Editing Vietnamese language (section)

==Language variation==
{{Original research section|date=April 2021}}
Currently the [[Nguồn language]] is considered by the Vietnamese government to be a dialect of Vietnamese, however it is also considered a separate Việt-Mường language or the southernmost dialect of Mường language. The Vietnamese language also has several [[mutual intelligibility|mutually intelligible]] regional varieties:{{efn|Sources on Vietnamese variation include: Alves (forthcoming), Alves & Nguyễn (2007), Emeneau (1947), Hoàng (1989), Honda (2006), Nguyễn, Đ.-H. (1995), Pham (2005), Thompson (1991[1965]), Vũ (1982), Vương (1981).}}

{| class="wikitable"
! Dialect region
! Localities
|-
| Northern Vietnamese dialects
| [[Northern Vietnam]]
|-
| Thanh Hóa dialect 
| [[Thanh Hóa Province|Thanh Hoá]] 
|-
| Central Vietnamese dialects
| [[Nghệ An Province|Nghệ An]], [[Hà Tĩnh Province|Hà Tĩnh]], [[Quảng Bình Province|Quảng Bình]], [[Quảng Trị Province|Quảng Trị]]
|-
| Huế dialect
| [[Huế]]
|-
| Southern Vietnamese dialects
| [[South Central Coast]], [[Central Highlands (Vietnam)|Central Highlands]] and [[Southern Vietnam]]
|}

Vietnamese has traditionally been divided into three dialect regions: North (45%), Central (10%), and South (45%). [[Michel Ferlus]] and Nguyễn Tài Cẩn found that there was a separate North-Central dialect for Vietnamese as well. The term ''Haut-Annam'' refers to dialects spoken from the northern Nghệ An Province to the southern (former) Thừa Thiên Province that preserve archaic features (like consonant clusters and undiphthongized vowels) that have been lost in other modern dialects.

The dialect regions differ mostly in their sound systems (see below) but also in vocabulary (including basic and non-basic vocabulary) and grammar.{{efn|Some differences in [[grammatical word]]s are noted in [[Vietnamese grammar#Demonstratives|Vietnamese grammar: Demonstratives]], [[Vietnamese grammar#Pronouns|Vietnamese grammar: Pronouns]].}} The North-Central and the Central regional varieties, which have a significant number of vocabulary differences, are generally less [[mutually intelligible]] to Northern and Southern speakers. There is less internal variation within the Southern region than the other regions because of its relatively late settlement by Vietnamese-speakers (around the end of the 15th century). The North-Central region is particularly conservative since its pronunciation has diverged less from Vietnamese orthography than the other varieties, which tend to merge certain sounds. Along the coastal areas, regional variation has been neutralized to a certain extent, but more mountainous regions preserve more variation. As for [[sociolinguistic]] attitudes, the North-Central varieties are often felt to be "peculiar" or "difficult to understand" by speakers of other dialects although their pronunciation fits the written language the most closely; that is typically because of various words in their vocabulary that are unfamiliar to other speakers (see the example vocabulary table below).
{{Listen
| header      = 
| type        = speech
| filename    = Universal declaration of human rights VN.ogg
| title       = The first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 
| description = The first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights spoken by Nghiem Mai Phuong, native speaker of a northern variety.}}

The large movements of people between North and South since the mid-20th century has resulted in a sizable number of Southern residents speaking in the Northern accent/dialect and, to a greater extent, Northern residents speaking in the Southern accent/dialect. After the [[Geneva Conference (1954)|Geneva Accords of 1954]], which called for the [[Geneva Conference (1954)|temporary division of the country]], about a million northerners (mainly from Hanoi, [[Haiphong]], and the surrounding Red River Delta areas) moved south (mainly to [[Saigon]] and heavily to [[Biên Hòa]] and [[Vũng Tàu]] and the surrounding areas) as part of [[Operation Passage to Freedom]]. About 180,000 moved in the reverse direction (''Tập kết ra Bắc'', literally "go to the North".)

After the [[Fall of Saigon]] in 1975, Northern and North-Central speakers from the densely-populated Red River Delta and the traditionally-poorer provinces of Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, and Quảng Bình have continued to move south to look for better economic opportunities allowed by the new government's New Economic Zones, a program that lasted from 1975 to 1985.<ref name=Desbarats>{{cite web|last=Desbarats|first=Jacqueline|title=Repression in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Executions and Population Relocation|url=http://jim.com/repression.htm|work=Indochina report; no. 11|publisher=Executive Publications, Singapore 1987|access-date=28 November 2013|archive-date=17 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150217064307/http://jim.com/repression.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> The first half of the program (1975–1980) resulted in 1.3 million people sent to the New Economic Zones (NEZs), most of which were relocated to the southern half of the country in previously uninhabited areas, and 550,000 of them were Northerners.<ref name=Desbarats /> The second half (1981–1985) saw almost 1 million Northerners relocated to the New Economic Zones.<ref name=Desbarats /> Government and military personnel from Northern and North-Central Vietnam are also posted to various locations throughout the country that were often away from their home regions. More recently, the growth of the free market system has resulted in increased interregional movement and relations between distant parts of Vietnam through business and travel. The movements have also resulted in some blending of dialects and more significantly have made the Northern dialect more easily understood in the South and vice versa. Most Southerners, when singing modern/old popular Vietnamese songs or addressing the public, do so in the standardized accent if possible, which uses the Northern pronunciation. That is true in both Vietnam and overseas Vietnamese communities.

Modern Standard Vietnamese is based on the Hanoi dialect. Nevertheless, the major dialects are still predominant in their respective areas and have also evolved over time with influences from other areas. Historically, accents have been distinguished by how each region pronounces the letters ''d'' ({{IPA|[z]}} in the Northern dialect and {{IPA|[j]}} in the Central and Southern dialect) and ''r'' ({{IPA|[z]}} in the Northern dialect and {{IPA|[r]}} in the Central and Southern dialects). Thus, the Central and the Southern dialects can be said to have retained a pronunciation closer to Vietnamese orthography and resemble how Middle Vietnamese sounded, in contrast to the modern Northern (Hanoi) dialect, which has since undergone pronunciation shifts. 
<!-- Do not delete this paragraph, as it effectively explains basic differences in evolution of phonology (via English phonetics) without complicated tables and graphs. Also, accents may change over time as some pronunciations get casted into antiquity in favour of more agreeable Vietnamese speech.-->

===Vocabulary===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ {{Anchor|Examples of regional variation in grammatical words}}Regional variation in vocabulary<ref>Table data from {{harvtxt|Hoàng|1989}}.</ref>
! Northern !! Central !! Southern !! English gloss
|-
| ''vâng'' || ''dạ'' || ''dạ'' || "yes"
|-
| ''này'' || ''ni'', ''nì'' || ''nè'' || "this"
|-
| ''thế này'', ''như này'' || ''như ri'', ''a ri'' || ''như vầy'' || "thus, this way"
|-
| ''đấy'' || ''nớ'', ''tê'' || ''đó'' || "that"
|-
| ''thế'', ''thế ấy'', ''thế đấy'' || ''rứa'', ''rứa tê'' || ''vậy'', ''vậy đó'' || "thus, so, that way"
|-
| ''kia'', ''kìa'' || ''tê'', ''tề'' || ''đó'' || "that yonder"
|-
| ''đâu'' || ''mô'' || ''đâu'' || "where"
|-
| ''nào'' || ''mồ'' || ''nào'' || "which"
|-
| ''tại sao'' || ''răng'' || ''tại sao'' || "why"
|-
| ''thế nào'', ''như nào'' || ''răng'', ''mần răng'' || ''làm sao'' || "how" 
|-
| ''tôi, tui'' || ''tui'' || ''tui'' || "I, me (polite)"
|-
| ''tao'' || ''tau'' || ''tao'' || "I, me (informal, familiar)"
|-
| ''chúng tao'', ''bọn tao'', ''chúng tôi'', ''bọn tôi'' || ''choa'', ''bọn choa'' || ''tụi tao'', ''tụi tui'', ''bọn tui'' || "we, us (but not you, colloquial, familiar)"
|-
| ''mày'' || ''mi'' || ''mày'' || "you (informal, familiar)"
|-
| ''chúng mày'', ''bọn mày'' || ''bây'', ''bọn bây'' || ''tụi mầy'', ''tụi bây'', ''bọn mày'' || "you guys (informal, familiar)"
|-
|''nó''
|''hắn'', ''hấn''
|''nó''
|"he/she/it (informal, familiar)"
|-
| ''chúng nó'', ''bọn nó'' || ''bọn nớ'' || ''tụi nó'' || "they/them (informal, familiar)"
|-
| ''ông ấy'' || ''ông nớ'' || ''ổng'' || "he/him, that gentleman, sir"
|-
| ''bà ấy'' || ''bà nớ'' || ''bả''|| "she/her, that lady, madam"
|-
| ''anh ấy'' || ''anh nớ'' || ''ảnh'' || "he/him, that young man (of equal status)"
|-
| ''ruộng'' || ''nương'' || ''ruộng'', ''rẫy'' || "field"
|-
| ''bát'' || ''đọi'' || ''chén'', ''tô'' || "rice bowl" 
|-
| ''muôi'', ''môi'' || ''môi'' || ''vá'' || "ladle" 
|-
| ''đầu'' || ''trốc'' || ''đầu'' || "head" 
|-
| ''ô tô'' || ''ô tô'' || ''xe hơi'' ''(ô tô)'' || "car" 
|-
| ''thìa'' || ''thìa'' || ''muỗng'' || "spoon" 
|-
|''bố''
|''bọ''
|''ba''
|"father"
|}
Although regional variations developed over time, most of those words can be used interchangeably and be understood well, albeit with more or less frequency then others or with slightly different but often discernible word choices and pronunciations. Some accents may mix, with words such ''dạ vâng'' combining ''dạ'' and ''vâng,'' being created''.''

===Consonants===
The [[syllable]]-initial ''ch'' and ''tr'' digraphs are pronounced distinctly in the North-Central, Central, and Southern varieties but are merged in Northern varieties, which pronounce them the same way). Many North-Central varieties preserve three distinct pronunciations for ''d'', ''gi'', and ''r'', but the Northern varieties have a three-way merger, and the Central and the Southern varieties have a merger of ''d'' and ''gi'' but keep ''r'' distinct. At the end of syllables, the palatals ''ch'' and ''nh'' have merged with the alveolars ''t'' and ''n'', which, in turn, have also partially merged with velars ''c'' and ''ng'' in the Central and the Southern varieties.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Regional consonant correspondences{{Anchor|Regional consonant correspondences}}
! Syllable position !! Orthography !! Northern !! North-central !! Central !! Southern
|-
! rowspan=8 | syllable-initial
! ''x''
| rowspan=2 | {{IPA|[s]}}
| colspan=3 | {{IPA|[s]}}
|-
! ''s''
| colspan=2 | {{IPA|[ʂ]}} || {{IPA|[s, ʂ]}}{{efn|name="retroflex"|In southern dialects, ''ch'' and ''tr'' are increasingly being merged as {{IPA|[c]}}. Similarly, ''x'' and ''s'' are increasingly being merged as {{IPA|[s]}}.}}
|-
! ''ch''
| rowspan=2 | {{IPA|[t͡ɕ]}}
| colspan=3 | {{IPA|[c]}}
|-
! ''tr''
| colspan=2 | {{IPA|[ʈ]}} || {{IPA|[c, ʈ]}}{{efn|name="retroflex"}}
|-
! ''r''
| rowspan=3 | {{IPA|[z]}}
| colspan=3 | {{IPA|[r]}}
|-
! ''d''
| {{varies}}
| rowspan=2 colspan=3 | {{IPA|[j]}}
|-
! ''gi''
| {{varies}}
|-
! ''v''
| colspan=3 | {{IPA|[v]}}
| {{IPA|[v, j]}}{{efn|In the southern dialects, ''v'' is increasingly pronounced {{IPA|[v]}} among educated speakers. Less educated speakers use {{IPA|[j]}} more consistently throughout their speech.}}
|-
! rowspan=12 | syllable-final
! ''t''
| colspan=2 | {{IPA|[t]}}
| rowspan=2 colspan=2 | {{IPA|[k]}}
|-
! ''c''
| colspan=2 | {{IPA|[k]}}
|-
! style="line-height: 1em;" | ''t'' <br /><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: small;">after ''i'', ''ê''</span>
| colspan=2 | {{IPA|[t]}}
| rowspan=2 colspan=2 | {{IPA|[t]}}
|-
! ''ch''
| colspan=2 | {{IPA|[k̟]}}
|-
! style="line-height: 1em;" | ''t'' <br /><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: small;">after ''u'', ''ô''</span>
| colspan=2 | {{IPA|[t]}}
| rowspan=2 colspan=2 | {{IPA|[kp]}}
|-
! style="line-height: 1em;" | ''c'' <br /><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: small;">after ''u'', ''ô'', ''o''</span>
| colspan=2 | {{IPA|[kp]}}
|-
! ''n''
| colspan=2 | {{IPA|[n]}}
| rowspan=2 colspan=2 | {{IPA|[ŋ]}}
|-
! ''ng''
| colspan=2 | {{IPA|[ŋ]}}
|-
! style="line-height: 1em;" | ''n'' <br /><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: small;">after ''i'', ''ê''</span>
| colspan=2 | {{IPA|[n]}}
| rowspan=2 colspan=2 | {{IPA|[n]}}
|-
! ''nh''
| colspan=2 | {{IPA|[ŋ̟]}}
|-
! style="line-height: 1em;" | ''n'' <br /><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: small;">after ''u'', ''ô''</span>
| colspan=2 | {{IPA|[n]}}
| rowspan=2 colspan=2 | {{IPA|[ŋm]}}
|-
! style="line-height: 1em;" | ''ng'' <br /><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: small;">after ''u'', ''ô'', ''o''</span>
| colspan=2 | {{IPA|[ŋm]}}
|}

In addition to the regional variation described above, there is a merger of ''l'' and ''n'' in certain rural varieties in the North:{{sfnp|Kirby|2011|p=382}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ ''l'', ''n'' variation
! Orthography
! "Mainstream" varieties
! Rural varieties
|-
! ''n''
| {{IPA|[n]}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|[l]}}
|-
! ''l''
| {{IPA|[l]}}
|}

Variation between ''l'' and ''n'' can be found even in mainstream Vietnamese in certain words. For example, the numeral "five" appears as ''năm'' by itself and in compound numerals like ''năm mươi'' "fifty", but it appears as {{lang|vi|lăm}} in {{lang|vi|mười lăm}} "fifteen" (see [[Vietnamese grammar#Cardinal]]). In some northern varieties, the numeral appears with an initial ''nh'' instead of ''l'': {{lang|vi|hai mươi nhăm}} "twenty-five", instead of the mainstream {{lang|vi|hai mươi lăm}}.{{efn|Gregerson (1981) notes that the variation was present in de Rhodes's time in some initial consonant clusters: ''mlẽ'' ~ ''mnhẽ'' "reason" (cf. modern Vietnamese ''lẽ'' "reason").}}

There is also a merger of ''r'' and ''g'' in certain rural varieties in the South:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ ''r'', ''g'' variation
! Orthography
! "Mainstream" varieties
! Rural varieties
|-
! ''r''
| {{IPA|[r]}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|[ɣ]}}
|-
! ''g''
| {{IPA|[ɣ]}}
|}

The consonant clusters that were originally present in Middle Vietnamese (in the 17th century) have been lost in almost all modern Vietnamese varieties although they have been retained in other closely related [[Vietic languages]]. However, some speech communities have preserved some of these archaic clusters: "sky" is {{lang|vi|blời}} with a cluster in Hảo Nho ([[Yên Mô District|Yên Mô]], [[Ninh Bình Province]]) but ''trời'' in Southern Vietnamese and {{lang|vi|giời}} in Hanoi Vietnamese (initial single consonants {{IPA|/ʈ/, /z/}}, respectively).

===Tones===
There are six tones in Vietnamese, with phonetic differences between dialects, mostly in the pitch contour and [[phonation]] type.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Regional tone correspondences{{Anchor|Regional tone correspondences}}
! rowspan="2" | Tone
! rowspan="2" | Northern
! colspan="3" | North-central
! rowspan="2" | Central
! rowspan="2" | Southern
|- style="font-size: small; line-height: 1.1em;"
! ''&nbsp;Vinh&nbsp;'' !! ''Thanh<br />Chương'' !! ''Hà Tĩnh''
|-
! style="text-align: left;" | ''ngang''
| {{IPA|˧ 33}} || {{IPA|˧˥ 35}} || {{IPA|˧˥ 35}} ||{{IPA|˧˥ 35, ˧˥˧ 353}} ||{{IPA|˧˥ 35}} ||{{IPA|˧ 33}}
|-
! style="text-align: left;" | ''huyền''
|{{IPA|˨˩̤ 21̤}} ||{{IPA|˧ 33}} ||{{IPA|˧ 33}} ||{{IPA|˧ 33}} ||{{IPA|˧ 33}} ||{{IPA|˨˩ 21}}
|-
! style="text-align: left;" | ''sắc''
|{{IPA|˧˥ 35}} ||{{IPA|˩ 11}} ||{{IPA|˩ 11, ˩˧̰ 13̰}} || {{IPA|˩˧̰ 13̰}} || {{IPA|˩˧̰ 13̰}} || {{IPA|˧˥ 35}}
|-
! style="text-align: left;" | ''hỏi''
| {{IPA|˧˩˧̰ 31̰3}} ||{{IPA|˧˩ 31}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|˧˩ 31}}
| {{IPA|˧˩̰ʔ 31̰ʔ}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|˧˩˨ 312}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|˨˩˦ 214}}
|-
! style="text-align: left;" | ''ngã''
|{{IPA|˧ʔ˥ 3ʔ5}} ||{{IPA|˩˧̰ 13̰}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|˨̰ 22̰}}
|-
! style="text-align: left;" | ''nặng''
| {{IPA|˨˩̰ʔ 21̰ʔ}} ||{{IPA|˨ 22}} ||{{IPA|˨̰ 22̰}} || {{IPA|˨̰ 22̰}} ||{{IPA|˨˩˨ 212}}
|}

The table above shows the pitch contour of each tone using [[Tone (linguistics)#Asia|Chao tone number notation]] in which 1 represents the lowest pitch, and 5 the highest; [[glottalization]] ([[creaky voice|creaky]], [[stiff voice|stiff]], [[harsh voice|harsh]]) is indicated with the {{angbr IPA|◌̰}} symbol; [[murmured voice]] with {{angbr IPA|◌̤}}; [[glottal stop]] with {{angbr IPA|ʔ}}; sub-dialectal variants are separated with commas. (See also the [[#Tones|tone section]] below.)