữ Nôm}} in their ceremonies.<ref>{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of World Cultures, volume 6: Russia and Eurasia / China |editor1-given=Paul |editor1-surname=Friedrich |editor2-given=Norma |editor2-surname=Diamond |chapter=Jing |page=454 | publisher=G.K. Hall |location=New York |year=1994 |isbn=0-8161-1810-8 }}</ref>