Tones
The standard Vietnamese language has six tones. Each tone is a meaningful and integral part of the syllable. Every syllable must have a tone. The tones are indicated in conventional Vietnamese spelling by diacritic marks placed over (á, à, ả, ã) or under (ạ) single vowels or the vowel in a cluster that bears the main stress (v).
| Vietnamese | Tone name | Tone mark | Description | Example | Meaning |
| Không dấu | (no) | o | Voice starts at middle of normal speaking range and remains at that level | ma | ghost |
| Sắc | high-rising | ó | Voice starts high and rises sharply | má | cheek |
| Huyền | low-falling | ò | Voice starts at a fairly low and gradually falls | mà | but |
| Nặng | low-broken | ọ | Voice falls, then cuts off abruptly | mạ | rice seedling |
| Hỏi | low-rising | ỏ | Voice falls initially, then rises slightly | mả | tomb |
| Ngã | high-broken | õ | Voice rises slightly, is cut off abruptly, then rises sharply again | mã | horse |
Tone Symbols
The six tones just described are summarized in the following chart to illustrate the differences between them as they are associated with individual words.
Vietnamese language has its national standard syntax, morphology and the tone system, although there are some regional variations in pronunciation and accents. There are significant differences in pronunciation and accents between the Northern and Southern people (represented by Hanoi and Saigon respectively). They are as follows:
1. There is no difference in the single vowels between Hanoi and Saigon.
2. There are two vowel clusters /ưu/ and /ươu/ which are pronounced /iu/ and /iêu/ by Hanoi, and /ưu/ and /ươu/ by Saigon.
3. Differences in the pronunciation of consonants:
4. Saigonese do not differentiate between the two tones /?/ and /~/; these are pronounced alike.
We hope that all users of this Compact Vietnamese Dictionary—be they Vietnamese students learning English, or English-speaking expatriates, students or business people—will find this a most compact, up-to-date and user-friendly Vietnamese-English/English-Vietnamese dictionary, for all aspects of daily communication.
Phan Văn Giưỡng
