h

h h
h open (mouth) h summer, veranda h clown, funny h neigh (horse) h they, family name h
tiger h opening h urn h huh (an expression particle) h happy hn he, him hn resent

The alveolar consonants l- and n- are universally pronounced the same as in many European
languages, and they go with all vowels. In some areas in the North these two sounds are interchangeable.
They take most tonal marks:
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
n n n n
n n n n n n

l leaf l thrust (tongue) l holiday, festive l stubborn l stove l hole l to miss (something) l flood
l thinking l reason lm very ln time(s)
n slingshot n dodge n you n felt n crossbow n effort n debt n bud n female n felt
nm to lie (down) nm mushroom
The bilabial m- [m] is another universal sound. Except for m, m, others can take most tonal marks.
M itself does not exist:
m m m m m m m m m

m but, hypnotise m sesame m chick gizzard m eyelid m to feel m operate on m wife of an

uncle m hat m beatiful mn salted mt to lose, miss
The bilabial stop p- [p] occurs mostly in loan words scientific and mathematical terms and names
of some locations in the mountain areas where the minor ethnic peoples dwell: Pleiku, Pc-b, Tchepone
(x-pn). It frequently goes with -h to represent two allphones:
a) [f] labio-dental with most vowels as English [f] in fan, father, fee: pha, ph_, ph_, phe, ph, phi,

phe, ph, ph, ph

b) [] bilabial fricative with back vowels o, and u: pho, ph, phu ().
pan pi pin
Pleiku
Pc-b
pha phe ph phi
ph - pho ph phu
- -

pan engine failure pi pin battery Pleiku name of a city in the highland of Central Vietnam) Pc-b
name of a village in northernmost part of North Vietnam png png bang, bang
pha mix ph leisure ph criticize ph fee, to waste ph a Viet-namese dish ph serve ph
town street, downtown phu laborer phng flat phn part phc complex
Q- always goes with -u to comprise the cluster [kw], and it goes with most vowels, except with u or
. Qu_, qu_, and qu_ need finals:
qu qu qu qu qu
- qu qu

qu gift qu lame qu cinamon

qun pants quc nation

qu precious qu nervous

qu fund qung throw

In the South and southernmost part of Vietnam, this [kw] is merged with [w]: qu [kwA$] > [wA$] gift qu

> [kwE$] > [wE$] lame qu [kw] > [w] cinamon

qu [kw] > [w] nervous qu [kw] > [w] fund

qu [kw] > [w] precious quc [kwk] > [wk] nation

The alveolar r has four pronunciations [r, Z, z, g] depending on regional dialect. Speakers in the
North merge it with d- and gi- = [z]. Speakers in the Central say [Z], Saigonese and speakers in provinces
around Saigon make it [r], whereas speakers in the southernmost parts of South Vietnam pronounce it [g].
R_, r_ and r_ need final consonant to produce valid syllables.
r
r
r
r
r
r
r r r r straw (of rice) r cheap r root r rust r clear r basket r touch r to scoop down

rn snake, hard rt very rt pluck off