Vietnamese Chinese
What Makes Chinese so Vietnamese?

An Introduction to Sinitic-Vietnamese Studies

(Ýthức mới về nguồngốc tiếngViệt)

dchph

Chapter Four

IV) Vietnamese and Chinese commonalities

Sinitic-Vietnamese words share not only all phonological patterns that are interchangeable but also every bit of unique traits that exist in the other, of which common features undoubtedly are of oneness. From the days of the second half of the last century when those specialists of Vietnamese have started abandoning the Sino-Tibetan ship and jumped on the Western-initiated Austroasiatic bandwagon, the Vietnamese historical linguistics circle has apparently shunned and devoted less and less on studying new Sinitic-Vietnamese etyma. There has been not much of new hot stuff rolled from Sino-Tibetan camp that have been methodologically introduced since then. While the main objective of this chapter is to cite the Sinitic-Vietnamese words that are cognate to the rightful Chinese toots, be reminded that 'Sinitic' is a designated linguistic class name for all Chinese dialects forthousands of Sinitic-Vietnamese vocabularies can be positively identified as such. Albeit they are placed under the Sinitic umbrella, it does mean that all of them must necessarily have originated from Chinese; they could be loans via its writing medium, such as those etyma from modern Japanese, English or ancient Yue, e.g., 'chấtlượng' (quality), 'kông' (river, harbor), 'Miên' (Khmer). 'cồ' (male), respectively. Nevertheless, we can determine the plausibility of their mainstream Chinese cognacy by factoring all other associated Sinitic etymology using the new dissylabic and analogical approaches devised by the author as to be seen as we go on..

A) Modern dialectal similarities

In this section we are going to survey Sinitic-Vietnamese words, pinpointing their shared commonalities spanning accross different Chinese dialects and their subsequent subdialects throughout different periods. One thing to keep in mind is that, in historical linguistics, at times readers need to take the author's words with a certain assumption that normally has readily gained acceptance in the linguistics world. For example, 雞母 jīmǔ cover both "gàmái" and "gàmẹ" (hen) along with their parallel forms 雞公 jīgōng = "gàtrống" and "gàcồ", they are plausible cognates solely based on historical phonological rules, to say the least. That is to say, we shall accept them as premises and start from there. There is no need to overwhelm ourselves with deliberating on etymology of each and every etymon as well as its multiple doublets where their affiliation is evident beyond any doubts. With respects to multiple doublets we are herein actually dealing with varying degrees of frequencies of their usage in colloquial speech by the common mass, of which irregularity of their vocal interchanges to have resulted in sound change patterns in the target language. Meanwhile, seeking answers to the questions of "why" and "how" belong to another discipline of linguistics and the author only wants to present the readers some of the mostly new finds, not the mechanics of the whole process, that have been obtained by remediating existing works initiated by predecessors, for instance, André-Georges Haudricourt's tonogenesis.

Speaking of Sinitic-Vietnamese doublets, or derived words of the same origin, many of them appear to be corresponding to either those of contemporary Chinese Mandarin or colloquial and dialects, including intriguing words used in an idiomatic manner. Such a phenomenon it suggests something intimately close in their relationship, if not kinship. As previously mentioned, they not only share similar phonologically-syllabic structures but also peculiar characteristics. For all their etymology, ancient roots can be found buried deeply beneath the cultural context that conditioned and nutured their development. In its historical developmental aspect, Vietnamese has been Sinitic-centric over the last 2,200 years up to until our contemporary era with influx of Chinese words from the meanstream media.

Let us now start to examine many representative cases that show their origin from Mandarin, coloquial, and dialects, lexically (with idiomatic expressions be excluded for now), as follows.

con (child) [ 仔 /kẽ/ (Fukienese) ],
ba (three) [ SV sa | M 仨 sā, Hainanese /ta1/ ],
tá (dozen) [ SV đả | M 打 dă (<~ 'dozen' Eng.), cf. VS 'đánh' (strike) ],
chào (hello) [ SV tảo | M 早 zăo < MC tsaw < OC *tsaw, cf. VS 'sớm' (early) ],
nào (which) [ SV na | M 哪 něi, nǎi, nā < MC na < OC *na ],
đừng (don't) [ M 甭 péng (Beijing dialect) ],
chẳng (never) [ M 不曾 bùcéng ],
tim, lòng (heart, feelings) [ SV tâm | M 心 xīn < MC sjəm < OC *sjəm (< *ljəŋʷ) | Pre-SV *sjʌmʔ, § Cant. /sʌm/, Old Viet. 'lâm' | VS 'lòng' /lɔŋʷ/ and 'tim', SV tâm /tʌm/ | cf. 點心 diănxīn: SV 'điểmtâm' (breakfast) vs. VS 'lótlòng' (snack) | § tìm: 尋 xún (tầm) < MC tsjim < OC *lhjəm < PC *ljəm || Note: The concept could be extended to 腸 as in 心腸 xīnchăng (SV 'tâmtrường') with a word in Vietnamese that reads "tấmlòng" or (heart), an extension of "lòngdạ" (heart), figuratively. ],
mắt (eye) [ SV mục | M 目 mù < $ OC *mukʷ, Hainanese /mat7/, ex. 目鏡 Hai. /mat7kɜng5/ VS 'mắtkiếng' (eyeglasses) | Note: the same word order, and, interestingly, probably not by coincedence, the same concept of 'eye' is for the sound /mat/ in Malay languages. ],
ốm (skinny) [ SV ân | M 奀 ēn | § M 瘦 shòu: VS 'gầy' vs. 'sỏ' | Note: the Vietnamese usage for 'ốm' extended to the concept of 'sick, ill'. ],
đó ('nớ' Huế subdialect) (that) [ SV na | M 那 nà, nuó < MC nʌ < OC ɲa:r | Note: some other authors postulate that the 'nớ' in Huế dialect could have originated from a Chamic word. So far the author has not found evidences that substantiate the claim, but all is possble for Huế subdialect evolved in the first prefecture annexed in the 13th century, that is much closer to ancient Champa Kingdom's capital. ],
bậu (southern subdialect) (sister) [ M 妹 mēi (SV muội) < MC moj < OC *mhjə:ts < PC **mjət, *mɯːds | Dialects: Cant. mui6, Hakka moe5, Amoy be6, Tchiewchow mue6, Fukienese muoi5, Jian'ou mue | See 'biết' for the interchange /b-/ ~ /m-/ ],
biết (know) (?) [ Hananese /bat7/ | According to Tsu-lin Mei: FC (Fuzhou) /paiʔ/, AM (Amoy) /bat/ ‘to know, to recognize’. AM /b-/ generally corresponds to FC /m-/; the upper register tone with a voiced initial is also incongruous. Douglas gives a Tung-an form pat for Southern Min, so we regard the AM form as irregular. We can compare all these forms with VN biết ‘to know, to recognize.’],
đuợc (obtain, get) [ M 得 dé (Beijing dialect) 'OK', Cant /tɤk7/, Hai /dak8/ | M 得 dé < MC tɤk < OC *tjə:k | Note: While Northestern Chinese say '得 dé', modally,the Northwestern speakers use 中 zhòng for the concept 'được' in modern Vietnamese that in turn carres also extended concept with 'positively passive voice construction' equivalent to 被 bèi (SV 'bị') but the latter implicates pretty much of 'negatively passive' tone, except for modern usage such as "bị (被 bèi)" +"ngon (香 xiāng) for the positive concept of 'delicious', a notably very late development, though.],
tiếng (sound, fame, language) [ SV thanh | M 聲 shēng < MC ʂeŋ < OC *xeŋ | According to Starostin: Cant. ʃieŋ21, Amoy: sɨŋ11 (literary); siã11, Chaozhou: siã11, Fukienese siŋ11 (literary); ZYYY: ʃijəŋ1 | cf. 蠻聲 Mansheng (tiếngMôn) of the Shaozhou Tuhua (韶州土話) subdialects spoken in the border region of the north of Guangdong 廣東, Hunan 湖南, and Guangxi 廣西 provinces, mutually unintelligible with Hunanese, Cantonese, and Mandarin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuebei_Tuhua). ],
đúng, trúng (correct, hit in right spot) [ M 中 zhòng (used most often Chinese northeastern dialects) ],
xong, sẵn (okay, ready) [ M 成 chéng (Beijing dialect) | M 成 chéng < MC ʑeŋ <, OC *deŋ ],
rồi, nổi (grammatical particles indicating 'already' and 'capacity', respectively) [ SV liễu | M 了 lē, liăo < MC liɛw < OC *rhe:wʔ, *rhe:wi, *reːwʔ | FQ 盧鳥 | Dialects: Cant. liu5, Hakka liau3, Tchiewchow liou2, liao2, liou3, liao3 | ex. Không quên nổi: 忘不了! Wàng bùliăo! (cannot forget), Quênrồi: 忘了 Wànglē! (already forgot) || Note: in Vietnamese as a grammatical particale, semantically, other usages are virtually the same as those in Vietmese, for example, 我不再回來了! Wǒ bù zài huílái le! (Tôi sẽ không trởvề nữa!), 他抱緊了我. Tā bàojǐn le wǒ. (Nó ômchặc lấy tôi.), 小偷看見了警察後拔腿就跑. Xiăotòu kànjiàn le jǐngchá hòu bátuǐjìupăo. (Têntrộm trôngthấy cảnhsát là vácgiòmàchạy.), 累壞了. Lèihuàile. (Mệtnhoàira.) ],
sẽ (will) [ SV tương | M 將 jiāng < MC tsjaŋ < OC *tsjaŋ ],
vẫn (still) [ SV nhưng | M 仍 réng < MC riəŋ < OC *ɲiŋ | Note: pronunciation in Xī'ān dialect (西安話) /vaŋ12/ ],
hội, họp, hẹn, hụi, hay, hiểu (meeting, dating, personal loan, aware, understand) [ SV hội | %@ 會 huì ~ hiểu 曉 xiăo (SV hiểu) ~ hay 知 zhī (SV tri) | M 會 huì < MC ɣwʌi < OC *guats ],
lợn (litte pig) [ (SV độn) | M 豘 (豚, 㹠) tún, dùn < MC don < AC *lhwǝ̄n < OC *ɫhwǝ̄n < PC **ɫhūn | Cant. tyun4, Hakka tun3 || Kangxi: 豘《集韻》同豚。本作𠭣。或作㹠。通作肫。|| § Southern VS 亥 hài 'heo' (pig) ],
cún (puppy) [ (SV khuyển (canine) | M 犬 quăn < MC khwijen < OC *khwyi:nʔ | Cant. hyun2, Hakka kian3 || cf. ex. 犬牙 quănyá: VS 'răngcấm', 'răngkhểnh' (canine), 犬坐 quănzuò: 'chồmhỗm' (squat) ],
cầy (dog) [ Also, VS 'chó', SV cẩu | M 狗 gǒu < MC kjəw < OC *ko:ʔ | § proto-Vietic *klo ],
ngầu, ngon (tough) [ SV 'ngưu' | M 牛 níu < MC ŋjəw < OC *ŋujə | Note: FQ 《唐韻》語求切 ~> 'ngầu' | Dialects: Cant. ngau4, Hakka ngieu2 ],
kho (stew) [ M 扣 kòu (SV khấu). cf. Hainanese, Cantonese 扣肉 kòuròu ~ VS 'thịtkho' (stewed meat) ],
kẹo (stingy) [ SV khú | M 摳 kòu ],
tếu (funny) [ SV 'đậu' | Also, VS 'đùa' (play a joke on) | M 逗 dòu ],
soài (mango ) [ M 檨 shē (SV soa), /suã/ (Fukienese) | Note: modern Mandarin '芒果 mángguǒ' ],
cam (orange) [ SV cam | M 柑 gān <, MC kʌm <, OC *ka:m ],
chanh (lemon) [ SV trành, also: VS camsành 'orange' @& '柑 gān (cam)' + '橙 chéng (sành)' | M 橙 chéng, chén, dèng (tranh, chanh, đặng, sập) < MC ɖajŋ < OC *dhrǝ̄ŋ, cf. modern M 檸檬 níngméng <~ 'lemon' (Eng.) ],
quýt (tangerine) [ SV quất | M 橘 jú < MC kjwit < OC *kwit ],
bánh (biscuit) [ SV bính | M 餅 bǐng < MC pjɛŋ < OC *peŋʔ ],
cháo (rice porridge) [ SV chúc | M 粥 (鬻) zhōu, zhù, yù < MC tʂiwk < OC *tɕuwk ],
chè (tea, sweet soup) [ SV trà | M 茶 chá | § 香茶 'satế' (Tchiewchow) ],
phở (also: bún, bột, bụi) (noodle soup, noodle, flour) [ SV phấn | M 粉 fěn < MC pʊn < OC *pjənʔ ],

trẻnhỏ (little kids) [ 小孩兒 xiăoháir (Beijing dialect) ],
trẻnhỏ (little kids) [ 小娃兒 xiăowá'ér (Nanjing dialect) ],
trẻnhỏ (little kids) [ 細人子 xīrénzǐ (Changsha dialect) ],
đámtrẻnhỏ (little kids) [ 大細兒 dàxī'ér (Hakka dialect) ],
lũtrẻcon (little kids) [ 細佬哥 /sej1lu3ko5/ (Cantonese) ],
bàxã ("wife" as called by her husband) [ 媳婦兒 xífūr (Beijing dialect) ],
bàxã ("wife" as called by her husband) [ 老婆 lăopó (Cantonese and Northeastern Mandarin dialects) ],
đằngấy ("wife" as called by her husband) [ 堂客 tángkè (Hunan and Hubei dialects],
chúngmình (we, inclusive) [ SV tamôn | @ M 咱們 zánmen (cf. 'chúngta') ],
gàtrống, gàcồ (rooster) [ SV kêcông | M sound for this dialectal form as 雞公 jīgōng (kêcông) ~ modern M 公雞 gōngjī (côngkê) | Dialects: 雞公 jīgōng (Hainanese /koikong/, Fukienese, Amoy, and archaic Cant. — note the same word order) ],
gàmái, gàmẹ (hen) [ SV kêmẫu | M sound for this dialectal form as 雞母 jīmǔ (SV kêmẫu) ~ modern M 母雞 mǔjī (SV mẫukê) | Dialects: 雞母 jīmǔ (Hai. /koi1mai2/ Fukienese, Amoy, and even Cant. — note the same word order); cf. 海 hăi (SV hải, VS bể) 'sea', 梅 méi (VS me) 'tamarind' ],
bụbẫm, mậpphệ (healthy baby, fat) [ SV phìbạn | M 肥胖 féipàn \ @ 'nộm' | @& '肥 féi (phì, mập, bụ)' + '肥 féi (phệ)', ~ + '胖 pàn (bẩm)' (reduplicative morpheme) | M 肥 féi < MC bwyj < OC *bjəj ],
ngôbắp (corn) [ <~ 'ngôbắp' <~ SV baomễ | M 苞米 bāomǐ / @ 玉米 yùmǐ ~ 'ngô' ],
đậuphụng (peanut) [ M 花生 huāshēng | Dialects: Hainanese # /wun2dou2/, Cant. '/fa1sang1/ ~ 'phụng' + /dou2/ ~ 'đậu', § Northern V 落 luò (SV lạc) for 'peanut' ],
biếnglười (lazy) [ Also, VS # 'lườibiếng' ~ 'làmbiếng' | M 犯懶 fànlăn ],
luônluôn (always) [ M 老老 láoláo (Beijing dialect — a case of loangraph or jiăjiē 假借) | M 往 wăng < wɑŋ < OC *waŋʔ | Ex.: modern M 往往 wángwăng) ],
đượcrồi (okay, that's fine) [ SV đắcliễu | M 得了 déle (Beijing dialect, Hainanese /dak7ljaw2/) ],
khôngsaokểxiết (innumerable) [ M 不可勝計 bùkěshèngjì ],
hiềnlành (good character) [ Also VS 'hiềnlương', SV thiệnlương | M 善良 shānliáng \ @ 善 shàn (thiện) ~ hiền 賢 xián (thiện) | M 善 shàn < MC dʑɜn < OC *ɖarʔ | ¶ sh- ~ l-],
vấtvả (work hand to mouth) [ SV bônba | M 奔波 bēnbó | M 奔 bēn < MC pon < OC *pjə:r, *pjə:rs ],
tắmrữa (bathe) [ SV tẩytảo | M 洗澡 xízăo /to4jat8/ (Hainanese) | M 洗 xǐ, xiăn (tẩy, tiển) < MC siej < OC *sjə:rʔ | ¶ x- ~ r- : ex. 婿 xū (tu) rễ, 鬚 xū (tu) râu ],
rácrưới, rácrến (garbage) [ SV lạpcấp | M 垃圾 lēsē | @ rác < M 垃圾 lāji \ ¶ l- ~ r- <= ra- + k- ],
dêxòm (lecherous) [ SV dâmtrùng | M 淫蟲 yínchóng (hence giving rise to => another alternation "quỹrâuxanh" 淫蟲鬼 yíngchóngguǐ 'sex offender') ],
trộmcướp (robber) [ SV đạotặc | M 盜賊 dàozéi | M 賊 zéi < MC ʑæk < OC *ʑɦjə:k < PC: **ɕhjə:k ~ ʑhjə:k || cf. 'đạochích' (burglar) identified with Dao Zhi 盜跖 or 盜蹠 (Robber Zhi), a slave rebel leader of the Spring and Autumn period. ],
đánhcắp (rob, steal, rob) [ SV đảkiếp ' (VS đánhcướp) | M 打劫 dăjié | M 劫 < MC kɛp < OC *ka ],
ănđòn (get beaten, be punished) [ SV nhaiđả | M 挨打 ăidă | M 挨打 ăidă \ @ 挨 ăi ~ 'ăn' ],
bênhvực (be on one's side) [ M 庇護 bỉhù | ¶ h- ~ v- ],
nhìnnhận (admit) [ SV thừanhận | M 承認 chéngrèn ],
chịuđựng (withstand) [ M 承受 chéngshòu ],
mĩmcười (smile) [ Also, VS 'ngậmcười' | (1) 微笑 wěixiào (SV vitiếu), also VS 'nụcười', (2) M 含笑 hánxiào (SV hàmtiếu, also meaning 'cute' | M 含 hán < MC gæm < OC *ghɒm || M 笑 xiào < MC sjew < OC *shaws | ¶ x- ~ c-(k-) | cf. 'ngậmcườichínsuối' 含笑九泉 hánxiàojǐuquán (literally, 'smile in the afterworld' ],
chánngán (weary, dreary, sick of) [ VS 'ngánngẫm' | M 厭倦 yànjuān (SV yếmquyện) | M 厭 yàn < MC ʔjɜm < OC * ʔems | cf. VS 'chánđời' 厭世 yànshì (SV yếmthế) 'world-weary, pessimistic' ],
nóngnảy (temper) [ Also, VS 'nôngnổi' | M 衝動 chōngdòng (SV xungđộng) \ @ 衝 chōng ~ xúc 觸 chù, nông, nóng \ ¶ ch- ~ n-, @ 動 dòng (động) nổi, nảy (tl.) \ ¶ d- ~ n- | M 衝 chōng, chòng < MC tsjouŋ < OC *thoŋ || M 動 dòng < MC dʊŋ < OC *dho:ŋʔ ],
tầmbậy (nonsense) [ M 三八 sānbā (tầmbạ, sàbát...) (Fukienese, Taiwanese, Hainanese) | Note: from modern sexist usage to mock women on their international day August the 3rd annually. ],
làmhỏng (spoil, break) [ SV lộnghoàng | M 弄黃 nònghuán | Note: northern dialects. cf. 黃豆 huángdòu (VS 'đậunành' (soybean) ],
cùlét (tickle) [ /ka2lɛt7/ (Hainanese) = VS 'thọclét', 'chọccười' | M 胳肢 gézhī ],
mainày (tomorrow) [ M 明兒 mínr (Beijing dialect) ~> mainày | M 明 míng < MC maiŋ < OC *mraŋ (= modern M 明日 míngrì (VS ngàymai) ],
riêngtư (privacy) [ @ M 隱 yǐn (VS 'riêng') <~ M 隐私 yǐnsī (SV ẩntư) | M 隱 yǐn < MC ʔyn < OC *ʔjənʔ ],
chếtyểu (die young) [ SV yêuchiết | @# M 夭折 yāozhé | M 夭 yāo, yăo, wāi, wò (yêu, yểu) < MC ʔew < OC *ʔaw || M 折 zhé, shé (chiết, đề) < MC tsjet < OC *tat ],
mộttay (connoisseur, expert) [ Also, VS 'mộtcây', SV nhấtthủ | @ M 一手 yīshǒu | M 手 shǒu < MC ʂjəw < OC *ɫhuʔ ],
bạttai, bàntay (spank, palm) [ SV bachưởng | M 手板 shǒubăn ~ M 巴掌 bāzhăng (~ bộptai < bàntay | Viet 'tay' <~ ® @ bàntay | M 巴掌 bāzhăng ~ bạttai, | M 掌 zhăng \ Vh @ 掌 zhăng ~ tay 手 shǒu (thủ) | § 巴腳 bājiăo bànchân, bạttai 巴掌 bāzhăng (~ bàntay) — bā => bạt, bộp, and bàn, tai in bạttai~> tay, therefore 掌 zhăng => tay || Dialects: Sichuan, Cant., Amoy: 手板 shǒubăn (thủbản) # 'bàntay' | ex. 一巴掌 yī bāzhăng (một bạttai) || Cf. 批打 pīdă (phêđả) VS 'bạttai' ~ 'táttai' ~ 'bộptai' ],
bắtcóc (kidnap) [ SV bảnggiả | M 綁架 băngjià \ @ 綁 băng ~ bắt 捕 bǔ (bổ), @ 架 jià ~ 'cóc' | M 綁 băng < MC pjəŋ ],
lẽsống (ideal, raison d'être) [ SV lítưởng | M 理想 líxiăng \ @ 想 xiăng ~ 'sống' 生 shēng | M 理 lǐ < MC lɤ, ly < OC *rhjəʔ, *rhjəs || M 想 xiăng < MC sjɑŋ < OC *saŋʔ ],
bậnviệc (busy working) [ SV manghoạt | M 忙活 mánghuó | M 活 huó, guō (hoạt, quạt) < MC ɠwʌt, kwʌt < OC *ghwa:t ],
đìuhiu (desolate) [ SV tiêuddiều | M 蕭條 xiāotiáo ],
bộtbáng (tapioca) [ M 波霸 bōbà ],
chảlụa (meatloaf) [ SV tácnhục | M 炸肉 zhàròu | Note: Hence, 炸 zhà ~> 'chả', cf. modern 紮 zhà for VS 'chả' (literally 'bundle up') ],
barọi (bacon) [ SV phìnhục | M 肥肉 féiròu ],
tồitệ (vicious) [ SV tibi /tejbej/ | M 卑鄙 bēibǐ ],
đáidầm (bedwetting) [ SV niệusàng | M 尿床 niàochuáng | M 尿 niào, suī < MC niew < OC *ne:ws, *njew, *ne:wkws) | ¶ n- ~ đ-, t-, td. 鳥 niăo, diăo : điểu || M 牀 (床) chuáng < MC ʂaŋ < OC *tʂhraŋ | FQ 士莊 | ¶ ch- ~ gi- ],
đồngbạc (monetary unit) [ SV đồngbản | M 銅板 tóngbăn > 銅 tóng ~> ® 'đồng' (Vietnamese monetary unit) which has been transcribed back to the modern M as 頓 dùn, with the colocator 'bạc' evolved from 錢幣 qiánbì (SV tiềntệ) 'tiềnbạc' (currency) via a process of association of 幣 bì with 白 bái (bạch) <~ 白金 bái (bạchkim) 'silver'. ],
đồngtiền (money) [ SV đồngtiền | M 銅錢 tóngtiền ],
đitiền (give the gift of money on a special occasion) [ SV tuỳtiền (VS điđám) | M 隨錢 suíqián | QT 隨 suí < MC zjwe < OC *lhoj || M 錢 qián < MC tsjen < OC *ʑan || Note: northern dialects, ex. 他結婚我隨錢一千美金. Tā jiéhūn wǒ suíqián yīqiān Měijīn. (Đámcưới nó tao điđám mộngàn Mỹkim.) ],

Occurrences of historical sound changes are a common phenomenon in any language. Those familiar with the Indo-European etymologies may have already learned something about irregular interchanges of words from the same root across related languages, e.g., 'water', 'stay', 'throne', 'rank', 'sudden' (Eng) ~ 'eau', 'rester', 'trône', 'rang', 'soudane' (French), repectively. Readers are no linguists and might have no ideas how the sound change process has actually occurred, though. It is of no surprise that many of them could not comprehend the established patterns of the etyma cited in the examples above. In one way or another the cited etyma may not appear likely to be cognate to them. What they might easily notice are only missing 'heads' or 'tails' in those cited correspondences, i.e., drops of either an initial, medial, final, or ending here and there, somewhat similar to conjugation or cases in French, to say the least. For specific Sinitic-Vietnamese words, sound change patterns are dissimilar to systematic interchanges following certain rules in historical phonology linguistics, synchronically or diachronically, as expected, at least, in comparison with strictly-accademic Sino-Vietnamese phonetic rules. It is noted that, though, the changes did take place more drastically in ancient times than in our contemporary era for the reason that modern communicative media have enabled those people to speak the same language in different regions, e.g., English or Chinese, as it is spoken by those at home than any time in history.

Many of those culturally accented words as listed above are extended beyond the realm of basic words, though, because in both Vietnamese and all Chinese dialects, there exist many common northern Chinese colloquial expressions to which neither any of Sino-Tibetan languages in correspondence to Chinese nor those of Mon-Khmer to Vietnamese have ever come close. Let us examine some more cultural word s such as "làmgương"榜樣" băngyàng (exemplify), "hiếuthảo" 孝順 xiàoshùn (filial piety), "đứchạnh" 德行 déxíng (virtue), "vềtrời" 歸天 guītiān (pass away), "suốivàng" 黄泉 huángquán (the afterworld), "sưtửHàđông" 河東獅子 Hédōngshīzǐ (tiger wife), etc.

Characteristically, in those demonstrated phonological, syntactic, and semantic interpolations, as well as in other linguistic aspects, their cognacy suggests something unique about their linguistic affiliation. For instance, both Chinese and Vietnamese vocabularies share morphemic attributes of subtle pecularities supposedly only exist in languages descended from the same ancient root, that is, words with morphemes begin with /f-/ suggest something blowing, floating, or flying, those ended with /-eij/ denote something tiny, baby, or small, or /-aw/ signifying some concepts of withdrawal, contraction, or shrinking, etc. (See Đào Trọng Đủ. 1983)

With the span of more than 3,000 years in traceable contact (Zhang. 1990), as in the case of Sinitic-Vietnamese, many etyma evolved from the same source have gone through localization process to have become local words, just like many Japanese Kanji lexicons, some with newly formedSinitic-Vietnamese words for concepts, e.g., VS 'mặttiền' 前面 qiánmiàn (SV tiềndiện) specialized for the technical concept of 'the font of an architectural structure' then being picked up for common usage vs. VS 'trướcmặt' and 'mặttrước' (front). Newcomers to this specific Sinitic-Vietnamese field, therefore, should remember that, in contrast with those Sinitic-Vietnamese words, even with a larger amount of Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary having been put into usage in spoken language, such as "thịphạm" 示范 shìfàn (demonstrate) or "đảmbảo" 擔保 dānbăo (guarantee), many Sino-Vietnamese words are more commonly used in literary work with stricter formation. For example, 上山 shàngshān (SV thượngsơn) could possibly become VS 'lênnúi', VS 'lênnon' but not VS 'lên' + SV 'sơn' to mean 'climb mountain', except for a few of newly coined word such as VS 'ngườithượng' 上人 shàngrén (montagnard) instead of 山人 shānrén (SV sơnnhân) to mean 'mountain people'. Many literary words have already become so common like what appears in the case of 江山 jiāngshān with both forms V 'giangsơn' and VS 'nonsông', both of which are commonly used in Vietnamese to convey both concepts of 'country' and 'mounntains and rivers', exactly the same lexical usage in Chinese, past and present. As a matter fact, in Sinitic-Vietnamese historical phonology, sound divergence could commonly go further in fission forms becoming vernacular forms, for example, 明兒 mínr ~> 'mainày' ~> 'mai' (tomorrow), 庇護 bỉhù for 'bênhvực' ~> 'bênh' (side with), whereas the patterns { 'bìhù' ~> 'bênh(vực)' / + hw- ~> -h + v-, note the semantics also changes from 'protect' to 'side with' }, 糖果 tángguǒ ~> 'kẹođường' ~> 'kẹo' (candy), etc.

Throughout the colonial peiord under the rule of imperial China, Chinese loanwords kept penetrating into the Vietnamese language and they naturally have been always in the state of being ready to change again beyond the initial stage to suit speech habits of local people in multiple linguistic aspects, e.g., /b/ being substituted with /ɓ/ and /b/, /p/ ~> /pf/ and /ph/, etc. Such phenomenon of phonemic localization would have likely happened right after the first stage of infiltration of those very words into Vietnamese, at least interchanges of initals at first, .e.g., 亞 yà MC /ŋa/ ~> SV /a/ and VS 'dỡ /jə/ (inferior), 安 ān, MC /ŋɔn/ ~> SV 'an' /ɑn/ and VS 'yên' /jen/ (peaceful), or 妹妹 mēimēi, MC /mwəjmwəj/ ~> VS 'em' /ɛm/ (sister). Even so, Interestingly enough, in the field of Chinese and Vietnamese linguistic studies, it notes that a majority of their monosyllabic words starts mostly with a consonant. That is, characteristically, consonantally-dominant initials in both Chinese and Vietnamese lexical structure virtually still remains the same that make all of their acromyms to display clusters of consonants such as HHQGĐNA for 'Hiệphội Quốcgia ĐôngnamÁ' or DNYGJXH 東南亞國家協會 DōngnánYà Guójiā Xiéhuì (Association of Southeast Asian Nations, 'ASEAN' or 東盟 Dōngméng). That is another aspect of commonality in both languages.

Phonologically, on the one hand, the omission of sound in a word string makes each of them more like a 'haplologic' form, e.g., 痛 tòng ~ SV thống ~ VS 'đau' (pain), 銅 tóng /thoŋ2/~ SV đồng ~ VS 'thau' (bronze). On the other hand, the Vietnamese finals still retain all the peculiar diphthongs and endings /-ŋw/ or /-wŋ/, /-wk/ or /-kw/, e.g., SV 'thống' /thowŋ5/ vs. M /thoŋ4/, in addition to other characteristics such as that of a wider range of syllabes since the ancient times, not to mention the retention of 8 tones with fair stability of tonality at registered values that were carried over to Sino-Vietnamese from Middle Chinese sound system, which were all lost in some Chinese dialects, especially in modern Mandarin, aka, China's national putonghua.

Historically vocabularies in each respective language have evolved in their own way independently since their separation from the Tang Dynasty and NamHan State in the 10th century. Etymologically, Chinese loanwords in Vietnamese could penetrate deeply into Vietnamese from different dialects and eras. They were eventually localized and modifed in many ways without much linguistic constraints, especially for common words that have been widely spoken by the illiterate mass who could not be influenced by any literature works. In addition, new development for any particular lexical items from the donor source might be re-introduced back again into the receipient language but they likely emerged into at least one new form, e.g., 'hoạt' vs. 'việc' { 活 huó (work) }, 'xe' vs. 'cộ' { 車 chē (carriage) }, 'lưới' vs. 'chài' { 羅 luó (fish net) }, 'chè' vs. 'cháo' { 粥 zhōu (rice porridge) }, 'tơ' vs. 'sợi' { 絲 sī (silk) }, or 'lam' vs. 'chàm' { 藍 lán (indigo dye) }, and so on so forth.

Each of the same character may be dressed under several new forms as well in one formation, for instance, VS 'xecộ' { '車 chē (xe)' + '車 chē (cộ)' / M 輁車 júchē }, VS 'tộilỗi' (sin) { 罪 zuì (SV 'tội') + 罪 zuì (VS 'lỗi') / M 罪惡 zuì'è }, and etc. Except for those later loans, ancient etyma and their derivatives or variants of local renovation have been inseparable parts in vocabulary development. For example, VS 'buồngtim' 心房 xīnfáng (heart chamber) is made up from VS 'buồng' (房 fáng) + VS 'tim' (心 xīn) whereas 房 fáng is synonymous to modern C 室 shì, and 'buồngtim' is used in Vietnamese to indicated the concept of 'heart ventricle', or more scholarly equivalent of 'ventriculus cordis', which is comparable to the terminology 心室 xīnshì, or SV 'tâmthất' in modern Chinese medicine.

Many of the cited examples above may be reinstated in different contexts for the purpose of acquainting readers with irregular sound changes and subsequent lexical formation patterns. Readers will find that repetitions work in their advantage that they will have memorized them by heart by the time they finish reading this study, another case of learning through examples, so to speak. Otherwise, if we introduce new elements of the same characteristics, we shall either need to explain or may introduce errors at the same time, say, 灣 wān for SV 'loan' vs. VS 'vịnh' (bay), 季 jì SV 'quý' /kwej/ vs. VS 'mùa' (season), 乘 chèng SV 'thặng' v. VS 'thừa' (surplus), etc. In any cases, moresound change patterns have been attested and reckoned by the linguistic circle and they require readers in historical linguistics to accept them as premises without the need of elaborate explanation at all before advancing to next steps, so to speak.

Readers, however, cannot always find a definitely clear-cut one-to-one correspondence inclusively concurrent in all phonetic segments including all initials, medials, endings, and, especially, syllabic finals -- or 'vần' (SV vận), i.e., yùn 韻, { VS monosyllabic word = [initial] + [final] }. -- 'Vần' tend to change the most, especially the second 'vần' in a dissyllabic formation, 'vần' is the second syllabic final of the second syallable of a two-syllable word { VS dissyllabic word = [syllable] + [syllable] } without the attachment of the consonantal initials or clusters, such as -at, -ang, -uyên, etc., an essential phonological element and a unique linguistic trait.

As the time went by the rest of sound changes in middles and finals must also have taken place, naturally, governed by the linguistic internal rules of sound changes, e.g., 蒜 suàn ~ 'tỏi', SV toán (garlic), 鮮 xiān ~ 'tươi', SV tiên (fresh). To futher strengthen the sound change rules, in modern time French and English loanwords in Vietnamese have illustrated best that statement (See APPENDIX A).

Similar sound changes have also taken place as well on the Chinese side, which will make the orginal pronunciation of the same loanwords in both languages to have drifted further apart. Extreme cases of syllabic and tonal changes had occurred to those of Early Mandarin and modern Mandarin, which was the admixture of northern non-Han people, e.g., the Tartars, Kim, Mongols, and Manchurians, who altogeter ruled China for more than 1,000 years in total.

To have a better idea how sound changes have affected cognates, doublets, and other forms of words from the same root, let us examine some other legit forms within well attested interchanges of in the realm of the HánViệt (HV), or Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary stock with those of Middle Chinese linguistic characteristics, including articulation of each specific word below, for its unquestionable authentic patterns of sound changes that show in present form of China's Putonghua pinyin:

bì 蓽: tốt (VS rốt) 'final',
chéng 承: thừa (VS dâng) 'submit',
chēng 乘: thừa 'remains',
chī 吃: ăn (SV ngật, cf. "ất" radical 乙 yǐ for phonetic, cf. shí 食: VS xơi) 'eat',
é 鵝: nga (VS ngang, ngỗng) 'goose',
ér 而: nhi (VS mà, nhưng) 'but',
niăo 鳥: điểu (SV) 'bird',
qì 氣: hơi (SV khí, Cant. /hei1/) 'air',
qián 前: trước (SV tiền, Hainanese: [taj]) 'front',
jí 集: tập (VS gộp) 'collect',
jì 季: quí (VS mùa) 'season',
lǜ 率: suất (VS mức, mực) 'rate',
mín 民: dân 'people',
míng 名: danh 'name',
pǐn 聘: sính 'betroth',
rè 熱: nhiệt (VS rát, nhức) 'hot, sore',
ròu 肉: nhục (VS ruốc) 'meat' [ cf. (chả)lụa 炸肉 (zhà)ròu, (ba)rọi 肥肉 (féi)ròu) ] ,
shàn 扇: phiến 'flank',
shè 攝: nhiếp (VS 'nhặt') 'gather up',
shēng 生: sinh (VS đẻ, sống, Hainanese: [de]) 'living, give birth',
tìng 聽: thính (SV 'nghe', Hainanese: [k'e]) 'hear',
tìng 廳: sảnh 'hall',
pīng 娉: sính 'betroth',
wān 灣: loan (VS vịnh) [ cf. 'vũng' as in 'Vũngtàu' (placename) ] 'bay',
xì 惜: tích (VS tiếc) 'cherish',
xì 吸: hấp (VS hút) 'inhale',
xí 習: tập (VS thói(quen) 習慣 xíguàn) 'drill, habit',
xǐ 洗: tẩy (VS tắm, rữa, giặt | @ xǐzăo 洗澡: tắmrữa (Hainanese: /to5jat8/), xǐliăn 洗臉: rữamặt, xǐyī 洗衣: giặtáo [ cf. xuěhèn 雪 : rữahờn (SV tuyếthận) 'revenge', VS 'tẩy' also means 'bleach' ] ) 'wash',
xiè 瀉: tả (VS chảy, xổ) 'diarhea',
xué 學: học (Cantonese: /hok8/, Hainanese: /fat8/) 'learn',
yī 一: nhất (VS một) 'one',
yì 藝: nghệ (VS nghề) 'arts, profession',
yì 臆: ức (VS ngực) 'chest',
yì 憶: nhớ (VS ức) 'memory',
yì 義: nghĩa, ngãi 'righteousness',
yì 億: ý (VS tỷ) '100 million, V. billion',
yù 愉: thâu, du (VS ẩu, vui) 'joyous',
yóu 郵: bưu 'postal',
yóu 由: do (VS bởi) 'because',
yóu 柚: bưu (VS bưởi, bòng) 'pamelo',
yóu 游: du (VS bơi, lội) 'swim',

Take a closer look at modern Vietnamese orthography and we will see that many words, in comparison with modern M, have been transformed beyond recognition in all initials, medials, vowels, diphthongs, and finals or endings; they have either changed drastically or dropped completely at the same time. Further compare them with those with Cant. pronunciations, as there appear to have a fairly close match on the phonological system that parallels with today's SV, and you will have an overall picture of such similar sound changes.

The same process of sound changes still continues on even though in our great modern time of communication where the web connects everybody else who speaks the same language on the planet. Therefore, the questions of how and why language changes are still occurring is of another subject matter of linguistic research.

With all such illustrations above there exist numerous exceptions and irregularities in sound changes. Strictly speaking, interchanges for those Sino-Vietnamese words have mostly occurred following systematic linguistic rules that can be induced miroring the scholarly Sino-Vietnamese behavior. Obviously their phonological transformation has resulted in more regular patterns than what we would expect from those Sinitic Vietnamese vocabulary. In most cases they seem not to be transformed in batches by shifts and bounces like what appears in the scholarly Sino-Vietnamese phonology, which might have also been intervened personally by those authors who had worked with specific Sino-Vietnamese words, i.e., annotations on his or her lexical picks. It is so said for the reason that we could not always draw clear-cut patterns for Sinitic-Vietnamese vocabularies by simply tracing exceptional trails that respective sound changes have veered off from conventional patterns in each language under examination.

ā ē ě ī ǐ ă ō ǒ ū ǔ ǖ ǘ ǚ ǜ ü û ɔ ɑ ɪ ɛ ɤ ə¯ ŋ ɯ ɪ ɨ ı ʔ ʃ ö ä ë ü ɐ ɒ æ χ ɓ ɗ ɖ ɱ ʿ ʾ θ ñ ŕ ţ ť tś ć ¢ ď Ā ź dź ƫ ć ń ç ď ş ŗ ż ſ ņ ʷ ɲ ʈ ɫ ɬ ʈ ƫ ʐ ɣ Ś ¯¯ ¯ ˉ

Vietnamese and Chinese commonalities

Modern dialectal similarities

SOUND CHANGES... in dissyllabic forms

in modern Chinese