Nguyen Thi Huynh Loc
Nguyen Ngoc Vu
Contrastive Analysis
Dec 30th 2009
Comparison between English and Vietnamese phonology
Nguyen 1
Abstract
This study is to help Vietnamese students pronounce English precisely and English
learners of Vietnamese pronounce Vietnamese correctly. To do this, I focus on the
comparison between English and Vietnamese phonology. Much vocabulary has been
borrowed from Chinese, especially words that denote abstract ideas in the same way
European languages borrow from Latin and Greek, and it was formerly written using the
Chinese writing system, albeit in a modified format and was given vernacular
pronunciation. The Vietnamese writing system in use today is an adapted version of the
Latin alphabet, with additional diacritics for tones and certain letters. The speakers of
each language develop their mouth muscles to adapt to their language. There are many
differences in the pronunciation between English and Vietnamese, so the native
speaker of Vietnamese can not speak English as exactly as they can speak Chinese or
Korean. Non-native pronunciations of English result from the common linguistic
phenomenon in which non-native users of any language tend to carry the intonation,
phonological processes, and pronunciation rules from their mother tongue into their
English speech. They may also create innovative pronunciations for English sounds not
found in the speaker's first language. In addition, non-native English speakers tend to
substitute their native sounds in place of difficult English sounds or they may even
simply delete those difficult English sounds. This is more common when the distinction
is subtle between English sounds or between a sound of English and of a speaker's
primary language (wikipedia). Therefore, I want to help Vietnamese learners and
English learners pay attention to those difficulties and have better pronunciation.
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There are two main dialects in Vietnamese, a northern one centered around
Hanoi and a southern one centered around Ho Chi Minh City. The northern dialect of
Vietnamese was chosen as the main comparison because it is considered the official
dialect of Vietnam (Giang M. Tang).
First, we look at the difference of sounds and symbols between English and
Vietnamese. There are many sounds that are similar between English and Vietnamese,
such as [t, b, m, n…]. However, there are also some sounds that exist in English but not
in Vietnamese, and vice versa, such as /dʒ/, /ʃ/, /æ/, /θ/, /ð/, /ʒ/ … in English, and tones
in Vietnamese.
Now let’s move to the distinction between English and Vietnamese phonemes. A
comparison of Vietnamese and English may begin at the smallest unit of language: the
phoneme or speech sound. A phoneme is defined as “the smallest phonetic unit in a
language that is capable of conveying a distinction in meaning” (American Heritage
Dictionary, 2000). Vietnamese has three types of phonemes: tones (sometimes referred
to as tonemes), consonants, and vowels. English phonemes consist of consonants and
vowels; this language does not have lexical tones. (Giang M. Tang 6)
Now we will look at each issue one at a time.
First, we will compare English and Vietnamese consonants.
• English: 24 consonants (Peter Roach)
• Vietnamese: 22 initial consonants & 8 ending consonants (Doan Thien Thuat)
• 8 ending consonants in Vietnamese
– 6 consonants: p, t, k, m, n, ŋ
– 2 semi-consonants (semi-vowels): i̭̯ , u̯
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• Má, lá, chợ, thơ: no change in final phoneme’s timbre -> zero ending consonant
• Mai, tai, đau, thau: change in final phoneme’s timbre (closing) -> ending consonants
(“CA of English and Vietnamese Consonants” 8)
Besides, Vietnamese chart is more detailed
•
More categorizing criteria for manner of articulation in Vietnamese
• Less categorizing criteria for place of articulation in Vietnamese (“CA of English and
Vietnamese Consonants” 12)
Vietnamese: more attention
English:
more
to tongue position
articulators
attention
 Flat
 Dental
 Retroflex
 Alveolar
 Dorsal
 Palatal alveolar
(“CA of English and Vietnamese Consonants “ 3)
Vietnamese: Manner of articulation for fricatives
 Voiceless
 Voiced
 Lateral
English:
- /l/ & /h/: same as Vietnamese
- Dental, Alveolar & Palato-aveolar
Fricatives: different from those in Vietnamese
/w/ & /j/: not exist in Vietnamese
to
other
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/ʧ/ & /ʤ/: difficult for Vietnamese to pronounce (“CA of English and Vietnamese
Consonants” 14)
Here are some mistakes that Vietnamese learners of English may have.
Speakers may not produce final consonants since there are fewer final
consonants in Vietnamese and those that do exist differ in their phonetic quality:
The Vietnamese phonetic system contains 23 initial consonant phonemes: /b/, /f/
(ph), /v/, /m/, /t/, /d/ (đ), /th/ (th), /s/ (x), /z/ (d), /n/, /l/, /_/ (tr), /ʃ/ (s), /_/ (gi, r), /c/ (ch), /_/
(nh), /k/ (c, k, q), /γ/ (g), /χ/ (kh), /N/ (ng), /h/, /p/, /r/6 The possible Vietnamese
consonants are represented in the following chart based on the place and manner of
their production (articulation) (Binh N. Ngo 8).
Giang M. Tang compares Vietnamese and English consonant sounds that occur
at the beginning (syllable-initial) and end (syllable-final) of words or syllables. At the
beginning of words (syllable-initial), Vietnamese and English share the following
consonant sounds: /p, b, d, k, m, n, f, v, s , z, h, l/, the r-flap in “utter” and “y” in “yard.” It
should be noted that /p, k/ in Vietnamese are unaspirated (Dinh & Nguyen, 1998) and
may sound like “b” and “g” to an English speaker. In English, /p, k/ may be aspirated
depending on context (Harris, 1994). At the end of words (syllable-final), Vietnamese
and English share the following consonant sounds: /p, t, k, m, n/ and “ng.” In
Vietnamese, syllable-final /p, t, k/ are unreleased or “held in,” whereas these sounds
may be released in English.
Although Vietnamese and English share certain sounds, there are multiple
consonants specific to each language. In the initial position, Vietnamese-specific
consonants include the dental “t” as in to “big” (much like a Spanish “t”) and the dental
aspirated “t” as in thoû “rabbit,” which is similar to the English “t” but produced between
the teeth. The Vietnamese “g” in gaø “chicken” and “kh” in khoâng “no” are produced
with continuous air flow (fricatives) much like a Spanish “g” in lago “lake” and “j” in jaula
“cage.” Other fricatives include the “r” in raén “snake” (in southern dialects and certain
northern dialects), and its voiceless counterpart “s” as in saùng “morning” (in the
southern dialect), which is similar to the English “sh.”
Table 1
Comparison of Vietnamese and English Consonant Sounds in Syllable-Initial and
–Final Position
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Vietnamese
Shared Sounds
English Only
Only
SyllableInitial
h
p (pin or pie),
t̪ (to), t̪ (thỏ)
1
ʈ (trời), c (chơi), ʔ,
b (bà or bear),
d (đen or doll),
1
t (time), g (go), Ɵ (thing), ð
(then),
ʃ (shoe), Ʒ (measure), ʧ
ʐ (rắn), ȿ (sáng)
k (kéo or kite),
ɣ (gà), x (không)
m (má or me)
(chain), ʤ (june),
n (năm or note),
ɹ (rope), w (water),
ŋ (ngủ), ɲ (nhỏ)
f (phở or fire),
s-clusters (sk, scr, sm, sn,
2
v (và or very)
str…)
s (xin or send),
r-clusters (br, cr, scr, dr, gr),
2
z (rồi or zebra),
l-clusters (bl, cl, fl, gl),
h (hết or hair),
w-clusters (dw, sw, tw, qu)
l (làm or love)
1
j (dì or yard)
3
ɾ (rắn or utter)
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Syllable-
p (lớp or hop)
Final
t (ít or bat),
k (gác or luck),
(làm or lamb),
b (lab), d (sod), g (bag), Ɵ
(bath), ð (bathe), f (laugh), v
m
(love), s (kiss), z (buzz),
ʃ (ash), Ʒ (rouge), ʧ (itch),
n (sơn or sun),
ŋ (sông or song)
ʤ (bridge),
l (ball)
-pt (slept), -ps (oops), -kt
(walked),
-ks (licks) , -ft (laughed), -sp
(lisp),
-st (list), -sk (brisk) –lp
(help), -lb (bulb),
-lt (wilt), -ld (wild), -lk (bulk),
-lf (elf),
-lv (delve), -lƟ (wealth), -lʧ
(belch),
-lʤ (bulge), -lm (balm), -mp
(bump),
-mf
(triumph),
-mƟ
(warmth), -nt (mint),
-nd (wand), -nƟ (tenth), -nz
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(lens),
-nʧ (wrench), -nʤ (binge), ŋk (bank),
-ksƟ (sixth), -kst (whisked),
-lpt (helped),
-mpt
(bumped),
-mps
(bumps)…
Vietnamese has many consonant sounds that are produced with the tongue tip
curved upward and towards the back of the mouth (retroflex) such as the “tr” in trôøi
“sky,” and “ch” in chôi “to play” (similar to the English “ch”). In addition, Vietnamese has
a glottal stop before words that are written with an initial vowel as in “ng” in ngu û “to
sleep” found in final position of English words such as “song” as well as the Vietnamese
“nh” in nhoû “small” found in the middle of English words such as “ny” in “Kenya”
(similar to a Spanish ñ). It should be noted that some Vietnamese-specific consonants
are produced with the tongue tip retroflexed (3 of 11) as in ga ø”chicken” – two
articulatory places that are considered relatively complex (or “marked,” following
Jakobson, 1968).
English also has consonant sounds not found in Vietnamese. In the initial
position, English-specific sounds include /w/ in “water,” /t/ in “toy” (generally aspirated;
Harris, 1994), /g/ in “girl,” “ch” in “chair,” “dg” in “judge,” “sh” in “shoe” and its rare voiced
counterpart in “measure.” Possibly the most well known consonant sounds specific to
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English which are very difficult for second language learners include the English “r,”
“soft th” as in “thing,” and “hard th” as in “this.” In addition to single consonants, English
has numerous consonant clusters (two or more consonant combinations) that involve /s,
r, l, w/ (Harris, 1994; see Table 1). Since Vietnamese only has six consonant sounds at
the end of words (syllable-final position including /b, d, g, f, v, s, z, l/, “soft th,” “hard th”
“sh,” its voiced counterpart in “measure,” “ch” “dg” in “judge,” and consonant clusters
that involve /p, f, t, d, k, l, m, n/. English appears to have a wider variety of more
complex consonant sounds and sound sequences across syllable positions (see Table
1 for examples).
According to Binh N. Ngo, in English the unaspirated /t/ and the aspirated /th/
are the allophones of the phoneme /t/. The aspirated /th/ occurs at the beginning of a
stressed syllable, the unaspirated /t/ in the other positions. In other words, they are in
complementary distribution. For example, in the word taskmaster, the first consonant
t is aspirated /th/, the second one is unaspirated /t/. The unaspirated /t/ and aspirated
/th/ are different phonemes in Vietnamese that distinguish the meanings of words: ta
(we) ≠ tha (to forgive), tơ (silk) ≠ thơ (poetry), tư (private) ≠ thư (letter). On the other
hand, the Vietnamese aspirated consonant /th/, which is indicated by the combination
of the two characters th, should not be confused with the English consonants /θ/ and
/ð/.
The voiceless consonant /t/ should not be mixed up with its voiced counterpart
/d/: ta (we) ≠ đa (banyan tree), tà (evil) ≠ đà (momentum), tá (dozen) ≠ đá (to kick). In
American English some words with the voiceless /t/ tend to be pronounced with the
voiced /d/, for instance: better, water.
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Learners should not confuse the three nasal consonants /n/, /_/ and /ŋ/. The
Vietnamese alveolar consonant /n/ is similar to the English /n/. The English
consonant /ŋ/ occurs only at the end of a syllable, for example: sang, long, thing,
single. The Vietnamese /ŋ/ functions both as an initial consonant, e.g. ngà, nghe,
ngủ, and as a final consonant, e.g. ngang. The consonant /_/ rarely occurs in English.
Learners may have trouble producing the initial consonants /_/ and /ŋ/. Their attention
should be focused on the distinctive features of the consonants in terms of the place
of articulation: /n/ is an alveolar consonant made with the contact of the tongue tip
against the alveolar ridge, /_/ is a palatal consonant produced with the back of the
tongue rising toward the hard palate and touching it, /ŋ/ is a velar consonant, which is
created with the blade of the tongue moving backwards and the back of the tongue
contacting the velum (Binh N. Ngo 15)
The palatal consonant /c/ is another specific consonant in Vietnamese. In the
production of this consonant the tongue tip is down near the back of the lower teeth
and contact is made by the tongue blade against the hard palate. The combination of
the characters ch represents the Vietnamese consonant /c/. The sound that
represents /c/ should not be mixed up with the English consonant /t∫/, e.g.
Vietnamese cha, chú, cho versus English char, choose, chop.
English Vowel Chart (“CA of English and Vietnamese Vowels” 13)
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Diphthong distribution
Vietnamese
•Mostly centering:
–/ie/ -iê, yê, ia, ya (hiền, miền, tiên)
–/ɯɤ/ -ươ, ưa(hươu, thưa, thương)
–/uo/ -uô, ua(uốngthuốc, lúaúa)
English
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•Centering: iə, eə, ʊə
•Closing
–ei, ai, ɔi
–əʊ, aʊ (10)
Vowel contrasts
•Vietnamese has prevocalic /u/ while English does not.
–“Cụạ” vs. “quạ”
–Other examples: noa, noãn, góa, hóa, khoa, quý (“CA of English and
Vietnamese Vowels” 12)
Vowel contrasts
•English has triphthongs while Vietnamese does not
–/eiə/ -player, layer
–/aiə/ -fire, liar
–/ɔiə/ -royal, loyal
–/əʊə/ -lower, mower
–/aʊə/ -power, hour (“CA of English_and_Vietnamese_Vowels” 13)
Phonological processes (khoaanh)

A glottal stop [ʔ] is inserted before words that begin with a vowel or the
glide /w/:
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ă
n

[
/
eat'
u
ỷ
'to
→
ʔan]
an/
'to
[
/
delegate'
→
ʔwij]
wi/
When stops /p, t, k/ occur at the end of words, they are unreleased and
with accompanying glottal closure [ʔp̚, ʔt̚, ʔk̚]:
đ
áp
o reply'
m
át
/
't
→
ʔɗaːʔp̚]
ɗaːp/
/
'c
ool'
[
→
maːʔt̚]
maːt/
k
[
/
'di
[
→
xaːʔk̚]
hác
fferent'

When the velar consonants /k, ŋ/ follow /u, w/, they are articulated with a
xaːk/
simultaneous bilabial closure [k͡p, ŋ͡m] (i.e. doubly-articulated) or are strongly
labialized [kʷ, ŋʷ].
đ
'
/
→ [ʔ
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ục
muddy' ɗuk/
đ
ộc
ɗuʔk͡p̚]
/
'
→
poison' ɗɜwk/
u
'
[ʔ
ɗɜwʔk͡p̚]
[ʔu
/
→
ng
cancer' uŋ/
o
'
ŋ͡m]
[ʔa
/
→
ng
awŋ/
bee'
wŋ͡m]
These words are really difficult for an American to pronounce easily. They have
to practise a lot.
Here are some difficulties that Vietnamese learners of English may have
(wikipedia):
o
Final /b/ is likely to be confused with /p/
o
Final /d/ is likely to be confused with /t/
o
Final /f/ is likely to be confused with /p/
o
Final /v/ is likely to be confused with /b/ or /p/
o
Final /s/ is likely to be confused with /ʃ/ or simply omitted
o
Final /ʃ/ is likely to be omitted
o
Final /z/ is likely to be confused with /ʃ/ or /s/
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
o
Final /tʃ/ is likely to be confused with /ʃ/
o
Final /l/ is likely to be confused with /n/
Speakers also have difficulty with English consonant clusters, with
segments being omitted or epinthetic vowels being inserted.

Speakers may not aspirate initial /t/ and /k/, making (American)
listeners perceive them as /d/ and /ɡ/ respectively.

Speakers often have difficulty with the following phonemes:
o
/θ/, which is confused with /t/ or /s/
o
/ð/, which is confused with /d/ or /z/
o
/p/, which is confused with /b/
o
/ɡ/, which is confused with /k/
o
/dʒ/, which is confused with /z/
o
/ʒ/, which is confused with /z/ or /dʒ/
o
/s/, which is confused with /ʃ/
o
/tɹ/, which is confused with /dʒ/, /tʃ/ or /t/
o
/v/, which is confused with /j/
o
/ɪ/, which is confused with /i/
o
/ʊ/, which is confused with /u/ or /ʌ/
o
/ɛ/, which is confused with /æ/
o
/æ/, which is confused with /ɛ/ or /ɑ/
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Now we come to the comparison between English and Vietnamese vowels (April
McMahon 86).
Binh
N.
Ngo explains that when the vowel and final systems are introduced, the attention of
learners should be directed to two essential characteristics of the Vietnamese vowels.
The difference between a rounded vowel and an unrounded vowel, and,
accordingly, between a rounded syllable and an unrounded syllable, is critical. In
English a rounded syllable may occasionally be pronounced as unrounded without
changing the meaning of the word, e.g. the rounded syllable on in the sentence The
computer is on. may have an element of the unrounded sound [αn]. This is
impossible in Vietnamese. Some characters denoting the rounded vowels (u, ô, o)
and unrounded vowels (ư, ơ) seem to be confusing, since the characters ư and ơ
may be perceived as characters representing rounded vowels. Learners should be
introduced to the sounds before seeing the characters. Minimal pairs containing the
oppositions ư/u, ơ/ô and ưa(ươ)/ua(uô) are very helpful, e.g. thư (letter)/thu
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(autumn), cớ (reason)/cố (make efforts), mưa (rain)/mua (buy), mượn (borrow)/muộn
(late).
The final consonant following a vowel in some cases significantly changes the
quality of the vowel. As a result, there are several specific types of syllables in
Vietnamese.
When one of three rounded monophthong vowels /u/, /o/ and /ɔ /is followed by
one of two final consonants /N/ or /k/, the rounding of the vowel does not start until
the middle of the articulation, and the lips come together at the end of the articulation,
e.g. cung, công, cong, cúc, cốc, cóc.
When one of the three front vowels occurs before the same final consonants
/N/ and /k/, they are produced shorter than when they precede the other finals or
when they are not followed by any final. The vowel /ε/ is denoted by the character a,
the final /N/ is represented by nh, and ch indicates the final /k/, e.g. kinh, kênh, canh,
kịch, kệch, cạch. The production of canh as \ka_] and cạch as \kạc] should be
avoided.
The "long" and "short" features of vowels are phonologically relevant in both
English and Vietnamese. In Vietnamese there are only two pairs of vowels which
differ from one another as long and short vowels: /a:/ ≠ /a/ and /ə:/ ≠ /ə/. The spelling
rules should be introduced so that learners can recognize the short vowels in written
texts and distinguish the short and long vowels when producing them. In addition,
some exceptions should be highlighted in order to distinguish the short vowels from
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their long counterparts. For instance, the short vowel /a/ is represented by :/ in tai,
cao.
A picture of the organs of speech would be of great use, especially for those
students who rely on visual information. The vowel triangle is very helpful in
explaining many spelling rules, e.g. when labialization is denoted by the character u
and when by the character o, or when the consonant /k/ is represented by the
character c and when by the character k. (These rules are certainly inconsistencies of
the Vietnamese alphabet which should be removed in the future).
It is crucial for an instructor to be patient and consistent with the accuracy of
learners' pronunciation, even if it means slow progress at the beginning. Attention
must continue to be focused on accuracy of pronunciation at more advanced levels of
Vietnamese when a learner has acquired more knowledge of vocabulary and
grammar, otherwise a learner may lose the phonetic skills she/he learned at the
beginning (Binh N. Ngo 16, 17).
Like other Southeast Asian languages, Vietnamese has a comparatively large
number of vowels. Below is a vowel diagram of Hanoi Vietnamese (wikipedia).
F
ront
tral
Cen
B
ack
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i
Hig
u
ư [ɨ]
h
[i]
ê
Upp
er Mid
[u]
ô
[e]
[o]
â [ə]
/ ơ [əː]
e
Lo
wer Mid
[ɛ]
o
[ɔ]
1Lo
ă [a] / a [aː]
w
Front, central, and low vowels (i, ê, e, ư, â, ơ, ă, a) are unrounded, whereas the
back vowels (u, ô, o) are rounded. The vowels â [ə] and ă [a] are pronounced very
short, much shorter than the other vowels. Thus, ơ and â are basically pronounced the
same except that ơ [əː] is long while â [ə] is short — the same applies to the low vowels
long a [aː] and short ă [a].
In addition to single vowels (or monophthongs), Vietnamese has diphthongs[8]
and triphthongs. The diphthongs consist of a main vowel component followed by a
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shorter semivowel offglide to a high front position [ɪ], a high back position [ʊ], or a
central position [ə].
Diphthong Diphthong Diphthong
Triphthong
Triphthong
Vowel
with
front with
back with centering with
front with
nucleus
offglide
offglide
–
Iu~yu [iʊ̯]
offglide
offglide
offglide
–
iêu [iə̯ʊ̯]
ia~iê~yê~ya
i
[iə̯]
ê
–
êu [eʊ̯]
–
–
–
e
–
eo [ɛʊ̯]
–
–
–
ư
ưi [ɨɪ̯]
ưu [ɨʊ̯]
ưa~ươ [ɨə̯]
ươi [ɨə̯ɪ]̯
ươu [ɨə̯ʊ̯]
â
ây [əɪ̯]
âu [əʊ̯]
–
–
–
ơ
ơi [əːɪ̯]
–
–
–
–
back
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ă
ay [aɪ̯]
au [aʊ̯]
–
–
–
a
ai [aːɪ̯]
ao [aːʊ̯]
–
–
–
u
ui [uɪ̯]
–
ua~uô [uə̯]
uôi [uə̯ɪ̯]
–
ô
ôi [oɪ̯]
–
–
–
–
o
oi [ɔɪ̯]
–
–
–
–
The centering diphthongs are formed with only the three high vowels (i, ư, u) as
the main vowel. They are generally spelled as ia, ưa, ua when they end a word and are
spelled iê, ươ, uô, respectively, when they are followed by a consonant. There are also
restrictions on the high offglides: the high front offglide cannot occur after a front vowel
(i, ê, e) nucleus and the high back offglide cannot occur after a back vowel (u, ô, o)
nucleus.
The correspondence between the orthography and pronunciation is complicated.
For example, the offglide [ɪ̯] is usually written as i however, it may also be represented
with y. In addition, in the diphthongs [aɪ̯] and [aːɪ̯] the letters y and i also indicate the
pronunciation of the main vowel: ay = ă + [ɪ̯], ai = a + [ɪ̯]. Thus, tay "hand" is [taɪ̯] while
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tai "ear" is [taːɪ̯]. Similarly, u and o indicate different pronunciations of the main vowel:
au = ă + [ʊ̯], ao = a + [ʊ̯]. Thus, thau "brass" is [tʰaʊ̯] while thao "raw silk" is [tʰaːʊ̯].
The four triphthongs are formed by adding front and back offglides to the
centering diphthongs. Similarly to the restrictions involving diphthongs, a triphthong with
front nucleus cannot have a front offglide (after the centering glide) and a triphthong
with a back nucleus cannot have a back offglide.
With regards to the front and back offglides [ɪ̯, ʊ̯], many phonological
descriptions analyze these as consonant glides /j, w/. Thus, a word such as đâu
"where", phonetically [ɗəʊ̯], would be phonemicized as /ɗəw/.
Tang M. Giang also compares the vowel systems of Vietnamese (Dinh &
Nguyen, 1998; D.H. Nguyen 2001) and English (erickson, 2001; Harris, 1994). As with
table 1, orthographic letters that correspond to speech sounds are underlined in the
words in parentheses. Vietnamese and English share even single vowels: /i/ as in “see,”
/æ/ as in “had,” /ε/ as in “egg,” /Ɔ/ as in “caught,” /α/ as in “cot,” /ʊ/as in “could” and /u/
as in “blue.” Apart from these shared sounds, Vietnamese contains five additional single
vowels, /e/ as in leâ “pear,” /ɯ/ as in tö “private,” / ɤ/ as in mô “dream,” / ɤ̆/ as in aám
“warm” and /ă/ as in naêm, “year;” and three true diphthongs (Dinh & Nguyen, 1998):
/ie/ as in bieån “sea,” /uo/ as in cuoán “roll” and /ɯɤ/ as in öôùt “wet.” In addition, there
are 20 possible two-vowel combinations in which the principal vowel is combined with
either a medial vowel /-u-/, or a syllable-final semi-vowel “-y” or “-w” and seven 3-vowel
Nguyen 23
combinations that include all three vowel slots: medial, principal, and final (Dinh &
Nguyen, 1998; see Table 2 for examples). These two- and three-vowel combinations
maintain the overall syllable structure (Dinh & Nguyen, 1998) and are produced in one
“beat.” The vowel sounds specific to Standard American English include three single
vowels: /ɪ/ in “kid,” /ʌ/ in “cut,” and unstressed /ə/ in “attack.” In addition, English has two
rhotacized (r-rounding) vowels /ɝ/in “bird” and its unstressed counterpart /ɚ/ in
“thunder.” There are five English-specific diphthongs: /oʊ/as in “oh,” /aʊ/ as in “cow,”
/ai/ as in “eye,” /oɪ/ as in “boy,” and /eɪ/ as in “bake;” as well as four vowel
combinations: /aɪæ/ as in “Diana,” /ieɪ/ as in “pronunciation,” /ioʊ/ as in “stereo,” and
/oʊeɪ/ as in “oasis” (Harris, 1994).
Table 2
Comparison of Vietnamese and English vowels
Vietnamese only
Shared sounds
Singletons
e (lê), ɯ (tư), ɤ
(mơ)
English only
i (xin or see)
ɪ (kid)
æ(làm or had),
ʌ
(cut),
ǝ
1
ɤ̆ (ấm), ă (năm)
ɔ(cho or ought )
2
1
(attack)
ɑ (mắt or cot )
ɚ (thunder) ɝ
ʊ (tư or wood)
(urgent)
u (tu or blue)
Nguyen 24
2
ɛ (chết or egg)
Diphthongs
ie (biển, mía, yên)
uo (cuốn)
oʊ
(oh),
aʊ
(eye),
ɔɪ
(how)
ɯɤ (ướt, trưa)
aɪ
(boy), eɪ (bake)
2-Vowel Combinations
ui (suy), oe (Huế)
(medial vowel -u- and
oɤ (thủơ), oɤ̆ (luật)
principal vowel)
ɔe
(khoe),
ɔa
(hoa)
2-Vowel Combinations
(principal vowel with
final semi-vowel)
ɤj (chơi), ɯj (chửi)
oj (nồi), uj (lùi), aj
(chai)
ɔj (voi), ɜj (cây), ɐj
(cay)
iw (xíu), ew (kêu)
ɛw (leo), ɯw (lưu)
Nguyen 25
ɐ:w(áo, rau), ău
(lâu)
3+ vowel combinations
iew (nhiều, yêu)
(medial vowel -u- and
ɯɤw (hươu), ɔaj
principal
vowel
aɪæ (Diana)
ieɪ,
and
(khoai) uɜj (nuôi),
(pronounciation)
ɯɤj (mười)
ioʊ
final semi-vowel)
uia
(khuya),
uej
(stereo),
oʊeɪ (oasis)
(uây)
The IPA vowel chart of monophthongs (i.e., simple vowels) below is a composite
of the phonetic descriptions of Nguyễn (1997), Thompson (1965), and Han (1966).[2]
This is a vowel description of Hanoi Vietnamese (i.e., other regions of Vietnam may
have different inventories) (khoaanh).
F
C
B
ront entral ack
Clo
i
ɨ
u
e
ə
o
se
Clo
se-mid
Nguyen 26
ː
Op
ɛ
ɜ
ɔ
en-mid
a
Op
en
aː

All vowels are unrounded except for the three back rounded
vowels: /u, o, ɔ/.

/ɜ/ and /a/ are pronounced short — shorter than the other vowels.
o
/a/ vs. /aː/: Short /a/ (orthographic ă) and long /aː/
(orthographic a) are different phonemic vowels, differing in length only
(and not quality). (The [ː] symbol indicates a long vowel.)
o
/ɜ/ vs. /əː/: Han (1966) suggests that short /ɜ/ and long /əː/
differ in both height and length, but that the difference in length is probably
the primary distinction. Thompson (1965) seems to suggest that the
distinction is due to height (as he does for all Vietnamese vowels),
although he also notes the length difference.

/ɨ/ is close central unrounded and backed and lowered: [ɨ̞̠]. Many
descriptions, such as Thompson, Nguyễn (1970), Nguyễn (1997), consider this
vowel to be close back unrounded: [ɯ]. However, Han's[4] instrumental analysis
Nguyen 27
indicates that it is more central than back. Brunelle (2003) and Pham (2003) also
transcribe this vowel as central.
The high and upper-mid vowels /i, ɨ, u, e, əː, o/ have phonetic

offglides: [ɪj, ɨɰ, ʊw, ej, əːɰ, ow], particularly in open syllables:
c'elder
q'countrysid
→
[cɪj]
/ci/
hị
uê
sister'
t
'fourth'
m
'to dream'
→
[tɨɰ]
/tɨ/
ư
/kwe/
[kwej]
→
/məː/
→
[məːɰ]
/ko/
[kow]
→
e'
ơ
t
'autumn' /tʰu/
c'paternal
→
[tʰʊw]
hu
ô
aunt'
Diphthongs and triphthongs
In addition to monophthongs, Vietnamese has many diphthongs and triphthongs.
Most of these consist of a vowel followed by /j/ or /w/. Below is a chart listing the
diphthongs & triphthongs of general northern speech.
/j/
/w/
/ɜ/
Diphthongs
/iɜ/
Diphthongs/
Diphthongs/
Triphthongs
Triphthongs
/əːj/
/iw/
Nguyen 28
/ɨɜ/
/ɜj/
/ew/
/uɜ/
/aːj/
/ɛw/
/aj/
/əːw/
/ɨj/
/ɜw/
/uj/
/aːw/
/oj/
Given information about the phonemes or speech-sounds of each language, it is
also important to understand how these sounds combine together to form a syllable.
Syllable structures in Indo-European languages may be described as sequences of
consonants (C) and vowels (V). For instance, in English, there are numerous syllable
structures that are plausible such as CV, CVC, CCVC, CCCVC, (Erickson, 2001) as in
the words “me,” “bat,” “stop,” and “scratch,” respectively. In contrast, linguists in
Vietnam have poisted that representing the Vietnamese syllable using consonant and
vowel sequences inaccurately portrays its structure since CV sequences would not
account for tones, a compulsory element that contributes to lexical meaning, nor the
adjustments in vowel length that contribute to the preservation of the syllable structure
and length (H. T. Nguyen, personal communication, November 15, 2005) (Giang M.
Tang).
Table 3 displays the syllable structure of Vietnamese (Doan, 1999; see also Dinh
& Nguyen, 1998). Double lines delineate the three main syllable components: tone,
Nguyen 29
syllable-initial sound, and the rime. Tone is present throughout the syllable and carries
lexical meaning (see the lexical-semantic position consists of a medial vowel, principal
vowel, and final sound, of which the principal vowel is the only required vowel in the
syllable (Dinh & Nguyen, 1998). Table 3 displays four word examples that illustrate
possible syllable structures: toaùn “math,” toøa “court,” tan “to melt” and ta “we” or “I.”
Note that the smallest possible syllable, ta, is produced with an initial consonant sound,
principal vowel, and a tone (level tones are not marked orthographically).
Table 3
Vietnamese Syllable Structure
Tone
Syll
Rime
able-initial
Medial
sound
/u/
P
Final sound
rincipal
vowel
T
o
á
T
o
à
T
a
T
a
n
n
Compared to English, Vietnamese has a wider variety of single vowel and vowel
combinations with a total of five unshared singletons and 30 vowel combinations
compared to five unshared singletons and eight vowel combinations in Standard
Nguyen 30
American English (see Table 2). A complex vowel system may be related to the
Vietnamese syllable structure that allows three possible slots for vowel sounds and two
possible slots for consonants (see syllable structure in Table 3). Correspondingly, the
relatively limited number of consonants may be related to their limited role in a syllable.
A relatively larger vowel inventory may counterbalance a more limited number of
consonants in Vietnamese.
Based on this comparison of Vietnamese and English phonology, we find that
while certain speech sounds are common to both languages, there are many
differences to be noted. First, tones in Vietnamese carry lexical meaning and are
obligatory in the syllable structure. Second, Vietnamese has a more complicated vowel
system, while English has a larger consonant inventory with greater distribution across
syllable positions. Lastly, in regards to complexity, Vietnamese contains multiple
relatively marked retroflex and velar consonant sounds, while English contains complex
structures such as affricates and consonant clusters.
Here is the comparison between the English stress and Vietnamese stress.
Native speakers of English are intuitively aware that certain syllables in each word, and
one syllable in particular, will be more phonetically prominent than others. In father, the
first syllable seems stronger than the second; in about, it is the other way around; and in
syllable, the first syllable stands out from the rest. These more prominent syllables are
stressed (April McMahon 129).
April McMahon also states that English is a stressed-timed language, allowing
approximately the same amount of time to produce each foot (as opposed to syllabletimed languages, like French, which devote about the same amount of time to each
Nguyen 31
syllable regardless of stress), cat in a hat and cat flap will have much the same phonetic
duration.
Binh N. Ngo finds that one of the phonetic typological differences between
Vietnamese and English is that Vietnamese is a syllable-timed language in which the
rhythm appears to be fairly even, with each syllable giving the impression of having
about the same duration and force as any other; English is a stress-timed language in
which stressed syllables recur at intervals. Another key difference is that Vietnamese is
a tone language in which the pitch levels are used to distinguish words; English is a
non-tonal language.
Stress does not create interference for English-speaking learners studying
Vietnamese if at the very beginning they are introduced to Vietnamese as a language
in which words in a phrase or in a sentence are in most cases pronounced with the
same duration and force. However, they should be careful with pauses in a sentence
or in a phrase that should be placed properly, otherwise a misunderstanding may
occur, for instance:
Nhiều người nói / tiếng Ý hay lắm. (Many people say Italian sounds very
beautiful.) versus Nhiều người / nói tiếng Ý hay lắm. (There are many people who
speak Italian very well.) That is, the two syllables of a two-syllable compound should
be spoken together. At a higher level of the language structure, words in a phrase
should be pronounced together with one another. It is a good idea to split a long
sentence into phrases between which short pauses are made, whereas there should
not be any pause between the syllables of a two-syllable word (a compound, a
reduplicative etc.).
Nguyen 32
Tones:
Vietnamese uses tones as phonemes since a change in tone indicates a change
in meaning. For example, ma “ghost” and maù “cheek” are two distinct words that only
differ in tone, the level (khoâng daáu) tone and rising (saéc) tone, respectively. D. H.
Nguyen (2001) describes the six tones of the northern Vietnamese dialect: level
(khoâng daáu), falling (huyeàn), creaky (ngaõ), dipping-rising (hoûi), rising (saéc), and
constricted (naëng). In the southern dialect, the creaky (ngaõ) and the dipping-rising
(hoûi) tones are both produced as the dipping-rising tone (hoûi). Therefore, there are
only five tones produced in the southern regions (Tang Giang 6).
Vietnamese is a tonal language and speakers may try to use the Vietnamese
tonal system or use a monotone with English words. They may also associate tones
onto the intonational pattern of a sentence and becoming confused with such
inflectional changes (wikipedia).
The six tones in Vietnamese cause a variety of difficulties for learners, both in
producing and maintaining the tones in speech flow.” (Binh N. Ngo 12)
“Vietnam is a contour tone language, which is strongly syllabic in its phonological
organization and morphology” (Thu Nguyen and John Ingramn 1).
Linguists distinguish register tones and contour tones. The pitch of register tones
hardly goes up and down during the production of a particular tone. In contrast, contour
tones have more than one pitch.
“In the Vietnamese language, the syllable is the smallest meaningful unit that
cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts” (Binh N. Ngo 7)
Nguyen 33
“Vietnamese is a tonal language in which changes of the pitch level and/or
contour signal a change in meaning” (Binh N. Ngo 12)
In English, as in many other European languages, the intonation may function
as the only means of distinguishing various types of sentences, for example: He is
coming. versus He is coming? In Vietnamese intonation is rarely used as a way to
form questions. If an assertive statement ends in a word with the high-rising tone, the
voice should be raised at the end of the sentence, for example: Hôm nay trời nóng
lắm. (It is really hot today.) On the other hand, if a question ends in a word with the
low-falling tone, the voice should be lowered at the end of the question, for example:
Hôm nay trời nóng lắm à? (Is it really hot today?) In many European languages the
pitch of voice in an assertive statement is usually dropped at the end. In Vietnamese
the meanings of the sentences Ông ấy đi tu. (He has become a Buddhist monk.) and
Ông ấy đi tù. (He has been sent to prison.) are completely different. Learners'
attention should be drawn to the fact that the Vietnamese language uses certain
grammatical patterns for assertive, negative and interrogative statements. Intonation
in Vietnamese is strictly restricted by the tones.” (Binh N. Ngo 14)
Discussion
The problem is that whereas a totally new and unfamiliar sound simply has to be
learned from scratch, an old sound in a new role requires further processes of
adjustment (April McMahon 31). For example, our Vietnamese learners of English have
to suppress her instinctive and subconscious division of the aspirated and unaspirated
sounds ([t] and [th]), and learn to produce both in the same context.
Nguyen 34
There are some features that we should pay more attention in English because
this feature does not exist in Vietnamese, such as the rule for aspiration sounds.
For an English learning child, it is quite important that voiceless stops are
aspirated at the beginning of syllables, and there are no sequences of [s] plus a voiced
stop; consequently, English speakers will rank these constraints high. However, for
children learning a language without aspiration like Vietnamese, these constraints will
not match the linguistic facts they hear, they will therefore be ranked low down in the
list, so they have no obvious effect. That’s why we have much difficulty learning English
consonant clusters.
Vietnamese transfer to English (Giang M. Tang 20)
Adult L2 learners often transfer L1 skills onto their L2 (McDonald, 200). Transfer
from L1 to L2 is often referred to as positive transfer. The following description is meant
to highlight salient linguistic features specific to English with which Vietnamese
speakers may have difficulty. Obviously not all Vietnamese adult L2 learners will
demonstrate all characteristics of Vietnamese-influenced English.
Table 6 summarizes examples of potential interactions from Vietnamese to
English across phonology, lexical semantics, and morpho-syntax. In regards to
phonology, Vietnamese adult L2 learners often have difficulty pronouncing English
sounds not found in Vietnamese such as consonant clusters, affricates, vowels with rrounding /ɚ,ɝ/, and lax vowel /ɪ/ see Tables 1 and 2). Consonant clusters may be
simplified or deleted depending on the word position (D.L.Nguyen, 1970b; Riney, 1988).
For instance, the initial consonant cluster /str-/ in “string” may be simplified and
Nguyen 35
produced without the /t/ as “string” [sriŋ], with a tense high vowel [i] instead of the lax
vowel /ɪ/, which is not present in Vietnamese. A consonant cluster in the word-final
position as in “walked” may be deleted and produced as “walk.”
In addition to omitting sounds, L2 learners may substitute English-specific
sounds with Vietnamese sounds or sounds shared between both languages (McDonald,
2000; Riney, 1988). For instance the English “hard th” in “the” may be approximated
with [d], a shared sound, as in [də]. In the final position, a “hard th” may be produced as
the shared sound /t/ as in [smut] for /smuð/ “smooth.” The English “soft th” may be
approximated with the Vietnamese dental aspirated “t” as in [thɔt] for /θɔt/ “thought.” The
English “r” in “run” may be produced as the r-flap (an acceptable allophone for the
Vietnamese “r”) or as /z/ (from the northern Vietnamese dialect): “run” or “zun.” English
final “r” may be omitted as in [sta] for “star.” English final /l/ may be produced with the
semivowel [w] such as [snew] for /sneil/ “snail” (D.L.Nguyen, 1970b). Since tones are
obligatory in every Vietnamese word, Vietnamese speakers may add tones into English,
which would affect intonation patterns.
Table 6
Potential Interactions of Vietnamese (L1) with English (L2)
Lang. level
Pattern
Example
Phonology
Simplify initial consonant
sring for “string”
(Sound level)
clusters
Delete or simplify final
bok for “box”
Nguyen 36
consonant clusters
Substitute
with
Dental aspirated “t” for
h
Vietnamese consonants
“soft th”: [t̪ ɔt˺ ] for “thought”
Substitute
with
cheek for “chick”
Vietnamese vowels
Intonation
pattern
influenced by tones
LexicalSemantic
Rising
and
falling
on
individual words
Difficulty using words that
“To do,” “to work,” and “to
(Word do not have direct Vietnamese make” are all one word in
level)
Vietnamese, làm
translations
Difficulty
with
endings
so bore for “so boring”
that indicate a hange in word
class c
Syntax
(Grammar)
Omit word endings for
walk for “walked”
Omit word endings for
two dollar for “two dollars”
tense
plurality
Omit word endings for
she walk for “she walks”
verb agreement
Omit auxiliary verbs
You hungry? for “Are you
hungry?”
Nguyen 37
Place
adjectives
car big for “big car”
after
nouns
You want eat what? for
Difficulty with word order
“What do you want to eat?”
in questions
Lang. Level
Pattern
Phonology
Simplify
(Sound level)
Example
2-3
vowel
with
English
Says phưng for phương
combinations
Substitute
“k”
for
“oʊ”
for
Vietnamese “kh”
consonants
Substitute
English
with
English
diphthongs
English
Vietnamese “o”
h
Aspiration of /p, t, k/ in
1) mắt for mắt “eye”
initial or final positions
2)
English
“t”
for
Vietnamese dental aspirated
“t” as in thỏ “rabbit”
Says cu “penis” for cú
Tone errors
“owl”
Rising intonation added to
questions
Lexical
semantics
(Word do
meaning
Difficulty using words that
not
May affect tones and
have
direct
mang,
vác,
khiêng,
English xách, bưng are translated as
Nguyen 38
meaning)
“to carry” in English
translations
Overgeneralization
cái viết for cây viết
of
“pen”
classifiers
Omission of classifiers
1
hai chó* for hai con chó
“two dogs”
Difficulty
using
Refer to oneself as con
kinship
“child”
terms
when
speaking
to
same-aged peers
Difficulty understanding eduplications
r
Morpho-
Use đã, đang, sẽ when
Overuse of function words
Syntax (Grammar)
not needed
Mẹ xe for xe mẹ
Difficulty with word order
for possession
Đâu đi anh? for Anh đi
Difficulty with word order in
đâu?
questions
Omission of classifiers
Place
nouns
adjectives
1
See above
đẹp bướm for bướm
before
đẹp
In summary, dominant Vietnamese learners of English may have difficulty with
sound, word, and grammatical aspects of English not found in Vietnamese. For
Nguyen 39
instance, they may have difficulty producing consonant clusters, affricates, and syllablefinal consonant sounds as well as using English intonation patterns due to the influence
of lexical tone. They may have difficulty using English vocabulary that make lexicalsemantic distinctions not found in Vietnamese and they may depend on the sentence
context (rather than morphology) to express and/or interpret words as different word
classes. These learners may have difficulty producing English word inflections such as
the past tense -ed as well as using English subject-verb inversion and auxiliary verbs
when asking questions.
English Transfer to Vietnamese (Giang M. Tang 23)
It is well known that a person’s L1 may influence their L2 performance in adult L2
learners (e.g., McDonald, 2000; Sato, 1988). Recent studies have also shown that L2
skills may influence L1 performance (Hernandez, Bates, & Avila, 1994; Su, 2001). Table
7 presents potential interaction of English with Vietnamese in Vietnamese American
students learning both languages.
Table 7
Potential interactions of English (L2) with Vietnamese (L1)
These are predictions of negative transfer patterns based on a cross-linguistic
analysis. Future empirical evidence is needed to refute or support these patterns. At the
phonological (sound) level, the tone production of these students may be affected since
tones do not have lexical meaning in English. Vietnamese students in an English
language environment may have difficulty perceiving and/or producing tones correctly.
Oftentimes, the older Vietnamese generation may be amused by their children’s
“American accent” and tease them for tonal errors that change lexical meaning. For
Nguyen 40
instance, a child may want to say con cú “an owl” but may drop the rising (sắc) tone and
say con cu “penis.” A related difficulty is the influence of English intonation patterns. In
English many questions are asked with a rising intonation at the end of the sentence.
Students who are acquiring both languages may have a rising intonation in Vietnamese,
which alters tones and may affect meaning or intelligibility.
In regards to sound-substitution, the Vietnamese aspirated dental “t” as in thỏ
“rabbit” and the velar fricative “kh” as in không “no” may be produced as an English “t”
and “k,” respectively. In addition, Vietnamese final consonant sounds, which are
typically unreleased (Dinh & Nguyen, 1998), may be produced with some aspiration (or
at least an audible release) since English final consonants can be released (Harris,
1994). Vietnamese single vowels may become elongated or diphthongized, such as
with the vowel /o/ being produced as the English diphthong /oʊ/. Vietnamese two- or
three-vowel combinations may be simplified due to the relatively few number of vowel
combinations in English (see Table 2).
English skills may influence Vietnamese performance in Vietnamese American
students across the sound. For instance, children may have difficulty with consonant
and vowel sounds not shared in English (see tables 1 and 2) as well as misuse or omit
lexical tone (Giang M. Tang 23, 24, 25).
Conclusion
These are the differences and difficulties for Vietnamese learners of English and
vice versa. As teachers, we should pay attention to these differences and try to correct
the mistakes made by our students. Anyway, because we can not achieve the perfect
pronunciation of foreign speakers, we should not pay too much attention to those
Nguyen 41
mistakes. Otherwise, our students will become ashamed of making mistakes and they
will develop the feeling of inferiority.
Nguyen 42
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Nguyen 43
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