Friday, November 7, 2025

Sinitic-Vietnamese Linguistic Evolution across Dynasties

Historical Vietnamese

by dchph


Sinitic components entered Vietnamese during the Han colonial era (206 B.C.-24 A.D.) and were later enriched by Tang influence. These strata evolved into functional registers, literary forms, and vernacular usage, culminating in ChữNôm and, eventually, Quốcngữ, the Romanized national script. Middle Chinese tonal systems also shaped Vietnamese phonology, underscoring Vietnam’s position as a Yue‑descended yet deeply Sinicized language.

This article investigates Sinitic-Vietnamese terminology whose etyma are traceable to Old Chinese, a historical branch of the Sino-Tibetan family. It also explores foundational Vietnamese cognates attested across Sino-Tibetan languages that appear to descend from the ancient Taic-Yue linguistic complex, a substrate flourishing in southern China long before the rise of Chinese civilization.

I) Historical perspective

Sinitic-Vietnamese development proceeded through successive dynasties:

  • Han period: Initial Old Chinese loans, particularly in governance, military, and agriculture.

  • Tang period: Enrichment from high‑register Middle Chinese, reinforcing tonal and phonological complexity.

  • Post‑Tang independence: ChữNho retained as the prestige written medium; chữNôm created for vernacular literature.

  • Colonial to modern: Romanized Quốcngữ script codified all registers, that is, literary Sino-Vietnamese, vernacular Sinitic Vietnamese, and indigenous vocabulary, into a unified orthography.

To situate this argument within a broader timeline, both prehistoric and historical contexts in China and Vietnam must be considered, a dimension often overlooked by the Austroasiatic theory. A review of Yue entities reveals that modern Vietnamese emerged as a late product. Moving beyond a strictly Mon‑Khmer framework uncovers fundamental Vietnamese words with Sino‑Tibetan etymologies, reviving the Sino‑Tibetan hypothesis first proposed in the late 19th century but still awaiting full recognition in the 21st.

First, let us establish a picture of the prehistoric era, approximately 5000 years BP, when indigenous Yue (Taic or proto‑Yue) communities inhabited southern China, long before itinerant proto‑Tibetan nomads arrived. Later proto‑Chinese resettlers, formidable horse‑mounted warriors , colonized and subjugated vassal states across fertile lands. Successive dynasties, including Xia (夏), Yin (殷, SV Ân), Shang (商), and Zhou (周), consolidated control over states such as Qin (秦, SV Tần), Chu (楚), Yue (越), Wu (吳), Yan (燕), and Qi (齊). By 221 B.C., Qin had subdued its rivals, forging the first unified Middle Kingdom, later known as China. The very term China derives from variants of Qin.  (1)


Table 1 - Timeline of historical linguistic contact

Dynasty Territory impact Linguistic layer
Zhou (1045-256 B.C.) Indigenous Yue states Pre‑Sinitic substrate
Qin (221-207 B.C.) Unified Warring States; Yue subjugation Early Old Chinese loans
Han (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) Consolidation south Governance, agriculture terms
Tang (618-907 A.D.) High‑register influence Tonal/phonological enrichment
Post‑Tang Independence Chữ Nho, Chữ Nôm
Colonial–Modern Quốc ngữ codification Unified orthography


The brief Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.) was succeeded by the Han, founded by Liu Bang (劉邦, Han Gaozu), who triumphed over the resurgent Chu in 206 B.C. Meanwhile, in the south, Triệu Đà (趙佗, Zhào Tuó), a former Qin general and viceroy, consolidated Yue colonies into the NamViet Kingdom (南越王國, NamViệt Vươngquốc) in 204 B.C., a polity that endured for 93 years (see Keith Weller Taylor, The Birth of Vietnam [1983], as cited by Bùi Khánh‑Thế in APPENDIX I)


Map of the Qin State
Boundary of the Qin Dynasty at its greatest extent, ca. 206 B.C.

The origins of Vietnamese statehood trace back to 111 B.C., when the Han Dynasty annexed the NamViet Kingdom (南越, NamViệt Vươngquốc). The territory was later designated Annam (安南 都護府, SV Annam Đôhộphủ) under Tang administration, literally the "Protectorate of the Pacified South". For nearly a millennium, successive Chinese dynasties governed the region until the collapse of the Tang in 906 A.D. fractured the empire into nine independent states. Amid this fragmentation, the people of Annam broke free from the disintegrating NamHan Empire (南漢 帝國) and established an independent polity in 939 A.D. (Bo Yang, Sima Guang Zizhi Tongjian, Vol. 69, p. 209, 1993).

Following independence, the former Annam territory was renamed ĐạiViệt (大越) in 1054 and later Việtnam (越南) in 1804. Vietnam stands apart as the sole state founded by descendants of the proto‑Yue peoples, ancestral to later Sinicized Yue populations across southern China. By contrast, other Yue groups – Cantonese in Guangdong, Wu in Jiangsu, Min Nan in Fujian, Zhuang in Guangxi, Gan in Jiangxi, and diverse communities in Yunnan and Guizhou – were gradually absorbed into the Chinese imperial structure.

The ancestral subjects of Nam Việt who settled in Annam endured over a millennium of Chinese domination and successive invasions. Despite repeated subjugation by Chinese monarchs and later by leaders of a rising empire, from Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping to Jiang Zemin and Xi Jinping, Vietnam retained sovereignty. This history underscores the enduring impact of Chinese political dynamics on territories south of the border.

While the Middle Kingdom often suppressed internal uprisings, it repeatedly succumbed to foreign invaders. The Jurchens (女真), Mongols, and Manchurians each established ruling dynasties in China: the Liao (寮), Jin (金), Yuan (元), and Qing (青). These cycles reinforced the outside world’s recognition of the region under one common name: China.

II) Sinicization and linguistic transformation

Changes in dynasties within the Middle Kingdom have led the outside world to recognize the region under one common name, China. In discussions of "Sinicization," the transformative power of Chinese heritage and culture is inescapable, as it has long absorbed foreign elements and made them integral to its identity. For example, the official court language, Mandarin (官話), was adopted by various regimes of northern origin, including the Liao, Jin, Yuan, and Qing dynasties, all of which were led by Tartar or Turkish-derived elites. Linguistically, Mandarin absorbed numerous foreign influences: its original eight-tone system was reduced to four tones under the impact of non-tonal Altaic languages, and final consonants such as /-p/, /-t/, and /-k/ disappeared, changes that departed markedly from its ancestral Middle Chinese characteristics. Despite these shifts, Mandarin evolved into Putonghua, today's national language of China, reflecting its adoption and adaptation by predominantly northern rulers.

After Qin unification, Sinitic elements circulated back into major Yue lects – Wu, Min (Hokkien/Fukienese), Cantonese, and Vietnamese – layering over older Yue foundations and producing highly Sinicized speeches. This cyclical traffic explains Vietnamese cognates aligned with Sino‑Tibetan etyma. Like other Yue lects, ancient Vietic shaped the Sinitic subfamily until Annamese diverged following independence in the 10th century. (cf. Comparative Sino-Tibetan Etymologies.) 

Over centuries, Yue roots embedded in Old and Ancient Chinese resurfaced across Sinitic languages in repackaged forms. Tonal systems (three to ten tones) remain broadly comparable, with subtle regional articulation. Lexical doublets illustrate shared ancestry:

  • Vietnamese gạo ↔ Chinese dào 稻 (‘rice’)

  • Parallel correspondences for elephant, whale, fox, rhinoceros

 (See APPENDIX G: Tsu-lin Mei, The case of "ngà").

A well‑known example is the set of twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac. Most were borrowed and repurposed across southern Chinese minority languages. The sole exception is the hare 兔 (tù, SV thố, VS thỏ), an auspicious figure in both Chinese and Altaic traditions, rendered in Vietnamese as thỏ. The other eleven zodiac animal names in modern Vietnamese trace back to shared indigenous sources, with cognates attested among diverse ethnolinguistic groups of the China South.

III) Development of written Vietnamese

Historical sources record that lexical material from aboriginal Yue and proto‑Chinese merged into a diplomatic koine known as Yǎyǔ (雅語, "elegant speech"), employed among pre‑imperial polities. Early annals suggest this lingua franca originated in Taic, the speech of Chu State (楚國) subjects during the Spring and Autumn Period (771-403 B.C.). From this base, Taic developed into the modern Daic–Kadai languages spoken today by the Dai, Thai, and related peoples such as Laotians and the Tày of Vietnam. Yue, as a descendant subbranch of Taic, constitutes a primary substrate in the ancestral Vietnamese lexicon.

An early stage of Vietnamese, historically termed ancient Annamese, began to take shape with the introduction of Old Chinese elements during the Western Han (206 B.C.-24 A.D.), brought into Annamese territories under Han colonial administration. These influences continued to evolve across subsequent dynasties. By the time Annam achieved sovereignty in 939 A.D., Chinese characters known locally as chữ Nho (儒字), or Classical Chinese (文言文 wényánwén), remained the official medium of administration and scholarship. The Vietnamese language in the form recognized today did not fully crystallize until the 12th century (Nguyễn Ngọc San, 1993, p. 5).

From the 15th century onward, vernacular literary works began to appear in chữ Nôm (𡨸喃) (3), a modified script derived from Chinese characters, marking a decisive step in the development of a distinct Vietnamese written tradition. In the 18th century, confronted with the complexity of these Vietnamized character systems, Western missionaries devised a Romanized orthography for Vietnamese. This Latin‑based script gained wide currency in the early 20th century owing to its relative simplicity, though it was not officially adopted until 1945. By then, the national script known as Quốcngữ had already received active promotion by the French colonial government as a means of reducing Chinese cultural influence in Annam.

In practice, the new Romanized script served primarily as a transcriptional medium for both Vietnamese and Hán–chữ Nôm ("pure Vietnamese") vocabulary. It encompassed the full spectrum of Sinitic‑Vietnamese and Sino‑Vietnamese lexicons, integrating them seamlessly into Romanized orthography. By contrast, French borrowings contributed fewer than one thousand items, most of them low‑frequency, to the modern language.(APPENDIX A Polysyllabic Vietnamized English and French words)

In an article published in Tập san Khoa học, Trường Đại học Khoa học Xã hội & Nhân văn, National University of Hồ Chí Minh City, issue 38 (2007, pp. 3-10), Prof. Bùi Khánh‑Thế examines the interaction and interchange of Chinese in Vietnam's linguistic history. Citing his own mentors, including Nguyễn Tài Cẩn (1998), he condenses key points in the summary table reproduced below.

Table 2 - Division of Historical Periods in the Development of the Vietnamese language

A Proto-Vietnamese 2 languages in use: Ancient Chinese (a vernacular Mandarin spoken by the ruling class) and Vietnamese;
1 Chinese writing script 		the 8th and 9th centuries
B Archaic Vietnamese 2 languages in use: Ancient Chinese and Archaic Vietnamese (spoken by the ruling class);
1 Chinese writing script 		the 10th, 11th, and 12th centuries
C Ancient Vietnamese 2 languages in use: Ancient Vietnamese and Classical Chinese;
2 Chinese and Chinese-based Nôm scripts 		the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries
D Middle Vietnamese 2 languages in use: Middle Vietnamese and Classical Written Chinese;
3 Chinese writing scripts: Chinese and Nôm scripts, and National Romanized Quốcngữ writing system 		the 17th, 18th, and the first 1/2 of the 19th centuries
E Early contemporary Vietnamese 3 languages in use: French, Vietnamese and Classical Written Chinese;
4 writing scripts: French, Chinese, Nôm, National Romanized Quốcngữ writing systems 		during the rule of the French colonial government
F Modern Vietnamese 1 language in use: Vietnamese;
1 National Romanized Quốcngữ writing system 		From 1945 until present

Based on the formation of the Hán-Việt pronunciation of the Middle Chinese, Annam Dịchngữ (安南譯語 'Translated Annamese Words') and the Annamese-Latin-Portugese Dictionary by Alexandre de Rhode (1651), H. Maspero devised similar division of 5 development periods:

A) Proto-Việt (prior to the 9th century)
B) Archaic Vietnamese: the 10th century (formation of the Hán-Việt)
C) Ancient Vietnamese: the 15th century (Annam Dịchngữ)
D) Middle Vietnamese: the 17th century (Dictionary by A. de Rhôde 1651)
E) Contemporary Vietnamese (19th century)

Source: Table 1 by Nguyễn Tài Cẩn (1998, p. 8) quoted by Bùi Khánh-Thế. (See Appendix I)

This work advances the thesis that core Chinese and Vietnamese vocabulary shares Yue etyma, called "Việt" (越, Yuè) in Vietnamese and "Jyut6" (粵, Yuè) in Cantonese, layered atop a Sino-Tibetan stratum. The classical literary language of later periods incorporated many native items cataloged under Yǎyǔ (雅語) (De Lacouperie 1887). That diplomatic koine provided a matrix from which Old Chinese, Ancient Chinese, and Middle Chinese took shape.

Table 3 - HISTORY IN A NUTSHELL

Archaeological evidence and historical records show that the region of modern southern China, located below the Yangtze River (揚子江), was originally home to the ancient Yue aborigines. During the Zhou Dynasty (1045 B.C.–256 B.C.), and especially toward the end of the late Eastern Zhou period (culminating in 221 B.C.), these indigenous peoples formed the bulk of the population in the seven states that would later fall to the Qin Dynasty. The Qin, emerging as the strongest state, unified these territories under the banner of the Middle Kingdom (中國).

After their conquest, the Taic-Yue natives were incorporated first into the Qin Empire (秦朝, 221 B.C.-207 B.C.) and subsequently into the Han dynasties. Over time, many of these peoples came to identify as "Han" (漢人), a name derived from the Han Dynasty (漢朝) founded by Liu Bang (劉邦), who himself had once been a subject of Chu (楚國人). Successive Han rulers continued to displace the independent Yue groups in southern China, driving them further south.

In the land later known as Annam, ruled for a significant period by the Han, the distinction between the original Yue and the later Han immigrants gradually diminished. Waves of Chinese settlers fleeing the recurring dynastic upheavals in northern China blended with the indigenous inhabitants, effectively erasing clear-cut ethnic boundaries. 

This historical layering survives today in Vietnam, the sole state emerging from the ruins of ancient cultures such as  Chu 楚 (Sở), Shu (蜀 Thục), Yue (粵 Việt), NanYue (南越 NamViệt), Dali (大理 Đạilý), and Nanzhao (南詔 Namchiếu). The Vietnamese (the people of Việtnam) represent the enduring legacy of the Southern Yue. Ironically, the same expansionist processes that once characterized Chinese history were mirrored later by the Vietnamese. After achieving sovereignty, Vietnam expanded its territory further south, culminating in the downfall of the Kingdom of Champa and the annexation of parts of the eastern flank of the old Khmer Empire.


IV) Historiography and linguistics

The historical paths of Vietnam and China remained deeply interwoven until Annam secured independence from Chinese rule. Vietnam’s own written historiography did not cohere until well after the 10th century; earlier accounts relied chiefly on Chinese chronicles, often without corroboration from alternative sources. The same principle applies in linguistics: any comprehensive treatment of Vietnamese or Chinese is incomplete without the other, particularly in discussions of Old Chinese, Sinitic‑Vietnamese etyma, and shared structural features (see Wang Li, 1957).

For more than two centuries prior to 939 A.D., ancient Vietnam functioned as a Chinese prefecture known as the Annam Protectorate (679–860, 863-906). This condition explains the extensive presence of Middle Chinese loanwords in Vietnamese. The final phase of influence, following the collapse of the Nam Hán State during the post‑Tang period, proved especially consequential: elite court vocabulary spread into broader usage, much like Latin and Greek terms in English, and reinforced a Middle Chinese substratum within Vietnamese. This substratum contributed to Vietnamese’s resemblance to Cantonese, particularly through retention of the full eight‑tone system, including the eighth tone, thanh nhập 入聲 (Rusheng, "Entering Tone").

Contrary to common belief, Vietnamese aligns more closely with Mandarin—a court language—in its colloquial uptake of northern vernacular elements than with Cantonese, which reflects a Tang-era literary register. Among Vietnamese's distinguishing phonological traits are finals such as /‑owŋ/, which contribute to its unique acoustic profile and tonal architecture. The scope and transmission routes of Mandarin influence will be addressed in detail in subsequent chapters.

Both literary and colloquial forms derived from Tang‑period speech were thoroughly integrated into Annamese (a term used here to avoid the retrospective label "Vietnamese", paralleling the terminological ambiguity surrounding "Chinese") (2). These forms circulated broadly across social domains, reaching not only the literati but also the wider populace. Their widespread adoption helps explain why Vietnamese speech often carries Mandarin‑like expression and cadence.

This historical reality also accounts for the persistence of systematic Hán‑Việt (Sino‑Vietnamese) variants and the enduring Middle Chinese lexical substratum long after Vietnam achieved political independence in the 10th century. Phonological, lexical, and syntactic elements drawn from these layers shaped Ancient Vietnamese, became foundational to Middle Vietnamese, and remain integral to the modern language.

Their presence further clarifies why Vietnamese, despite its Yue‑Taic substrate, retains structural affinities with Cantonese, particularly in tone contour and compound formation. (4)

Timeline of Annamese statehood and linguistic layers

Period / Dynasty Political status Linguistic impact
679–860, 863–906 (Tang) Annam Protectorate (安南 都護府) Extensive Middle Chinese loans; administrative koine
Post‑Tang (906–939) Collapse of NamHan (南漢帝國) Elite court vocabulary disseminated; reinforced Middle Chinese substratum
939 A.D. Independence under Ngô Quyền Retention of full eight‑tone system incl. thanhnhập 入聲 (Rusheng, “Entering Tone”)
10th–12th centuries Early sovereignty Tang‑period literary + colloquial forms integrated into Annamese
1054 Renamed to ĐạiViệt (大越) Consolidation of Sino‑Vietnamese lexicon; chữNho as prestige medium
15th century onward Vernacular literary tradition Emergence of chữNôm (𡨸喃) for native expression
Colonial–Modern era Quốc ngữ codification Unified orthography; <1,000 French borrowings

Sinitic influence is not the whole story, though. Older Yue elements lie beneath the heavy Sinitic overlay, and many indigenous Taic-Yue words have been misidentified as Chinese, a pattern mirrored in Vietnam, where such items are paradoxically labeled 'thuầnViệt' or 'pure Vietnamese'. Vietnamese thus preserves Yue-descended survivals whose archaic features are realized in distinctively Vietnamese ways; Chinese-layered variants can act, in effect, as tonal modulators for toneless items in several other Sino-Tibetan languages. While Yue-origin words were often masked as Chinese, Taic-Yue terms that moved into Sinitic languages were simultaneously preserved within the ancient proto-Vietic layer. Across these eras, Sinitic-Vietnamese interacted with Yue and Taic speech habits, producing unique word order patterns (e.g., [ noun+modifier ] model as in "gàcồ" vs. Mandarin 公雞 gōngjī).

This distinction underpins the claim that the 'Yue' people predates the arrival of early Sino-Tibetan speakers, the forebears of the Chinese, in China South. Fundamental cognates shared among Taic-Yue, Chinese, and Vietnamese etyma across many Sino-Tibetan etymologies will be treated in Chapter 10. 

From an anthropological perspective, the Taic peoples preceded the Yue, followed by the Dai, who at one point held dominion over the Chu State. Within this Chu cultural sphere, Liu Bang rose as a subject of Chu and ultimately founded the Han Dynasty. His ascent is linked to his appointment as viceroy of the Hanzhong region, situated in present-day southern Shaanxi, where Chu forces had earlier triumphed over the Qin.

V) Classical Chinese in Vietnamese letters

Technically, Sino-Vietnamese and Sinitic-Vietnamese are distinct lexical classes; the latter comprises multiple layers of doublets superimposed on the former, driven by vernacular Mandarin forms that spread from at least the Han in the 2nd century B.C. through the Ming in the 15th century.

The persistence of fixed expressions in Vietnamese that parallel those in modern Mandarin suggests that Early Mandarin may have functioned as a concurrent spoken medium among mandarins for official purposes. As noted in Prof. Nguyễn Tài Cẩn’s analysis (Table 4), such usage likely encompassed imperial decrees, legal documentation, and reports submitted to the Tang imperial court in Chang’an (長安, SV Tràngan), now Xi’an (西安市) (5)

As a protectorate under the Tang Dynasty, old Annam contributed to the imperial court through administrative internship, scholarship, and artisanship. These channels introduced higher‑register Middle Chinese vocabulary, forms that also circulated in Cantonese, into Annamese during the Tang period (618-906).

From the Tang era until its gradual decline in the late 19th century, Classical Chinese style (文言文) was extensively employed in Vietnamese writing. Its dense, allusive register shaped both Tang‑style verse and Vietnamese literary prose, until the advent of Romanized Quốcngữ, which ushered in a shift toward a more colloquial written style (Nguyễn Thị Chân‑Quỳnh, 1995).

As ancient Vietnamese transitioned into late Middle Vietnamese, new function words emerged as essential tools for sentence construction. By the early 20th century, these innovations increasingly mirrored French syntactic patterns. Lexically, a stratum of Sino‑Vietnamese items, likely rooted in Tang‑era vernacular, was retained in a markedly Sinitic register, comparable to spoken Cantonese. By the 16th century, numerous Middle Chinese lexemes had evolved into Sinitic‑Vietnamese function words (虛辭), indispensable in Vietnamese vocabulary. These served grammatical roles analogous to English particles and prepositions such as of, although, not, in, at, from, hence, albeit, and others.

These elements became syntactically necessary for managing non‑inflectional grammar in both Vietnamese and Chinese, facilitating cohesion without morphological variation (cf. Nguyễn Ngọc San, 1993, pp. 138-142). More broadly, they belong to a set of Chinese‑origin vocabulary systematically localized through pronunciation rooted in varieties of Middle Chinese, plausibly linked to an ancient Shaanxi dialect.

Through successive periods of contact, Han and Tang lexicons introduced new vocabulary into the Sinitic‑Vietnamese layer. This pattern parallels the influence of Middle Chinese on Cantonese, just as Qin‑Han Old Chinese earlier shaped Southern Min (NanMin) varieties such as Hokkien, Amoy (Xiamen or Hạmôn), Hainanese, and Chaozhou (Teochew).

From a typological standpoint, when southern Chinese lects are strongly marked by Sinitic features within the Sino‑Tibetan family, classification is determined by dominant attributes. The situation parallels other hybrid outcomes  (6):

  • Latin‑influenced French vs. Anglo‑Saxon‑dominant English
  • Australian English vs. Indian English
  • Bulgarian and Afrikaans in relation to Dutch
  • Latin‑French vs. Gaulish
  • Haitian French vs. Moroccan French


Table 4 - The Case Of Afrikaans

Afrikaans, also known as Cape Dutch, is one of the eleven official languages of South Africa. It originated in the 17th century from the Zuid-Holland (South Holland) dialect used by Dutch settlers in South Africa during this period. The language was spoken by Dutch, French, German settlers, as well as by their enslaved people. From the 18th century onward, Afrikaans gradually developed distinct linguistic features.

Afrikaans borrowed vocabulary from English, German, and French, reflecting the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of European settlers in South Africa. It also incorporated words from indigenous African languages. Its grammar underwent simplification, such as the omission of verb endings that indicate tense. Phonetically, changes included simplifying the Dutch "sch" sound to "sk" (e.g., the Dutch word "schoen" became "skoen," meaning "shoe").

Until the mid-19th century, Afrikaans was primarily a spoken language, with Standard Dutch being used for writing. Later, a movement emerged to promote Afrikaans as a literary language. The language gradually found its way into journalism, schools, and churches. In 1925, Afrikaans officially replaced Standard Dutch.

Today, Afrikaans is predominantly used in South Africa and Namibia, with lesser usage in Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Estimates from 2020 suggest that the number of Afrikaans speakers ranges between 15 and 23 million. Most linguists classify Afrikaans as a creole language.

It is estimated that approximately 90%-95% of Afrikaans vocabulary originates from Dutch, with additional words borrowed from other languages, including German and South Africa's Khoisan languages. Distinctions from Dutch include more analytic morphology and grammar, as well as certain phonetic differences. The written forms of Afrikaans and Dutch maintain a high degree of mutual intelligibility. In May 2022, Afrikaans was officially recognized as an indigenous language of South Africa.


Conclusion

The history of Vietnamese language and statehood cannot be disentangled from the long arc of Chinese influence. From the Han annexation of Nam Việt in 111 B.C. through the Tang‑era Annam Protectorate, Vietnam absorbed successive layers of Old and Middle Chinese vocabulary, tonal systems, and literary registers. These strata – whether in Hán‑Việt pronunciation, chữNho scholarship, or chữNôm vernacular creativity – formed the scaffolding upon which modern Vietnamese rests.

Yet beneath this heavy Sinitic overlay lies the deeper Yue‑Taic substrate, a foundation that predates Chinese expansion and continues to surface in cognates, tonal contours, and structural affinities across southern lects. Vietnamese thus embodies a dual inheritance: Yue survivals localized in distinctive ways, and Sinitic elements repackaged through centuries of contact.

The emergence of Quốcngữ in the modern era consolidated these layers into a unified orthography, while French borrowings remained marginal. In typological perspective, Vietnamese stands as a hybrid language – in a way comparable to Afrikaans, Haitian French, or Anglo‑French English – yet unique in its balance of indigenous Yue roots and enduring Sinitic influence.

Ultimately, Vietnam’s linguistic trajectory mirrors its historical one: deeply entwined with China, yet marked by independence and adaptation. The Vietnamese language today is both a repository of Yue ancestry and a living testament to centuries of Sinicization, divergence, and creative resilience.


FOOTNOTES


(1)^ (1) Tần, (2) Chệt. (3) Tầu, (4) Tàu 秦 Qín (Tần) [ M 秦 Qín < Middle Chinese tʂjin < OC *tʂin | Chinese dialects: Cant. ceon4, Hẹ cin2, Tn ćhiẽ 12, Ta ćiẽ 12, Dc ćhĩ 12, Nx chin12

Kangxi Dictionary: Entry for Qin (秦):

Ancient Forms and Pronunciation:
In Tang Yun, Guang Yun, Ji Yun, Lei Pian, Yun Hui, and Zheng Yun: Pronounced qín, with fanqie reading 匠隣切 (jiang lin qie) or 慈隣切 (ci lin qie). Sound: qín (螓).
Definition:
A country name.
According to Shuowen Jiezi, Qin was the territory bestowed upon the descendants of Bo Yi. It is fertile land suitable for grain cultivation.
In Book of Songs·Qin Feng·Che Lin Commentary, Qin refers to a valley name in Longxi, located northeast of Bird Rat Mountain in Yongzhou.
Annotations: Today, it is Qin Pavilion and Qin Valley.
Historical Context:
During the Spring and Autumn Period, the State of Qin existed. The Han Dynasty established Tianshui Commandery there, which was later renamed Qinzhou during the Northern Wei Dynasty.
In Shiming, Qin means "crossing" (津), as its terrain is fertile and enriched with moisture.
Three Qin:
In Records of the Grand Historian·Xiang Yu: Xiang Yu divided Guanzhong into three regions, granting the surrendered generals titles:
Zhang Han as King of Yong (雍王),
Sima Xin as King of Sai (塞王),
Dong Yi as King of Zhai (翟王).
Together, they were referred to as Three Qin.
DaQin (大秦): 
In Later Han·Records of the Western Regions: Da Qin refers to the region west of the sea (also called Sea West Country). Its inhabitants were tall and upright, resembling the people of China, hence the name Da Qin.

Notes: In phonology, the character 秦 Qín ("Tần") ends in an open nasal -n, making it difficult to transform into -w, a rounded, closed-lip sound. According to Shuowen Jiezi, the pronunciation of 秦 Qín (originally referring to a type of grain) was akin to 舂 cōng (SV "thông", corresponding to VS "tàu"). Comparing phonological transformation patterns, this resembles the shift seen in 痛 tòng → "đau." Additionally, it was borrowed for the pronunciation of 牆 qiáng ("wall"), which corresponds to SVthương" ~ VS "đau."

        Before and after the Warring States period (Eastern Zhou), the term 秦 Qín was used across various regions in what is now China to refer to the State of Qin, which Emperor Qin Shi Huang unified along with six other states in 246 B.C. In Vietnamese culture, the Double Fifth Festival (Tết Đoanngọ), celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, was once a major folk tradition. One custom involved wrapping and throwing rice cakes into the river to prevent fish from consuming the remains of Qu Yuan (Khuất Nguyên), a loyal scholar of the State of Chu, who drowned himself rather than be captured by Qin forces.

        Based on this historical context, there is an immediate association with resistance, and even contempt, when referring to the Qin State (Tần). Today, the region that was once the State of Chu is located in Hubei Province, which may have once been a part of or closely linked to the southern BáchViệt (Hundred Yue) territories. These included provinces such as Yunnan, Guangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and others over 2,000 years ago. This phonetic connection further supports the plausible link between Tần and Tàu, as in the Vietnamese word Tàuô, which aligns with the black-colored uniforms worn by Qin officials.

        Some argue that "Tàu" derives from "tàughe" ('boats'), and that ngườiTàu ('Chinese people') refers to those arriving in Vietnam by boat or living aboard ships. However, this interpretation is merely speculative. The most reasonable linguistic link remains Tần = "Tàu". During that era, the people of the former Warring States, which were conquered by Qin, deeply resented Tần ("Tàu").


Another relevant linguistic observation involves Cantonese speakers in Vietnam, who often refer to themselves as Thòngdành (唐人 Tángrén, "Tang people") or người Đường ("Tang people"). In phonological transformation, thòng in 唐人 Tángrén or Thòngdành could have evolved into tàu. However, it is worth noting that 唐 Táng = SV đàng, đường ends in an open final, yet follows a phonological pattern wherein /-ương/ shifts to /-au/. In ancient usage, 唐 Táng carried meanings such as "great road" or "main path" (đường cái, đàng cái).

Despite this possibility, the explanation that Tần = Tàu is stronger. Unlike their animosity toward Qin, the Vietnamese did not harbor the same resentment toward Cantonese speakers. While Cantonese people are commonly referred to as ngườiTàu in Vietnam, collective consciousness suggests that Vietnamese speakers may have internally recognized that Cantonese belonged to a different branch of the BáchViệt people, one that had been completely Sinicized (Hánhoá). This is reflected in historical figures such as Triệu Đà, who declared himself King of NamViệt (NanYue), with his capital at Phiênngung, now modern-day Guangzhou.

Additionally, in phonological analysis, 中 Zhōng ("Trung") could have also evolved into "Tàu" due to phonetic shifts: /ʈ-/ → /t-/, and /-ŋʷ/ → -w/. This follows similar phonetic transformations observed in 痛 tòng (SV thống) → "đau". Hence, "Trung" could plausibly have shifted into "Tàu".

Examples:

  • 秦晋之緣 Qín-Jìnzhīyuán ("KếtduyênTần-Tấn", 'Alliance between Qin and Jin')
  • 秦人 Qínrén ("Người Tàu", 'Chinese people')
  • 三秦 Sān Qín ("Ba Tàu", 'Three Qin regions')
  • 秦越 Qín-Yuè ("Tàu-Việt", 'Qin-Yue').

    The term China and Chinese trace their origins to the Qin Dynasty (246–210 B.C.). Qin also appears as a family surname, a tribal name, and a designation for regions in ancient China (including Shaanxi Province). In Vietnamese, the term Chệt or Chệc carries a derogatory tone, though it is believed to derive from 潮 cháo (Teochew 潮州 Cháozhou). The phonetic progression 潮 cháo → Triều → Tiều could have eventually resulted in Tàu

    三秦 Sānqín (1) TamTần, (2) BaTàu [ @ M 三秦 Sānqín \ Vh @ 三 sān ~ ba (cf. 仨 sa), @ 秦 Qín ~ 'Tàu' | M 三 sān, sàn, sā, sēn < Middle Chinese sɑm, sʌm < OC *sjə:m, *sjə:ms | FQ 蘇甘, 蘇暫 || M 秦 Qín < MC tʂjin < OC *tʂin (See 'Tàu') || Handian: ◎ Three Qin (三秦 Sānqín) refers to the Guanzhong region. After Xiang Yu defeated Qin and entered Guanzhong, he divided the territory among the surrendered Qin generals Zhang Han, Sima Xin, and Dong Yi, thus calling the Guanzhong area Three Qin. ◎ "The city towers support Three Qin, smoke watches over Five Crossings" , Tang Dynasty, Wang Bo's "To Du Shaofu upon His Appointment to Shu Prefecture."

    (1) After the fall of Qin, Xiang Yu divided Guanzhong into three regions, appointing the surrendered Qin generals:
    Zhang Han as King of Yong (雍王)
    Sima Xin as King of Sai (塞王)
    Dong Yi as King of Zhai (翟王).
            Together, they were known as Three Qin. See Records of the Grand Historian: Qin Shi Huang Chronicle (《史記·秦始皇 本紀》). Later, Three Qin came to refer to the region now known as Shaanxi Province. Wang Bo's poem "To Du Shaofu upon His Appointment to Shu Prefecture" describes it: "The city towers support Three Qin, wind and smoke overlook Five Crossings." 
            Feng Bi's poem "Map of Rivers and Mountains" further mentions: "The terrain extends west to control the distant Three Qin, the river flows south to encompass Two Hua."
    (2) Three Qin also refers collectively to:
    Qinzhou (秦州),
    Eastern Qinzhou (東秦州),
    Southern Qinzhou (南秦州).
    In The Book of Wei (《魏書·尒朱天光傳》): "From Three Qin, the He River, Wei River, Gua Prefecture, Liang Prefecture, and Shanshan, all came to submit."
    This text is also cited in Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance (《資治通鑑·梁武帝中大通二年》), with historian Hu Sanxing annotating: "Three Qin refers to Qinzhou, Eastern Qinzhou, and Southern Qinzhou."  
    Note: San Qin, central Shanxi Plain; the Vietnamese "BaTàu" is derogatory term to call Chinese. 

    (2)^ Persistence of 'Annamese' in Hainanese Speech: The term 'Annamese' (安南話) remains in use within Hainanese speech, pronounced as /A1nam2we1/. Hainanese is a MinNan sub-dialect, part of the Fukienese (Hokkien, Amoy) linguistic group, spoken by inhabitants of Hainan Province, China.

    (3)^ The ChữNôm script renders 𡨸喃, which is also written as 字喃.

    (4)^ Let's examine another case, one that is arguably more "Vietnamese" than "Chinese," though still constructed using Chinese linguistic material. Consider phải and trái, which are distinct from their Chinese equivalents but conceptually align with the notions of "right and wrong" versus "left and right."

    In Vietnamese, trái denotes both "wrong" and "left." The former meaning may be linked to sai trái 差錯 chācuō (SV saitô, "wrong"), where 錯 cuō is associated with 差 chā ("sai" in Vietnamese). Phonologically, VS trái appears connected to 左 zuǒ (SV tả, "left"). Meanwhile, the concept of phải functions similarly to the English word "right" in both the directional and moral senses, as seen in phảichăng 平等 píngděng (SV bìnhđẳng, "equal, righteous"). This association extends to the phrase phảitrái 是非 shìfēi (SV thịphi), meaning "right and wrong."

    Notably, Vietnamese phải ('right' in the sense of correctness) does not derive from the Chinese word 右 yòu (SV hữu, 'right side'), as seen in "tảhữu" (左右 zuǒyòu, 'left and right'). However, phonological parallels suggest an underlying relationship between 右 yòu and phải within the {¶ /y- ~ B-/} transformation pattern. This pattern appears in pairs such as:

    • 郵 yóu (SV bưu, "post")
    • 由 yóu (VS bởi, "because")
    • 柚 yóu (VS bưởi, "grapefruit")
    • 游 yóu (VS bơi, "swim").

            Such correspondences imply that 右 yòu may have historically shared phonetic characteristics with VS phải. It is plausible that phải once sounded closer to /bɨw/ in prehistoric times.

    The broader takeaway here is that many modern Vietnamese words have been coined using Chinese linguistic material. The pair phải and trái (是非 shìfēi) reflect a pattern of antonymous disyllabic word formation in Vietnamese, paralleling structures found in:

    • caothấp 高低 ("height"),
    • tonhỏ 大小 dàxiǎo ("size"),
    • nặngnhẹ 輕重 qīngzhòng ("weight")

    (5)^  Compare to English spoken in many parts of the world in former British colonies and you can imagine that might be how early Mandarin had been spoken as lingua franca in Annam prior to 939 AD.

    (6)^ Linguistic parallels in former colonies: Similar to the role of English as a global lingua franca in former British colonies, early Mandarin may have functioned in a comparable capacity in Annam prior to 939 AD. Even today, Hanoi residents continue to associate refinement and elegance with Tràngan people, referring to themselves with a sense of cultural prestige. This metaphor mirrors the early 20th-century sentiment of "Saïgon est Paris de l’Orient," despite the fact that the French only arrived in Saigon in 1868 and their colonial presence in Vietnam lasted until 1954.




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