Introduction
The historical development of modern Vietnamese language can be summarised in the chart below.
Lac Viet language
During the Lac kings era (? BC-258 BC), the people in Red River Delta plains were monolingual and spoke a tonal Tai dialect.
They were called Lac Viet (駱越) people who the Tai-speaking people in Guangxi province consider as their shared ancestors.
The Lac Viet people created a writing system called Sawndip which is based on Chinese characters. The details of Sawndip can be found in the 'Origin of Zhuang (Lac Viet) language' in 'Related links' section below.
Annamese Chinese language
During early Han Chinese settlement, there were two main languages spoken in Red River Delta which is Nam-Viet Chinese and Lac Viet. Nam-Viet Chinese was spoken by the ruling Han Chinese emperors whereas Lac Viet was spoken by the natives. |
| Nam-Viet king Trieu Da |
By the end of Tang dynasty and after nearly 1200 years of Han Chinese settlement from 257 BC to 938 AD, a local Chinese dialect called Annamese Chinese became the most common language spoken by the ethnic Kinh in Red River Delta plain.
This local Annamese Chinese language followed similar development in neighbouring Guangdong and Guangxi provinces in China who speak Yue Chinese language (粵語) which incorporated some Tai words.
 |
| Ngo dynasty |
The imperial family of Tran dynasty (1225-1400 AD) was recorded to be proficient in spoken Chinese during the Song dynasty.
 |
| Tran dynasty |
The official written language during this time was Classical Chinese i.e. Chữ Hán (漢字) which remained as the standard written language in Vietnam until 1909 AD.
This was replaced by the European writing system quốc ngữ by the French colonists in 1910 AD which still remain as the standard written language in Vietnam but not the ethnic Kinh aka Jing in China.
The Kinh gradually merged their original language i.e. Annamese Chinese with the language of the Later Le emperors.
All Austroasiatic languages are non-tonal so proto-Muong had to artificially create tones for Muongic words based on certain rules to blend into the tonal Annamese Chinese language.
During this time, Chữ Nôm (字南) began to emerge and new characters which were based on Chinese characters were created to write Austroasiatic words not present in Chinese language e.g 𠀧 (three).
Chu Nom characters are different from the native Lac Viet's Sawndip characters although both are based on Chinese characters. Chu Nom is based on Austroasiatic words whereas Sawndip is based on Tai words.
This was replaced by the European writing system quốc ngữ by the French colonists in 1910 AD which still remain as the standard written language in Vietnam but not the ethnic Kinh aka Jing in China.
Proto Muong language
During the Later Le dynasty 1428-1788 AD, an Austroasiatic language came into the Red River Delta plain. These emperors were not ethnic Kinh and spoke a proto-Muong language.
 |
| Austroasiatic emperor |
All Austroasiatic languages are non-tonal so proto-Muong had to artificially create tones for Muongic words based on certain rules to blend into the tonal Annamese Chinese language.
During this time, Chữ Nôm (字南) began to emerge and new characters which were based on Chinese characters were created to write Austroasiatic words not present in Chinese language e.g 𠀧 (three).
Chu Nom characters are different from the native Lac Viet's Sawndip characters although both are based on Chinese characters. Chu Nom is based on Austroasiatic words whereas Sawndip is based on Tai words.
That's why there were no Chu Nom books written before this dynasty and not because the Ming dynasty destroyed these books.
Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary
The Annamese Chinese language survived as the Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary in the modern Vietnamese language. Sino-Vietnamese words are not loanwords as commonly mistaken but the mother tongue words of the ethnic Kinh before their language merged with the Muong language.
That is why all the ancient Chinese words including basic words can also be found in Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary. If they were 'loanwords', the percentage won't be as high as 100% which isn't necessary for borrowing foreign words.
The table below shows the early Annamese Chinese language (ESV) and literary Sino-Vietnamese language (LSV); comparing these with Old Chinese (OC) and Middle Chinese (MC) respectively.
Note that the two layers of colloquial layer and literary layer also exist in Min languages which gives evidence of several migration waves of Han Chinese to Vietnam.
The early Sino-Vietnamese (ESV) layer was the original Annamese Chinese language spoken by the Kinh but a subsequent Han Chinese wave during the Tang & Song dynasty introduced the literary Sino-Vietnamese (LSV) layer.
Some features of the original Annamese Chinese were also preserved in the non Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary such as the 6 tones (additional 2 for entering tones) and some basic words such as 'heart' as described in the next section. Note that all the pure Austro-asiatic languages such as Khmer and Mon are non-tonal.
Hainanese Chinese language
Hainanese Chinese language absorbed some linguistic elements from a Tai language.
- 三 ‘Saam’ (Cantonese) ‘Tann’ (Hainanese) 'Tam' (Sino-Vietnamese)
- 心 ‘Sim’ (Hokkien) ‘Tim’ (both Vietnamese and Hainanese)
Limited ending consonants of Chinese
Middle Chinese language and all modern Chinese languages have only a limited ending set of [p,t,k] and [n,m,ng].
|
English |
Chinese |
Cantonese |
|
Color |
色 |
Sik |
|
Wade |
涉 |
Sip |
|
Tongue |
舌 |
Sit |
|
Previous |
先 |
Sin |
|
Evade |
閃 |
Sim |
|
Completed |
成 |
Sing |
However, the extra ending consonants [ɲ] (spelled as nh) and [c] (spelled as ch) of Vietnamese language originated from the Austro-Asiatic Muong language which has a wider set than the Chinese language.
This is reflected in the way that the Chinese Kinh immigrants reduced the ending consonants [ɲ] and [c] to the limited six ending consonants above because the Chinese Kinh couldn't pronounce these two ending sounds correctly.
Conclusion
The modern Vietnamese language is a creole language with contribution from all three different languages. Note that the other pure Austroasiatic languages are non-tonal.
1. Lac Viet components
https://chl-old.anu.edu.au/publications/csds/csds2010/03-1_Phan_2010.pdf- Some basic vocabulary words (less than 5%)
- Tones
- All intellectual words
- Some basic vocabulary words eg. Heart (Tim-心), Old (Cu-舊)
- About 75% of colloquial layer of modern Vietnamese are of Chinese origin/cognates (John Phan's paper)
- 100% of literary layer are kept in Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary (this is another layer different from colloquial layer)
- The different negative words (Bất 不, Vô 無, Phi 非)
- Perfect tense 'already' (rồi 了)
- Some grammatical word order ie. quantity-classifier-noun eg. one book (một quyển sách 一卷冊)
- 25% basic vocabulary words are of Austroasiatic origin eg. numbers
- Adjective comes after noun eg. book red
- Adverb comes after verb eg. come quickly
Note: The grammar for the last two components are the same in Tai-Kadai languages so it is unclear whether these two originated from Proto-Muong or Lac Viet.
There is a common misconception that all or most Vietnamese today are genetically Austroasiatic people due to the national language which was shaped by a complex ethnic history.
Conclusion
The current national language of Vietnam was shaped by a ruling Austroasiatic dynasty from the ethnic minority Muong tribe which merged with the Annamese Chinese language of the majority ethnic Kinh people. Therefore, linguists call this a creole language of mainly two completely different languages spoken by two different ethnic groups.There is a common misconception that all or most Vietnamese today are genetically Austroasiatic people due to the national language which was shaped by a complex ethnic history.
Part two of this article is in the link below.
Ethnic origin of Vietnamese
http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2017/06/ethnic-origin-of-vietnamese.html
Origin of Nanyue Chinese language
http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2017/10/origin-of-nanyue-language.html
Origin of Zhuang (Lac Viet) language
http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.my/2017/12/origin-of-zhuang-language.html
Related links
Origin of Vietnamese language Part 2
http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2017/06/ethnic-origin-of-vietnamese.html
Origin of Nanyue Chinese language
http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2017/10/origin-of-nanyue-language.html
Origin of Zhuang (Lac Viet) language
http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.my/2017/12/origin-of-zhuang-language.html
Ethnic origin of Jing in China
Sources
- Re-Imagining “Annam”: A New Analysis of Sino–Viet– Muong Linguistic Contact. Author: John D. Phan 2010
- Lacquered Words: The Evolution Of Vietnamese Under Sinitic Influences From The 1st Century BCE Through The 17 th century CE. By John Phan. https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/33867
- Ancient links between Thai and Vietnam: Evidence from cognates, Sukhothai inscriptions, and traditional calendrical terms for animals. Author: Wilaiwan Khanittanan, Thammasat University.
- A history of the Vietnamese. pgs 5-6. Author: Keith Taylor.
- Genghis Khan: A Biography. By Zofia Stone
- Identifying Early Sino-Vietnamese Vocabulary via Linguistic, Historical, Archaeological, and Ethnological Data. By Mark Alves. Bulletin of Chinese linguistics 2016.
Last updated: 25 June 2022
Copyright © eastasiaorigin.blogspot 2017-2022. All rights reserved.
Copyright © eastasiaorigin.blogspot 2017-2022. All rights reserved.
How come the Vietnamese language is categorized as Mon-Khmer language when 70 % of the vocabulary are from Chinese? If the Gin Chinese people are of the same ethnic as the Kinh Vietnamese then why the Gin dialect is part of Cantonese and not Vietnamese?
ReplyDeleteCategorisation of a language is based on basic words like numbers and body parts. The categorisation of Vietnamese language changed several times during the last century and was not originally Austroasiatic. The origin of Vietnamese language was largely unknown until John D.Phan wrote his paper which shed some light (but not the whole history)
DeleteSome Gin people migrated to China during the 15th or 16th century, it is highly possible that at that time, their Annamese language hadn't yet been influenced by the Viet-Muong language of Later Lê Dynasty (Le Loi dynasty).
What's the evidence that the Tran royal family were proficient in spoken Chinese? I know of one example: Chieu Van Vuong Tran Nhat Duat, who was known to be a polyglot. Would you be able to point me to some other evidence please? Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThe evidences are in the last two books mentioned in 'Sources' section above.
DeleteA Yuan dynasty envoy spoke Chinese with Tran Quoc Tuan in 1282 AD.
I am curious why there's an ancient connection between Hainanese dialect with Vietnamese. Is it close proximity of Hainan to Vietnam? I am Hainanese from Singapore.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it's still a mystery that requires more research. Leizhou/Luichow Min language is also in close promixity to Hainan but it doesn't have this similarity with Hainan Min.
DeletePlease watch 'The Sound of the Luichow Min language' and 'The Sound of the Hainanese language' on Youtube.
Uhh I have read John Phan's paper and nowhere on his paper does he say Vietnamese is a creole of proto-Viet-Muong and Annamese Middle Chinese. He mentions that because of Annnamese Middle Chinese being spoken by the elite in Northern Vietnam, that it is the reason for the substrate of Chinese Vocabulary in Vietnamese.
ReplyDeleteJohn Phan said that Annamese Chinese was spoken by the local Chinese born in Vietnam and not 'elite'. Annamese Chinese language has multiple layers of Chinese words from different eras reflective of the many waves of Han Chinese migration to Vietnam.
DeleteThere is also a chart of the merger of proto-Muong language and Annamese Chinese in John Phan's paper similar to the one drawn in this article.
The definition of a creole language is the mixing of two parent languages merging into a new language with elements of both. There are many basic words in Vietnamese (besides Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary) that are Chinese in origin. Read this article carefully.
Thanks for the post. I would like to comment on the extra ending consonants. Actually the ending consonant 'nh' and 'ch' are sound like 'ng' and 'k'. For example: "inh" is pronounced as "ing", "ich" = "ik", "ach" = "ek", it's just a spelling for words with shorter vowels. I think Cantonese or some Chinese dialect contain those sound
ReplyDeleteThose Muong sounds 'nh' and 'ch' didn't sound like 'ng' and 'k' when the native Muong people spoke it. It only became 'ng' and 'k' when the Kinh spoke it because the Han Chinese can't pronounce it properly.
DeleteThe Muong language has /m n ɲ ŋ/, /p t c k/, /l/ consonant endings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muong_language
Whereas, all Chinese languages only have six consonant endings /m n ŋ/, /p t k/ so Annamese Chinese didn't have ɲ and c endings before the merger.
It's just like how the Han Chinese who are born in China mispronounce English words such as 'well', 'botch' because these consonant endings don't exist in Chinese languages.
Therefore, the original language of Kinh Vietnamese people was Annamese Chinese because their ancestors were Han Chinese who migrated to North Vietnam, then their language became Vietic belonging to the Mon-Khmer language family of the Austroasiatic language family, but most of their vocabulary is still from Chinese; and this reflects the Austroasiatic influence on the Han Chinese immigrants from the Le dynasty, an Austroastic dynasty, instead of the Kra-Dai natives of North Vietnam. Think about it, if the Ming dynasty still had ruled Vietnam, perhaps the Vietnamese today would still have spoken Chinese and become part of China! Or at least Vietnamese people would have still speak Chinese even when they are independent.
ReplyDeleteThere is a part 2 to this article in this blog that will give more evidence that the Kinh originally spoke a Chinese language.
Delete