Sinitic-Vietnamese : Chapter 12 – How Sound Changes Have Come About

Executive Summary

In search of sound change pattern

Chapter 12 investigates how Vietnamese words can be traced through systematic sound changes, particularly in relation to Middle Chinese. Regular Sino‑Vietnamese (SV) vocabulary follows predictable correspondences: voiceless initials yield upper‑register tones, voiced initials yield lower‑register tones, and finals such as /‑wŋ/ and /‑wkp/ explain reflexes like ‑ông and ‑ục. These patterns allow scholars to distinguish between “true” Sino‑Vietnamese loans and other strata of the lexicon.

An analogy of Vietnamese etymology

The chapter draws an analogy between Vietnamese etymology and a layered palimpsest:
- Sino‑Vietnamese: scholarly, rule‑governed borrowings from Middle Chinese.
- Sinitic‑Vietnamese: irregular, dialectal, or Yue‑substratal borrowings.
- Mon‑Khmer and Austroasiatic: numerals, kinship terms, and everyday vocabulary.
- Other regional sources: Malay, Thai, and Chamic contributions. This analogy underscores that Vietnamese etymology cannot be reduced to a single source but must be understood as a convergence of multiple linguistic currents.
A synopsis of phonological sound changes from Chinese to Vietnamese
The chapter recaps common sound change patterns that shaped the Vietnamese lexicon, including mergers of initials, tonal developments, and shifts in finals.

Localization and innovation or "Vietnamized"
It highlights how foreign elements were localized and innovated into Vietnamese, embedding themselves in idiomatic expressions, fixed compounds, and cultural contexts.
A corollary approach

The corollary method emphasizes forms where at least one syllable aligns with Chinese or Yue sources, showing how cultural and literary channels reinforced borrowing alongside semantic shifts.

Words of unknown origin
A significant portion of the lexicon resists clear etymology, likely reflecting indigenous or Yue substrata preserved in vernacular speech but absent from formal Sino‑Vietnamese registers.
Questionable words of Chinese origin

The chapter also surveys items that resemble Chinese forms but whose status as loans is doubtful, illustrating the difficulty of assigning origins when Austroasiatic or regional explanations are equally plausible.

x X x

Languages change, and sound change is a fundamental fact of linguistic history. In earlier times such changes occurred more rapidly, whereas in the modern era they have slowed considerably. The widespread reach of electronic media now disseminates speech and writing with remarkable uniformity, even as it generates new abbreviations, jargons, and neologisms in digital communication. The reality of sound change is self‑evident and beyond dispute. The question, then, is how such changes come about.

Sound change takes many forms, both regular and irregular, as illustrated in the Sino‑Vietnamese and Sinitic‑Vietnamese vocabularies examined in the preceding chapters. Witold Mańczak, in his study "Irregular sound change due to frequency in German" (Recent Developments in Historical Phonology, p. 309), summarizes the principle as follows:

In brief, the theory of irregular sound change due to frequency can be presented as follows. There is a synchronic law according to which the linguistic elements which are more often used are smaller than those which are less often used. There is a kind of balance between the size of linguistic elements and their frequency. Anyhow, the size of linguistic elements is not stable. As a result, the size of words may change considerably as the comparison of some Old and New High German words [...]

There are four criteria which allow us to recognize that regular sound change due to frequency is involved:

(1) If a frequency dictionary for a given language and for a given epoch exists, we may use it, since the majority of words showing an irregular change due to frequency (about 90%) belong to the thousand words most frequently used in the given language.

(2) In addition to irregular sound change due to frequency, there are other irregular sound changes, namely assimilations, dissimilations, metatheses, and expressive and overcorrect forms. [...]

(3) If in a given language, a morpheme, word, or group of words occurs in a double form (regular or irregular), irregular sound change due to frequency is characterized by the fact that the irregular form is usually used more often than the regular ones. [...]

(4) If the irregular sound change due to frequency occurs within a paradigm, it may be recognized by the fact that only the more commonly used forms are subject to it, whereas the forms used less frequently remain regular. [...]

A paradigm may take many forms, one of which is captured in Sturtevant’s paradox, cited by Raimo Anttila in "The Acceptance of Sound Change by Linguistic Structure" (Recent Developments in Historical Phonology, p. 43): sound change is regular and produces irregularities, while analogy is irregular and produces regularity. Beyond this paradox, other forces also shape the emergence of paradigms. Competence and performance, for example, are among the factors that contribute to their formation. As Wolfgang Dressler observes in "How Much Does Performance Contribute to Phonological Change?" (Recent Developments in Historical Phonology, p. 145):

1.1. In opposition to traditional views that language change starts in performance (parole), generative grammarians have equated linguistic change with change in competence. [...]

1.2. According to Antitila (1972:128 and later studies) "most changes seem to be triggered by performance". Performance contains variation due to imperfect control, to imperfect articulatory organs, to memory restrictions, slips of the tongue or of the ear, the error such as involuntary contaminations, variation due to fluctuations in attention and to inadvertence, to confusions, to playfulness, etc., and individual "biophonetic" characteristics (see Trojan 1975), which cannot be described by rules. [...]

In performance hypotheses sound change is said to be (always or most of the time) the result of random vacillations and gradual fluctuations, to be imperceptible, to be due to ease of articulation or to individual tendencies, to result from the inability of the individual to produce exactly the sounds which he hears, to be due to stylistic fluctuations, to be of a statistical nature, etc. [...]

2. Sound change due to loans (from a substratum, superstratum, or adstratum) is probably the case where possible origins or phonological change can be more easily ascertained. Imperfect application of phonological rules of the target language by speakers of the source language (cf. Fasching 1973) is often seen as due to lack of competence in the target language, or more precisely performance errors. However, we must distinguish between confusion errors which can not be directly traced back to a model in the source language on the one hand, and transpositions of parts of the competence in the source language on the other. [...]

3.1. (Non-analogical) contaminations in speech errors are rather different from blends in language diachrony (see Dressler 1976a) [...]

According to Paul (1920:160-2) diachronic contamination nearly always occurs between words which are either etymologically related or suppletive or antonymous, which is not the case at all in speech errors (see Dressler 1976a ss 13) [...]

Most, if not (nearly) all historical blends are either of an analogical nature (and not phonological contaminations such as many errors) or are consciously coined or are due to interference between the two dialects, [...]

3.2. Non-contaminatory slips of the tongue (cf. Meringer – Mayer 1895, Meringer 1908, Gromkin 1973) are generated by syntagmatic (more rarely dissimilatory) anticipation and preservation, assimilatory increment, and dissimilatory loss. [...]

3.3. Perceptual errors are very complex and cannot possibly give rise to "sound laws". [...] Systematic mis-perception of phonemes of allophones either occur as contact phenomena (i.e. interferences of competence, see 2) or in language disturbances such as aphasia (i.e. disturbance or loss of competence). [...]

4. Child-language acquisition is thought to be the principle source of phonological change by most linguists nowadays. If a process of child language (such as A. Meillet's French example [入] ~ [ǐ] or the final devoicing of obstruents) is said to initiate phonological change, then it is a question of general and systematic substitutions, reflecting the (older) child's competence, and this even in the case of incipient lexical diffusion.

All paradigms of how sound change has been explained by theoretical experts converge to reinforce the central argument developed throughout this study. With that foundation in place, we now turn to the specifics of sound change as it appears in the transmission of Chinese loanwords into Vietnamese.

The author’s final remark for this section is not an additional commentary but rather a reflection: the synopsis itself serves as a source of encouragement, a way of drawing strength from the insights of the scholars cited above, especially the formulation presented in item 3.3.

I) In search of sound change patterns

To understand the phenomenon of sound change, both synchronically and diachronically, readers must first distinguish the paradigms that separate Sino‑Vietnamese from Sinitic‑Vietnamese lexemes. Although both may derive from the same Chinese sources, their induced drifts follow different models, especially in cases where imperfect transmission produced the most drastic shifts. In many instances, Chinese loanwords entered Vietnamese layered upon older strata of Ancient Chinese vocabulary, including basic items that likely evolved from the same roots, or cognates, as seen in Shafer’s basic Sino‑Tibetan wordlists. This principle rests on two pillars: the historical record of nearly a millennium of Han occupation in Annam, and the abundant linguistic evidence of Chinese loanwords that became embedded in Vietnamese. The phenomenon of sound change thus unfolded in multiple dimensions, drifting and shifting semantically and syntactically, leaping forward synchronically while unfolding diachronically.

Another guiding principle is that Chinese–Vietnamese etymological work should be approached as a matter of semantic translation rather than one‑to‑one lexical correspondence. Sound changes are the products of associations between sound and concept, and what we are dealing with are equivalent concepts, not simple glossaries. A Chinese character appearing in a Vietnamese word may also serve as a syllabic stem in other formations, functioning as an etymon across multiple derivatives. For example, 順 shùn (SV thuận) in 順便 shùnbiàn (sẵntiện, luôntiện) conveys the notion of "conveniently," and serves as the etymon for both sẵn "available" and luôn "conveniently." Likewise, 順 in 順利 shùnlì (suônsẻ "smoothly") and 孝順 xiàoshùn (hiếuthảo "filial piety") gives rise to suôn "smoothly" and thảo "devotion." Each can stand independently as a morpheme, though in compounds like suônsẻ and hiếuthảo only hiếu functions as a free word‑syllable. We will return to this morpheme–syllable–word relationship, known in Vietnamese as tiếng, later.

When tracing Vietnamese words of Chinese origin, restricting ourselves to rigid one‑to‑one correspondences will obscure many roots. Sinitic‑Vietnamese words often appear in multiple forms and guises. For instance, insisting that 成 chéng (SV thành) corresponds only to sẵn "ready" would cause us to overlook its other reflexes, such as vâng "yes" or xong "finished." In 現成 xiànchéng (sẵnsàng "ready"), 現 xiàn yields sẵn while 成 chéng becomes sàng, a reflective duplicate morpheme that cannot stand alone. Similarly, vâng and xong may also derive from other sources, such as 行 xíng "okay" and 完 wán "done."

The following expanded examples of disyllabic words—some combining Sino‑Vietnamese and Sinitic‑Vietnamese elements—illustrate these processes. Such forms best demonstrate phonetic discrepancies and homo‑organic synonyms, akin to the Chinese concept of 諧聲 xiéshēng, where characters like 見 and 現 in the Han period could both mean "appear." Vietnamese usage of these words has often shifted under the influence of contraction, syncope, metathesis, localization, innovation, derivation, association, dissimilation, corruption, contamination, adaptation, and other mechanisms. In short, sound change not only altered existing forms but also generated new words and meanings, sometimes diverging far from their originals, though often maintaining concurrent phonetic and semantic correspondences with Chinese, especially in the case of later loanwords, for example,

Table 1 - Comparative grid of selected Vietnamese forms of Chinese origin

Viet.	Chin.	Pinyin	Sino‑Viet. (SV)	Meaning	Type of Change	Semantic Notes
suônsẻ	順利	shùnlì	thuậnlợi	"smoothly"	Derivation	Narrowed to everyday sense of "smooth, uneventful"; cf. trótlọt
hiếuthảo	孝順	xiàoshùn	hiếuthuận	"filial piety"	Metathesis	Split into hiếu "filial" + thảo "devotion"; thảo gains independent moral nuance
tốttính	德性	déxìng	đứctính	"virtue"	Innovation	Semantic shift: đức "virtue" reinterpreted as tốt "good"
rác	垃圾	lāji	lạpcấp	"garbage"	Syncope	Reduced to monosyllable; generalized to all refuse
mai	明兒	míngr	minhnhi	"tomorrow"	Contraction	Retained temporal meaning; simplified form stabilized
tìnhyêu	愛情	àiqíng	áitình	"love"	Localization	Order reversed; yêu becomes core vernacular verb "to love"
ưathích	愛戴	àidài	áiđái	"like"	Association	Blended with 疼愛 téng’ài; broadened to "fondness, affection"
ănnói	言語	yányǔ	ngônngữ	"speech"	Association/assimilation	Recast as vernacular ăn + nói; semantic reinterpretation of "speech" as "eating and speaking"
nóinăng	語言	yǔyán	ngônngữ	"speech"	Localization by reduplication	Reduplicative năng adds emphasis; colloquialized register
lờilẽ	語辭	yǔcí	ngữtừ	"speech"	Innovation + assimilation	Split into lời "words" + lẽ "reason"; semantic bifurcation
thơtừ	書辭	shūcí	thưtừ	"letters"	Innovation	Extended to broader concept sáchvở "books, literature"
thợmộc	木匠	mùjiāng	—	"carpenter"	Corruption	Hybridized VS thợ + SV mộc; semantic stability retained
một căn gáctrọ	一間 + 閣 + 宿	yī jiān + gé + sù	nhất gian, các, túc	"lodging room"	Adaptation	Mirrors cănphòng 房間; semantic calque of "room"
bọnngười	一幫人	yī bāng rén	nhất bang nhân	"the gang"	Adaptation	Generalized to "group of people"; neutral/pejorative shift
giấcmộng	一場夢	yī chǎng mèng	nhất trường mộng	"a dream"	Adaptation	Reduced to binom giấcmộng; retains poetic register

Similarly, the list can go on with other assimilative changes such as

Table 2 - Comparative grid* of selected cuộc/việc expression forms

Vietnamese	Chin.	Pinyin	Sino‑Viet. (SV)	Meaning	Type of Change	Semantic Notes
cuộctình	情場	qíngchǎng	tìnhtrường	"love story"	Adaptation	場 chǎng reinterpreted as cuộc; narrowed to "romantic affair"
cuộcđời	世局	shìjú	thếcuộc	"world, life"	Adaptation	cuộc generalized to denote "life" as an unfolding course
bỏcuộc	破局 (cf. 放棄)	pòjú (fàngqì)	phácục (phóngkhí)	"to give up"	Adaptation	cuộc reanalyzed as "undertaking"; semantic shift to "abandon"
rốtcuộc	結局	jiéjú	kếtcuộc	"final outcome"	Adaptation	rốt adds finality; narrowed to "in the end"
cuộcsống	生活	shēnghuó	sinhhoạt	"life"	Adaptation	cuộc mapped onto "life" as lived experience
côngcuộc	工作	gōngzuò	côngtác	"task"	Adaptation	công + cuộc = "undertaking"; broadened to "enterprise, cause"
côngviệc	公務	gōngwù	côngvụ	"official business"	Adaptation	Semantic generalization to "work, job"
làmviệc	幹活	gànhuó	cánhoạt	"to work"	Adaptation	Vernacularized into everyday collocation làm việc
bậnviệc	忙活	mánghuó	manghoạt	"to be busy"	Adaptation	Narrowed to "busy with work"
nóidối	假話	jiǎhuà	giảthoại	"a lie"	Adaptation	nói + dối replaces SV giảthoại; semantic equivalence preserved
phảitrái	是非	shìfēi	thịphi	"right and wrong"	Adaptation	Binary opposition re‑expressed as phải/trái "right/wrong"

*This grid shows how cuộc and việc became highly productive morphemes in Vietnamese, absorbing multiple Chinese inputs and extending their semantic range.

Just as the development of other Chinese dialects illustrates the evolutionary path of a living language shaped over two and a half millennia since their speakers became part of the later Han Chinese (漢人), the emergence of modern Vietnamese follows a comparable trajectory. Its present form is the cumulative result of continuous, gradual change, driven by inevitable cause‑and‑effect interactions between an ancient aboriginal substrate and the various Chinese dialects introduced into the Annamese land. These influences arrived not only through conquest and military presence, but also via waves of emigrants, exiled officials, local administrators, scholars, and their families of mixed backgrounds. All of these factors, filtered through patterns of competence and frequency, contributed to the irregularities of sound change.

Evidence of shared cognates in the basic lexical stock of both Chinese and Vietnamese suggests that many common words were already in use within the Viet‑Muong group before further differentiation from Old Chinese. Later, massive layers of Middle Chinese vocabulary entered Vietnamese up to the end of the Tang dynasty, forming the core of what we now recognize as Sino‑Vietnamese (see Bernhard Karlgren, Compendium of Phonetics in Ancient and in Archaic Chinese, 1954).

The hypothesis that ancient Vietnamese, the Vietic branch of the Viet‑Muong subfamily, descended from the same Yue linguistic source as Cantonese remains debated. On the surface, Vietnamese and Cantonese share a significant portion of Middle Chinese glosses, but fewer basic substratum words. Northern Mandarin, surprisingly, often fills the lexical gaps where Cantonese does not, supporting the argument that ancient Annamese belonged within the Sino‑Tibetan family, a position advanced in earlier chapters under the label "Sinitic‑Vietnamese." The proto‑Viet‑Muong language, spoken by the LạcViệt (雒越 LuoYue) and later the Âulạc (歐雒 Ouluo), had already existed alongside early Cantonese (Jyutwa 粵話) long before Han colonization of Annam (安南, then known as Giao Chỉ 交趾 Jiaozhi). Situated southwest of Phiênngung (番禺 Fanyu), the capital of the NamViệt Kingdom (南越王國 NanYue), Annam developed in relative isolation from the Cantonese heartland. This helps explain why Cantonese, though also a Yue language, shares only a limited substratum with Vietnamese. Examples include xơi 食 /shik8/ "eat," uống 飲 /jaam3/ "drink," ốm and ỉa 屙 /o5/ "illness, excretion," and đéo or đụ 屌 diǎo (SV điệu) /tjew3/ "copulate."

Archaeological parallels reinforce this picture. Just as Đôngsơn artifacts from Thanhhoá Province, dated between 400 B.C. and 100 A.D. (see Bernhard Karlgren, 1945), reveal cultural continuity, so too the early Sinitic‑Vietnamese vocabulary acquired under Han rule eventually circulated back into southern China. Re‑packaged in new phonological and semantic forms, these words became part of the broader repertoire of Old Chinese variants, many of which still coexist in Vietnamese today, for instance,

Table 3 - Comparative grid** of selected lexical doublets

Viet.	Chin.	Pinyin	Sino‑Viet. (SV)	Vernacular (VS)	Meaning	Notes
mèo	猫	māo	mẹo	mẹo	"cat"	Direct borrowing; VS later replaced by mèo
vi / voi	為 / 豫 / 象	wèi / yú / xiàng	vi ("do, for")	voi ("elephant")	"do, for"; "elephant"	Doublet: archaic 豫 yú "elephant" vs. modern 象 xiàng
hổ / cọp	虎	hǔ	hổ	cọp	"tiger"	Parallel SV and VS reflexes
hùm	甝	hán	hàm	hùm	"white tiger"	Archaic variant; VS specialization
đường	唐	táng	đường	đàng ("road")	"hall, Tang" → "road"	Replaced 道 dào (SV đạo); doublet with 途 tú (SV đồ)
xuyên / dòng	川	chuān	xuyên	dòng	"stream"	SV vs. VS differentiation
giang / sông	江	jiāng	giang	sông	"river"	Doublet; VS sông generalized
phòng / buồng	房	fáng	phòng	buồng	"room"	SV vs. VS doublet; semantic overlap

**This grid shows how SV forms (literary, learned borrowings) and VS forms (vernacular, often older or colloquial) coexist, sometimes as doublets, sometimes as semantic splits.

The latter forms may already have existed before the Han Empire annexed the Nam Việt kingdom in 111 B.C. This polity had been ruled by King Triệu Đà (趙佗 Zhào Tuó), a former general of the Qin state (秦國), whom some scholars speculate to have been of Yue origin. (Y), His heirs governed a vast territory that encompassed ancient Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi, extending southward into the Annamese land of today’s Red River basin in northern Vietnam.

With the onset of Han domination, the Viet‑Muong group split into the two branches mentioned earlier, Viet and Muong, whose speakers dispersed along different migratory routes. Some retreated into mountainous refuges, while others established settlements along the coastal plains. (A)

This linguistic divergence gave rise to the early Vietic sub‑family. Out of it emerged the language later known as Annamese, an admixture of the indigenous substrate and Western Han (西漢) elements. Its basic vocabulary, as attested in Han‑dynasty classics, already reveals this blend, for example:

'Liu', 'axe', 'conquer' 劉 líu (SV 'Lưu' surname, VS 'rìu', 'lấy'),
'Yue', 'axe' 戉,鉞,粵 Yuè (SV 'Việt'='越 Yuè', VS 'rựa'),
'copper', 'bronze' 銅 tóng (SV 'đồng', VS 'thau'),
'wheeled machine', 'chariot', 'carriage' 車 chē (SV 'xa', VS 'cỗ' vs. 'cộ' vs. 'xe'),
'indigo' 藍 lán (SV 'lam', VS 'chàm'),
'earthnut', 'fall' 落 luò (SV 'lạc', VS 'rơi'),
'net fishing', 'fishing net' 羅 luó (SV 'la', VS 'chài', 'lưới'),
'bamboo basket', 'bamboo fish trap' 籮 luó (VS 'rỗ' and 'rọ'), etc.

The similarity of basic vocabulary between Vietnamese and Chinese has been the central subject of this study, with evidence of cognateness presented throughout. Unfortunately, no historical records written in a native "Vietnamese script" have been found prior to the fifteenth century, let alone before 939 A.D. The early history of Annam is therefore largely reconstructed from Chinese sources, which governed the region from 111 B.C. to 939 A.D. As such, it forms both a continuation of and an integral part of Chinese history. (H) As such, it forms both a continuation of and an integral part of Chinese history. Within this framework, we can confidently survey Sinitic‑Vietnamese etymology by drawing on ancient Chinese linguistic records, including the thirteenth‑century Annam Dịchngữ dictionary (Vương Lộc 1995), to approximate how the archaic Vietic language may have sounded before its deep blending with Ancient Chinese more than two millennia ago.

Equally important is understanding how thousands of additional cultural and scholarly Sino‑Vietnamese loanwords entered the daily speech of ordinary Vietnamese. Their presence is not speculative: Sino‑Vietnamese vocabulary has become inseparable from modern Vietnamese, to the point that no complete sentence can be spoken today without it. This popularity is a crucial dimension of Vietnamese historical linguistics that must be studied on a larger scale. Politically and linguistically, scholars and officials in Annam, like their counterparts elsewhere in the empire, were required to master the official court language—quan thoại (官話, Mandarin). This explains why the later period of Middle Chinese, particularly Tang‑era Mandarin, entered Vietnamese en masse in the form we now call Sino‑Vietnamese. (C)

Discrepancies between Vietnamese usage and that of the major southern Chinese dialects—Cantonese, Fukienese, and Wu (e.g., Shanghainese, Shaoxingnese)—are also revealing. Historical phonological records, such as Tang and Song rhyme books, show that each language developed minor phonetic divergences that rendered them mutually unintelligible. Each character often carried both colloquial and literary readings, producing at least two distinct pronunciations. These southern dialects, originally Yue languages south of the Yangtze, retained many substratum words identified by Austroasiatic specialists in the early twentieth century. Yet all underwent Sinicization, their territories having remained within the Chinese cultural sphere since the Han dynasty. This historical continuity institutionally placed them within the Sino‑Tibetan family. (V)

Nevertheless, despite lexical similarities with Chinese dialects, neither ancient Annamese nor modern Vietnamese should be considered a Chinese dialect, before or after 939 A.D., when the Vietnamese threw off Chinese colonial rule. Phonetically, the modern Vietnamese sound system evolved gradually over centuries, shaped by successive waves of northern vernacular forms brought by emigrants during each colonial stage. This explains why Vietnamese today contains many expressions strikingly similar to Mandarin, the living northern language of China. Such parallels can be verified in classical Chinese novels—Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West, Water Margin, Dream of the Red Chamber—all written in the vernacular style (báihuàwén 白話文) from the Yuan through the Ming dynasties. These texts reflect a northern dialectal base, which resonates with many Vietnamese forms (Wang Li et al. 1956: 46, 82, 98).

In terms of competence and performance, depending on patterns of lexical acquisition and usage, the older forms eventually had to compete with newer and more prestigious ones, namely, the scholarly Sino‑Vietnamese derived from Middle Chinese and cultivated in learned circles. Among the general population, northern Vietnamese speakers tended to employ more Sino‑Vietnamese vocabulary, while southern speakers relied more heavily on the Sinitic‑Vietnamese stock. Yet this regional distinction did not prevent the Sinitic‑Vietnamese domain as a whole from absorbing additional layers of vernacular Mandarin. In the contemporary setting, both regions continue to incorporate modern Chinese terms, adapted with Sino‑Vietnamese pronunciation, for example, thịphạm (示範 shìfàn, 'demonstrate'), soáica (帥哥 shuàigē, 'handsome man'), namthần (男神 nánshén, 'Mr. Perfect'), and đạocụ (道具 dàojù, 'theatrical props'), etc.

Colloquially, such new Chinese lexicons in Vietnamese may be regarded as later loans, or as modified continuations of earlier words reshaped by phonological shifts, vernacular usage, and semantic adaptation. This phenomenon is not new: it has been occurring since antiquity. Sinitic‑Vietnamese forms often evolve into words that appear deceptively familiar, yet differ in origin or nuance, as will be illustrated below. The key point is that Vietnamese has consistently drawn on Chinese material in ways unmatched by Austroasiatic languages, aside from a handful of questionable Mon‑Khmer items.

When compared with modern Chinese Pǔtōnghuà (普通話), many common words in Vietnamese reveal multifunctional usage shaped by sound change, that is, nouns functioning as verbs, verbs as adverbs, or particles serving multiple roles. Significantly, as in Chinese, many grammatical function words (虛詞) in Vietnamese can be traced back to originally concrete lexical items (實詞). These functional particles appear to have entered Vietnamese through northern Chinese dialects during at least two stages: Early Mandarin and Late Mandarin, continuing into contemporary Mandarin (Guānhuà, 官話; SV Quanthoại).

Let us now examine some of these derived variants of shared Chinese roots, both as notional words and as grammatical particles.

A) 來 lái: lai (SV)

lại, này: "come"; variations: 來來來! Láilái lái: "Lại đây này!" or "Tới đây!" ('Come over here!'),
sau: 未來 wèilái "maisau" ('in the future'),
lai: "racially mixed"; 外來 wàilái: for SV "ngoạilai" [ Notionally, to mean 'foreign origin', and with the dropped syllabic-morpheme 外 wài, VS "lai", originally functioning as an adverbal to connote the notion of 'in' or 'into', has become "racially mutated", of which the syllabic-morpheme 來 lai cannot used with the same notion by it self. Modern Chinese = 野種 yězhǒng (SV dãchủng) ],
lại (a grammatical particle indicating upcoming or to-be-complete action): Màn lái! 慢來! "Chậm lại!" ('Slow down!'),
lại: "again" semantically as a doublet of 再 zài: 'lại', e.g., 再來 Zàilái! "Làm lại!" ('Do it again!') (# 再來 zàilái can also be: "lặplại" ('repeat!') or "trởlại" ('return')
là: 本來 běnlái "vốnlà" ('originally'), 原來 yuánlái "nguyênlà" ('originally'), 一來... yìlái "mộtlà" ('firstly')... 二來... èrlái "hailà" ('secondly')...,
vậy: "thus" (a grammatical particle indicating resultant completion implying an adverbal 'then' or 'thus'): 你去那裏來? Nǐ qù nálǐ lái? "Mầy điđâu vậy?" (Where did you go?), 你放才說甚麼來呢? Nǐ fāngcái shuō shěnme lái nè? "Mầy vừarồi nói gì vậy nhỉ?" (What have you just said?)
đây: 上來 Shànglái! "Lênđây!" ('Come up here!'), 過來! Guòlái! "Quađây!" ('Come here!')
nầy: 後來 hòulái "saunầy" ('later on'),
nay: 素來 sùlái "xưanay" ('from the start'),
làm: 來唄 Láibei! "Làmđi!" ('Go ahead!'), 亂來 luànlái "làmcàn" ('do things carelessly'), 來不及. Láibùjí. "Làm khôngkịp." (It can't be done (on time)), 來一盃! Lái yī bēi! "Làm một ly!" (Let's have a drink!),
tới: "act", "perform a to be done action", e.g., 來不及! Láibùjí! "Tới khôngkịp!" '(We, I, He..) cannot make it on (on time)', 來吧! láiba! "Tớiđi!" ('Come!'),
nổi: 起不來 qǐbùlái "dậyđâunổi" ('Unable to get up.'), etc.

B) 了 lē, liăo: liễu (SV)

liễu: "finish, complete" → 了結 liǎojié → "kếtliễu" ("to finish, end")
lấy: completed action → 他抱緊了我. Tā bàojǐn le wǒ. → "Nó ômchặt lấy tôi."
mất: completed action → 吃完飯他走了. Chī wán fàn tā zǒu le → "Ăn cơm xong nó đimất."
nổi: capacity → 忘不了 Wàng bùliǎo → "Quênkhôngnổi."
nữa: future certainty → 我不再回來了 Wǒ bù zài huílái le → "Tôi sẽ không về lại nữa."
rồi: "already" → 忘了! Wàng le! → "Quênrồi!"
rõ: 了解 liǎojiě → "hiểurõ" ("understand clearly")
ra: adverbial "out" → 累壞了 Lèihuài le → "Mệtnhoàira."
là: "then" → 小偷看見了警察後拔腿就跑. Xiǎotōu kànjiàn le jǐngchá hòu bátuǐ jiù pǎo. → "Têntrộm thấy cảnhsát là chạy."
luôn: 冷死了 Lěngsǐ le → "Lạnh chết luôn!", etc.

C) 打 dă: đả (SV)

đánh, quánh, đập: 打字 dǎzì → "đánhchữ" ("to type")
đòn: 挨打 áidǎ → "ănđòn" ("to be beaten")
tá: 一打 yī dǎ → "mộttá" ("a dozen")
từ: 自打 zìdǎ → "từđó" ("since")
đánh: 打劫 dǎjié → "đánhcướp" ("to rob")
tính: 打算 dǎsuàn → "tínhtoán" ("to plan")
lậpcập: 打抖 dǎdǒu → "lậpcập" ("to tremble")
cá: 打賭 dǎdǔ → "cáđộ" ("to bet"), etc.

D) 開 kāi: khai (SV)

khai: 開張 kāizhāng "khaitrương" ("grand opening"); 開幕 kāimù "khaimạc" ("inaugurate"); 開講 kāijiǎng "khaigiảng" ("school opening")
khui: 打開 dǎkāi → "khuira" ("to open up")
khởi: 開始 kāishǐ → "khởisự" ("to begin")
khỏi: 躲開 duǒkāi → "tránhkhỏi" ("to escape")
mở: 開燈 kāidēng → "mởđèn" ("turn on the light"); 開花 kāihuā → "nởhoa" ("flowers bloom")
nở: 花開 huākāi → "hoanở" ("flowers bloom")
lái: 開車 kāichē → "láixe" ("to drive"); 開飛機. kāifēijī. → "lái máybay" ("to fly a plane")
hài: 開心 kāixīn → "hàilòng" ("pleased")
coi: 讓開 ràngkāi → "tránhcoi" ("get out of the way"), etc.

Evidence indicates that because Chinese and Vietnamese phonological interchanges arose from different sources and evolved across distinct periods, their phonetic forms were often transformed beyond easy recognition. This is especially true of polysyllabic compounds: the longer the form, the greater the divergence.

E) Corpus segment: Middle Chinese → Sino‑Vietnamese

What, then, justifies the claim that Sinitic‑Vietnamese developed such a rich array of variant sounds for each Chinese root? The answer lies in the observable patterns of sound change, even in monosyllabic correspondences between Middle Chinese and Sino‑Vietnamese. In many cases, Mandarin reflexes show the loss of final consonants, producing forms that, to the untrained eye, may appear unrelated or even unrecognizable. Yet these shifts follow systematic trajectories, as the following examples illustrate.

必 bì /pi⁵¹/ → SV tất [tʌt7] 'inevitable'

屁 pì /pʰi⁵¹/ → SV tý [ti7] 'buttocks'

俾 bèi /pei⁵¹/ → SV tì [ti2] 'low class'

乘 chèng /ʈʂʰəŋ⁵¹/ → SV thừa [tʰɨə2] 'make use of, avail oneself'

吃 chī /ʈʂʰɨ⁵⁵/ → SV ngật [ŋʌt8] 'eat'

額 é /ɤ³⁵/ → SV ngạch [ŋɛk8] 'amount'

而 ěr /ɚ²¹⁴/ → SV nhi [ɲi1] 'but'

激 jī /tɕi⁵⁵/ → SV khích [kʰik7] 'incite'

季 jì /tɕi⁵¹/ → SV quý [wi5] 'season'

節 jié /tɕiɛ³⁵/ → SV tiết [tjet7] 'festival'

津 jīn /tɕin⁵⁵/ → SV tân [tʌn1] 'ford'

熱 rè /ʐɤ⁵¹/ → SV nhiệt [ɲjet8] 'hot'

日 rì /ʐɨ⁵¹/ → SV nhật [ɲət8] 'sun'

起 qǐ /tɕʰi²¹⁴/ → SV khởi [kʰɤj3] 'rise'

攝 shè /ʂɤ⁵¹/ → SV nhiếp [ɲjep7] 'act for'

溪 xī /ɕi⁵⁵/ → SV khê [kʰe1] 'brook'

吸 xī /ɕi⁵⁵/ → SV hấp [hʌp7] 'inhale'

係 xì /ɕi⁵¹/ → SV hệ [he6] 'related'

習 xí /ɕi³⁵/ → SV tập [tʌp8] 'practice'

洗 xǐ /ɕi²¹⁴/ → SV tẩy [tɤj3] 'wash'

惜 xì /ɕi⁵¹/ → SV tích [tik7] 'cherish'

赥 xì /ɕi⁵¹/ → SV hích [hik7] 'giggle'

需 xū /ɕy⁵⁵/ → SV nhu [ɲu1] 'need'

學 xué /ɕyɛ³⁵/ → SV học [xok8] 'study' [cf. Cantonese /hok4/]

業 yè /je⁵¹/ → SV nghiệp [ŋjep8] 'profession'

一 yī /i⁵⁵/ → SV nhất [ɲət7] 'one'

義 yì /i⁵¹/ → SV nghĩa [ŋja4] 'righteous'

譯 yì /i⁵¹/ → SV dịch [jik8] 'translate'

玉 yù /y⁵¹/ → SV ngọc [ŋok8] 'jade' [M 玉 yù < MC ŋi̯ok < OC *ŋok | FQ 魚欲]

禺 yú /y³⁵/ → SV ngung [ŋuŋ1] 'a kind of monkey' [ex. 番禺 Fānyú → SV Phiênngung]

月 yuè /yɛ⁵¹/ → SV nguyệt [ŋwjet8] 'moon'

樂 yuè /yɛ⁵¹/ → SV nhạc [ɲak8] 'music'

Strictly speaking, the phonological interchanges between Middle Chinese and Sino‑Vietnamese followed well‑defined patterns of diachronic sound change. These developments were scholarly in nature, having evolved from the official language of the imperial court and the literati, specifically, the prestige speech of Chang’an (長安) from the sixth century onward. The patterns can be identified and categorized through the systematic phonological method known as fǎnqiè 反切 (FQ), or phonetic "spelling". It is through this traditional system that the pronunciation of Chinese characters can be reconstructed and aligned with their Sino‑Vietnamese equivalents. For instance, An Chi (2016) proposed that Vietnamese trứng "egg" might be linked to 種 zhǒng (SV chủng) rather than 蛋 dàn (SV đản), basing the reconstruction solely on the fǎnqiè spelling tradition.

As with all historical phonological phenomena, however, exceptions occur. These reflect not only dialectal variation but also the historical contexts in which certain pronunciations became taboo under particular rulers, prompting the use of euphemisms. Nevertheless, in most cases the variants correspond closely to what is recorded in ancient rhyme books, later compiled and cited in the Kāngxī Zìdiǎn (康熙字典). Scholars such as Bernhard Karlgren, Nguyễn Tài Cẩn, Wang Li, and Li Fang‑Kuei have drawn extensively on these sources to illustrate the systematic nature of such sound changes, for example,

phước, phúc: 福 fú 'good fortune'

phụng, phượng: 鳳 fèng 'phoenix'

cuộc, cục: 局 jú 'status, situation'

oai, uy: 威 wēi 'power'

chú, chua: 注 zhù 'annotate'

chúa, chủ: 主 zhǔ 'master, lord'

bá, bách: 百 bǎi 'hundred'

triều, trào: 朝 cháo 'dynasty'

dị, dịch: 易 yí 'easy, change'

nghĩa, ngãi: 義 yì 'righteous'

hoàng, huỳnh: 黃 huáng 'yellow'

nguyên, ngươn: 元 yuán 'origin'

nhân, nhơn: 仁 rén 'benevolent'

quới, quý: 貴 guì 'precious'

tý, tứ: 伺 sì 'attend'

tý, tử: 子 zǐ 'offspring'

vũ, võ: 武 wǔ 'martial'

đông, thặng: 疼 téng, tóng 'pain, love'

thừa, thặng: 乘 chéng, shèng 'make use of, avail oneself'

trọng, trùng: 重 zhòng, chóng 'heavy, respect'

đường, đàng: 堂 táng 'hall'

tràng, trường, trưởng, trướng: 長 cháng, zhǎng 'long, grow, senior'

lợi, lãi: 利 lì 'benefit'

There are also irregularities in modern Mandarin reflexes that produce unexpected or even amusing phonetic outcomes, deviating from otherwise regular patterns. These shifts are the result of internal sound change, loss, and reanalysis from Middle Chinese into Mandarin. Representative cases include:

luật, suất: 率 lǜ 'lead, rate'. Standard Sino‑Vietnamese readings are suất (from MC ʂwit) and luật (from MC lwit). In Vietnamese usage, suất often means 'portion, part', while luật is used in the sense of 'rule, law'. Colloquial forms such as sốt 'at all' and suốt 'throughout' likely trace back to the same root. Cf. 比率 bǐlǜ → SV tỷsuất, VS tỷ lệ, xác suất 'rate, ratio'.
cáp, hạp, hợp, hiệp: 合 hé 'join, unite, close'. Multiple Sino‑Vietnamese reflexes (cáp, hạp, hợp, hiệp) reflect different layers of borrowing. Cf. 哈爾濱 Hā’ěrbīn → SV Cápnhĩtân 'Harbin'.
tịch: 席 xí 'mat, banquet'. VS tiệc 'banquet', chiếu 'mat', and chủxị 'host' (from 主席 zhǔxí, SV chủtịch 'chairman') all derive from this root.
thoại: 話 huà 'speech'. Standard SV is thoại, while VS nói 'speak' represents a divergent reflex.
thuyết: 說 shuō, shuì 'speak, explain'. SV thuyết corresponds to VS thốt 'utter'. The root also developed extended meanings such as 'to halt, rest overnight' (Mand. shuì) and 'to delight in' (Mand. yuè 悅).
thừa, thừng: 承 chéng 'hold, undertake, receive'. SV thừa and VS thừng coexist, alongside VS nhận 'receive' and dâng, nâng 'lift up'. Related compounds include 承受 chéngshòu → VS chịuđựng 'endure', 丞相 chéngxiàng → SV thừatướng 'minister', 剩餘 shèngyú → SV thặngdư 'surplus', VS dư thừa 'leftover', and 大乘 Dàchéng → SV Đạithừa 'Mahayana'.

In fact, many Vietnamese words are formed in a similar way and, since the majority are Chinese loanwords, an analytic approach can be applied to trace the etymology of Sinitic‑Vietnamese lexicons back to both the Sino-Vietnamese <~ Middle Chinese. This involves associating their meanings with synonymous lexemes that are close both in phonological shape and semantic value, for example,

thiệnlương: 善良 shànliáng (VS hiềnlương > hiềnlành, 'good character'), associated with 賢良 xiánliáng (VS hiềnlương).
caothượng: 高尚 gāoshàng (VS caosang, 'high-class'), in concurrent usage with 清高 qīnggāo (thanhcao) 'noble'.
cốkế: 估計 gùjì (VS dòchừng, 'estimate').
châuniên: 周年 zhōunián (VS đầynăm) for thôinôi 'baby’s first birthday shower', in addition to chuniên 'anniversary'. (Not to be confused with 停(搖)籃 tíng(yáo)lán; in any case, there was no 'cradle' in ancient times, and 籃 lán 'basket' or VS rỗ is a later development for the same reason.)
toạnguyệttử: 坐月子 zuòyuèzi (SV toạnguyệttử) for nằmđầytháng. In Vietnamese, the connotation is equally applied to 'baby’s one‑month shower'. Etymologically, the compound means 'puerperium', i.e., the traditional one‑month confinement period following childbirth, a major cultural ritual in Chinese society; in the West, by contrast, it corresponds only to 'maternity leave'.
thuộcthử: 屬鼠 shúShǔ (VS tuổiChuột, 'born in the year of the rat'). Cf. 屬羊 shǔYáng (tuổiDê, 'year of the Goat'), 屬雞 shǔJī (tuổiGà, 'year of the Rooster'). Here 屬 shǔ is , in association with 歲 suì (SV tuế > VS tuổi 'age').
hỗnđản: 渾蛋 húndàn (VS khốnnạn, 'son of a bitch'), in association with 困難 kùnnán (SV khốnnạn) vs. VS khókhăn 'difficulty'.
quánghiện: 過癮 guòyǐn for đãghiền, đãcơn, dãcơn 'satisfy a craving'. Also, VS 'đãquá'. 'quáđã'.
yêuchiết: 夭折 yāozhé (VS chếtyểu, 'die young').
yếuphạn: 要飯 yàofàn (VS ănmày, 'beggar'), in contrast of giởcơm 'scoop rice'. Hence, the latter hives rise to VS xúccơm, xớicơm, bớicơm, múccơm.
tạcnhục: 炸肉 zhàròu (VS chảlụa, 'cooked meat cake'), instead of chảgiò 'fried meatloaf'.
phìnhục: 肥肉 féiròu (VS bachỉ, 'bacon'). Cf. barọi (五花肉 wǔhuāròu 'fatty pork belly'),

and so on.

The presence of irregular derived syllabic interchanges enables us to expand and reinforce the sandhi‑association principle in revising the etymology of doublets or etyma that share common roots across countless cases. This demonstrates that the rigid one‑to‑one correspondences once insisted upon by earlier Sinological schools are not tenable.

The foundation for such revised reconstruction is grounded in the peculiar vocalism and articulation of Vietnamese initials and finals, which conform to the phonotactic patterns of Vietnamese speakers. The validity of the derived paradigm must then be tested against the competence and performance attested in Ancient Chinese phonological and rhyming schemes, as reconstructed from Old Chinese materials and refined by the discoveries of modern linguists working on Proto‑Chinese.

One of the most striking features is the peculiar labiovelar vocalism in modern Vietnamese, especially in finals ‑wc, ‑wng, preceded by rounded vowels (ɔ‑, o‑, u‑) or a medial ‑w‑ in orthography, i.e. [‑uwk, ‑uwŋ, ‑owk, ‑owŋ]. These are characterized by rounded, labialized codas and closely resemble Old Chinese finals ending in labiovelars *‑kw [kʷ], *‑gw [gʷ], and the labiovelar nasal *‑ngw [‑ŋʷ]. Li Fang‑Kuei, Pulleyblank, and others independently reached this conclusion.

Illustrative examples include:

風 fēng → VS gió 'wind'

心 xīn → VS lòng 'heart'

痛 tòng → VS đau 'pain'

彤 tóng → VS đỏ 'red'

生 shēng (further illustration of the same pattern)

Table 4 - Labiovelar finals and Vietnamese reflexes

Chin.	Pinyin	SV	VS	Gloss	OC reconstruction*
風	fēng	phong	gió	'wind'	OC prəm / pʷəŋ; labiovelar nasal ‑ŋʷ reflected in VS rounded final
心	xīn	tâm	lòng	'heart'	OC səm; nasal coda parallels VS ‑oŋ* with rounding
痛	tòng	thống	đau	'pain'	OC l̥ʰoŋs; rounded nasal ‑oŋ* > VS ‑au
彤	tóng	đồng	đỏ	'red'	OC doŋ; labiovelar nasal ‑ŋʷ* > VS ‑o
生	shēng	sinh	sống	'to live, life'	OC sreŋ; nasal ‑ŋ > VS ‑oŋ* with rounding
國	guó	quốc	nước	'country'	OC kʷək; labiovelar ‑kwək* > VS ‑ươc
玉	yù	ngọc	đá quý	'jade'	OC ŋok; labiovelar ‑ok* > VS ‑á in semantic substitution
光	guāng	quang	sáng	'light'	OC kʷaŋ; labiovelar ‑waŋ* > VS ‑áng
黃	huáng	hoàng	vàng	'yellow'	OC gʷaŋ; labiovelar ‑waŋ* > VS ‑àng
江	jiāng	giang	sông	'river'	OC kroŋ; nasal ‑ŋ with rounding > VS ‑ông*

*Notes:

The SV layer (phong, tâm, thống, đồng, sinh, quốc, ngọc, quang, hoàng, giang) preserves the more regularized Sino‑Vietnamese readings.
The VS layer (gió, lòng, đau, đỏ, sống, nước, đá quý, sáng, vàng, sông) shows native phonotactic adaptation, often with rounded finals or semantic substitution.
The OC reconstructions (‑kw, ‑gw, ‑ŋw) explain the rounded Vietnamese reflexes, confirming the labiovelar connection.

Table 5: A case study of Sinitic-Vietnamese neologism formed with Chinese lexemes

The Vietnamese term 'côngcuộc' – now familiar in modern discourse as a formal compound meaning 'cause', 'process', or 'undertaking' – is a persistent source of lexical confusion and scholarly intrigue. While often misinterpreted as a Sino-Vietnamese compound mapping straight onto Chinese 公局 or 工局 (Mandarin gōngjú 'public bureau', 'work office'), its correct etymological genesis instead lies in 工作 (gōngzuò, 'task', 'work'), with the element 'cuộc' emerging not from 局 (jú) but from 作 (zuò). The fact that 'cuộc' in Vietnamese phonologically and semantically diverges from both its Sino-Vietnamese dictionary reading 'tác' and its expected Mandarin reflex /zuò/ reflects a network of historical sound change, sandhi assimilation, and semantic-phonetic association – processes that collectively illuminate the complex history of Chinese lexical influence in Vietnam.

The Vietnamese word 'côngcuộc' functions in modern written and spoken Vietnamese to denote a significant collective undertaking – 'project', 'cause', 'the course of' – especially in governmental or historical phrasing (e.g., "côngcuộc khángchiến" 'resistance war', "côngcuộc đổimới" 'the undertaking of renovation/reform'). It is a compound of 'công' (from 工 'work; labor') and 'cuộc'.

The confusion with 公局 or 工局 is understandable, as both 公 and 工 read 'công' in Sino-Vietnamese, and 局 (SV: cục) is a common bound morpheme for official entities. However, 'côngcuộc' is a modern compound built on the model of Chinese 工作 (gōngzuò), but adapted phonetically and semantically within the Vietnamese system. While 'côngtác' is the canonical Sino-Vietnamese reading for 工作, 'côngcuộc' emerged as a neologism where 'cuộc' operates as a native or nativized reflex of 作, rather than 局.

The emergence of Sino-Vietnamese compounds such as 'côngcuộc' reflects longstanding processes of borrowing and semantic adaptation widespread across the Sinosphere, i.e., Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, collectively referred to as the 'Sino-Xenic' realm. In these contexts, new words for modern concepts were often coined using Chinese morphemes and then mapped phonologically into the target language in a regularized, but sometimes innovative, fashion.

Middle Chinese, as represented in rime dictionaries such as Qieyun (7th century), had a richly articulated syllable template. For the character 作 (Mandarin: zuò), used in 工作 (gōngzuò), the reconstructed MC pronunciation is commonly given as */tsak/ or /tsak-s/, with the following features: initial: ts- (voiceless alveolar affricate), vowel and medial: /a/ as nucleus, sometimes with a palatal medial in some dialects, final: -k (voiceless velar stop), a classic 'entering tone' coda., and one: entering (rusheng), which has phonological and tonal correlates in Sino-Vietnamese readings for 作 are systematically 'tác', tracing the regular sound correspondences established for Chinese readings in Vietnamese. Key observations:

The initial [ts-] to [k-] shift is irregular (i.e., not predicted by the regular SV correspondence), suggesting non-Sino-Vietnamese, perhaps colloquial or nativized, development.
Labiovelar final [‑əwkpʔ] is robustly preserved in 'cuộc', with the final -k and medial -w- (from /ua/ or /uə/) mapping closely to MC -ak, and aligning phonotactically with native Vietnamese coda structure.
The resultant tone is nặng [˧ˀ˩ʔ], consistent with the entering (rusheng) tone category linked to -k finals in Han-Viet transmission.

Semantic-phonetic association: 'cuộc' vs. 'cục' and the shadow of 局, the homophony and semantic overlap

One reason for the widespread misreading of 'côngcuộc' as 公局 or 工局 is the phonological and structural near-identity between 'cuộc' and 'cục' (局):

'cục' SV: cục, Mandarin jú, MC guawk; used for administrative, governmental, and physical 'units' or 'offices'
'cuộc', derived via the above pathway from 作, but due to similar form and function, is often reanalyzed by speakers and writers as rooted in 局, especially in compounds

The confusion is exacerbated by the convergence of rimes and finals, both 'cục' /kʊkpʔ/ and 'cuộc' /kəwkpʔ/ conforming to the [k•w•k•p̚] structure, with heavy final closure and possible central or back rounded vowels. *

Semantic blending in compound formation: semantic overlap also drives this folk association

In both Sinitic and Vietnamese, compounds involving 工作 (work), 局 (office), and 作 (to do/make) are semantically related to tasks, operations, or affairs, domains where 'cuộc' has come to be used.

For example, in classical Chinese, 局 (jú) denoted physical bureaus ('bureaus', 'games') and by extension 'affairs' or 'situations' and 作 (zuò) in compounds implied the 'doing', 'working, or 'citing upon' something: matching the function of 'cuộc' in in syntagms such as "côngcuộc vậnđộng" 'the campaign task'.

Consequently, the phonetic resemblance between 'cuộc' and 'cục' enables semantic-phonetic association (lexical contamination or 'folk etymology'), especially when context or classical literacy is limited.

This phenomenon is hereby called 'sandhi assimilation' or 'assimilative association'; it is recurrent in the realm of Sinitic-Vietnamese.

Conclusion

The analysis of 'côngcuộc', especially the sound change underlying 'cuộc', is a case study in the stratification, innovation, and reanalysis inherent to Sinitic-Vietnamese contact linguistics. Through the transformation of Middle Chinese *tsak to Vietnamese 'cuộc', we witness the interplay of phonological adaptation, semantic reinterpretation, and structural assimilation:

▪ The initial [ts-] > [k-] shift, though irregular, is emblematic of colloquial nativization and possibly dialectal borrowing

▪ The preservation of labiovelar coda [-əwkpʔ] aligns with Vietnamese phonotactics, fostering both the formation of new compound morphemes and confusion with native terms like 'cục'

▪ The importance of sandhi, compound formation, and semantic blending means the etymological and structural boundaries between Sinitic and native vocabulary are porous.

Comparative evidence across Sino-Xenic languages highlights both shared roots and Vietnamese-specific pathways. While 'côngcuộc' initially traces to 工作, its contemporary form and meaning exemplify Vietnam's creative synthesis of linguistic inheritance, local adaptation, and ongoing lexical renewal.

--------------------------------

* See more in "Pulleyblank on finals and reflexes" in section II below

Evidence for such reconstruction is attested in the Shijing 詩經 'Book of Odes', where 風 fēng regularly rhymes with 心 xīn, 林 lín, and related items. These belong to the 侵 MC /tshjəm1/ rhyme group and 東 MC djung [< OC *djəŋʷ], cf. SV lòng [lɔŋʷ2] (林), Division III (with medial ‑j‑). Yu Nai‑yong (1985: xiii, 277–79, 286) classified them similarly, though in classical Chinese they end in /‑m/. It is noteworthy that Vietnamese words in this class ending with /‑ŋʷ/ are articulated with a wide range of initials, making the connection with lòng [lɔŋʷ2] or [lɔwŋm2] straightforward. His reconstruction of Proto‑Chinese and Old Chinese 風 as *pljom > pljəm and 嵐 as *plom > bləm rests on xiéshēng 諧聲 evidence, which shows divergent Middle Chinese initials [piuŋ] and [lam].

Other scholars have reached similar conclusions with minor variations. Bodman (1980:121) proposed Proto‑Chinese pyəm, Old Chinese pjəm, and Middle Chinese pjuŋ for 風, noting the inter‑rhyming of *‑əm, *‑əŋ, and *‑uŋ finals in OC. He suggested that *‑uŋ may have been a dialectal reflex of *‑əm. Schuessler (1987:385) revised Li’s OC reconstruction of 林 as gljəm. Forrest (1958:114) observed that archaic Chinese tolerated consecutive labials (initial /P‑/ with final /‑M/), and concluded that the OC ending of 風 must have matched that of 心, i.e. /‑m/.

From this perspective, we may posit an interchange /‑jOm/ ~ /‑jOŋʷ/, based on the hypothesis that OC ‑jəm shifted to MC ‑jung through a stage of labialization, yielding /‑juŋʷ/ or /*‑juwŋm/. This phonemic feature still surfaces in Vietnamese. Pulleyblank (1984:123) similarly represented final /‑uŋ/ as /‑əŋʷ/, hypothesizing that the OC final was pronounced like Vietnamese ông [oŋʷ] and ong [əŋʷ], with double articulation (labial + velar).

For the Middle Chinese period, Forrest noted that /‑ung/ remained stable except after labials, where it dissimilated to /‑ə‑/, as in Mandarin 風 fēng (p.182). From Pulleyblank’s and Forrest’s views, we may infer that Vietnamese giông developed during the transitional Early Middle Chinese stage: /p‑/ was palatalized and dropped from /pjuŋʷ/, leaving a glide /j‑/. This produced [juŋʷ] > [joŋʷ], with rounded nasalized labiovelar codas—difficult for northern Chinese speakers—which then reduced to nasalized [jõ] > [jɔ5], yielding modern giông and gió. A parallel development gave rise to SV phong [fəŋʷ].

This postulation [風 *pjuŋ > giông > gió] is plausible because Vietnamese tends to resist /p‑/, substituting it with b‑, ph‑, h‑, j‑, nh‑, or palatalizing it to t‑, s‑. At times the rounded labiovelar is dropped, leaving /‑w/ or /‑o/, as seen in 痛 tòng (VS đau 'pain'), 銅 tóng (VS thau 'bronze'), and 彤 tóng (VS đỏ 'red'). Such processes occur not only in Vietnamese but also within Chinese dialects.

On this basis, we may assume that Proto‑Vietic and Old Vietnamese (ancient Annamese) giông had phonetic values close to those of Proto‑Chinese and Old Chinese. The form gió may represent a local innovation or an alternation, with the labiovelar reduced to ‑ɔ. Interestingly, in SV phong [pfɔŋʷ1], the initial alternates between b‑ and f‑, both labials, which could have yielded /j‑/. Consecutive labials were a feature of Old Chinese, and Sinitic‑Vietnamese giông preserves this archaic trait, even as later Chinese developed what Forrest called a “distaste for consecutive labials.”

The historical correlation between Vietnamese and Chinese in the case of /‑juŋʷ/ shows syncopation into /‑uw/, /‑m/, /‑Ø/, or /‑ŋ/ ~ /‑Ø/. This pattern extends to many other correspondences, for example,:

捅 tǒng (SV thống) → VS đâm 'stab'
痛 tòng (SV thống) → VS đau 'pain'
銅 tóng (SV đồng) → VS thau 'bronze'
公 gōng (SV công) → VS cồ 'hen'
蟲 chóng (SV trùng) → VS sâu 'insect'
彤 tóng (SV đồng) → VS đỏ 'red'
夢 mèng (SV mộng) → VS mơ 'dream'

These examples illustrate the broader interchange patterns linking Old Chinese finals with Vietnamese reflexes, and similar pattern /-ŋ/, /n-/ ~ /-Ø/ such as

打 dǎ < đánh 'strike'
道 dào < đường 'road'
鵝 é < ngỗng < ngang 'goose'
而 é < mà 'that'
腹 fú < bụng 'belly'
抱 bāo < bồng 'carry in one’s arms'
寒 hán < cóng 'freezing'
里 lǐ < làng 'village'
林 lín < rừng 'forest'
溜 liù < lặn 'slip away'
逆 nì < ngược 'contrary'
葩 pā < bông 'flower'
怯 qiè < nhát 'timid'
柚 yóu < bòng < bưởi 'pomelo'
禺 yú < ngung 'a kind of monkey'
心 xīn < lòng 'heart (figurative)'

These etymological interchanges demonstrate the deep relationship between Vietnamese and Chinese, from which we can draw parallel lines for the historical development of both languages. In the case of Chinese, Mandarin provides numerous examples of dropped phonetic endings and tonal reductions.

From this established baseline, we can reconstruct many Old Chinese initials and finals and build analogies for Chinese-Vietnamese sound change patterns. Such patterns allow us to identify additional Vietnamese etyma of Chinese origin and to recognize words shaped by multiple phonemic shifts. These loanwords in Sinitic‑Vietnamese were adapted to local speech habits and phonotactics, or influenced by colloquial usage and substrate interference through imperfect learning or imitation—phenomena often described in terms of 'competence and performance'.

In the course of research, confusion inevitably arises in tracing etymological roots, due to corruption, contamination, or semantic masking. Extended usages can obscure the original connection, as seen in the following examples:

吃 chī: SV ngật → VS xơi 'eat' [cf. 乙 yǐ (SV ất) < 食 shí (SV thực) 'eat'] in place of VS ăn [唵 ān: SV ảm 'eat'].
川 chuān: SV xuyên → VS dòng, sông 'stream' [cf. 江 jiāng: SV giang 'river'; 水 shuǐ: SV thuỷ 'water, river'. Ex. 湘水 Xiāngshuǐ → VS SôngTương (Xiang River); 渭水 Wèishuǐ (SV Vịthuỷ) → VS SôngVịthuỳ (Wei River); 漢水 Hànshuǐ → VS SôngHán (Han River). Contrast with 泉 quán: SV tuyền → VS suối 'spring, creek'].
煩 fán: SV phiền → VS buồn 'disturbed' [cf. 悶 mèn: SV muộn 'sad'] instead of VS bực 'annoyed'.
師 shī: SV sư → VS thầy 'master' [ex. 官師 guānshī → VS quanthầy 'colonialist'; 師徒 shītú → VS thầytrò 'teacher and pupils'; cf. 巫師 wūshī → VS thầymô 'wizard' ~ phùthuỷ 'shaman']. Contrast with VS sãi 'monk' for the same word 師, besides its sense 'army division'.
屁 pì: SV tý → VS đít 'buttocks' [cf. 腚 dìng: SV định → VS đít. Note: 屁股 pìgǔ gave rise to VS phaocâu 'chicken butt'] instead of VS địt 'fart, nonsense'.
鳳凰 fènghuáng: SV phượnghoàng 'phoenix' → VS phượnghồng 'flame tree (Delonix regia)'. Here the morpheme 凰 huáng was associated with 紅 hóng (SV hồng), producing a contamination that conveniently distinguishes VS phượnghồng from SV phượnghoàng.
地帶 dìdài: SV địađái → VS dãiđất 'stretch of land', as opposed to 土地 tǔdì: SV thổđịa → VS đấtđai 'land'.
太陽 tàiyáng: SV tháidương 'the sun' → VS mặttrời, instead of VS trờinắng 'sunshine'.
行將 xíngjiāng: SV hànhtương 'about to' → VS sắpsửa, instead of VS sẽmau (cf. 快要 kuàiyào 'be going to').
明年 míngnián: SV minhniên 'new year' → VS nămmới, as opposed to VS sangnăm 'next year'.
去年 qùnián: SV khứniên 'last year' → VS nămngoái, alongside 往年 wǎngnián 'previous year' → VS nămxưa, which may also be rendered as nămngoái.

II) An analogy of Vietnamese etymology

Beyond the similarity of countless basic words in Vietnamese and Chinese, the historical development of Vietnamese has been profoundly shaped by Chinese influence. From the first century B.C. – when ancient Vietnam (Annam) was administered as a Chinese prefecture – through centuries of contact, this impact has remained continuous and is still evident today. Chinese cultural influence has likewise left clear traces in nearly every aspect of the Vietnamese language, most visibly in kinship terminology, where familial hierarchy is expressed with forms virtually identical to their Chinese counterparts.

One way to identify Chinese traits in Vietnamese etymology is through what the author terms the analogical method. This approach adapts the well‑established use of syntactic and lexical analogy in historical linguistics, re‑tooling it to exploit the large body of linguistic forms already standardized, categorized, and tabulated in Vietnamese studies. Western‑trained specialists have long applied such methods, but here the focus is on Sinitic‑Vietnamese vocabulary as patterned products of phonetic interchange. These interchanges mirror the sound‑change paradigms found in Sino‑Vietnamese loanwords, whose induced shifts are already embedded and predominant in the Vietnamese lexicon. For example,

a. MC Initials > SV Initials

p > t

b > t

t > t

d > t

s > s

z > s

s > s

ts > ts

dz > ts

ts > s

That is to say, rules for those sound change that governed sound changes of Middle Chinese and Sino-Vietnamese, and Sintic Vietnamese for that matter, prior to the 10th century have also affected interchanges of all other Chinese to Vietnamese infiltration from then until now. Additionally, internal rules work on the same models inside one language, not to mention syllables and tones.

b. MC Initials > VS initials

b > m

b > v

ch > th

d > nh

đ > d

đ > n

k > g

kj > gi

l > j

l > n

l > nh

l > r

l > w

m > b

n > l

p > b

ph > b

r > nh

s > t

sh > th

t > đ

tr > ch

zh > ch

zh > gi, and so on so forth.

The merger of at least forty‑one Middle Chinese initials into twenty Annamese initials by the 10th century demonstrates that the Annamese system had already developed fully derived tonal categories by that time (Nguyễn Ngọc San, ibid., p. 72). This finding further challenges the traditional tone‑genesis hypothesis attributed to Haudricourt, as discussed earlier.

In the sections that follow, in our search for plausible etyma, we will analyze how specific sound changes came about and what these changes reveal about the confirmation of Sinitic‑Vietnamese etyma.

Our approach examines both regular and irregular sound correspondences. While the primary focus is on Chinese‑Vietnamese etymologies, the methods are extensible to other language families. For present purposes, we concentrate on the many Chinese elements embedded in contemporary Vietnamese, recognizable as candidate cognates across both substratal and superstratal layers.

Building on this framework, and to explore plausible cognates as presented in earlier sections, we now recap the common sound change patterns identified throughout this survey.

III) A synopsis of phonological sound changes from Chinese to Vietnamese

When searching for the plausible etymon of a Vietnamese word, it is helpful to note that, beyond the well‑established correspondences outlined in Chapter 12, irregular phonological patterns between Chinese and Vietnamese may also occur. Such irregularities can affect any part of the syllable—initial, medial, final, or coda—or even combinations of these. These processes unfolded diachronically, one change at a time, and gradually produced systemic phonetic shifts across the entire inventory of monosyllabic words. In some cases, syllabic endings underwent change without regard to the original lexical form: whole syllables could be syncopated, with all phonemes dropped—an outcome well attested in the transition from Middle Chinese to Early Mandarin.

Sound change also operates synchronically within a language, often in ways comparable to the speech habits of a small village community. As discussed in the previous chapter, such internal shifts include alternations like {tr‑ ~ ch‑}, {ch‑ ~ g‑}, {l‑ ~ r‑}, {n‑ ~ l‑}, {‑n ~ ‑ng}, {‑nh ~ ‑ng}, {‑t ~ ‑k}, and many others. These paradigms can be applied to Sinitic‑Vietnamese words hypothesized as Chinese in origin, allowing us to reconstruct possible reciprocal developments during early contact. Two illustrative cases are:

/krong/* (Proto‑Vietnamese) sông ('river') ~ MC /kong/ ~ 江 jiāng ('river') ~ SV giang [Patterns: {kr‑ ~ s‑}, {kr‑ ~ k‑}, {k‑ ~ j‑}, {j‑ ~ gi‑}, {gi‑ ~ s‑}, {j‑ ~ s‑} || cf. 刊 kán: SV san ‘remove’]
/kro/* (Proto‑Vietnamese) chó ('dog') ~ MC /kjəw/ ~ 狗 gǒu ('dog') ~ SV cẩu ~ VS cầy [Patterns: {kr‑ ~ ch‑}, {kr‑ ~ k‑}, {k‑ ~ ch‑} || cf. 砍 kǎn: VS chặt ‘chop’]

These examples show how irregular correspondences can still yield plausible etymological connections.

It must be stressed that the patterns of sound change are inexhaustible. The listings provided here focus only on Chinese and Sinitic‑Vietnamese interchanges, especially irregular ones; Sino‑Vietnamese examples are kept to a minimum. In practice, if one can imagine a plausible irregular pattern, it may well correspond to an actual historical development. Many obvious correspondences (e.g., {x‑ ~ h‑}, {zh‑ ~ gi‑}, {j‑ ~ k‑}, {g‑ ~ k‑}, {q‑ ~ nh‑}, {sh‑ ~ nh‑}) are not repeated here, as they are already familiar to specialists.

A) Sound change patterns and illustrative lexicon

(1) Sound changes in neighboring pronouncing positions

ān 唵 → ăn 'eat'
bāo 抱 → bồng 'embrace'
bāo 包 → bọc 'wrap'
biān 邊 → bên 'side'
bǐng 餅 → bánh 'cake'
dà 大 → to 'big'
diăo 屌 → đéo 'curse'
dēng 燈 → đèn 'light'
dé 德 → tốt 'kindness'
fén 粉 → phở 'noodle'
fèn 噴 → phun 'sprinkle'
gān 幹 → cạn 'driedup'
gé 割 → cắt 'cut'
gēn 根 → gốc 'root'
guài 乖 → giỏi 'good'
hăi 海 → khơi 'ocean'
hăo 好 → hay 'good'
hóu 喉 → cổ 'neck'
hù 戶 → cửa 'door'
hú 虎 → cọp 'tiger'
jiāng 將 → sẽ 'will'
jìn 近 → gần 'nearby'
jǐn 僅 → gắng 'industrious'
káng 扛 → khiêng 'carry'
kū 枯 → khô 'dry'
kù 哭 → khóc 'weep'
kuài 膾 → gỏi 'meatsalad'
lăn 懶 → lười 'lazy'
liáng 良 → lành 'benign'
lěng 冷 → lạnh 'cold'
líng 靈 → thiêng 'sacred'
líng 伶 → lanh 'witty'
líng 零 → lẻ 'miscellaneous'
lǜ 慮 → lo 'worry'
luò 落 → lạc 'peanut'
luò 烙 → là 'toiron'
luó 羅 → lưới 'net'
lóng 籠 → lồng 'cage'
nèn 嫩 → non 'immature'
shí 食 → xơi 'eat'
shùn 順 → suônxuôi 'smoothly'
sì 撕 → xé 'tear'
sòu 嗽 → súc 'rinse'
tiān 添 → thêm 'add'
tè 特 → đực 'male'
tòng 痛 → đau 'pain'
tóng 銅 → thau 'copper'
tóng 彤 → đỏ 'red'
tóu 頭 → đầu 'head'
tuǐ 腿 → đùi 'thigh'
tuì 推 → đẩy 'push'
wèi 熨 → ủi 'iron'
wěi 萎 → úa 'wither'
xiá 遐 → xa 'faraway'
cūn 村 → xóm 'village'
yán 沿 → ven 'edge'
zàng 髒 → chôn 'bury'
zăo 早 → chào 'hello'
zhăi 窄 → chật 'tight'
zhōu 粥 → cháo 'porridge'
zǒu 走 → chạy 'run'

(2) Pattern { ¶ l‑ ~ S‑ }

lán 藍 → chàm 'indigo'
láng 郎 → chàng 'man'
làng 浪 → sóng 'wave'
lěi 磊 → sõi 'pebble'
lèng 愣 → sửng 'stunted'
lì 力 → sức 'strength'
lián 蓮 → sen 'lotus'
liàng 亮 → sáng 'bright'
luó 螺 → sò 'clam'
luó 羅 → chài 'netting'

Reverse pattern:

cháng 常 → luôn 'often'
jià 駕 → lái 'drive'
jí 級 → lớp 'level'
jǐu 久 → lâu 'longago'
jiăn 撿 → lượm 'pick'
jìng 靜 → lặng 'quiet'
qián 潛 → lén 'secretly'
qǔ 取 → lấy 'get'
qīn 侵 → lấn 'invade'
shàng 上 → lên 'ascend'
shě 舌 → lưỡi 'tongue'
xiáng 翔 → lượn 'glide'
xiāng 鄉 → làng 'village'
xīn 心 → lòng 'heart'
zhuăn 轉 → lăn 'roll'
寂寞 jìmò → lẻloi 'lonely'
搜索 sōusuǒ → lụcsoát 'search'
冷寂 lěngjì → lạnhlẽo 'deserted'

(3) Pattern { ¶ S‑ ~ r‑ }

cài 菜 → rau 'vegetable'
chóu 愁 → rầu 'sorrowful'
chū 出 → ra 'out'
jiān 煎 → rán 'fry'
jiān 間 → rảnh 'opening'
jǐu 酒 → rượu 'wine'
qián 閒 → rãnh 'freetime'
shě 蛇 → rắn 'snake'
suò 縮 → rút 'shrink'
sēn 森 → rậm 'dense'
shú 熟 → rục 'ripen'
shán 擅 → run 'tremble'
shàn 善 → rành 'skilled'
shòu 瘦 → ròm 'skinny'
xǐ 洗 → rửa 'wash'
xiāng 箱 → rương 'case'
xū 鬚 → râu 'beard'
xū 婿 → rể 'son‑in‑law'
zhèn 震 → rung 'vibrate'
zhòu 咒 → rủa 'curse'
zhào 照 → rọi 'shine'

(4) Pattern { ¶ S‑ ~ T‑ } (same as d, th, tr, ch)

cā 擦 → thoa 'scrape'
chá 茶 → trà 'tea'
chí 匙 → thìa 'spoon'
chí 遲 → trễ 'late'
chí 池 → đìa 'pond'
chǒu 丑 → trâu 'buffalo'
chòu 臭 → thúi 'smelly'
qù 去 → đi 'go'
qiān 籤 → tăm 'stick'
qián 前 → trước 'front'
shì 試 → thử 'try'
shāo 燒 → đốt 'burn'
shēng 生 → đẻ 'givebirth'
shī 師 → thầy 'teacher'
shí 石 → đá 'stone'
sī 絲 → tơ 'silk'
suí 隨 → theo 'follow'
suì 歲 → tuổi 'age'
suàn 蒜 → tỏi 'garlic'
xiān 鮮 → tươi 'fresh'
zhàn 站 → đứng 'stand'
zhōu 舟 → tàu 'boat'
zhú 箸 → đũa 'chopsticks'
zhuàng 撞 → tông 'collide'
zú 足 → đủ 'enough'
zuǒ 左 → trái 'left'
zhuī 追 → đuổi 'runafter'
Reverse pattern { ¶ T‑ ~ S‑ }:
diè 爹 → cha 'daddy'
dòu 逗 → chọc 'tease'
tă 踏 → chà 'trample'
tă 塌 → sập 'tumble'
tào 套 → sáo 'polite'
tiáo 條 → sợi 'thread'
tuì 推 → suy 'induce'
談話 tánhuà → chuyệntrò 'chat'
衰退 shuāituì → suythoái 'degenerated'

(5) Pattern { ¶ l‑ ~ r‑ }

lián 廉 → rẽ 'cheap'
liàn 練 → rèn 'drill'
lián 簾 → rèm 'curtain'
lí 離 → rời 'leave'
liè 冽 → rét 'chilly'
liăo 了 → rồi 'already'
lóng 龍 → rồng 'dragon'
luò 落 → rớt 'drop'
luó 籮 → rỗ 'basket'
líng 齡 → răng 'tooth'
lìng 另 → riêng 'exclusively'
líng 伶 → ranh 'witty'
lòu 漏 → rỏ 'leak'
luàn 亂 → rộn 'chaotic'
lín 林 → rừng 'woods'
隆重 lóngzhòng → rìnhrang 'grandly'
垃圾 lāji → rác 'garbage'
Reverse pattern:
răn 染 → lây 'infect'
rèng 扔 → liệng 'throw'
róng 溶 → loãng 'solvent'
róu 糅 → lộn 'mingle'
rú 女 → lứ 'thou'
牙肉 yáròu → (răng)lợi 'gum'
炸肉 zhàròu → (chả)lụa 'Vietnamese ham'

(6) Pattern { ¶ p‑ (b‑) ~ t‑ (d‑) }

bèi 卑 → tệ 'mediocre'
bēi 俾 → tỳ 'servant'
běn 本 → thân 'trunk'
béng 甭 → đừng 'don't'
biàn 便 → tiện 'convenient'
biān 偏 → thiên 'incline'
biăo 婊 → đĩ 'whore'
bī 比 → tỳ 'compare'
bì 必 → tất 'inevitable'
bì 鼻 → tỵ 'nose'
bì 幣 → tệ 'currency'
bō 鉢 → tô 'bowl'
pī 匹 → thất 'singlehanded'
piāo 嫖 → đéo 'visit prostitutes'
biànmì 便密 → táobón 'constipation'
bēnbō 奔波 → tấttả 'toiling'
Reverse pattern { ¶ t‑ (d‑) ~ b‑ (p‑) }:
dào 道 → bảo 'tell'
tóu 投 → bầubỏ 'vote, vesting'
tòu 偷 → bợ 'steal'
tàng 燙 → bỏng 'scalp'
tú 涂 → bôi 'smear'
浪蕩 làngdàng → longbong 'loiter'
肚子 dùzi → baotử 'stomach'
(7) Pattern { ¶ y- ~ b- (p-) }
yăo 舀 → bới 'scoop up'
yóu 郵 → bưu 'postal'
yōu 右 → phải 'right'
yóu 由 → bởi 'by'
yóu 柚 → bưởi 'pomelo'
yóu 游 → bơi 'swim'
yǐng 影 → bóng 'shadow'

B) Additional examples of chained sound changes

In reality, beyond the common interchanges already noted, countless additional patterns can be identified. In principle, any sound may shift into any other, the outcome of successive changes unfolding over time like a slow chain reaction. These shifts are often set in motion by phonetic drift, then reinforced through local adaptation and, at times, by imperfect or unstandardized imitation. Yet despite this fluidity, in many cases the underlying form remains discernible, recoverable from its surface sound alone.
(1) Sound interchanges:
bīng 兵 → lính 'soldier'
bēi 杯 → ly 'glass'
bài 拜 → lạy 'kowtow'
chéng 承 → (thặng)nâng 'raise'
dă 打 → đánh 'strike'
fēn 分 → phút 'minute'
fěn 粉 → bột 'flour'
fēng 風 → giông 'windstorm'
fèng 奉 → dâng 'submit'
fù 富 → giàu 'rich'
kuài 快 → vui 'happy'
kuài 塊 → cục 'piece'
kuài 膾 → gỏi 'minced meat salad'
kuì 饋 → quà 'gift'
huǒ 火 → lửa 'fire'
huà 話 → nói 'talk'
huò 貨 → đồ 'goods'
huó 活 → việc 'work'
líng 靈 → thiêng 'sacred'
mín 民 → dân 'people'
miăo 秒 → giây 'second'
rěn 忍 → nhịn 'put up with'
rù 入 → vô 'enter'
rǔ 乳 → vú 'breast'
réng 仍 → vẫn 'still'
rèng 扔 → quăng 'throw away'
ràng 讓 → nhường 'yield'
qīng 輕 → nhẹ 'light'
shòu 受 → chịu 'endure'
tā 他 → nó 'he'
tàng 燙 → nóng 'hot'
tăng 躺 → nằm 'lying'
tiăn 舔 → liếm 'lick'
wò 臥 → ngủ 'sleep'
wǎ 瓦 → ngói/gạch 'tile'
wān 灣 → vịnh 'bay'
wǎn 丸 → hòn 'ball'
yè 葉 → lá 'leaf'
zhòng 重 → nặng 'heavy'
(2) Clipping sound changes:
While certain interchanges can be identified through historical sound change rules—most notably the traditional eight‑tone scheme (and not the simplified six‑tone model)—as illustrated by forms such as tất, học, tiếc, and others, there are also cases where sound changes have proceeded beyond immediate recognition. Even so, their etymology remains recoverable by applying the fănqiè 反切 method in Chinese characters, which provides reliable phonetic keys. This system, grounded in the Middle Chinese eight‑tone framework, accounts for the Sino‑Vietnamese correspondences, especially those words ending in the checked tones /‑p/, /‑t/, and /‑k/, in both upper and lower registers.
bì 必 → tất 'must'
bí 畢 → tốt 'graduate'
chī 吃 → ngật 'eat'
fēng 風 → gió 'wind'
jí 集 → tập 'collect'
jì 季 → quý 'season'
miào 妙 → diệu 'wonderful'
mín 民 → dân (SV /zən1/) 'people'
míng 名 → danh 'name'
pìng 娉 → sính 'betroth'
wă 瓦 → ngói (VS ngoạ) 'tile'
wān 灣 → vịnh (SV loan) 'bay'
wēng 蓊 → lông 'feather'
xī 溪 → khê 'creek'
xī 惜 → tiếc (SV tích) 'stint'
xì 吸 → hút (SV hấp) 'inhale'
xiè 瀉 → tước (SV tả) 'diarrhea'
xué 學 → học (SV /hɔwk8/, cf. Cant. /hok8/) 'learn'
yī 一 → nhất 'one'
yì 憶 → nhớ (SV ức) 'memory'
yì 臆 → ngực 'chest'
yì 藝 → nghệ 'artisan'
yì 議 → nghĩa 'meaning'
yì 義 → ngãi 'righteousness'

(3) Analogical sound changes

Yet, on the other hand, for a large number of Sinitic‑Vietnamese words that have shifted in this way, we are left with little more than analogy, attested through actual usage. These include both authentic inherited forms and semantic parallels. For example:
hù 戶 → cửa 'door' (SV hộ 'household')
kǒu 口 → cửa 'door' (SV khẩu 'mouth')
wěn 吻 → hôn 'kiss' [also VS mồm > miệng 'mouth']
qīn 親 → ruột 'blood‑related' (SV thân 'kinship')
chī 吃 → ăn 'eat' (VS 唵 ān; SV ngật; cf. 乙 ất)
shí 食 → xơi 'eat' (SV thực 'food')
tīng 聽 → nghe 'hear' (Hainanese /k'e1/)
lóng 聾 → điếc 'deaf' [<~ đãng <~ lãng 'forgetful'; cf. đãngtrí ~ lãngtrí 'absent‑minded']
shēng 生 → đẻ 'givebirth' (Hainanese /te1/; hence tái 'raw') [cf. 生產 shēngchăn (SV sanhsản), VS sanhđẻ 'birth‑giving']
shuǐ 水 → nước 'water' (cf. 淂 dé: SV đắc ~ Viet‑Muong đák)
qián 前 → trước 'front' (Hainanese /tai2/)
shě 舌 → lưỡi 'tongue'
huó 活 → việc 'work' (SV hoạt 'living')
huà 話 → nói 'talk' (SV thoại 'spoken words')
cí 辭 → lời 'word' (SV từ 'diction')
jì 季 → mùa 'season' (SV quý)
dùn 腞 → lợn 'pig'
àn 案 → bàn 'desk' (SV án 'altar; case')
àn 按 → bấm 'press'
xiōng 胸 → hông 'hips' (SV hung 'bosom')
yì 臆 → ngực 'chest' (SV ức)
yì 憶 → nhớ 'remember' (SV ức)
yǒng 泳 → lặn 'dive'
yóu 游 → bơi 'swim' [also VS lội]
yóu 柚 → bưởi 'pomelo' [cf. 郵 yóu: SV bưu 'postal']
bǔrǔ 哺乳 → búvú 'breastfeed'
fànjú 飯局 → bữacơm 'dinner'
yàofàn 要飯 → ănmày 'beggar' [cf. Hainanese 飯 /muj2/]
yóuyú 由於 → bởivì 'because'
xuéxí 學習 → tậpdượt 'drills' [cf. 演習 yănxí]
xízăo 洗澡 → tắmrửa 'bathe' (Hainanese /to5jat8/)
(4) Sino-Vietnamese sound loans – Sandhi process of association:
As discussed in earlier chapters, a large number of Sinitic‑Vietnamese words resemble Sino‑Vietnamese forms. These are not merely the result of doublets or borrowings from different sources, but often arise from internal associative processes within each language, producing new lexical items in either the source or the target. Illustrative cases include:
côngcuộc 'task' ← from côngtác 工作 gōngzuò, through an associative sandhi process involving cục 局 jú.
ông 'mister' ← not only from 翁 wēng (ông), but also 公 gōng (công). [Cf. cồ → trống; 鼓 gǔ → trống].

tiểu 'urinate' ← not directly from 小便 xiăobiàn (tiểutiện), but from 尿 niào (SV niệu). [Initials /n‑/ and /t‑/ are interchangeable]. From tiểu arose đái; 拉尿 làniào gave rise to điđái [/l‑/ and /đ‑/ interchangeable].
trường (as in trườnghọc 'school') ← not from 場 chăng (SV trường), but from 堂 táng (SV đường). An older form is 庠 xiáng (tường).
hiểu 'understand' ← 曉 xiáo (hiểu). In colloquial usage, however, SV 會 huì (hội) carries the sense of hiểu, since 曉 xiáo also means 'daybreak' (sớm) and was identified with 會 huì in compounds such as 體會 tǐhuì (thấuhiểu 'understand').
hiếu, hay, ham, háo 'desire' ← all deviations of 好 hăo (hảo).
tham, thèm, ham, hám ← derived from 貪 tān (tham 'greedy').
hiền 'gentle, good' ← 賢 xián (hiền), but in colloquial use aligns with 善 shàn (SV thiện), as in 善良 shànliáng (hiềnlành, SV thiệnlương).
chiếntrận 'battle' ← from 戰場 zhànchăng (chiếntrường), via associative sandhi with 陣 zhèn (trận).
mai 'tomorrow' ← appears Sino‑Vietnamese in form, but is likely a variant from northern Chinese (Beijing dialect), 明兒 mínr, which produced both mainày and the syncopated mai.
(5) Homonyms, synonyms, doublets, and loanwords:
Many monosyllabic words in Chinese can be read the same yet carry different meanings. Likewise, dialectal pronunciations of a single character often produced variant usages, both before and after their entry into Vietnamese. As a result, it is not surprising that Vietnamese sometimes differentiated the same character into multiple forms, either through association with other words or through internal localization. A few examples illustrate this process:
放 fàng 'let go' → phóng, bắn, bỏ, buông, phỗng [M fàng < MC pwoŋ < OC paŋs; Starostin: 'to put away, neglect, banish'. Cf. colloquial phỗng* 'to take away, carry off'].
解 jiě 'analyze' → giải, gỡ, giã, cắt, xẻ, xả, rõ, cởi, chảy ['explain', 'untie', 'dilute', 'cut', 'slice', etc.].
照 zhào 'shine' → chiếu, chụp, soi, rọi, chói, theo ['shine', 'reflect', 'capture', 'based on'; M zhào < MC tʂɜw < OC taws].
瘦 shòu 'skinny' → gầy, ròm, sỏ.
肥 féi 'fat' → phì, mập, phệ, mỡ.
大 dà 'large' → đại, to, cả, đủ, sơ.
會 huì 'gathering' → hội, họp, hẹn* 'rendezvous', hụi 'rotating loan', hiểu, hay 'know'. [All derived from 會 huì, but also linked with 曉 xiăo (SV hiểu) and 知 zhī (SV tri). M huì < MC ɣwʌi < OC guats. Notably, 會 huì encompasses the same semantic range as its Vietnamese reflexes.]
For illustration, consider derivatives of 場 chăng (SV trường) 'field':
戰場 zhànchăng → chiếntrường 'battlefield'.
試場 shìchăng → trườngthi 'examination campus' (SV thítrường). [But trườnghọc 'school' comes from 學堂 xuétáng, SV họcđường].
劇場 jùchăng → sânkhấu 'stage'; 飛場 fēichăng → sânbay 'airport' (SV phitrường). [Here, 機 jī is short for 飛機 fēijī 'airplane'; Vietnamese instead selected 飛 fēi to coin sânbay].
戲場 xìchăng → tuồnghát 'performance show'.
一場夢 yī chăngmèng → mộtgiấcmộng 'a dream'.
一場病 yī chăngbìng → mộttrậnbệnh 'a spell of illness'.
戰場 zhànchăng → chiếntrận 'battlefield' (SV chiếntrường). [But 打仗 dăzhàng → đánhtrận 'fight a battle'].
一場病 yī chăngbìng → mộtcơnbệnh 'a bout of illness'. [But 一股風 yī gǔfēng → mộtcôngió 'a gust of wind'].
一場戲 yī chăngxì → mộttuồnghát 'a performance show' [hence VS vởtuồng].
All of these are variants of trường 場 chăng.
Other cases:

đợi 'wait' ← not from 等 děng (SV đẳng), but from 待 dài (đãi).
接待 jiēdài → tiếpđón 'reception'; 接送 jiēsòng → đưađón 'pick up and see off'. Here đưa corresponds to 送 sòng (SV tống, Hainanese /tang6/, /dang6/), while đón aligns with 接 jiē. Yet đưa 'give' as in đưatiền comes from 交錢 jiāoqián (SV giaotiền), and đón 'welcome' appears in 兜風 dòufēng (đóngió 'go out for air') and 迎春 yíngchūn (đónxuân 'welcome spring').
扔 rēng 'throw away' → quăng, with variants vãi, vất, rãi, vung, vứt, ném, liệng, lia. [M rēng < MC ɲiŋ < OC ɲjəŋ].
撞 zhuàng 'collide' → tông, đụng, tán.
沖 chòng 'rush, splash' → xối, dội, xông, xấn, tông, đụng, and extended to sang 'develop film' [cf. 沖印 chōngyìn 'film development and printing', now fading in the digital era].
(6) Similarities with early and modern Mandarin:
One of the most striking and often overlooked parallels between vernacular and literary Mandarin and Vietnamese lies in their shared colloquial words and fixed expressions. Many specialists of historical Vietnamese have focused narrowly on Proto‑Chinese, Old Chinese, Middle Chinese, or the Sino‑Vietnamese layer, but in doing so they have missed the vibrant stratum of vernacular borrowings and associative adaptations. Beyond well‑known cases such as mainày 明兒 mínr 'tomorrow', sátvách 隔壁 jiébì 'next door', or 行將 xíngjiān 'about to' (rooted in Beijing vernacular 北京話), there are numerous other examples:
早晚 zăowăn → sớmhôm 'morning till evening' [also VS sớmmuộn 'sooner or later']
聊天 liáotiān → nóichuyện 'chat'
談話 tánhuà → chuyệntrò 'chat'
標調 biāodiào → bỏdấu 'tone marking'
生人 shēngrén → ngườidưng 'stranger'
陌生 mòshēng → lạlùng 'estranged'
無聊 wúliáo → vôduyên 'nonsense'
儉節 jiănjié → keokiệt 'stingy'
貪冗 tānrǒng → thamnhũng 'graft' [via association with 冗濫 rǒnglàn / 濫 làn ~ 貪 tān]
緣份 yuánfèn → duyênnợ 'destined to marry'
隨緣 suíyuán → duyênsố 'destined to meet'
隨錢 suíqián → đitiền 'give a monetary gift'
媳婦 xífù → bàxã 'wife' (colloquial endearment)
離異 líyí → lydị 'divorce'
老闆 láobăn → láibuôn 'trader'
老公 lăogōng → ôngxã 'husband' (colloquial endearment)
主公 zhǔgōng → ôngchủ 'master' [<~ SV chúacông 'lord']
禮貌 lǐmào → lễphép 'polite' [/m‑ ~ ph‑/ interchange]
市鋪 shìpǔ → chợbúa 'market' [<~ VS phốchợ, SV phốthị]
城鋪 chéngpǔ → thànhphố 'city'
行將 xíngjiāng → sắpsửa 'be about to'
忙活 mánghuó → bậnviệc 'busy'
蒙蔽 méngbì → bưngbít 'swindle'
叛徒 pàntú → phảnthùng 'traitor' [also đồphản]
糧餉 liángxiàng → lươnghướng 'wage'
勞動 láodòng → làmlụng 'labor'
省錢 shěngqián → tằntiện 'frugal'
探聽 tāntīng → thảthính 'inquire, probe'
仙草 xiāncăo → xuxa 'grass jelly' [~ VS sươngsáo]
夫妻餅 fūqībǐng → bánhxuxuê 'mungbean–coconut glutinous cake'
And the modern borrowings:

反動 făndòng → phảnđộng 'reactionary'
幹部 gànbù → cánbộ 'cadre'
部隊 bùduì → bộđội 'army unit, foot soldier'
偽 wěi → nguỵ 'pseudo‑, puppet (government)'
制度 zhìdù → chếđộ 'regime; system' [extended to chếđộănuống 'dietary regime']
戶口 hùkǒu → hộkhẩu 'household register; account'
參觀 cānguān → thamquan 'visit'
出口 chūkǒu → xuấkhẩu 'export'
質量 zhíliàng → chấtlượng 'quality'
奮鬥 fèndòu → phấnđấu 'strive'
擔保 dànbăo → đảmbảo 'guarantee'
強調 qiángdiào → cườngđiệu 'emphasize'
培養 péiyăng → bồidưỡng 'nurture, sustain'
水餃 shuǐjiăo → suỷcảo 'dumplings'
混沌 húndùn → vằngthánh 'wonton'
味精 wèijīng → mìchính 'MSG'
應酬 yìngchóu → ănnhậu 'partying, social drinking'
屌你 diàoni → đéomẹ (expletive)
他媽 tāmā → đụmá (expletive)

not to mention some other minor distinctions in usage of certain words, either due to earlier older or vernacular loans, yet, comprehensible by most speakers of all regions:
Northern Vietnamese dialect
vs. Chinese root Southern Vietnamese dialect
vs. Chinese root Meaning
cút 滾 gǔn đi 去 qù get out of here
vuốt 捋 lǚ rờ 摸 mò stroke
vồ 捕 pǔ chụp 捉 zhuō grasp
hoa 花 huā bông 葩 bā flower
ngô 玉米 yùmǐ bắp 苞 bāo corn
mê 迷 mí ưa 愛 ài feel attracted to
hãi 駭 hài sợ 懼 jù scared
rọ 籮 luó giỏ 籮 luó [ cf. 'răng' (tooth) ~> Southwestern Vietnamese sub-dialect 'giăng' ] basket
gầy 瘦 shòu (Vietnamese Central sub-dialect 'sỏ') ] ốm 奀 ēn skinny
ốm 屙 é (Cant.) bệnh 病 bìng (V Central sub-dialect 痛 tòng ('đau') sick
lọ 罍 léi chai 樽 zūn bottle
thai 胎 tāi bầu 胞 bāo pregnancy
quên 忘 wàng lẫn 忘 wàng (possibly from 聾 lóng, VS 'lãng') forget
cầy 狗 gǒu chó 犬 quán dog
lợn 腞 dùn heo 亥 hài pig
mắng 罵 mà chửi 咒 zhòu scold
nôn 涒 tūn ói 嘔 ǒu vomit
vua 王 wáng chúa 主 zhǔ king
môigiới 媒介 méijiè giớithiệu 介紹 jièshào middleman
phà 筏 fá bắc 泊 bó ferry
sướngphê 爽快 chuăngkuài quáđã 過癮 guòyǐn fully satisfied
ngậy 膩 nì béo 油 yóu greasy
béo 胖 pàng (bàn) mập 肥 féi fat
chăn 衿 jīn mền 綿 mián blanket
phủphê 飽飽 băobao no 饒 ráo satiate
cực 極 jí ghê 極 jí very
xinh 亮 liàng đẹp 婕 jié beautiful
quan 棺 guān hòm 棺 guān coffin
họng 喉 hóu cổ 喉 hóu throat
xơi 食 shí [ Cant. /shik8/ ] ăn 唵 ān [ cf. 吃 chī: SV 'ngật, phonetic 乙 yí 'ất' ] eat

lạc 落 luò đậu 豆 dòu earthnut
giỡn 玩 wán xạo 嘐 xiāo joke
bổ 剖 pǒu xẻ 切 qiè chop
... ... ...

In addition to what has already become integral to modern Vietnamese through daily usage, many common words trace directly to Chinese sources:
nào 哪 nă 'which'
đó 那 ná (Huế dialect nớ) 'that'
rồi, nổi 了 lē, liăo 'already' [e.g. quênđâunổi 忘不了 wàngbùliăo 'unforgettable'; quênrồi 忘了 wàngle 'already forgot']
…đi …啦 [e.g. 拿啦 nála 'take it' → lấyđi; 拉尿啦 làniào la 'go pee' → điđáiđi]
sẽ 將 jiāng 'will'
vẫn 仍 réng 'still'
đây 這 zhèi 'this'
đúng 對 duì 'correct' [colloquial form of 中 zhòng 'trúng', as in 中意 zhòngyì → trúngý 'as one wishes']
gì 啥 shă 'what' [also VS sao 'why']
vìsao(mà) 為什麼 wèishěme 'how come' [Beijing 為啥 wèishă]
chúngmình 咱們 záměn 'we'
mình 我 wǒ (Beijing dialect /mne/) 'I' [also VS qua]
maulên 快點 kuàidiăn 'quick' [also mauđi; cf. Cant. /faitì/; cf. 愉快 yúkuài → vuivẻ]
luônluôn 老老 láoláo 'always' [also doublet 牢牢 láolao]
riêngtư 隱私 yǐnsī 'privacy'
lánggiềng 鄰居 língjū 'neighbor'
sátvách 隔壁 gébì 'next door' [Beijing /jièbì/, ji‑ ~ s‑]
mauchóng 馬上 măshàng 'quickly' [cf. 盡快 jìnkuài]
bạtmạng 拼命 pìnmìng 'daring'
cảlũ 大伙 dàhuǒ 'the whole group'
đạochích 盜賊 dàozéi 'burglar'
đầunậu 頭腦 tóunăo 'ringleader'
cạnly 幹杯 gànbèi 'cheers, bottoms up'
sangrửa 沖印 chōngyìn 'photo development and print'
tầmbậy 三八 sānbā 'nonsense' [modern colloquialism from '3‑8 International Women’s Day', mocking women; cf. Fukienese tầmbạ, sàbát – showing dialectal influence into modern Vietnamese]
Variants of the same base concept often point to different roots. For example, làm 'make, do, cause' appears in multiple Chinese sources:
領 lǐng, 令 lǐng, 幹 gàn, 弄 nòng → làm 'make, do'
幹啥 gànshă → làmgì 'what are you doing?'
幹活 gànhuó → làmviệc 'work'
幹家務 gànjiāwù → làmviệcnhà 'do house chores'
當官 dàngguān → làmquan 'be an official'
當兵 dàngbīng → làmlính 'be a soldier'
榜樣 băngyàng → làmgương 'exemplify'
弄樣子 nòngyàngzǐ → làmravẻ 'pretend, put on an air'
弄錢 nòngqián → làmtiền 'make money'
勒索(錢財) lèsuǒ(qiáncái) → làmtiền 'extort'
含聲 hánshēng → làmthinh 'keep quiet'
耕田 gēngtián → làmđồng 'farm'
勞動 láodòng → làmlụng 'labor'
弄假成真 nòngjiăchéngzhēn → làmgiảthànhthiệt 'pretence becomes reality'
令人肉麻 lǐngrénròumá → làmrợncảngười 'cause a creepy feeling'
領我驚雅 lǐng wǒ jīngyá → làmtôikinhngạc 'surprise me'

IV) Localization and innovation or "Vietnamized"

As foreign loanwords became part of the Vietnamese vocabulary, one of the most vital strategies for coining new terms has been to 'Vietnamize' – through processes known as Nômhoá or Việthoá. Many such words entered the language centuries before and long after Vietnam’s independence in 939 AD. Localization and innovation have been the two key mechanisms by which Sinitic elements were naturalized, reshaped, and fully integrated into Vietnamese. These processes are not peripheral but rather the indispensable head and soul of a living speech.
(1) Reverse of word order (#, "iro", "metathesis")

We frequently encounter correspondences between Chinese and Sino‑Vietnamese words, many of which appear in reverse order. Several factors account for this phenomenon: some pairings may have arisen through deliberate borrowing, others through preferred lexical choices that first circulated in literary usage. More fundamentally, however, these reversals reflect the period when Vietnamese diverged from Middle Chinese, adopting a syntactic pattern of [modified + modifier] in contrast to the Chinese order of [modifier + modified], as discussed elsewhere in this study.
As is well known, this pattern reflects a re‑arrangement of syntactic order in Vietnamese, where the modifier is typically placed after the modified element. The phenomenon is especially evident in synonymous disyllabic words, in which the two syllables may derive either from two distinct Chinese characters or from a single one. In the latter case, the original meaning can still be preserved if the older form remains intact and its sound has not been significantly altered through reduplication.
For example, the word thiêngliêng 'sacred' illustrates how reduplicated or doubled forms clarify meaning through internal modification.
thiêngliêng ← 'thiêng' 靈 líng (SV linh) + 'liêng' 靈 líng (SV linh)
M 靈 líng < MC lieŋ < OC re:ŋ
¶ /l‑ ~ th‑/ alternation
Cf. 靈地 língdì: SV linhđịa 'sacred land' vs. VS đấtlành 'good earth'.
Here, the modifier liêng (a variant of linh) functionally answers the implicit question: 'thiêng' + what? → thiêngliêng. The doubling makes the meaning clearer, since the monosyllable 靈 líng (linh) on its own is semantically diffuse.
Similarly, in the doublet linhthiêng, the collective mental parsing is 'linh' + what? → linhthiêng. In this case, thiêng modifies linh, reinforcing and clarifying its meaning.
Other parallels:
báilạy 'kowtow' [also váilạy] ← 'vái' 拜 bài (SV bái) + 'lạy' 拜 (SV bái)
¶ /b‑ ~ l‑, v‑/ alternation
Functions analogously to thiêngliêng / linhthiêng.
bảođảm ← 擔保 dànbăo (SV đảmbảo) 'guarantee'
thừakế ← 繼承 jìchéng (SV kếthừa) 'inherit'
tìnhyêu ← 愛情 àiqíng (SV áitình) 'love'
ânái ← 愛恩 ài'ēn (SV áiân) 'in love'
biệtly ← 離別 líbié (SV lybiệt) 'separate'
đớnđau ← 痛疼 tòngténg (SV thốngđông) 'pain, suffering'
sốkiếp ← 劫數 jiéshù (SV kiếpsố) 'karma, fate'
đơngiản ← 簡單 jiǎndàn (SV giảnđơn) 'simple'
sảnxuất ← 出產 chùchǎn (SV xuấtsản) 'produce'

In cases of phonological metathesis, the resulting forms are essentially reversals, often involving spoonerism or marrowsky‑type shifts, operating at both the phonological and morphemic levels.
Examples of phonological metathesis include:
shuāituì 衰退 → suythoái 'degrade'
tuìcí 推辭 → từchối 'decline'
dăsuàn 打算 → toantính 'intend'
yǒurăn 有染 → dandíu 'have an affair with'
In combination with metathesis, some forms also involve syncopation and contraction:
jiéjiě 姊姊 → chịgái 'older sister' [otherwise, the presence of gái 'female' would be unexplained; cf. emgái 'younger sister', emtrai 'younger brother']
dìdì 弟弟 → emtrai 'younger brother' [cf. 兄弟 xiōngdì: VS anhtam 'brothers']
āmèi 阿妹→ emgái → em 'sister' > 'young girl'
mēimēi 妹妹 → emgái 'younger sister'
In fact, when compared with their modern Mandarin equivalents, Sinitic‑Vietnamese loanwords often appear in reverse order:
hẹnhò 'dating' ← 約會 yuèhuì (SV ướchội, also giving rise to ướchẹn) < huì + yuè
tìnhyêu 'love' ← 愛情 àiqíng (SV áitình) < qíng + ài
mongmuốn 'wish' ← 願望 yuànwàng (SV nguyệnvọng) < wàng + yuàn
bảxàm 'nonsense' ← 三八 sānbā (SV tambát) < bā + sān
văngtục 'swear' ← 俗話 súhuà (SV tụcthoại) < huà + sú
đườngcái 'road' ← 街道 jièdào (SV cáiđại) < dào + jiè
conđường 'route' ← 途徑 tújīng (SV đồkinh) < jīng + tú
thônlàng 'village' ← 鄉村 xiāngcūn (SV hươngthôn) < xiāng + cūn [also làngxóm]
concái 'children' ← 孩子 háizi (SV hàitử) < zǐ + hái
condao 'knife' ← 刀子 dāozi (SV đaotử) < zǐ + dāo
khuônmặt 'face' ← 面孔 miànkǒng (SV diệnkhổng) < kǒng + miàn
trườnghọc 'school'  ← 學堂 xuétáng (họcđường) < táng + xué
hưhỏng 'broken' ← 'hư' 懷 huài (SV hoại) + 'hỏng' 懷 huài (SV hoại).
hơisức 'strength' ← 力氣 lìqì (SV lựckhí)
VS sứclực: 氣 qì ~ sức + 力 lì ~ lực [ Essentially 'sức' 力 lì (SV lực) + 'lực' 力 lì (SV lực) ]
However, this pattern is not universal. In some cases, the boundary between modifier and modified is blurred, and certain disyllabic words retain the original Chinese order as first borrowed. Examples include:
mùmắt 盲目 mángmù 'blind' [cf. extended mùquáng 'blindly']
mắtkính 眼鏡 yănjìng 'eyeglasses' [also VS mắtkiếng; cf. Hainanese 目鏡 /mat7keŋ5/]
căngthẳng 緊張 jǐnzhāng 'stressful'
siêngnăng 勤勉 qínmiăn 'industrious'
cảgan 大膽 dàdăn 'daring'
cuốnghọng (~ cổhọng) 喉嚨 hóulóng 'throat'
sạchsẽ 清潔 qīngjié 'clean'

(2) Local innovations

Other common linguistic phenomena in Vietnamese word coinage include combining ancient roots with modern words, extending the concepts of certain terms to others, syncopation, or the addition of new elements. These are forms of local innovation, much like the processes observed in other languages.
Examples:
lịchsự 歷事 lìshì (VS 'polite')
nhansắc 顏色 yánsè 'beauty'
tửtế 仔細 zǐxì (VS 'kindness')
thậmtệ 甚鄙 shènbì (VS 'scold despicably')
lẽsống 理想 líxiăng 'ideal'
bênhvực 包庇 bāobì 'be on one's side'
ănnhậu 應酬 yìngchóu 'drink, socialize'
hiệnnay 現在 xiànzài (SV hiệntại) 'at present'
múarối 目偶戲 mù'ǒuqì 'puppetry'
dêxồm 淫蟲 yínchóng (~ 'quĩrâuxanh') 'lecherous'
bahoa 大話 dàhuà 'boasting'
hoatay 花手 huāshǒu 'skillful'
khéotay 巧手 qiáoshǒu 'a dab hand'
togan 大膽 dàdăn 'daring'
cảlũ 大伙 dàhuǒ 'whole group'
bắtcóc 綁架 băngjià 'kidnap'
trờinắng 太陽 tàiyáng 'sunny'
chồmhổm 犬坐 quánzuò (SV khuyểntoạ) 'squat'
hiếuthảo 孝順 xiàoshùn (SV hiếuthuận) 'piety'
suônsẻ 順利 shùnlì (SV thuậnlợi) 'smoothly, conveniently'
hoàicông 費工 fèigōng (SV phícông) 'wasting time'
chơigái 嫖妓 piāojī 'patronize prostitutes'
Many other words have evolved and expanded their meanings beyond what was originally conveyed, especially when secondary meanings did not exist in the original loanwords. For example:
caothấp 高低 gāodì (high + low = 'height') → 'rank in a competition'
nặngnhẹ 輕重 qīngzhòng (light + heavy = 'weight') → 'reprimand'
tonhỏ 大小 dàxiăo (large + small = 'size') → 'whisper in someone's ear'
trêndưới 上下 shàngxià (above + below = 'position') → 'hierarchy in roles'
xagần 遠近 yuănjìn (far + near = 'distance') → 'everywhere'
(3) Integration and combination
Some words combine both ancient and modern pronunciations, or blend Sinitic‑Vietnamese with Sino‑Vietnamese forms:
xecộ (~ cỗxe) 車 chē 'carriage' (SV xa, VS xe; in ancient times read as 居 SV cư, VS cộ) → 'xe + cộ' / 'cỗ + xe' [Note: 車 chē is also pronounced jū when referring to a Chinese checker piece]
giờgiấc 時間 shíjiān 'time' (SV thờigian)
thìgiờ 時晨 shíshén 'period of time' [also thờigiờ ← 'thì 時 shí' + 'giờ 時 shí']
giờnày 今兒 jīnr 'now' [also giờđây]
sứclực 力氣 lìqì 'strength' [力 lì, SV lực; 'sức' 力 lì + 'lực' 力 lì]
sinhđẻ 生育 shēngyù 'reproduction' [cf. 生產 shēngchăn: SV sanhsản; 產 chăn ~ 'sinh' 生 shēng + 'đẻ' 生 shēng; Hainanese /te1/]
củacải 財產 cáichăn 'property' [財 cái, SV tài; 'của' 財 cái + 'cải' 財 cái]
(4) Permanent word formation with associated classifiers
Stable compounds formed as binoms with associated classifiers include:
(một) giấcmơ (一)場夢 (yī) chăngmèng 'a dream'
(một) bórau (cải) 一把菜 yī bă cài 'a bunch of vegetables'
(một) đoáhoa 一朵花 yī duǒhuā 'a flower'
(một) cănphòng 一間房子 yī jiān fángzi 'a room'
(5) Word Formation through Sandhi and Assimilation
Word formation in Vietnamese often evolved from sandhi processes of assimilation, where one concept is associated with another morpheme:
ănđòn 挨打 ăidă 'get punishment'
ăntiền 贏錢 yínqián 'win a bet'
ănnhậu 應酬 yìngchóu 'eat and drink'
ănnăn 慇恨 yīnhèn 'remorse'
bỏphí 白費 báifèi 'waste'
bỏphiếu 投票 tóupiào 'cast a vote'
bỏdấu 標調 biāodiào 'mark with a diacritic tone'
chođến 直到 zhídào 'until'
đếnnỗi 至於 zhìyú 'go so far as'
hốihận 後悔 hòuhuǐ 'regret'
làmlại 再來 zàilái 'do it again'
muavé 買票 măipiào 'buy a ticket'
(6) Analogical Word Formation
If a Vietnamese word is derived from a Chinese source, its antonym is often drawn from the same source, forming disyllabic pairs:
buồnvui 悲歡 bēihuān 'sorrow + joy = state of mind'
caothấp 高低 gāodì 'high + low = height'
nặngnhẹ 輕重 qīngzhòng 'light + heavy = weight'
khóccười 哭笑 kùxiào 'cry + laugh = sentiment'
dàingắn 長短 chángduăn 'long + short = length'
gầymập 瘦肥 shòuféi 'skinny + fat = shape'
tonhỏ 大小 dàxiăo 'large + small = size'
trêndưới 上下 shàngxià 'above + below = position'
sớmmuộn 早晚 zăowăn 'early + late = sooner or later'
sốngchết 生死 shēngsǐ 'life + death = condition of existence'

(7) Sound Omission, Contraction, and Syncope
In many cases, when sound omission affected the same disyllabic word in both languages, Chinese tended to retain the original monosyllabic form — the one that had existed before the development of a disyllabic equivalent — while Vietnamese often adopted the later developed sound as the main form. In other instances, the Vietnamese form was assimilated with another word, and either one was retained. For example:

耳朵 ěrduō → lỗtai 'ear' [duō for tai 'ear']
隱私 yǐnsī → riêngtư 'private' [yǐn for riêng 'personal']
黑暗 hēi'àn → tốităm 'darkness' [hēi for tối 'night']

應酬 yìngchóu → ănnhậu 'eat and drink' [nhậu from 酬 chóu 'drink wine'; ăn associated with 吃 chī 'eat']
喉嚨 hóulóng → cổhọng 'throat' [hóu 'cổ' 'neck']
黃金 huángjīn → (kim)vàng 'gold' [huáng 'vàng' 'yellow/gold']
銅板 tóngbăn → đồngbạc 'monetary unit' [tóng 'đồng' ($); bạc influenced by 白銀 báiyín 'white silver'; đồngbạc further associated with 錢幣 qiánbì (SV tiềntệ) and VS tiềnbạc 'currency']

(8) Influence from Other Chinese Dialects
Chinese characters are pronounced differently across dialects, often to the point of mutual unintelligibility. Even within a single dialect, subdialectal variation is common – a situation paralleled in Vietnamese (northern, central, southern). Many characters thus developed multiple Vietnamese reflexes, reflecting their introduction through different dialectal channels at different times. Examples include:
Beijing: 啥 shá → VS gì, sao 'what, how'
Taiwanese: 早 zăo → VS chào, sớm 'hello'
Fukienese: /bat7/ → VS 'know'
Hainanese: [gai2mi5] → VS cáigì 'what'
Shanghainese: 垃圾 [lᴀ2ɕi4] → VS rácrưới 'garbage'
Other dialectal features also left their imprint on Vietnamese. For example:
The Vietnamese second tone (equivalent to Chinese shǎngshēng 上聲 'rising tone') often occurs at a lower register, as in õ. This resembles nasalized final vowels in Fukienese or Chaozhou: /ẽ/, /ã/, /ĩ/, etc.
The Beijing dialect suffix ‑er 兒 is echoed in Vietnamese forms:
明兒 míngr [mĩə] → VS mai 'tomorrow'
娘兒 niángr [njãə] → VS nạ 'mom'
Chaozhou nasalization:
羊 yáng [jẽ] → VS dê 'sheep'
餠 bǐng [pjẽ] → VS bía 'cake'
Fukienese:
囝 jiăn [kjã] → VS con 'son'
[swã] → VS soài 'mango' [plausibly cognate with 檨 shé 'mango']
(9) Tonal and Dialectal Influence
Tonal correspondences also reveal dialectal influence. For instance, the tonal system of Hunan Mandarin (as spoken by Mao Zedong) recalls the Huế dialect of Vietnamese. Similarly, nasalized phonetic patterns in Minnan subdialects parallel Vietnamese nasalized finals.
In this study, Mandarin is selected to represent modern Chinese not merely for convenience but because it provides a useful basis for comparative analysis. Examining how sound changes from a common source diverged in Mandarin and Vietnamese helps clarify historical developments. This does not imply that Vietnamese words originated solely from Mandarin; many also derive from other Chinese dialects. Still, there is strong evidence that modern Vietnamese shares striking similarities with Mandarin, particularly with vernacular northern subdialects (including those spoken in Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, Hunan, etc.), as well as with the Baihua 白話 style of northern dialects used in the Six Great Classical Novels.
Examples include:
這 zhèi 'this, here' → đây, nầy, ni
那 nà, nèi 'that, there' → đấy, đó, nớ
早 zăo 'hello' → chào
膝蓋 xīgài 'knee' → đầugối
所以 suóyǐ 'therefore' → chonên
於是 yúshì 'as a result' → vìthế
陌生 mòshēng 'unfamiliar' → lạlùng
生氣 shēngqì 'angry' → tứcgiận
馬上 măshàng 'immediately' → mauchóng
起碼 qǐmă 'at least' → ítra
體諒 tǐliàng 'pardon' → thalỗi
見諒 jiànliàng 'sorry' → xinlỗi
見過 jiànguò 'greet' → chàohỏ
體會 tǐhuì 'understanding' → thấuhiểu
These forms often appear as "twisted sounds" of Mandarin, shaped by colloquial association and performance.
(10) Literary comprehension and historical layers
Interestingly, average Vietnamese speakers often find it harder to understand 17th‑century Vietnamese literary works than to read the Six Great Chinese Classical Novels (12th century onward). Learners of Chinese descent in Vietnam could read and translate those novels with relative ease. It is said that a Vietnamese reader who recognizes 3,000 basic Chinese characters can enjoy Luo Guanzhong’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms, since many compounds in both languages are built from the same single characters.
(11) Southern dialectal parallels
Certain southern Chinese dialects also preserve sounds that resemble Vietnamese forms:
芒果 mángguǒ 'mango' → Fukienese /swã/ → VS soài (cf. 檨 shé)
舌 shě 'tongue' ~ Cant. /lei2/ → VS lưỡi [cf. 脷 lěi (VS lợi)]
囝 jiān 'child' → Fukienese [kẽ], Hainanese [ke1] → VS con
羊 yáng 'sheep' → Chaozhou [jẽ] → VS dê
耕 gēng 'plow' → Chaozhou [kẽ] → VS cày
'know' → Hainanese /bat7/, Fukienese /paiʔ/, Amoy /bat/ → VS biết
生 shēng 'give birth' → Hainanese /te1/ → VS đẻ
屙 ē 'to poop' → Cant. /o5/ → VS ỉa [cf. VS ốm 'ill']
屌 diào 'curse' → Cant. /tjew3/ → VS đéo
These examples reflect the lowest stratum of Vietnamese, where words of shared Yue (Austroasiatic) roots remain in use. Some are direct isoglossal borrowings; others are parallel results of sound change.
(12) Additional cognates in daily vocabulary
thấy ← 睇 dì (Cant. /tej3/) 'see'
đụng ← 碰 pèng 'touch'
bàntay ← 手板 shǒubăn 'palm' ('table of the hand')
bànchân ← 腳板 jiăobăn 'sole of the foot'
mò (~ sờ, sờmó) ← 摸 mó 'feel by hand'
chạy ← 走 zǒu 'run' [also đi 'walk'; cf. 去 qù 'go']
dù ← 要 yào ['if'; cf. 若 ruò 'if']
đừng ← 甭 péng (Beijing) 'not to'
mai ← 明兒 mínr (Beijing) 'tomorrow'
nay ← 今兒 jīnr (Beijing) 'now'
luônluôn ← 老老 láoláo (Beijing) 'always'
gàtrống ← 雞公 /koi1kong1/ (Hainanese, Fukienese, ancient Cant.) 'rooster'
gàmái ← 雞母 /koi1mai2/ (Hainanese, Fukienese, ancient Cant.) 'hen'
cùlét (Hainanese /ka2lɛt7/) = thọclét, chọccười ← 逗笑 dòuxiào 'tickle'

Such examples are numerous and deserve detailed, line‑by‑line analysis rather than simple listings.
(13) Methodological notes: In the modern era, linguists equipped with database tools can tabulate raw data and gain advantages over traditional methods. Vietnamese historical phonology requires mastery of multiple layers of sound change, from Old Chinese to modern Chinese and Vietnamese.

It remains controversial whether words so heavily influenced by Chinese should be used to establish kinship. Some argue that only "basic words" count, excluding obvious loanwords, grammar, and phonology. Yet many of these so‑called basic words are in fact cognate with Sino‑Tibetan etyma (cf. Shafer’s Sino‑Tibetan wordlists, Chapter 10).

As Nguyễn Ngọc San (1993) observed, modern Vietnamese evolved from the foundation laid 1,000 years ago, when Hán‑Việt (SV) pronunciation emerged from Middle Chinese. Classical Chinese literary forms, court speech, and vernacular registers all contributed, entering Vietnamese at different times. This phenomenon was noted by Haudricourt (1961), Starostin, Wang Li, Nguyễn Tài‑Cẩn, and others.

Cao Xuân Hạo (2001) further argued that there are no "pure Vietnamese words," since even Viet‑Muong and Mon‑Khmer elements coexist with overwhelming Chinese influence. If Chinese elements are excluded, what remains as the "core" of Vietnamese? Lexically, more than 90% of the vocabulary shows Chinese origin, though this figure is an estimate based on dictionary sampling rather than frequency counts. Regardless of the exact percentage, the evidence demonstrates that Vietnamese is fundamentally Sinitic‑Vietnamese in character.

From a lexicographic perspective, with sufficiently complete and verifiable listings, and with solid grammatical and phonological rules aligned with Sino‑Tibetan and Han etymologies, it is possible to envision the eventual compilation of the first truly comprehensive Vietnamese dictionary.

V) A corollary approach

Definition: A corollary approach is one of several analogical methods used to establish affiliated linguistic attributes in etymological candidates by aligning lexical properties through shared semantic peculiarities, intrinsic traits, and formal resemblance.

Scope: We have seen how Sinitic‑Vietnamese forms diverge from Sino‑Tibetan sources, and how competence and performance influenced adoption by Vietnamese speakers exposed to diverse Chinese dialects – military, migrant, and courtly – over more than a millennium in Annam (Annam Đôhộphủ). Under such sustained pressure, native items could yield or coexist, explaining the abundance of Vietnamese words cognate with Chinese, alongside exceptions.

Method: To identify Chinese-Vietnamese cognates, we first test the corollary approach on representative sets. Items are selected for plausibility yet remain open to debate. We posit cognacy when a large number within a category converge on shared roots; other correspondents may belong to the same genre and await discovery. This is one technique among many, drawing on available reconstructions and analyses.

Irregularity principle: Not all sound changes follow the strict rules that govern scholarly Sino‑Vietnamese strata. Disputable items and unconventional developments are treated under an irregular paradigm driven by frequency and usage. Rejecting some proposed cognates does not invalidate others; each etymon is assessed on its own merits within Sinitic‑Vietnamese studies.

Rationalization: Examples are advanced through reasoning and induction, supported by attested sound change patterns. Even seemingly odd internal shifts—such as { p > t } or { p > b > ʔb > ɓ } from ancient Annamese to modern Vietnamese—can be justified when corroborated by historical phonology. Using this methodology, newly established paradigms can lead to new etyma.

Caveat: Outlandish examples are selectively included as supplements to accepted patterns. They may require further evidence and are not intended to codify rigid rules, as cross‑genre differences limit direct transferability.

Once the correspondences below are accepted, it becomes clear why patterns in Sino‑Vietnamese sound changes that appear irregular are, in fact, systematic:

額 é → SV ngạch 'amount, forehead'

岸 àn → SV ngạn 'bank'

罷 bā → SV bãi 'on strike'

畢 bí → SV tốt 'graduation'

必 bì → SV tất 'inevitable'

季 jì → SV quý 'season'

節 jié → SV tiết 'festival'

偏 piān → SV thiên 'bias'

匹 pí → SV thất 'match, lone'

起 qǐ → SV khởi 'rise'

七 qī → SV thất 'seven'

煽 shǎn → SV phiến 'incite'

攝 shè → SV nhiếp 'act for'

濕 shì → SV thấp 'damp'

灣 wān → SV loan 'bay'

熄 xí → SV tức 'put out'

學 xué → SV học 'study'

左 zuǒ → SV tả 'left'

郵 yóu → SV bưu 'postal'

And the list could continue indefinitely. Each correspondence illustrates that what may seem like irregularity is in fact governed by underlying rules – for example, b > t, or sh‑ ~ nh‑. When such interchanges exceed six consistent pairs (a "six‑strike" threshold), they can no longer be dismissed as irregular; they constitute a rule of six‑strike rule sound change. (6)

For the sake of clarity, we will set aside the Shijing 詩經 'Book of Odes' (cf. Karlgren 1945), since archaic glosses there can be stretched to match nearly any word etymologically.

The same rule is applicable in the Sinitic-Vietnamese etymology as well. As stated previously, those Sinitic-Vietnamese words are in effect products of pattern development of phonetic interchanges that resemble sound changes in Sino-Vietnamese loanwords of which their induced shifts are already in existence and predominant in the Vietnamese language. Let us now examine some of the illustrations to support the validity of established sound change patterns.

For their plausibility, these examples are best understood as corollaries: Vietnamese body‑part terms that correspond etymologically to Chinese cognates.

頭 tóu → đầu 'head'

腦 nǎo → não 'brain'

髮 fā → tóc 'hair'

目 mù → mắt 'eye' [cf. 眼 yǎn → nhìn 'look']

瞳 tóng → tròng 'eyeball'

面 miàn → mặt 'face'

顁 dìng → trán 'forehead'

眉 méi → mày 'eyebrow'

眉毛 méimáo → mi 'eyelash'

齡 líng → răng 'tooth' [by association with 牙 yá 'ivory' → SV ngà]

頷 hàn → cằm 'chin'

含 hán → hàm 'jaw'

肉 ròu → nướu 'gum'

蟲 chóng → sâu 'cavity' [cf. 牙蟲 yáchóng → sâurăng 'cavity']

犬 quán → khểnh 'canine' [cf. 犬牙 quányá → răngkhểnh 'canine']

吻 wěn → mồm 'mouth' (hence miệng) [cf. 吻 wěn → hôn 'kiss']

鬚 xū → râu 'beard'

翁 wēng → lông 'hair'

膚 fū → da 'skin' [by association with 皮 pí → SV bì]

手 shǒu → tay 'hand'

手板 shǒubǎn → bàntay 'palm'

胳膊 gēbó → cánhtay 'arm' [by association]

胳臂 gēbì → cánhtay 'arm' [by association]

胳膊肘兒 gēbózhǒur → cùichỏ 'elbow' [by contraction]

背 bèi → vai 'shoulder' [by innovation]

喉 hóu → cổ 'throat'

舌 shé → lưỡi 'tongue' [by association with 脷 lěi]

喉嚨 hóulóng → cổhọng 'throat'

肺 fèi → phổi 'lung'

臆 yì → ngực 'chest'

心 xīn → tim 'heart'

肝 gān → gan 'liver'

腎 shèn → thận 'kidney'

腰 yāo → eo 'waist'

腚 dìng → đít 'buttocks'

屁 pì → địt 'fart'

胸 xiōng → hông 'hip' [by innovation]

胃 wèi → dạ 'stomach' [cf. 胃子 wèizi → dạdày 'stomach']

脾 pí → tỳ 'spleen'

腹 fù → bụng 'belly'

腿 tuǐ → đùi 'lap'

腳 jiǎo → giò 'leg'

足 zú → chân 'foot'

脛 jìng → cẳng 'leg'

趼 jiǎn → móng 'fingernail' [by association]

腳板 jiǎobǎn → bànchân 'sole'

Below are parallel glosses carrying the same semantic traits. For example:

手板 shǒubǎn → bàntay 'palm' (literally 'a panel of the hand')

腳板 jiǎobǎn → bànchân 'sole' (literally 'a panel of the foot')

腳脖 jiǎobó → cổchân 'ankle' (literally 'the neck of the foot')

By contrast, modern concepts are clearly identifiable as Chinese loanwords, such as:

肺勞 fèiláo → laophổi 'tuberculosis' (modern M 肺結核 fèijiéhé)

肝炎 gānyán → viêmgan 'hepatitis'

氣喘 chuǎnqì → henxuyễn 'asthma'

頭腦 tóunǎo → đầunậu 'ringleader'

頂撞 dǐngzhuàng → chạmtrán 'head‑on'

According to the so‑called “six‑strike rule,” once a correspondence is attested in more than six consistent pairs, it can no longer be dismissed as irregular but must be recognized as a rule of sound change. Since most body‑part terms already demonstrate such cognacy, there is no reason why răng 'tooth' should be treated as an exception. Indeed, as Tsu‑lin Mei has suggested (see Appendix G), máu 'blood' < 衁 huàng may itself have Austroasiatic origins, showing that Vietnamese body‑part vocabulary reflects both inherited and Sinitic layers.

1. "RĂNG":
Phonological correspondences

răng ← 牙 yá 'tooth': SV nha, Mand. yá, Cant. ngah, Hai. gheh [ M  牙 yá, yă, yà < MC ŋa < OC ŋra: || ¶ /y‑ ~ r‑/ . Cf. 牙 yá: SV ngà* 'ivory'; 笌 yá: VS măng 'bamboo shoot'; 萌芽 méngya 'germ' → SV manhnha, VS mầmmống, VS giá 'sprout'. Also: 齡 líng (linh) [ Vh @ QT 齡 líng < MC lɛjŋ < OC reːŋ ]

(i) Initial interchanges { y‑ ~ ng‑, r‑ }

齖 yá → răng 'tooth'

劜 yà → rặng* 'exert'

勜 yà → ráng 'exert oneself'

崖 yá → rặng(núi) 'mountain range' [cf. 嶺 líng: SV lĩnh 'ridge']

砑 yà → ràng 'wrap up'

掗 yà → ràng 'attach'

蚜 yà → rọm 'aphid'

啞 yā → ràm (onomatopoeic 'whining sound')

耀 yáo → rạng 'glowing'

煆 yā → rực 'raging fire'

椏 yā → nhành 'forking branch'

枒 yá → vành 'rim' [also dừa 'coconut']

襾 yà → vung 'lid, cover'

婭 yà → ấy (address term between sons‑in‑law)

押 yā → giải 'detain in custody'

笌 yá → măng 'bamboo shoot'

羊 yáng → dê 'goat'

焱 yàn → rang 'hot'

吆 yāo → rao 'shout'

隐 yǐn → riêng [as in 隐私 yǐnsī → riêngtư 'private']

硬 yìng → rắn 'sturdy'

蝇 yíng → ruồi (nhặng) 'flies'

元 yuán → ngươn (surname) [cf. 阮 ruǎn → Nguyễn]

月 yuè → giăng 'moon'

曰 yuè → rằng 'said'

鉞 yuè → rựa 'axe'

夭夭 yāoyāo → rậmrạp 'bushy'

悒悒 yìyì → rayrứt 'uneasy'

Dialect note: In tVietnam's southwestern Rạchgiá subdialect, speakers often substitute /r‑/ with /g‑/, e.g., găng for răng, gô for rô, gỗ for rỗ.

(ii) Final interchanges { ‑a(e), ‑Ø ~ ‑an, ‑ang }

打 dǎ → đánh (cf. quánh /wajŋ5/) 'strike'

嗎 mà → mắng 'scold'

得 dé → đặng (< VS được, Hai. /dak8/) 'got, able to get' [possibly also from 行 xíng 'okay!']

俄 é → Nga 'Russia'

鵝 é → ngang, ngỗng (SV nga) 'goose'

蛇 shé → rắn (SV xà) 'snake'

炸 zhà → rán 'fry'

耀 yáo → rạng 'illuminate'

Compound evidence: The relationship between 牙 yá (SV nha) for both ngà 'ivory' and răng 'tooth' may also involve 齖 yá 'tooth' or 齡 líng (SV linh 'instar'). This distinction is fossilized in disyllabic compounds:

牙齒 yáchǐ → răngcỏ 'teeth'

犬牙 quányá → răngkhểnh 'canine'

牙肉 yáròu → nướurăng [cf. lợirăng → lợi 'gum']

牙蟲 yáchóng → sâurăng 'cavity'

咬牙 yǎoyá → nghiếnrăng 'grind teeth'

假牙 jiǎyá → rănggiả 'false teeth'

牙痛 yátòng → đaurăng 'toothache'

牙床 yáchuáng → hàmrăng 'tooth bed'

Induction:  The hypothesis is that SV ngà 'ivory' and VS răng 'tooth' are variants of the same root, alongside 牙 yá, 齒 chǐ, 齖 yá, and 齡 líng, all functioning as doublets in Chinese. This interpretation is debated. Tsu‑lin Mei, for example, argued that 牙 yá represents the sole phonetic value, evolving into SV ngà 'ivory', and affirmed its Austroasiatic origin (see Appendices).

In other words, following our corollary approach, the reconstruction issue may rest on the sound value of OC /ŋrya:/, which appears cognate with ngà and may have been derived from an earlier form of răng, or conversely, răng* could have developed from ngà. Meanwhile, 齡 líng (SV linh) and 齖 yá (SV nha) represent later developments, where 牙 yá ultimately supplanted its derivative 齖 yá in common usage.

Per Tsu-lin Mei in https://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/tm17/paper459.htm,

Some Min dialects still employ 牙齿 in the sense of tooth. The common word for tooth in Amoy is simply k’i. Foochow has nai3which is a fusion of ŋɑ plus k’i, i.e. 牙齿. This strongly suggests that in Min the real old word for ‘tooth’ is 齿 as in Amoy, the implication being that this was stil the colloquial word for ‘tooth’ well into Han when Fukien was first settled by the Chinese. The Japanese use 齿 as kanji to write /ha/ ‘tooth’ in their language; 牙 rarely occurs. Both these facts provide supplementary evidence for the thesis that the use of ya as the general word for ‘tooth’ was a relatively late development.

In a note published in BSOAS, vol. 18, Walter Simon proposed that Tibetan so ‘tooth’ and Chinese yá 牙 (OC ng) are cognates, thus reviving a view once expressed by Sten Konow. Simon’s entire argument was based upon historical phonology; he tried to show

a) OC had consonant clusters of the type sng- and C-, (b) by reconstructing 牙 as sng* > zng > nga and 邪 as zˠ* > z**, one can affirm He Shen’s view that 邪 has 牙 as its phonetic, and (c) Chinese sng* can then be related to a Proto-Tibetan sngwa and Burmese swa:>θwa:.

Our etymology for yá ‘tooth’ implies a rejection of Simon’s view; if yá is borrowed from Austroasiatic languages, then the question of Sino-Tibetan comparison simply does not arise. Alternately, if our theory is accepted, there is no reason to adopt Simon’s analysis; ya is clearly a word of relatively late origin, and the fact that 邪 has 牙 as its phonetic can be explained by assuming that the z- of 邪 resulted from the palatalization of an earlier g-.

Given the rationalizations above, it may still remain indecisive for some readers to directly associate 牙 yá with răng. Nevertheless, the postulation can be extended to other controversial items in the same semantic category, the uppermost parts of the vertebrate body, in addition to the human anatomical terms already discussed. These include:

首 shǒu → sọ 'cranium' [/sh‑/ ~ /s‑/]

面 miàn → mặt 'face' [/‑n/ ~ /‑t/]

頂 dǐng → trán 'forehead' [/t‑/ ~ /tr‑/]

眉 méi → mày 'eyebrow' [/m‑/ ~ /m‑/]

目 mù → mắt 'eye' [/m‑/ ~ /m‑/]

耷 dā → tai 'ear' [by association with 耳朵 ěrduō → VS lỗtai; cf. 洱 ěr (Cant. /lej6/) | ¶ /l‑/ ~ /t‑/]

髮 fá → tóc 'hair' [/b‑/ ~ /t‑/; cf. SV phát /fat7/]

鼻 bí → mũi 'nose' [/b‑/ ~ /m‑/]

頰 jiá → má 'cheeks' [/j‑/ ~ /m‑/]

嘴 zuǐ → môi 'lips' [/z‑/ ~ /m‑/]

吻 wěn → mồm 'mouth' (hence miệng); also 吻 wěn → hôn 'kiss'

頷 hàn → cằm 'chin' [/h‑/ ~ /k‑/]

含 hán → hàm 'jaw' [/h‑/ ~ /h‑/]

2. "MẶT":

For 面 miàn (SV diện 'face') → VS mặt, the correspondence requires explanation of how the final evolved into /‑t/. The pattern here is /‑Ø ~ ‑t/, reflecting a broader set of correspondences in which finals /‑Ø/, /‑n/, /‑ng/ regularly shift to /‑t/ or /‑k/ in Vietnamese.

This type of final change is well attested in both Sino‑Vietnamese and Sinitic‑Vietnamese strata, many of which trace back to the 7th and 8th tone categories of Old Chinese. This is also one of the key reasons why Vietnamese historical phonology must be analyzed within an eight‑tone framework.

A prime example is 面 miàn itself. In compounds such as 面子 miànzi (SV diệntử > #VS cáimặt, 'the face'), the expected reflex would have developed into a form like /mie~t8/. From this pathway we arrive at the vernacular expression 沒面(子) méimiàn(zǐ) → VS mấtmặt 'lose face'.

Other representative examples include:

吃 chī → VS ăn (SV ngật) 'eat' [cf. 乙 yǐ → SV ất]

咽 yàn → VS nuốt 'swallow'

粉 fén → VS bột 'flour'

分 fēn → VS phút 'minute'

淡 dàn → VS lạt 'insipid'

晕 yùn → VS ngất 'faint, pass out'

麦 mài → SV mạch 'wheat'

脈 mài → SV mạch 'vein'

滅 miè → SV diệt 'eliminate'

目 mù → VS mắt 'eye'

默 mò → SV mặc 'tact, silence'

忙 máng → VS mắc 'busy'

亡 wáng → VS mất 'to lose, pass away'

密 mì → SV mật 'dense, secret'

木 mù → SV mộc 'wood'

没 mò → VS một 'loss, one'

Compound forms reinforce the same pattern:

面孔 miànkǒng → VS khuônmặt 'face'

面貌 miànmào → VS mặtmày 'countenance'

前面 qiánmiàn → VS mặtrước 'front'

後面 hòumiàn → VS mặtsau 'back'

下面 xiàmiàn → VS mặtdưới 'bottom'

側面 cèmiàn → VS mặttrái 'side view'

表面 biǎomiàn → VS bềmặt 'surface'

面對 miànduì → VS đốimặt 'facing'

From this evidence, we can safely posit a regular correspondence miàn ~ mặt.

Transition to other domains – Leaving aside the body‑part vocabulary, we may now turn to other semantic fields. Consider "cá" ('fish'). One must ask: is it plausible that coastal peoples, whose livelihood depended on fishing, would have borrowed such a fundamental word from inland, horse‑mounted Chinese speakers? The answer suggests otherwise. Cá has long been a staple term not only for southern coastal communities but also for populations along the Yangtze River, the second longest river in the world, where fishing was equally central to daily life.

3. "CÁ" :

We have 魚 yú = cá = SV ngư 'fish'.

M 魚 yú < MC ŋɨə̆ < OC ŋa

According to Starostin: for ŋh‑ cf. Xiamen hi2, Chaozhou hy2.

Protoform: ŋ(j)a. Meaning: 'fish'.

Cognates: Chinese 魚 ŋha 'fish'; Tibetan ɳa 'fish'; Burmese ŋah 'fish'; Lolo‑Burmese ŋhax; Kachin ŋa3 'fish'; Lushei ŋha 'fish'; Kiranti ŋjə 'fish'.

Comparative notes: Proto‑Garo tàrŋa; Bodo ŋa ~ na; Dimasa na; Chepang ŋa ~ nya; Tsangla ŋa; Moshang ŋa; Namsangia ŋa; Kham ŋa:ɬ; Kaike ŋa:; Trung ŋa1‑pla<ʔ1.

Observation: It is not difficult to see the denasalized velar shift from OC ŋh‑ to VS k‑ (cá). See Appendices for further discussion of the etymology of cá, which is also intriguingly connected to the history of the words ketchup and catsup.

(i) Etymological pathway:

魚 yú 'fish' < OC ŋa

Reflexes: VS cá; SV ngư*

Pattern: ŋ‑ > MC ŋjw‑ > SV ngư; ŋ‑ > VS k‑.

The alternation /ng‑ ~ k‑/ is common in laryngeal sound changes, often mediated by g‑, gh‑, kh‑.

Parallel example: kê → 鷄 jī → VS gà 'chicken'.

(ii) Expressions and compounds with cá

打魚 dǎyú → đánhcá 'net fishing'

釣魚 diàoyú → câucá 'fishing'

撈魚 lāoyú → lướicá 'net fishing'

捕魚 bǔyú → bắtcá 'catch fish'

魚刺 yúcì → xươngcá 'fish bone'

咸魚 xiányú → cámặn 'salted fish'

煎魚 jiānyú → cáchiên 'fried fish'

魚腥 yúxīng → tanhcá 'fishy'

脯魚 fǔyú → khôcá 'fish jerky'

鯨魚 jīngyú → kìnhngư 'whale'

如魚得水 rúyúdéshuǐ → nhưcágặpnước 'like a fish back in water'

大魚吃小魚 dàyúchīxiǎoyú → cálớnnuốtcábé 'big fish devour small fish'

In the meantime, the use of Sino‑Vietnamese ngư (漁) in place of cá – the latter often regarded as the more "purely Vietnamese" word – is entirely natural in Vietnamese. Examples include:

漁船 yúchuán → ngưthuyền 'fishing boat'

漁港 yúgǎng → ngưcảng 'fishermen’s wharf'

漁夫 yúfū → ngưphủ 'fisherman'

漁民 yúmín → ngưdân 'fishermen'

漁翁 yúwēng → ngưông 'fisherman'

鷸蚌相爭漁翁得利 yùbàngxiāngzhēng, yúwēngdélì → dẽtrai giànhnhau, ngưôngđắclợi 'the fisherman profits when the mussel and the snipe fight'

Interestingly, unlike English terms such as salmon or sturgeon, which stand alone, both Vietnamese and Chinese require the morpheme cá‑ or ‑魚 to form semantically complete names for specific fish. Without this element, the word is ambiguous. For example:

魚婢 yúbì → cábóng 'small carp'

墨魚 mòyú → cámực 'cuttlefish'

紅魚 hóngyú → cáhồng 'snapper'

鮭魚 guīyú → cáhồi 'salmon'

京魚 jīngyú → cákình 'whale'

鱘魚 xúnyú → cátầm 'sturgeon'

鮐魚 táiyú → cáthu 'mackerel'

鮪魚 wěiyú → cángừ 'tuna, horse mackerel'

For some of the above, it is often claimed that many of these Sinitic‑Vietnamese cá compounds are loanwords from Chinese. While some certainly are, the majority must be uniquely Vietnamese, inherited from ancient times, since the Việt‑Mường peoples lived along the shoreline and relied heavily on fishing.

The broader point is that "fish" concepts and lexicons are so deeply intertwined between Chinese and Vietnamese that no other Mon‑Khmer languages exhibit a comparable density of overlap. If this is the case, the direction of influence may even be reversed: although Austroasiatic languages are often mapped as “fish‑centered” in Southeast Asia, the etymology of cá does not fit neatly into the Austroasiatic or Mon‑Khmer picture, despite the oceanic geography.

4. "GẠO":

(i) Historical interpretation – When we turn to basic vocabulary for the main agricultural staple of the southern region – 'rice' – the case of gạo is particularly instructive.

We have 稻 dào 'rice' corresponding to VS gạo and SV đạo  [ M 稻 dào < MC daw < OC l'uːʔ | MC reading: 效開一上皓定 | Starostin: Vietnamese lúa is an archaic loanword; regular Sino‑Vietnamese is đạo. Protoform: ly:wH (~ɫ‑). Chinese 稻 lhu:ʔ 'rice, paddy'; Burmese luh 'grain, Panicum paspalum'; Kachin c^jəkhrau1 'paddy ready for husking'; Kiranti lV 'millet'. Per Schuessler: MC dâu < OC gləwʔ or mləwʔ ]

For a historical linguist, it is not difficult to see why both gạo* and lúa could be variants of 稻 dào (SV đạo). It is likely that this was a Yue loanword into Chinese, originating in the southern regions where rice cultivation began. Maspero (1952) lists Vietnamese and Thai cognates in this connection.

In Daic, the form /khou3/ encompasses all three concepts—'paddy' (unhusked rice), 'husked rice', and 'cooked rice'. In contrast, Mon‑Khmer has only /sro/, which has been suggested as a cognate for VS lúa 'paddy'. Vietnamese, however, distinguishes three separate terms that can be associated with those of Chinese:

lúa 'paddy' [ M 來 lái, lài, lāi (lai, lãi) < MC ləj < OC mrɯːɡ ]

gạo* 'husked rice' [ M 稻 dào < MC daw < OC l'uːʔ ]

cơm* 'cooked rice' [ M 粓 (泔) gān < MC kam < OC kaːm | Wiktionary: Etymologically, from Proto-Vietic kəːm ("cooked rice"); cognate with Arem kʌːm. According to Ferlus, a loan from Chinese 泔 (OC kaːm, "water from washing rice; kitchen slops") (SV: cam). Semantically, compare Thai ข้าว (kâao, "rice; meal"), Khmer បាយ (baay, "rice; meal"), Chinese 飯 / 饭 (fàn, "rice; meal"), Korean 밥 (bap, "rice; mea"), Japanese ご飯 (gohan, "rice; meal"). ]

This lexical differentiation reflects the centrality of rice cultivation in Vietnamese culture. The key point is that these forms all evolved from the same root, diverging phonetically but retaining closely related meanings—similar to the case of betel nuts and leaves: 檳榔 bīnláng (ancient Annamese blau) vs. VS trầu* vs. cau.

(ii) Sound correspondences – The interchange { /d‑/, /t‑/ ~ /g‑/ } is relatively rare in Chinese–Vietnamese correspondences. This does not mean that 稻 dào (SV đạo) must be cognate only with VS lúa on the basis of the { d‑ ~ l‑ } pattern posited by Starostin. Despite irregularities, we can still identify a set of cognates governed by the same sound change rule (at least six attestations):

導 dào → gò 'to coach'

倒 dǎo → gục 'collapse'

陡 dǒu → gồ 'precipitous'

逗 dòu → ghẹo 'tease'

凸 tū → gồ 'protruding'

佗 tuó → gã 'that fellow'

駝背 tuóbèi → gùlưng 'hunchback'

大膽 dàdǎn → cảgan 'dare to'

託付 tuòfù → gởigấm 'entrust'

陶器 táoqì → đồgốm 'pottery'

This evidence suggests that gạo, lúa, and SV đạo are not isolated anomalies but part of a broader pattern of correspondences linking Vietnamese and Chinese agricultural vocabulary.

5. "ĐẤT":

We have 土 tǔ (soil): 'thổ', 'độ', 'đỗ' (SV) [ M 土 tǔ, dù (thổ, độ, đỗ) < MC thʰɔ, duo < OC l̥ʰaːʔ, l'aːʔ (Li Fang-Kuei : OC dagx ) | FQ 他魯 | MC reading 遇合一上姥透 | According to Starostin: MC tho < OC tha:ʔ (Note the final -ʔ). Also used for d(h)a:ʔ (MC do, Pek. dù) roots of mulberry tree.]

The sound change can fit into the following patterns initial { ¶ /t- ~ đ-/ }:

突 tù → đột* 'suddenly'

圖 tú → đồ 'drawing'

吐 tù → thổ 'vomit'

唐 táng → đường 'path'

談 tán → đàm 'talk'

壇 tán → đàn 'platform'

腿 tuǐ → đùi 'lap'

痛 tòng → đau 'pain'

頭 tóu → đầu 'head'

踏 tǎ → đạp 'tread'

條 tiáo → điều 'article'

點 diǎn → điểm 'point'

毒 dú → độc 'poisonous'

督 dù → đốc 'urge'

櫝 dú → tủ 'cabinet'

讀 dú → đọc 'read'

(i) Final correspondences {/‑Ø/ ~ /‑t/}

必 bì → tất 'inevitable'

室 shì → thất 'chamber'

七 qī → thất 'seven'

漆 qī → tất 'lacquer'

疾 jí → tật 'illness'

悉 xì → tất 'entire'

乞 qí → khất 'beg'

不 bù → bất 'not'

畢 bì → tốt 'graduate'

卒 zú → tốt 'private, soldier'

燒 shāo → đốt 'burn'

忽 hù → hốt 'neglect'

突 tù → đột 'sudden'

**(ii) Compounds with đất:**

土地 tǔdì → đấtđai 'land'

地帶 dìdài → đấtđai 'stretch of land'

土鼊 tǔpì → bọđất 'beetle'

領土 língtǔ → mãnhđất 'territory'

地面 dìmiàn → mặtđất 'earth’s surface'

地塊 dìkuài → cụcđất 'piece of soil'

塊地 kuàidì → khoảngđất 'piece of land' [ Another case of "binoms": 一塊地 yī kuàidì 'one piece of land']

地域 dìyù → vùngđất 'region'

田地 tiándì → ruộngđất 'farming land'

地球 dìqíu → quảđất 'globe'

Note on doublets – In Chinese, 地 dì (SV địa, VS đất, 'earth') is a later derivative and doublet of 土 tǔ. This strengthens the case for tǔ = đất, as seen in compounds like 土地 tǔdì. Doublet forms are common in Chinese, having evolved from different sources – for example, 首 shǒu and 頭 tóu both correspond to đầu 'head'.

6. "ĐỐT":

For 燒 shāo (SV thiêu) ~ VS đốt 'to burn' [M 燒 shāo, shào < MC ɕiaw < OC hŋjew, hŋjaws | ¶ /sh‑ ~ đ‑/], it is not difficult to see that initials sh‑, th‑ (or even s‑) can yield VS đ‑. This alternation is evident in several reflexes of 燒 shāo:

發燒 fāshāo (SV phátthiêu) → VS phátsốt 'have a fever'

燒香 shāoxiāng → VS thắpnhang, thắphương 'burn incense' (equivalent to đốtnhang, đốthương)

Through reduplication and localization, 燒+燒 shāo+shāo also generated the compound thiêuđốt in Vietnamese. A parallel development can be seen with 少 shǎo (SV thiếu) ~ VS sót, yielding thiếusót 'shortage', equivalent to 缺少 quèshǎo.

In addition to the pattern { th‑ ~ đ‑ } that links 土 tǔ with VS đất, the case of 燒 shāo (SV 'thiêu' ~> VS đốt) suggests that /sh‑/ > /th‑/ may itself have evolved from an older /đ‑/. The Nôm form đốt may in fact predate thiêu, since the /th‑/ initial is confined to the Sino‑Vietnamese layer (a Middle Chinese reflex), whereas Old Chinese and Archaic Chinese already had a voiced /d‑/ initial, traces of which survive in dialects such as Hainanese and Amoy.

Other examples of the pattern /sh‑ ~ đ‑/:

生 shēng → đẻ 'give birth' (cf. Hainanese /te1/)

深 shēn → đậm 'dark' (SV thâm)

首 shǒu → đầu 'head' (SV thủ; doublet of 頭 tóu → SV đầu)

盛 shèng → đựng 'contain' (SV thịnh)

世 shì → đời 'life' (SV thế)

石 shí → đá 'stone' (SV thạch) [cf. 石 dàn → tạ 'unit of weight']

水 shuǐ → nước 'water' (SV thuỷ) [cf. Viet‑Mường đák 'water'; cf. 踏 tà → đạp 'tread']

This evidence shows that the alternation /sh‑ ~ đ‑/ is not an isolated anomaly but part of a broader pattern of correspondences linking Sino‑Vietnamese and vernacular Vietnamese strata.

7. "LỬA":

We have 火 huǒ 'fire' → SV hoả [M 火 huǒ, huō < MC hwa < OC qʰʷaːlʔ ], which illustrates the pattern { ¶ /h(w)‑/ ~ /l‑/ }:

話 huà → lời* 'spoken word'

混 hún → lộn 'confused'

宏 hóng → lớn 'large'

很 hěn → lắm 'much'

灣 wān → loan 'bay'

大伙 dàhuǒ → cảlũ 'the whole group'

同夥 tónghuǒ → đồngloã 'accomplice'

裸體 luǒtǐ → loãthể 'naked' [cf. phonetic stem 果 guǒ: SV quả /wa3/]

Compounds with 火 huǒ:

Numerous disyllabic compounds built on 火 huǒ are also preserved in Vietnamese, often with both SV and vernacular forms in parallel use:

火車 huǒchē → xelửa (SV hoảxa) 'train'

火箭 huǒjiàn → tênlửa (SV hoảtiễn) 'rocket'

救火 jìuhuǒ → chửalửa (SV cứuhoả) 'firefighting'

火燒 huǒshāo → lửacháy (SV hoảthiêu) 'burn'

As with ngư 'fish', the SV forms with hoả remain in frequent use alongside their vernacular counterparts, demonstrating the layered coexistence of Sino‑Vietnamese and native vocabulary in core semantic domains.

8. "CON":

We have VS con ~ 子 zǐ 'child, son' (SV tử).

M 子 zī, zǐ, zì, zí, zi, cí (tử, tý) < MC tsɨ < OC ʔslɯʔ | According to Starostin: meanings include 'child, son, daughter, young person; prince; a polite substitute for "you". Also read ʔslɯʔs, MC tsɨ, Mand. zì 'to treat as a son'. Cf. 字 zlɯs 'to breed'. The character is also used for a homonymous word ʔslɯʔ 'the first of the Earthly Branches' (SV tý). Cf. Dialects: Cantonese 仔 /zei3/ 'son'. In Fuzhou (Fukienese) represented as 囝 kiaŋ* (M jiǎn); in Xiamen (Amoy) /kẽ/; in Hainanese /ke1/, all phonetically close to VS con. This suggests that con may derive from Austroasiatic kiã 'son, child', or may be a cognate with 子 zǐ.

(i) Compounds and affixal usage– The lexeme appears in numerous Chinese compounds, where it functions as an affix with extended meanings:

父子 fùzǐ → bốcon 'father and son'

母子 mǔzǐ → mẹcon 'mother and son'

子孫 zǐsūn → concháu 'children and grandchildren'

孩子 háizi → concái 'children'

幼子 yòuzǐ → connhỏ 'child'

長子 chǎngzǐ → contrưởng 'eldest son'

棋子 qízǐ → concờ 'checker piece'

刀子 dāozi → condao 'knife'

猴子 hóuzi → conkhỉ 'monkey'

(ii) Sound correspondence – For the interchange { ¶ /C‑/ ~ /K‑/ }, we find further examples:

存 cún → VS còn 'exist'

擦 cā → VS cà 'rub'

餐 cān → VS cơm 'meal'

9. "SAO":

We have VS sao ~ 星 xīng 'star' (SV tinh, VS sao, tạnh, 'star', 'clear sky after rain') [ M 星 xīng < MC seŋ < OC sleːŋ | MC reading: 梗開四平青心 | FQ 桑經 | ZYYY: sijəŋ1 ]

Dialectal reflexes:

Hainanese: se11* [cf. 生 shēng → VS đẻ, Hai. /te1/]

Hankou: ʂin11

Sichuan: ʂin11

Yangzhou: ʂĩ11

Chaozhou: sin11

Changsha: sin11

Shuangfeng: ʂin11, ʂiõ11

Nanchang: ʂin11, ʂiaŋ11

Note: What remains problematic in relating VS sao to 星 xīng (SV tinh) is the absence of a rounded final. This parallels the case of 痛 tòng (SV thống) ~ VS đau 'pain', where the expected rounded coda is also lacking.

10. "LÁ":

We have 葉 yè 'leaf' (SV diệp) [ M 葉 yè, dié, shè, xiè < MC jiap, ɕiap < OC leb, hljeb | Comparative evidence: Tibetan ldeb 'lá, tờ'; Burmese ɑhlap 'cánh hoa'; Kachin lap2 'lá'; Lushei le:p 'búp'; Lepcha lop 'lá'; Rawang ʂɑ lap 'lá' (used to wrap dumplings); Trung ljəp1 'lá'; Bahing lab. This cluster shows that many Tibeto‑Burman languages preserve a form close to lá. In effect, there are well over one hundred words that register the pattern OC l‑ > MC j‑. Cf. 聿 yù → 律 lǜ (illustrating the same shift). ]

The pattern { ¶ /y‑/ ~ /l‑/ }:

Hence, more broadly { /l‑/ ~ /y‑/, /v‑/, /r‑/ } in both Vietnamese and Chinese. Numerous examples illustrate this interchange, especially where OC l‑ alternates with M /l‑/ ~ /y‑/:

藥 yào (SV dược 'medicine') ~ 樂 lè (SV lạc 'happy') [¶ /y‑/ ~ /l‑/]

葉 yè → lá 'leaf'

搖 yáo → lay 'shake'

腰 yāo → lưng 'lower back'

異 yí → lạ 'strange'

陰 yīn → lồn 'female genital'

蠅 yíng → lằng 'bluebottle'

游 yóu → lội 'swim'

籬 lí → dậu 'hedge'

冽 liè → rét 'chill'

離 lí → rời 'leave'

落 luò → rơi 'drop'

11. "UỐNG":

We have VS uống ~ 飲 yǐn 'drink' (SV ẩm) [also VS dô /jo1/ | M 飲 (飮) yǐn < MC ʔjim, ʔɯim < OC qrɯmʔ, qrɯms ]

a. Broader context of correspondences – Beyond the internal relationships among Chinese dialects themselves – many of which reflect the heavy influx of Han (Ancient Chinese) and Middle Chinese strata layered over aboriginal lexicons in Cantonese, Fukienese, and others – Vietnamese shows remarkable closeness with several Chinese dialects. This closeness often suggests possible kinship rather than mere borrowing, as attested by basic words such as:

魚 yú → VS cá, SV ngư* 'fish'

葉 yè → VS lá, SV diệp 'leaf'

面 miàn → VS mặt, SV diện 'face'

飲 yǐn → VS uống, SV ẩm 'drink'

Their etymological resemblance is in fact stronger than the parallels often proposed within Mon‑Khmer or Sino‑Tibetan.

The sound change patterns and interchanges outlined above provide only a general picture, without regard to precise spatial or temporal specifics. With deeper research, more detailed postulations can be made.

b. Sound change rules: Nguyễn Ngọc San’s rules (1993: 154–160)

Nguyễn Ngọc San (NNS) summarized ancient sound changes that should be considered as rules:

i. Initial /ch‑/ existed before the split of Vietnamese and Mường. Words with /tr‑/ appeared later, reflecting clusters /bl‑/, /tl‑/ that shifted in the 17th century. Many fundamental words for utensils, kinship, tools, animals, and insects preserve /ch‑/, not /tr‑/, and correspond to Chinese forms with /zh‑/, /z‑/, /sh‑/, /j‑/ in Mandarin, for example,

帚 zhǒu → VS chổi 'broom'

樽 zūn → VS chai 'bottle'

姊 zǐ → VS chị 'older sister'

侄 zhí → VS cháu 'grandson'

叔 shū → VS chú 'paternal uncle'

走 zhǒu → VS chạy 'run'

棹 zháo → VS chèo 'oar'

煎 jiān → VS chiên 'fry'

鼠 shǔ → VS chuột 'rat'

ii. Pre‑Hán‑Việt forms are often older than Hán‑Việt (Sino‑Vietnamese) forms, e.g.,

chay (pre‑SV) → SV trai 齋 zhāi 'vegan'

chày → SV trì 遲 chí 'slow'

chém → SV trảm 斬 zhǎn 'cut off'

chén → SV trản 盞 zhǎn 'bowl'

chè → SV trà 茶 chá 'tea' (cf. Hainanese /dje/, Chaozhou /te/)

chừa → SV trừ 除 chú 'exclude'

chứa → SV trữ 儲 chǔ 'store'

chuyền → SV truyền 轉 chuán 'transmit'

chuyện → SV truyện 傳 zhuàn 'story'

These pre‑Hán‑Việt forms /ch- ~ tr-/ still reflect Old Chinese, possibly of Yue origin.

iii. Consonantal clusters /bl‑/, /tl‑/ (pre‑17th century) shifted into /tr‑/, /gi‑/, or /l‑/. Thus, lexical doublets with /tr‑/, /gi‑/, or /l‑/ should historically be spelled with /ch‑/ and /gi‑/. Examples:

trời ~ giời

trầu ~ giầu

trăng ~ giăng

trùn ~ giun

trôn ~ lồn

trũng ~ lũng

iv. Pre‑glottal /ʔ‑/ (before the 12th century) shifted into /d‑/ and /nh‑/. Doublets confirm this:

dăn ~ nhăn

dặng ~ nhặng

dơ ~ nhơ

dỡ ~ nhỡ

dồi ~ nhồi

dức ~ nhức

v. Palatalization during the Viet‑Mường split: /ch‑/ [ʨ] > /gi‑/ [z‑]. Doublets attest this:

cha ~ già

chi ~ gì

chói ~ giọi

chuỳ ~ giùi

chừ ~ giờ

chủng ~ giống

vi. Other palatalization remnants appear in doublets with systematic sound changes:

/ch‑/ [ʨ ~ x‑/s‑]:

chẻ ~ xẻ, xé;

chiên ~ xiên;

chòm ~ xóm;

chen ~ xen;

chếch ~ xếch;

chao ~ xào

/đ‑/ [d ~ d‑/j-]:

đã(cơn) ~ dã(cơn);

đứt ~ dứt;

đao ~ dao;

đập ~ dập;

đình ~ dừng;

đướn ~ dưới;

đạy(học) ~ dạy(học);

đun(đẩy) ~ dun(dẩy);

(chỉnh)đốn ~ dọn(dẹp);

(cây)đa ~ (cây)da

Initials /gi‑/ and /ch‑/

NNS noted that Vietnamese words with lower‑registered tones are likely of pure vernacular origin.

SV words with present initial /gi‑/ [z] derive from earlier /ch‑/ [ʨ].

Hence, SV words with /gi‑/ carry upper tones: gia, giá, giả, gian, gián, giản, giang, giáng, giảng, giam, giám, giảm.

SV words with present initial /ch‑/ come from voiceless MC /tɕ’/ (章 chương series).

These also carry upper tones: chu, chú, chủ, chương, chướng, chưởng, chân, chấn, chẩn, chi, chí, chỉ, chư, chử, chích.

Similarly, SV words with kh‑ from MC /k’/ carry upper tones: khai, khái, khải, kha, khắc, khâm, khí, khi, khiếp, khuyển, khánh, khuyết, khoáng, khoa, khoái, khủng, khứ, khúc.

The correspondences between Vietnamese and Chinese – illustrated by uống ~ 飲 yǐn and many other basic words – point to a depth of relationship that goes beyond simple borrowing. The systematic sound changes documented by Nguyễn Ngọc San demonstrate how pre‑Hán‑Việt, Hán‑Việt, and vernacular layers interweave, leaving behind doublets and phonological patterns that still shape Vietnamese today.

Interestingly, most of the illustrated examples cited by Nguyễn Ngoc San just further strengthen the Vietnamese ~ Chinese correspondences, e.g., 'đ-'/d-/ ~ 'd-'/j-/ in their affiliated etyma, e.g., 過癮 guòyǐn ~ #đã(cơn) ~ #dã(cơn) (where localization of 癮 yǐn ~> 'dã'; 過 guò ~> 'cơn'), or, especially, 教 jiāo (giáo > đạo > đạy > dạy, 'teach'). For the rest of other cited words above, let us save the work on exploring the matching Chinese cognates for our future historical linguists in Vietnamese to practice in the next worksheets.

vii. Short vowels and tonal registers:

The alternation of long vowels into short ones in Vietnamese is attested in certain Central subdialects:

Long /e/ in Quảngngãi and Bìnhđịnh,

Long /o/ in Nghệtĩnh.

These deviant pronunciations are not part of modern standard Vietnamese.

NNS suggested that Sino‑Vietnamese (SV) words can often be recognized from vernacular Vietnamese (VS) simply by their phonological appearance. (Nguyễn Ngọc San. Ibid. p. 158).

viii. Voiceless Middle Chinese and tone registers:

When voiceless Middle Chinese (MC) words entered the SV stock, they evolved into forms with lower‑registered tones (marked in Quốc ngữ with `\`, `~`, `.`).

SV words beginning with the glottal /ʔ‑/ (not transcribed in modern Quốc ngữ) — e.g., an, anh, ang, ong, ông, ếch — carry upper‑registered tones: a, ả, á, an, án, ám, ung, úng, ủng, ôn, ổn, âm, ấm, ẩm.

By contrast, words with lower‑registered tones are considered native Vietnamese

ix. Initials /gi‑/ and /ch‑/:

NNS noted that Vietnamese words with lower‑registered tones are likely of pure vernacular origin.

x. Voiced initials and lower tones:

NNS also established that SV words with initials /m‑/, /n‑/, /nh‑/, /ng‑/, /l‑/ derive from voiced MC initials:

/m‑/ (明 minh), /n‑/ (泥 nê), /ɲ‑/ (日 nhật), /ŋ‑/ (疑 nghi), /l‑/ (來 lai).

Other voiced initials: /d‑/ (定 định), /mj‑/ (敏 mẫn, 明 minh div. II), /v‑/ from /w‑/ (雲 vân), /miw/ (微 vi).

Because these were voiced, their SV reflexes also carry lower‑registered tones. Yet, some show both upper and lower registers, e.g.: tones, for example,

viên ~ vườn

nương ~ nàng

nguyên ~ nguồn

ma ~ mè

lâm ~ lầm

lô ~ lò

văn ~ vằn

nam ~ nồm

linh ~ lành

du ~ dầu

di ~ dời

etc.

In short, those Sino-Vietnamese words with the initials /m-/, /n-/, /nh-/, /ng-/, /li-/, /v-/, /d-/ all carry either the level upper tone /一/ or lower registered tone /~/, and /./

m-

mao, mão, mạo, mi, mĩ, mị, ma, mã, mạ, mô, mỗ, mộ, mai, mãi, mại, môi, mỗi, etc.

Exception: miến, miếu

n-

nao, não, nạo, nô, nỗ, nộ, niêm, niệm, niên, nịch, etc.

Exception: nùng, náo, niết

nh-

nhi, nhĩ, nhị, nhân, nhẫn, nhận, như, nhữ, nhụ, nhung, nhũng, nhụng, nhiệm, nhiệt, nhuận, nhan, nhãn, nhạn, etc.

Exception: nhất, nhiếp, nhuế [ cf. VS một, 'one' ]

ng-

nga, ngã, ngại, ngãi, ngoa, ngôn, ngưỡng, nghĩa, ngữ, nguyện, ngọc, etc.

Exception: ngải

l-

lao, lão, lạo, lai, lãi, lại, lung, lãng, lạng, lâm, lẫm, liêu, luễ, liệu, lê, lễ, lệ, lô, lỗ, lộ, luật, lịch, etc.

Exception: lý, lánh

v-

vi, vĩ, vị, viên, viễn, viện, vinh, vĩnh, vịnh, vu, vũ, vụ, vãn, vạn, vong, võng, vọng, etc.

Exception: vấn

d-

di, dĩ, dị, dung, dũng dụng, diên, diễn, diện, dục, do, duyệt, etc.

Exception: vấn

Notes: For the tonal sound change rule above, that is, Sino-Vietnamese words of initials that start with m-, nh-, v-, l-, d-, ng- carry level upper tone /一/ or lower registered tone /~/, and /./, the mnemonic aid for them is to remember the Vietnamese clause that goes "Mình nhớ viết là dấu ngã." (Nguyễn Tài Cẩn. 2000) For all others, they are written with the tones /`/, /ʔ/, /./

Table 6. Tonal sound change rules show a systematic division

Upper tones: SV words from voiceless MC initials (/ch‑/, /kh‑/, /ʔ‑/).

Lower tones: SV words from voiced MC initials (/m‑/, /n‑/, /nh‑/, /ng‑/, /l‑/, /v‑/, /d‑/).

Mnemonic SV: Mình nhớ viết là dấu ngã.

c. Pulleyblank's rules on Middle Chinese finals and reflexes

i. Introduction - Edwin G. Pulleyblank’s reconstruction of Early Middle Chinese (EMC) is distinctive for its complex finals, which combine medials and codas. Two of the most revealing are /‑wŋ/ (rounded medial + velar nasal) and /‑wkp/ (rounded medial + velar stop cluster). These finals explain why Sino‑Vietnamese and southern Chinese dialects preserve contrasts that Mandarin has largely merged.

ii. The final /‑wŋ/:

Structure: /‑w‑/ + /‑ŋ/

Rhyme groups: 東 (tung), 鍾 (chung)

Tone: level or rising (平, 上)

Reflexes:

Sino‑Vietnamese: ‑ông, ‑ung, ‑uông

Cantonese: ‑ung

Mandarin: ‑ong

Hokkien/Min: ‑ong

Examples:

工 (koŋ) → SV công, Cantonese gung1, Mandarin gōng, Hokkien kang/khong

公 (koŋ) → SV công, Cantonese gung1, Mandarin gōng, Hokkien kong

風 (pʰuwŋ) → SV phong, Cantonese fung1, Mandarin fēng, Hokkien hong

iii. The final /‑wkp/

Structure: /‑w‑/ + /‑k/ + /‑p/ (complex stop coda)

Rhyme groups: 屋 (uk), 緝 (ip)

Tone: entering (入聲)

Reflexes:

Sino‑Vietnamese: ‑ục, ‑uốc, ‑iệp

Cantonese: ‑uk, ‑ip

Mandarin: merged into ‑u or ‑i endings (no entering tone preserved)

Hokkien/Min: ‑ok, ‑ip

Examples:

局 (gjuk) → SV cục, Cantonese guk6, Mandarin jú, Hokkien kiok/kiuk

業 (ŋjɛwkp) → SV nghiệp, Cantonese jip6, Mandarin yè, Hokkien giap

Table 7 - Dialectal final comparanda
with Pulleyblank's Early Middle Chinese (EMC)

Character EMC Final Sino‑
Vietnamese Cantonese Mandarin Hokkien
/Min

工 koŋ /‑wŋ/ công gung1 gōng kong/khong

公 koŋ /‑wŋ/ công gung1 gōng kong

風 pʰuwŋ /‑wŋ/ phong fung1 fēng hong

局 gjuk /‑wkp/ cục guk6 jú kiok/kiuk

業 ŋjɛwkp /‑wkp/ nghiệp jip6 yè giap

Notes: Pulleyblank’s recognition of /‑wŋ/ and /‑wkp/ as distinct finals provides a framework that

Explains rounded vowels in Sino‑Vietnamese and southern dialects.
Example: 工 / 公: Both reconstructed as koŋ with final /‑wŋ/, yielding SV công. Their meanings diverge: 工 ‘work, craft’ vs. 公 ‘public, official’; 風: Classic example of /‑wŋ/ → SV phong, with nasal coda preserved.

Accounts for nasal vs. stop codas and their tonal consequences (level vs. entering).
Example: 局: /‑wkp/ final explains SV cục, with entering tone preserved.

Shows cross‑linguistic consistency: Sino‑Vietnamese, Cantonese, and Hokkien preserve contrasts that Mandarin has simplified.
Example: 業: Complex medial + /‑wkp/ final → SV nghiệp, Cantonese jip6, Hokkien giap;
局: /‑wkp/ final explains SV cục and Cantonese guk6, Hokkien kio̍k / kia̍k / ke̍k

This comparative view demonstrates how Pulleyblank’s reconstructions bridge medieval phonology with modern reflexes, offering a clear map of historical sound change across the Sinitic world. (P)

A) Words of unknown origin

Understandably, unlike etymologies of virtually all words cited in the Webster dictionary for the English language, we would probably not find all the Vietnamese words cognate to those in Chinese by applying the approaches and principles discussed here. Some rules may be applied to Sino-Vietnamese as cited above, but not Sinitic Vietnamese. Many words in Vietnamese – except for those that appear to be loanwords from the Khmer language, such as "cápduồn" (ethnic lynching) or "hầmbàlằng" (mixed bag) – are questionable regarding their roots which sometimes look more dubious Chinese.

1. The layered lexicon of Vietnamese

Vietnamese vocabulary is not monolithic. It contains four distinct strata:

Sino‑Vietnamese (SV): Regular, rule‑governed borrowings from Middle Chinese.

Sinitic‑Vietnamese (VS): Irregular, dialectal, or Yue‑substratal borrowings.

Khmer loans: Clear Austroasiatic contributions.

Unknown substratum: Words with no secure Chinese or Mon‑Khmer cognates, often in plants, body parts, or colloquial speech.

2. Khmer loans (clear Austroasiatic layer)

cápduồn = ‘lynching’

hầmbàlằng = ‘mixed bag’ → These are transparent Khmer borrowings, not Chinese.

3. Dubious Chinese parallels (irregular Sinitic‑Vietnamese)

eo (‘waist’) vs. 腰 yāo (‘waist’) → plausible but irregular.

lưng (‘back’) ← 脊 jǐ (‘spine’) < 脊梁 jǐliáng (‘backbone’).

vác (‘to shoulder’) vs. 背 bèi (‘carry on back’).

vai (‘shoulder’) has no clear Chinese cognate (cf. 肩膀 jiānbǎng).

màngtang (‘temple’) vs. 太陽穴 tàiyángxué.

mỏác (‘skull top’) vs. 囟門 xìnmén.

cùichỏ (‘elbow’) vs. 胳膊肘 gēbozhǒu. → These resist both Mon‑Khmer and Chinese etymologies, suggesting a substratal layer.

4. Anatomical vocabulary of speculative origin

In effect, while words of the same contextual nature could not be found in any Austroasiatic Mon-Khmer languages, for many more etyma, we can still indeed cite an impressive list of questionable Vietnamese words of unidentified substratum of many types of tropical plants and fruits and some other non-cultural items, unidentifiable mostly being related to insects, name of fish, etc., e.g.,

nho ('grapes') [ Chinese 栲 kăo (?) < MC kʰaw < OC kʰluːʔ, Cf. Mon-Khmer Pacoh nho, wild inedible berry.]

thơm* ('pineapple') vs. 鳳梨 fènglí

ổi ('guava') vs. 安石榴 ānshíliú

soài ('mango') vs. 檨 shē

mận ('wax apple') vs. 蓮霧 liánwù

khế ('starfruit') vs. 芅 yí or 萇 cháng → No secure Mon‑Khmer or Chinese cognates; likely indigenous or Yue substratum.

However, by way of corollary, we may retain the following literary examples as a counterbalance, since many other Vietnamese words also appear in fixed idiomatic contexts and conceptual compounds where at least one syllable is plausibly cognate with Yue or Chinese forms.

For example, a striking case is the set of animal names in the zodiac as discussed in several instances: these may well be of southern Yue origin, though Chinese scholars have generally resisted such a hypothesis. Instead, their prevailing view – that Cantonese, Fukienese, and Wu dialects can be subsumed under the Sino‑Tibetan umbrella on the basis of their dominant Chinese glosses, while Vietnamese is excluded – has been widely accepted in Western linguistics, despite its shortcomings.

ngựa: 午 (SV ngọ), the seventh animal in the Chinese and Vietnamese zodiac, ‘horse’. Compare ancient Annamese bàngựa ("old horse lacking a herdsman", Đại Nam Quốc âm Thi tập by Nguyễn Trãi). This stands in contrast to Chinese 馬 mǎ (SV mã) (NNS 1993:163).

heo: 亥 (SV hợi), the twelfth zodiac animal, 'pig'. Compare vernacular lợn and the Chinese 腞 (豘) tún, dùn (SV độn).

Other zodiac animals include 'dê' 未 wèi (SV mùi, ‘goat/sheep’), and notably mèo ('cat') 茂 mào (SV mẹo) ~ 貓 māo (SV miêu). Ancient Chinese tradition replaced the cat with 兔 tù (SV thố, VS thỏ, 'rabbit'), likely for superstitious reasons. Yet Western scholarship has continued to accept the identification of 茂 mào with "rabbit".

To set these in contrast, we may also cite culturally embedded Vietnamese terms whose syllables align with Chinese elements, even if irregularly:

đànbà: 婦道 fùdào ('woman'). Here 道 dào corresponds to đàn, and 婦 fù to bà (cf. 婆 pó 'old woman').

đànông: 乾道 qiándào ('man'). 乾 qián resonates with ông (cf. 公 gōng , 'duke, lord'), while 道 dào again parallels đàn.

congái: 嬌娃 jiāowá ('girl'). 嬌 jiāo approximates con/cô, 娃 wá aligns with gái.

contrai: 仔仔 zǐzǐ ('boy', Cantonese zaai2zaai2). 仔 zǐ ('child') parallels con, trai (cf. 公子 gōngzǐ 'young master').

Other everyday expressions show similar layering of Chinese models with vernacular usage:

ăncơm 吃飯 chīfàn ('eat rice'), cf. 食飯 shífàn (xơicơm)

cơmnắm 飯糰 fàntuán ('rice ball')

ănmày 要飯 yàofàn ('beggar')

bữa 飯 fàn (‘meal’), extended to ban/buổi (‘time period’), yielding compounds such as:

bantrưa 白晝 báizhòu ('noon')

banngày 白日 báirì ('daytime')

banhôm 傍晚 bàngwǎn ('dusk')

banđêm 晚上 wǎnshàng ('night')

bankhuya 半夜 bànyè ('midnight')

mồhôi 冒汗 màohàn ('sweat').

buồngngủ 臥房 wòfáng ('bedroom'), where 臥 wò (SV ngoạ) is reinterpreted as ‘'ngủ'.

hôicủa 盜劫 dàojié ('rob, loot'), alongside VS trộmcắp, trộmcướp.

B) Questionable words of Chinese origin

Beyond the obvious loanwords from Chinese – those whose phonology and semantics clearly align – there remains a long list of Vietnamese words that appear suggestive of Chinese origin but whose status is uncertain. Many of these items, while resembling Chinese forms, may also be connected to Mon‑Khmer, or even to other regional sources such as Malay or Thai. This makes their classification as Chinese cognates problematic. (For detailed etymological discussion, see earlier chapters.)

i. Numerals

một, hai, ba, bốn, năm As previously noted, the numerals one through five may derive from Mon‑Khmer. However, Khmer lacks designated forms for six through ten, leaving the higher numerals in Vietnamese more difficult to trace.

ii. Celestial terms

"blời" 日 rì → VS trời (‘sun’) The cluster /bl‑/ corresponds to /tr‑/. Such clusters, along with other /‑l‑/ glides, appear in texts from the 15th–17th centuries, possibly reflecting Mường dialectal influence. Missionary activity in these regions during the Nguyễn dynasty may have preserved such forms. Phonologically, giời and ngày also align well with rì.

"blăng" 月 yuè → VS trăng (‘moon’) Related alternants include giăng and tháng. These may have developed as variants of mặttrời (太陽 tàiyáng) and mặttrăng (月亮 yuèliàng), where /b‑/ assimilated to /m‑/ and vocalized as mặt. The element mặt itself may be of Chamic origin. Otherwise, forms like giời (日) and giăng (月) do not fit neatly into a sound‑change scheme, since /gi‑/ would have to correspond simultaneously to both r‑ and y‑. This suggests an older stratum of initials (nh‑, j‑, jh‑, ng‑), as reflected in SV nhật (日) and nguyệt (月).

iii. Other questionable items

These examples illustrate the complexity of Vietnamese etymology, where Chinese parallels exist but are not definitive:

ăn 唵 ǎn ('to eat') [MC ʔəm < OC qoːmʔ ].

tóc 髮 fā → SV phát ('hair') [note irregular /f‑ ~ t‑/ ].

tai 耷 dā, 耼 dān, 耽 dān ('ear' variants in Chinese); cf. VS lỗtai ('ear'), possibly from disyllabic change: 耳 ěr → lỗ + 朵 duō → tai.

trai 丁 dīng → SV đinh ('man'), perhaps linked to trống or 公 gōng.

gái 娃 wá ('woman'), possibly related to 母 mǔ ('mother'). In Archaic Chinese, 子 zǐ could mean both ‘boy’ and ‘girl’.

voi 為 wēi ('elephant' in archaic usage); cf. 豫 yú also glossed as 'elephant' in VS.

lúa 來 lái ('millets' in archaic usage; modern 'come'). May parallel 稻 dào (SV đạo, 'rice').

không ('no, not') vs. 空 kōng ('empty, nothing'). Despite the semantic overlap, không is unlikely to derive directly from 空. Historically, không is a late development from chẳng. Prior to the 16th century, không was not used as the antonym of có ('to have'); only chẳng served this role. Expressions such as 並非 bìngfēi ('it is not') or 並不(是) bìngbú(shì) may have influenced the contraction into chẳngphải, which later yielded không.

Summary – This set of examples demonstrates the ambiguous zone of Vietnamese etymology: words that resemble Chinese forms but also show ties to Mon‑Khmer or other regional languages. Their irregular phonological correspondences, semantic shifts, and late attestations make them questionable as direct Chinese loans. They represent a fertile area for future research, where substratal influence, dialectal variation, and contact with multiple language families must all be considered.

Conclusion

This chapter demonstrates that the history of Vietnamese vocabulary is best understood through the lens of sound change. Regular Sino‑Vietnamese loans follow predictable phonological correspondences, while irregular Sinitic‑Vietnamese borrowings reveal the effects of imperfect transmission, dialectal variation, and substratal influence. Alongside these, Khmer and Austroasiatic contributions, as well as a substratum of uncertain or indigenous words, complete the picture. By tracing systematic shifts in initials, finals, and tones, and by applying analogical and corollary methods, we see how these layers of sound change interact to form the Vietnamese lexicon we know today. Recognizing this dynamic process helps readers appreciate both the richness and the complexity of Vietnamese lexical history.

x X x

ENDNOTES

(Y)^ Watch "Zhao Tuo" and "Triệu Đà" on Youtu.be.

(A)^ This event was told in the Vietnamese folktale Lạclongquân 雒龍君 ("King Lac of Dragonic Descent"); it is about the origin of the Vietnamese people.

(H)^ See Bo Yang for China's history, Wang Li for OC and vernacular Vietnamese, Kargren for pioneering in reconstruction of OC historical phonology, Li Fang-Kuei for OC reconstruction, Pulleyblank for phonology of Early Mandarin, Schuessler for Qin-Han phonology reconstruction, Kangxi Zidian 康熙字典 for vernacular variants of many uncommon Chinese characters which are cognate to many Vietnamese words.

(C)^ To understand how that could possibly be, as previously discussed, compare the similar models the have made up the people and their language around the world after their countries had been colonialized for hundreds of years, such as Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Uyghur, Taiwan, Hainan, Guangdong, Hong Kong, Guam, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, South Africa, Morocco, Hawaii, North and South America, Cuba, Haiti, etc.

(V)^ If Vietnam had still remained as a colony of China like Guangdong, Fujian, and even Zhejiang, Jiangsu provinces, the 'Viet dialect" would have been certainly classed as of Sino-Tibetan linguistic family like all of the above for sure. If it were so, for the needs of bartering, selling, or trading, the Annamese speakers would have pretty well adapted the Chinese numbers if they had not already done so. Form this rationalization, we could see that cognacy in numerals is not a big deal as previously discussed, that is, to use them to determine the linguistic affiliation of two or more language in the same sub-family.

(林)^ a) rừng, rậm 林 lín ‘forest’ (SV lâm) [ M 林 lín < MC lim < OC *rjəm < PC **rjəɱ ~ OC srjəm (~ 森 (sâm) rậm) | Tibetan languages: Burmese rum 'rậm', Kachin diŋgram2 'rừng', Lushei ram 'rừng' | Cant. /lʌm2/ | ¶ /l- ~ r-/, ex. 龍 lóng (SV long) VS rồng ],

b) lấn* 侵 qīn (SV xâm) [ M 侵 qīn < MC chjim < OC shim | ¶ /q- ~ l- /],

c) đông* 東 dōng 'the east' (SV đông) [ According to Starostin, 東 dōng < MC tuŋ < OC toŋ | FQ 德紅 ]

(6)^ That “six‑strike rule” isn’t something you’ll find in the standard literature on Sino‑Vietnamese or Chinese historical phonology. It’s not a formal principle proposed by Karlgren, Pulleyblank, Baxter, Sagart, or other major figures in the field. What the author did in his earlier writing was take your own phrasing, where you described that if more than six consistent correspondences are observed, they should be treated as a rule rather than irregularity. In other words, the “six‑strike rule” is heuristic, not a published framework.

In historical linguistics more broadly, scholars do use similar reasoning: once a sound correspondence is attested in multiple independent examples, it is treated as systematic rather than accidental. But the specific threshold of "six" is not canonical; it’s a rhetorical way of saying "once we have enough examples, we can posit a rule." That idea can be formulated into more standard historical‑linguistic terminology (e.g., "once a correspondence is attested across multiple lexical items, it should be treated as a regular sound change rather than irregular coincidence"), so keep your memorable "six‑strike" phrasing as a pedagogical device.

(P)^ Pulleyblank, E.G. 1962. The Consonantal System of Old Chinese, Part II,* AM 9
Pulleyblank, E.G. 1984. Middle Chinese: A Study in Historical Phonology. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
Pulleyblank, E.G. 1991. Lexicon of Reconstructed Pronunciation In Early Middle Chinese, Late Chinese, and Early Mandarin. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.

Northern Vietnamese dialect vs. Chinese root	Southern Vietnamese dialect vs. Chinese root	Meaning
cút 滾 gǔn	đi 去 qù	get out of here
vuốt 捋 lǚ	rờ 摸 mò	stroke
vồ 捕 pǔ	chụp 捉 zhuō	grasp
hoa 花 huā	bông 葩 bā	flower
ngô 玉米 yùmǐ	bắp 苞 bāo	corn
mê 迷 mí	ưa 愛 ài	feel attracted to
hãi 駭 hài	sợ 懼 jù	scared
rọ 籮 luó	giỏ 籮 luó [ cf. 'răng' (tooth) ~> Southwestern Vietnamese sub-dialect 'giăng' ]	basket
gầy 瘦 shòu (Vietnamese Central sub-dialect 'sỏ') ]	ốm 奀 ēn	skinny
ốm 屙 é (Cant.)	bệnh 病 bìng (V Central sub-dialect 痛 tòng ('đau')	sick
lọ 罍 léi	chai 樽 zūn	bottle
thai 胎 tāi	bầu 胞 bāo	pregnancy
quên 忘 wàng	lẫn 忘 wàng (possibly from 聾 lóng, VS 'lãng')	forget
cầy 狗 gǒu	chó 犬 quán	dog
lợn 腞 dùn	heo 亥 hài	pig
mắng 罵 mà	chửi 咒 zhòu	scold
nôn 涒 tūn	ói 嘔 ǒu	vomit
vua 王 wáng	chúa 主 zhǔ	king
môigiới 媒介 méijiè	giớithiệu 介紹 jièshào	middleman
phà 筏 fá	bắc 泊 bó	ferry
sướngphê 爽快 chuăngkuài	quáđã 過癮 guòyǐn	fully satisfied
ngậy 膩 nì	béo 油 yóu	greasy
béo 胖 pàng (bàn)	mập 肥 féi	fat
chăn 衿 jīn	mền 綿 mián	blanket
phủphê 飽飽 băobao	no 饒 ráo	satiate
cực 極 jí	ghê 極 jí	very
xinh 亮 liàng	đẹp 婕 jié	beautiful
quan 棺 guān	hòm 棺 guān	coffin
họng 喉 hóu	cổ 喉 hóu	throat
xơi 食 shí [ Cant. /shik8/ ]	ăn 唵 ān [ cf. 吃 chī: SV 'ngật, phonetic 乙 yí 'ất' ]	eat
lạc 落 luò	đậu 豆 dòu	earthnut
giỡn 玩 wán	xạo 嘐 xiāo	joke
bổ 剖 pǒu	xẻ 切 qiè	chop
...	...	...

Character	EMC	Final	Sino‑ Vietnamese	Cantonese	Mandarin	Hokkien /Min
工	koŋ	/‑wŋ/	công	gung1	gōng	kong/khong
公	koŋ	/‑wŋ/	công	gung1	gōng	kong
風	pʰuwŋ	/‑wŋ/	phong	fung1	fēng	hong
局	gjuk	/‑wkp/	cục	guk6	jú	kiok/kiuk
業	ŋjɛwkp	/‑wkp/	nghiệp	jip6	yè	giap

Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Chapter 12 – How Sound Changes Have Come About

Executive Summary

I) In search of sound change patterns

Table 1 - Comparative grid of selected Vietnamese forms of Chinese origin

Table 2 - Comparative grid* of selected cuộc/việc expression forms

Table 3 - Comparative grid** of selected lexical doublets

E) Corpus segment: Middle Chinese → Sino‑Vietnamese

Table 4 - Labiovelar finals and Vietnamese reflexes

*Notes:

Table 5: A case study of Sinitic-Vietnamese neologism formed with Chinese lexemes

II) An analogy of Vietnamese etymology

a. MC Initials > SV Initials

b. MC Initials > VS initials

III) A synopsis of phonological sound changes from Chinese to Vietnamese

A) Sound change patterns and illustrative lexicon

(1) Sound changes in neighboring pronouncing positions

(2) Pattern { ¶ l‑ ~ S‑ }

(3) Pattern { ¶ S‑ ~ r‑ }

(4) Pattern { ¶ S‑ ~ T‑ } (same as d, th, tr, ch)

(5) Pattern { ¶ l‑ ~ r‑ }

(6) Pattern { ¶ p‑ (b‑) ~ t‑ (d‑) }

B) Additional examples of chained sound changes

(3) Analogical sound changes

IV) Localization and innovation or "Vietnamized"

V) A corollary approach

(i) Initial interchanges { y‑ ~ ng‑, r‑ }

(ii) Final interchanges { ‑a(e), ‑Ø ~ ‑an, ‑ang }

Compound evidence: The relationship between 牙 yá (SV nha) for both ngà 'ivory' and răng 'tooth' may also involve 齖 yá 'tooth' or 齡 líng (SV linh 'instar'). This distinction is fossilized in disyllabic compounds:

Table 6. Tonal sound change rules show a systematic division

Table 7 - Dialectal final comparandawith Pulleyblank's Early Middle Chinese (EMC)

A) Words of unknown origin

B) Questionable words of Chinese origin

Conclusion

ENDNOTES

Table 7 - Dialectal final comparanda
with Pulleyblank's Early Middle Chinese (EMC)