English and Vietnamese consonants 1
HO CHI MINH UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
CONSTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH AND
VIETNAMESE CONSONANTS
Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu
Student: Tang Nu Anh Thu
Class: 5CQBT
HCMC, 30/12/2009
English and Vietnamese consonants 2
Nowadays, English has become an international language that requires most people
become fluent in using it. And a successful language learner is the person who can not
only use the language but also can communicate in it. However, to most Vietnamese
students, it is rather difficult to pronounce English words correctly. Therefore, they often
have problems in communicating and understanding each other. As a result, learning to
spell a word correctly is a must in order to be successful in communicating. In order to
pronounce a word accurately, it is necessary to pronounce a sound correctly. Therefore,
in this paper, I will focus on the English and Vietnamese consonant systems, and draw
some similarities and differences which will be helpful for Vietnamese students in
learning English.
According to Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary a consonant is “a speech sound
made by completely or partly stopping the flow of air being breathed out through the
mouth”.
English and Vietnamese consonants 3
English consonants
There are 24 consonants in English. They are classified according to 3 aspects: voicing,
place of articulation and manner of articulation.
Table 1: English consonants
Manner of
Place of articulation
articulation
Bilabial
Labiodental
Dental
Alveolar
Palato-
Palatal
Velar
Glottal
alveolar
Plosive
p b
Fricative
t d
f v
θ ð
s z
Affricate
Nasal
∫ ʒ
g
h
tʃ dʒ
m
Lateral
Approximant
k
ŋ
n
l
w
r
j
(Peter Roach p 62)
Place of articulation
Here I take most of the definitions from Oxford Advanced Leaner’s Dictionary.
Bilabials are consonants that are produced by using the two lips. English has 4
bilabial consonants. They are /p, b, m, w/.
English and Vietnamese consonants 4
Labiodentals are consonants that are produced by “placing the top teeth against
the bottom lip”. There are 2 labiodental sounds in English. They are /f, v/.
Dentals are consonants that are articulated by placing the tongue between the
teeth. English dental sounds include /, ð/.
Alveolars are consonants that are produced “with the tongue touching the part of
the mouth behind the upper front teeth”. There are 7 alveolar sounds in English. They
are /t, d, s, z, n, l, r/.
Palato-alveolars are consonants that “are produced by the contact of the front
part of the tongue with the hard palate just behind the alveolar “ridge” according to the
definition of palate- alveolar on the website http://www.unikassel.de. English palatoalveolars include 4 consonants /ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ/.
Palatals are consonants produced by “raising the tongue body against the hard
palate”. There is only 1 palatal sound. That is /j/.
Velar are consonants made by “placing the back part of the tongue near or against
the back part of the mouth -the soft palate”. There are 3 velar sounds. They are
/k, g, ŋ /.
Glottal are consonants articulated with the glottis. There is only 1 glottal sound in
English. That is /h/.
Manner of Articulation
Plosive consonants are consonants made by “completely stopping the flow of air
coming out of the mouth and then suddenly releasing it” (OALD). There are six plosive
consonants in English. They are /p, b, t, d, k, g/.
English and Vietnamese consonants 5
Fricative consonants are consonants articulated by forcing air through a “narrow
space in the mouth with the lips, teeth or tongue in a particular position” (OALD).
English fricatives include 9 consonants. They are /f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ∫, ʒ, h/.
Affricates are consonants made up of a plosive followed immediately by a fricative
(OALD). There are 2 affricate consonants. They are / tʃ, dʒ /.
Nasal are consonants produced by “allowing the air to escape freely through the
nose” (OALD). There are 3 nasal sounds. They are /m, n, ŋ
Lateral are consonants “produced by placing a part of the tongue against the
palate so that air flows around on both sides of the tongue” (OALD). There is only one
lateral sound in English. That is /l/.
Approximant are consonants made by bringing the parts of the mouth which
produce speech close together but not actually touching (OALD). There are 3
approximant consonants /w, j, r/.
Voicing
Voicing also plays an important part in distinguishing sounds. The voiced consonants
are those that are produced with the vibration of the vocal cord and the voiceless
consonants are sounds pronounced without the vibration of the vocal cord.
Voiceless consonants include /p, t, k, f, θ, s, ∫, h, tʃ/.
Voiced consonants: /b, d, g, v, ð, z, ʒ, dʒ, m, n,  l, w, r, j/.
English and Vietnamese consonants 6
Table 2 : English consonants
Ordinal Phonemes Letters Examples
Ordinal Phonemes Letters Examples
01
p
p
pea, pin
13
b
b
bee, been
02
t
t
toe, tea
14
d
d
do, does
03
k
c
cap, car
15
g
g
gap, go
04
f
f
fat, fan
16
v
v
vat
05
θ
th
thing thank
17
ð
th
this, that
06
s
s
sip, sea
18
z
z
zip
07
∫
sh
ship, shape
19
ʒ
08
h
h
hat, hear
20
l
l
led
09
m
m
map, man
21
r
r
red
10
n
n
now, nap
22
j
y
yet
11

ng
hang, hung
23
w
w
wet was
12
tʃ
ch
chin, Chinese 24
dʒ
g
gin
measure
English and Vietnamese consonants 7
Vietnamese consonants
Vietnamese has 22 initial consonants and 8 final consonants. They are also classified
according to place of articulation, manner of articulation and voicing.
Table 3: Vietnamese initial sounds
Place of articulation
Manner of articulation
Stop
Labial
t’
Aspirated
unaspirated
Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
voiceless
voiced
nasal
fricative voiceless
voiced
lateral
t
ʈ
c
k
ɲ
ŋ
b
d
m
n
f
s
ş
x
v
z
ʐ
ɣ
l
Place of articulation
Labial: Vietnamese has 5 labial consonants. They are /b, m, f, v/.
Alveolar: There are 7 alveolar consonants in Vietnamese. They are
ʔ
h
English and Vietnamese consonants 8
/t’, t, d, n, s, z, l/.
Retroflex: Retroflex consonants includes 3 sounds /ʈ, ş, ʐ/.
Palatal: There are 2 palatal sounds in Vietnamese. They are /c, ɲ/
Velar: Vietnamese velar consonants consist of 4 sounds. They are /k, ŋ, x, ɣ/
Glottal: There are 2 glottal consonants in Vietnamese. They are /ʔ, h/
Manner of articulation
Vietnamese consonants are divided into two kinds in term of manner of articulation.
Stop consonants include 12 sounds. They are /b, t’, t, d, ʈ, c, k, ʔ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ/
Fricative consonants include 10 sounds. They are /f, v, s, ş, ʐ, z, ɣ, h, l/
The stops
There are also different kinds of stop consonants in Vietnamese
Aspirated stop consonant includes /t’/.
Voiceless unaspirated stop consonants include /t, ʈ, c, k, ʔ/.
Voiced unaspirated stop consonants include /b, d, ɲ,ŋ/.
Nasal stop consonants include /m, n/.
The fricative
Voiceless fricative consonants include /f, s, ş, x, h/.
Voiced fricative consonants include /v, z, ʐ, ɣ/.
Lateral fricative consonant includes /l/.
English and Vietnamese consonants 9
Table 4: Vietnamese initial sounds
Stt Âm Con chữ Ví dụ
Stt Âm Con chữ Ví dụ
01
b
b
ba, bàn
12
ʈ
tr
trâu, trắng
02
m
m
mạ, mang 13
ş
s
sâu sắc
03
f
ph
phao, pha 14
ʐ
r
ráo riết
04
v
v
vào, việt
15
c
ch
chào chú
05
t’
th
thầy, tha
16
ɲ
nh
nhà nho
06
t
t
tay, ta
17
k
c, k, q
co, quà, kẹo
07
d
đ
đi, đứng
18
ŋ
ng, n, gh ngày, nghèo
08
n
n
nao, núng 19
x
kh
khó khăn
09
s
x
xanh, cây
20
ɣ
g,gh
gà, ghê
10
z
d, gi
dày, gian
21
ʔ
(khuyết)
11
l
l
lo lắng
22
h
h
hay, ho
English and Vietnamese consonants 10
Table 5: Vietnamese final consonants
Manner of articulation
Place of articulation
Labial Alveolar Velar
Noise consonant
p
t
k
Sonant nasal
m
n
ŋ
semi -consonant -w
-j
Place of articulation
Labial sounds include /p, m, -w/.
Alveolar sounds include /t, n,-j/.
Velar sounds include /k, ŋ, -j/.
Manner of articulation
Vietnamese final consonants are also classified in terms of place of articulation and
manner of articulation.
Noise consonant sounds include /p, t, k/.
Sonant sounds include 3 nasal consonants /m, n, ŋ/ and 2 semi- consonant
sounds /-w, -j/.
English and Vietnamese consonants 11
Table 6: Final consonants in Vietnamese
Stt Âm Con chữ Ghi chú
Ví dụ
01
-p
p
mọi trường hợp
Tạp, lập, úp, mép
02
-t
t
mọi trường hợp
Át, lét, nét, mét
03
-k
ch
Sau nguyên âm bổng i, , e Dịch, sách, lệch, đích
c
trong các trường hợp khác
lấc cấc, mốc, thóc
04
-m
m
mọi trường hợp
nam, àm, nhàm, tám
05
-n
n
mọi trường hợp
nhân dân, tán, hạn
06
-ɲ
nh
sau âm bổng i, , e
tính, tránh, sinh ,bệnh
-ŋ
ng
trong các trường hợp khác
trông, mong, đứng , đường
-w
o
sau nguyên âm đơn dài
tao, lao, vào bao
u
trong trường hợp khác
đau, đầu, tiu nghỉu
y
sau nguyên âm ngắn
07
08
-j
,ă
lấy, tày, bấy nay
After analyzing the two consonant systems, I withdraw some similarities and differences
between the two languages.
Similarities
In the initial sound system, Vietnamese and English both have these consonant sounds
/b, d, k, m, n, f, v, s, z, h, l/.
English and Vietnamese consonants 12
b
(bố or bear)
d
(đi or dear)
k
(kẹo or keen)
m
(má or me)
n
(nôi or name)
f
(phở or five)
v
(và or visa)
s
(xin or send)
z
(gió or zero)
h
(hay or hand)
l
(lớp or lazy)
In the final sound system, the two languages have these consonant sounds in common.
p
(lắp or hop)
t
(nét or meet)
k
(thóc or luck)
m
(tám or bomb)
n
(sen or sun)
ŋ
(đông or song)
It would be better that we pay attention to these final sounds /p, t, k/ which are held in
Vietnamese but released in English.
Differences
English and Vietnamese consonants 13
Though the two languages share some certain sounds, each language still has its own
specific consonant.
Sounds that just exist in Vietnamese and some common problems for English
learners
In the initial sounds, Vietnamese has the aspirated /t’/ in “thơ” which is similar to /t/ in
English but actually, these consonants are quite different from each other. Therefore,
English learners have the tendency to replace /t’/ by /θ/.
The retroflex /ʈ/ in “trâu”, /ʐ/ in “rắn” and /ş/ in “sáng” in Vietnamese also cause
difficulties for English students because there is no similar pronunciation in English.
The voiceless unaspirated velar stop consonant in Vietnamese /x/ in “không” also
makes English students confused with the aspirated /k/ in English.
In addition, though the two languages share some consonants, some Vietnamese
consonants can stand both of at the beginning and at the end of the words whereas
English consonants can just be found at the other positions but not at the beginning of
the words. For example sound /ŋ/ in “ngủ” can be the initial sound in Vietnamese but /ŋ/
just can play the part of the final sound in English such as /ŋ/ in “sing”. Similarly, /ɲ/ in
“ngủ” is the initial Vietnamese sound but it /ɲ/ can just be found at the middle of the
words such as in the word “Kenya” in English.
Some other consonants that also cause problems for English students are the velar
sound /ɣ/ in “gà” and the palatal sound /c/ in “chơi”.
Sounds that just exist in English and some common problems for Vietnamese
learners
English and Vietnamese consonants 14
English also has a lot of sounds that cannot be found in Vietnamese. The
approximant consonant /w/ and the aspirated /t/ in toy are distinctive sounds in English.
However, the most difficult sounds that cause a lot of difficulties for most second
languages learners including Vietnamese students are the four palato-alveolar sounds
/∫/ in “shop”, /ʒ/ in “television”, /tʃ/ in “chain” and /dʒ/ in “judge” and the two dental
fricatives /θ/ in “thing” and /ð/ in “this” . Besides that, English also has many consonants
clusters at the beginning and at the end of the words. Therefore, Vietnamese students
often left one or two sounds in the consonant clusters. For example, instead of
pronouncing cold /kəuld/, Vietnamese students pronounce /kəul/.
Vietnamese students also find hard in pronouncing the fricative / f, v, z /when
these sounds occur at the end of words, so they often left out these sounds when
pronouncing the words. For example, instead of pronouncing [li:f] in the word “leaf”,
Vietnamese students tend to pronounce [li:] without the sound /f/ at the end.
While English has voiced stop consonants at the end of the words such as /b, d,
g/, there is no voiced stop consonants at the end of words in Vietnamese. Hence
Vietnamese learners often confuse these sounds with the voiceless stop sounds /p t k/.
That is the reason why they pronounce “bat” and “bad”, “pick” and “pig” the same.
In conclusion, through a contrastive view into English and Vietnamese
consonants, I would like to discuss some implication for teaching and learning at the
high school in our country.
Firstly it is necessary for teachers to help students to understand how to
pronounce difficult consonant sounds in English. Teachers should explain clearly to
English and Vietnamese consonants 15
their students about the features of consonants based on voicing, place of articulation
and manner of articulation.
Secondly, learners should be given more chances to practice pronunciation in
and outside classrooms because practicing will make their pronunciation more
accurately and naturally. Now, there are a lot of ways for students to practise
pronunciation. A lot of books together with audio files such as Ship or Sheep, Tree or
Three offer many exercises for students to improve their pronunciation. Besides that,
internet is also a useful tool for learning pronunciation.
Thirdly, teachers should spend time correcting students’ mispronunciation
frequently so that students can realize their problems and pay more attention to the
sounds that they often spell wrongly.
Last but not least, students should be encouraged to talk to native speakers so
that they are familiar with the real pronunciation outside the classrooms.
Though becoming fluent in English may take a long time, I believe that if students try
their best to practise, gradually they can improve the ability to speak and communicate
in English.
English and Vietnamese consonants 16
References
Duong Thi Nu.(2009) Mistake or Vietnamese English. Hanoi. Vietnam National
University
Đoàn Thiện Thuật.(1957). Ngữ âm tiếng Việt. Hanoi. Hanoi National University
Publisher.
Hoang Thi Quynh Hoa (1965). A Phonological Contrastive Study of Vietnam and
English. Texas. Texas Technological College.
Le Quang Thiem.(2004).Ngôn ngữ học đối chiếu. Hanoi: Hanoi National Unniversity
Publisher.
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary.(2007).Oxford. Oxford University Press.
Palato-alveolars. Dec 20, 2009, from http://www.unikassel.de/.
Peter Roach.(1991).English phonetics and phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.