Phonetic Annotation

Phonetic Annotation (PA) is a method for describing Vietnamese pronunciation using Hán Nôm characters. It makes use of 23 basic Hán Nôm characters which are extended by a set of 19 vowel/tone marks.

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Consonants (Hán Nôm)

[ʔ] *[b]⟨c,k,q⟩[cʰ]⟨đ⟩[z][f]⟨g⟩
⟨gi⟩[h][kʰ][l][m][n]⟨ng⟩⟨nh⟩
[r][s][t][tʰ]⟨tr⟩[v]⟨x⟩
* Left part of 𧘇 ấy.

Vowels

aăiêôuư
ơâia/iêeoua/uôưa/ươ

Tones

⸝⸜ɂ~•
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How to write

When writing a word is split into the four components initial, vowel nucleus, coda, and tone. For example 船 thuyền (boat) is split into the components [tʰ], [ʷiə], [n] and the low tone. Initials and coda consonants are represented by Hán-Nôm characters. To form a word a vowel symbol and a tone symbol are added.

Examples:

(船)thuyề⸜n➝thuyền

(𩵜)ca⸝ ➝cá or cá

(各)ca⸝c➝ các

(版)baɂn➝ bản

(𡗉)nhiê⸜u➝nhiều

Glides

The [w] glide that occurs in words like thuỷ, khoái, quyền, etc. is written by adding a horizontal bar to the vowel:

oaoăuyuêuơuâuya/uyêoe

Coda symbols

Final consonants are written with the corresponding Hán-Nôm. Final semi vowels are written with the vowel symbol for i and ô.

-m-n-ng-nh-p-t-c-ch
-i/y-u/o

Character chart

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