What Makes Vietnamese So Chinese?

Introduction To Sinitic-Vietnamese Studies

DRAFT
Table of Contents

dchph

(Continued)

VII) A SYPNOPSIS OF PHONOLOGICAL SOUND CHANGES FROM CHINESE TO VIETNAMESE:

Based on the new methods of exploring plausible cognates as presented in the foregoing sections, here we will attempt to recap some common sound change patterns as have been discussed throughout.

In short, phonological sound changes from C to V have frequently occurred to any sounds, or a combination of them, among the initial, medial, final, and ending of a word. The process could have happened diachronically over time one at a time and eventually led to a phonetic shift for a whole phonological system. In polysyllabic words, sound changes of a syllabic ending would have occurred without phonetic-lexical restraint of the original syllabic-word, e.g., the whole last syllable could be syncoped and all phonemes might be dropped. Also, as the same patterns of sound changes could happen synchronically internally inside a language, which likely occurs due to the local speech habit, for instance, {l- ~ r-}, {n- ~ l-}, {tr- ~ ch-}, {-n ~ -ng}, {nh- ~ ng-}, {-t ~ -k}, etc., we can certainly base on those similar internal correspondences in patterns to apply to both C and V inclusively to explore further what could have taken place reciprocally when they were in contact with each other, for example,

Note that the patterns of sound changes enumerated below are just some illustrated samples and they are inexhaustible. Literally, once you name it, you can have it. As we could tell, numerous patterns are not included in the following list, since they are relatively obvious, e.g. {x- ~ h-}, {zh- ~ gi}, {j- ~ k-}, {g-, q- ~ nh-}, {sh- ~ nh-}, etc. As always, English meanings are annotated for each illustrated lexicon to help those who are unfamiliar with V to see how intimately close V and C vocabularies are. (For their etymology, refer to previous sections for those lexicons that are already cited or try http://vny2k.com/hannom/.)

A) Sound changes in the neighboring pronouncing positions:

B) Pattern { ¶ l- & S-} (same class as s, c, x, ch, sh, j, z, zh, q)

C) Pattern { ¶ S-~ r- } (same class as c, x, q, ch, sh, j, z, zh..)

D) Pattern { ¶ S- ~ T- } (same as d, th, tr, )

E) Pattern { ¶ l- ~ r-}

F) Pattern { ¶ p- (b-) ~ t- (d-) }

G) Pattern { ¶ y- ~ b- }

In reality, besides those common sound changes, we can say that any sound can change to any sound, a product of multiple sound changes coloquially over time, that is, one leading to another like slow chained reactions, partly triggered by phonetic shifts. However, in many cases, we can still recognize the originally underlined form:

H) There are also cases that sound changes might have occurred beyond recognition. However, their etymology is still traceable based on the pronunciation rules, which is known as fănqiè 反切, in MC to spell out for SV words:

Yet for a great number of VS words as listed above that might have changed this way, we are left with virtually no means but analogy to attest their original authentic forms:

I) Sino-Vietnamese sound loans -- sandhi process of association:

In V, there are a lot of VS words that sound like those of SV, but actually they could be doublets or come from different sources:

J) Homonyms and synonyms:

Many words can be read the same in C but with different meanings. Similarly, there were also dialectal pronunciations for the same characters of which variations had given rise to different usages, especially after they entered the V vocabulary. Therefore, it is not surprising to see that with the same word, the V language may also have differentiated that very character with different sounds either by means of association with other words or internal localization :

K) Similarities with modern Mandarin:

The case of "mai" (~ 'mainày' 明兒 mínr) has roots in modern M, departure from the common ideas that we could only search for V words of C origin from only PC, OC, AC and MC, and, for that matter, the SV. The influence of M as both court language and langa franca in China historically also has influenced the V language deeply in both official and learned cirles until the present time, especially with the V Northern dialect, leading the way in new usage of C elements, for instance:

and 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 / Chinese root Southern Vietnamese dialect / Chinese root  
cút 滾 gǚn đi 去 qù get out of here
vuốt 摸 mò rờ 摸 mò touch
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 fond of
hãi 駭 hài sợ 怕 pà afaid
rọ 籮 luó giỏ 籮 luó basket
gầy 瘦 shòu ốm 奀 ēn skinny
ốm 奀 ēn bệnh 病 bìng 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) 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 đãquá 過癮 guòyǐn fully satisfied
ngậy 膩 nì béo 肥 féi greasy
béo 肥 féi 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 窕  tiăo beautiful
quan 棺 guān hòm 棺 guān coffin
họng 喉 hóu cổ 喉 hóu throat
xơi 食 shí ăn 吃 chī 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 -- lest you forget -- what has already been integral parts of the modern V language:

L) Localization and innovation or "Vietnamized" ('Nômhoá' or 'Việthoá'):

(1) Reverse of word order (#, "iro", "metathesis"): We can often find correspondences in both C and SV words and most likely they are in reverse order of each other: bảođảm = 擔保 dànbăo (đảmbảo), ânái = 愛恩 àiēn (áiân), đơngiản = 簡單 jiăndàn (giảnđơn), sảnxuất = 出產 chùchăn (xuấtsản)... and in many a case both forms co-exist with the same connotation. For the cases of phonological metathesis, they are just another form in reverse order, both phonologically and morphemically: mēimei 妹妹 emgái (younger sister), dìdi 弟弟 emtrai (younger brother), shuāituì 衰退 'suythoái' (degrade), yǒurăn 有染 dandíu (have an affair with), etc.etc.

In fact, in comparison with those of modern Mandarin equivalents, VS loanwords seems to be always in reverse order:

  • hẹnhò 'dating' = 約會 yuèhuì (ướchội, also giving rise to "ướchẹn") < huì + yè
  • tìnhyêu 'love' = 愛情 àiqíng (áitình) < qíng + ài
  • bảxàm 'nonsense' = 三八 sānbā (tambát) < bā + sān
  • văngtục 'swear' = 俗話 sùhuà (tụcthoại) < huà + sù
  • đườngcái 'road' = 街道 jièdào (cáiđại) < dào + jiè
  • conđường 'route' = 途徑 tújīng (đồkinh) < jīng + tú
  • concái 'children' = 孩子 háizi (hàitử) < zǐ + hái
  • condao 'knife' = 刀子 dāozi (đaotử) < zǐ + dāo
  • khuônmặt 'face'= 面孔 miànkǒng (diệnkhổng) < kǒng + miàn
  • trườnghọc 'school' = 學堂 xuétáng (họcđường) < táng + xué

    • etc...

As we all may know, this is a result of re-arrangement of syntactical order in the V language where a modifier mostly is put after the modified. This phenomenon demonstrates clearly in synonymous dissyllabic words in which two syllables were originated from either two different C characters or just one which may still convey the same original meaning if it still retains an older form and its sound has not been altered by mean of reduplicative process, for example:

  • thiêngliêng 'sacred' [ @& < 靈 líng (linh) + 靈 líng (linh) | M 靈 líng < MC lieŋ < OC *re:ŋ | ¶ l- ~ th- ], of which the modifer appears to functionally answer the question : 'thiêng' + what? 'thiêng+liêng', so "liêng" 靈 líng (linh) that modifies the "thiêng", making meaning of the word clearer and more understandable due to the homonymous nature of the stand-alone monosyllabic word 靈 líng (linh),
  • hơisức 力氣 lìqì 'strength' (SV lựckhí) [ ~ VS sứclực \ @ 氣 qì ~ sức 力 lì ].

    • However, that is not always the case since sometimes the boundary of the modified and modifer is blurred. In other words, those dissyllabic words still retain the original order as they were first loaned, for instance:

  • mùmắt 盲目 mángmù 'blind' and it alternate extended form "mùquáng" 'blindly',
  • mắtkính (~mắtkiếng) 眼鏡 yănjìng 'eyeglasses' [ Hainanese 目鏡 /matkeŋ/ ],
  • căngthẳng 緊張 jǐnzhāng 'stressful',
  • siêngnăng 勤勉 qínmiăn 'industrious',
  • cảgan 大膽 dàdăn 'daring',
  • cuốnghọng, cổhọng 喉嚨 hóulóng 'throat',
  • sạchsẻ 清潔 qīngjié 'clean', etc.

(2) Local innovations: Other common linguistic phenomena in word coinage in V, such as combining ancient roots with modern words, applying concepts of certain words to other words, syncoping, or adding new elements, is local innovation as it has happened in other languages as well:

  • lẽsống 理想 líxiăng 'ideal',
  • bênhvực 幫忙 bāngmáng 'be on one's side',
  • ănnhậu 應酬 yìngchóu (have a drink)
  • 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 (khuyểntoạ) 'squat',
  • hiếuthảo 孝順 xiàoshùn (hiếuthuận) 'piety',
  • suônsẻ 順利 shùnlì (thuậnlợi) 'conveniently',
  • hoàicông 費工 fèigōng (phícông) 'wasting time',
  • chơiđĩ 嫖妓 piāojī (patronzie prostitute), etc.

Many other words have evolved and further expanded their meanings beyond what was originally conveyed if those secondary meanings have not already existed in the original loanwords (See (6) below for their original meanings.):

  • 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 somebody's ear',
  • trêndưới 上下 shàngxià (above+below=position) => 'hiearchy in roles',etc..

(3) Integration and combination -- Combinations of ancient words with modern ones or with both VS and SV words:

  • chàilưới: 羅 luó 'net fishing' (SV: la, VS lưới, in ancient time it read as *jrai, so we have "chài + lưới"),
  • xecộ, cỗxe: 車 chē 'carriage' (SV: xa, VS xe, in ancient time it read as 居 SV cư, VS cộ, with the radical 古, so we have "xe + cộ" and "cỗ + xe") [ Note: 車 chē is also pronounced as jū when referring to a Chinese checker piece. ],
  • thìgiờ: 時間 shíjiān 'time' (SV: thờigian) [ < @& 'thì 時 shí' + 'giờ 時 shí' ],
  • giờgiấc: 時晨 shíshén,
  • giờnày, giờđây: 今兒 jīnr 'now' [ > @#'bâygiờ'],
  • sứclực: 力氣 lìqì 'strength' [ 力 lì, SV: lực, @& 力 sức + 力 lực],
  • sinhđẻ: 生育 shēngyù 'reproductive' [ 生 shēng, SV: sinh + đẻ 生 shēng \ Hainanese /de/],
  • củacải: 財產 cáichăn 'property' [ 財 cái, SV tài, @& 'của 財 cái' + 'cải 財 cái' ]

(4) Permanent word formation made up with associated classifiers:

  • (một) giấcmơ: 一場夢 yì chăngmèng (a dream),
  • (một) bórau (cải): 一把菜 yì bă cài 'a bunch of vegetable',
  • (một) đoáhoa: 一朵花 yì duǒhuā 'a flower',
  • (một) cănphòng : 一間房子 'a room', etc.

(5) Assimilation -- Word formation evolved from the sandhi process of association:

  • làmlại 再來: zàilái 'do it again',
  • 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',
  • muavé 買票: măipiào 'buy ticket',
  • chođến 直到: zhídào 'until', etc.

(6) Analogical word formation -- If a V word is derived from a word of C origin, chances are that an antonymn of that is also from the same source, of which both word-syllables make up a dissyllabic word:

  • 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),
  • sốngchết: 生死 shēngsǐ (life+death=living condition), etc.

(7) Sound omission or contraction and syncope -- It is not unusual to see that many monosyllabic words in V correspond to only those polysyllabic equivalents in C. That is the result of sound ommission, contraction, drop, and syncope. This sound change phenomenon can be the product of localization, innovation, simplification, contamination, or retention of old pronunciation or meanings. However, that is not always the case because, as in those examples marked with * after a word below, many of the loanwords had been originally monosyllabic in C then later they evolved into mergers and compounds in dissyllabic forms to avoid being homonymous. Similar to each C monosyllabic character as a morphemic-syllable, the V basic syllabic stem, or morpherme-character-word, functions as compound word builder. It characterizes itself as an independent entity by either retaining the C original form or adjusting the polysyllabic development to the minimum and not distorting the signified connotation in spite of changes in the original borrowing language, that is, C. Here are some examples:

  • ngô: 玉(米) yùmǐ 'corn'
    • ,
  • đốkhỏi: 躲(不)開 duǒbúkāi 'unavoidable' [ ~ 'tránhkhôngkhỏi' ],
  • mấtdạy: 沒教(養) méijiàoyăng 'uneducated',
  • mấtmặt: 沒面*(子) méimiànzǐ 'losing face',
  • rác (rácrưới): 垃圾 lèse (also lāji - rácrưới) 'garbage',
  • lỡ (nhầmlỡ) : 錯誤* cuòwù 'make a mistake',
  • bỏ (trừbỏ): 廢除 fèichú 'eliminate',
  • soigương: 照鏡*(子) zhàojìngzǐ 'look in the mirror',
  • chú: 叔(叔)* shù(shù) 'uncle' (father's younger brother),
  • cậu: 舅(父)* jìufù 'uncle' (mother's younger brother),
  • (cậu) mợ: (舅)母* jìumǔ 'aunt' (uncle's wife),
  • (cô) dượng: (姑)丈* gùzhàng 'uncle' (aunt's husband'),
  • mòn(nhẵn): 磨光 móguāng 'worn-out',
  • thầy: (老)師* lăoshī 'teacher',
  • gã: (出)嫁* chùjià 'daughter married out',
  • rể: (女)婿* nǔxü 'son-in-law',
  • cảbọn(người): 大幫(人) dàbāngrén 'a bunch of people',
  • nay (giờnày): 今兒 jīnr 'now',
  • đang: 正在 zhèngzài 'being in progress' [ @ 當 dāng (SV đang) ].

In many cases, when sound omission occurred to the same dissyllabic word in both languages, the C language took on the original monosyllabic one, i.e., the one that had existed prior to the development of an equivalent dissyllabic word, while V might took on a later developed sound and adopted it as the main word and, in some other cases, it was assimilated with another word and either one was retained, for instance,

  • 耳朵 ěrduō 'lỗtai' (eardrum) ~;> duō for 'tai',
  • 隱私 yǐnsī 'riêngtư' (private) ~;> yǐn for 'riêng',
  • 黑暗 hēi'àn 'tốităm' (darkness) ~;> hēi for 'tối',
  • 應酬 yìngchóu 'ănnhậu' (eat and drink) ~;> nhậu 酬 chóu while 'ăn' is associated with chī 吃 (eat),
  • 喉嚨 hóulóng 'cổhọng' (throat) ~;> 喉 hóu 'cổ',
  • 黃金 huángjīn '(kim)vàng' (gold) ~;> 黃 huáng 'vàng',
  • 銅板 tóngbăn 'đồngbạc' (monetary unit) ~;> 銅 tóng 'đồng' ($) [ now modern C transliterates '$' back as 噸 dùn (SV đốn) ] while 'bạc', obviously contaminated with 'bạchngân' 白銀 báiyín 'white silver', is associated with 錢幣 qiánbì 'tiềnbạc', etc.

(8) Influence from other C dialects -- C characters are pronounced differently in different dialects and oftentimes they even have different pronunciations within a dialect ('sub-dialect') just as it does in V. Moreover, a C character many a time appears to have several differentiated sounds in V just because they had been pronounced according to different C dialects which were synchronously brought into the V language in different periods of time in the past.

In fact, we can find all characteristics of each C dialect, including Mandarin, in V beside the overall features such as morphology, phonology, or idiomatic expressions, which they all have in common. For example, the V second tone at the lower register “õ” is somewhat similar to nasalized final vowels in Fukienese or Chaozhou, i.e., ẽ, ã, etc. and those of Beijing dialect suffix -er 兒, e.g.

  • Beijing: 明兒 míngr [mĩə] (VS mai ‘tomorrow’),
  • Chaozhou: 羊 yáng [jẽ] (VS dê ‘sheep’),
  • Fukienese: ? [swã] (VS soài 'mango', etc.

or tonal system in the Hunan dialect, as accented in Mao Zhedong's Mandarin, remind us that of Huế dialect of V, etc.

The fact that Mandarin sound is selected in this paper to represent modern C is not only a matter of convenience but, oftentimes, it is useful to make comparative analysis to see how sound changes from the same source turn out to be in two different languages, i.e., M and V. That does not always mean that V words directly originated only from those of M because they might have originated also from other C dialects. However, there is strong evidence that modern V appears to have some similarities with M, at least some vernacular version of it (cf. M as being spoken in the Southwest regions of China as in Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, etc.), for instance,

  • 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, etc.

all appears as they have been just "twisted sound" of the original M pronunciations, probably a result of association and corruption due to competence and perfomance coloqiually..

Also, it is interesting to see that some other sounds of other C dialects resemble much more pronunciations of certain V words of C origin or of the same roots with those of C. For example,

  • 芒果 mángguǒ (M ‘mango’), but in Fukienese ‘mango’ is [swã] (IPA "~" signifying nasalization), in V it is soài,
  • 舌 shě ‘tongue’ Cant. 肋 /lei/ and V lưỡi,
  • 囝 jiān (~ 子 zǐ) ’child’ Fukienese (Amoy) [kẽ], Hananese [ke], V con,
  • 羊 yáng ‘sheep’ Chaozhou dialect [jẽ], Vietnamese dê [je],
  • 耕 gēng ’plow’ Chaozhou [kẽ], Vietnamese cày,
  • biết 'know' (?) Hananese /bat/, Fukienese /paiʔ/, Amoy /bat/ ‘to know, to recognize’, V biết,
  • 生 shēng 'give birth', Hainanese /de/, V đẻ,
  • 屙 ē 'to shit', Cant. /o/, V ỉa,
  • 嫖 piāo (?) /tjew/ Cant. 'fuck', V đéo, đụ,
    • etc.

These examples manifest the lowest linguistic stratum of V in which words of the same root shared by the Yue tribes, aka the so-called 'Austroasiatic' in modern terminology, are still in use by their descendants at present day while other words might have been variants of either direct influence from one isogloss to the other or they are merely a uniform result of sound changes.

Other cognates can also be found in daily common words such as

  • chào: 早 zăo (modern M) 'hello'
  • thấy: 睇 dì (?) /thej/ (Cant.) 'see'
  • đụng: 碰 pèng 'touch'
  • mò (~ sờ, & sờmó): 摸 mó 'feel by hand'
  • chạy: 走 zǒu 'run' [ also, 'đi' (walk), cf. 去 qù (go) ],
  • dù: 要 yào [ or 'dầu' with the connotation of 'nếu' (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 /koikong/ (Hainanese and Fukienese, ancient Cant.) 'rooster',
  • gàmái 雞母 /koimai/ (Hainanese and Fukienese, ancient Cant.) 'hen',
  • cùlét (?):/kalɛt/ (Hainanese) (= thọclét, chọccười M 逗笑 dòuxiào) 'tickle', etc.

Examples like these are numerous. They are worth discussing by line item individually much more than simply listing rigidly corresponding phonetic patterns, especially the sound change rules from OC to modern C and V, which is of another subject matter for which a freshman of historical phonology with some knowledge of database can manage to tabulate.

It is argued that words like those have cultural influence from China and cannot be used to establish a genetic kinship with C, that is, only common basic words count. If they do not count, nevertherless, what else could count? Many linguists, after eliminating obvious C loanwords and other linguistic aspects like grammar and phonology, work only with the residue of what is left over, called "fundamentally basic words" which are thought as non-Han (non-Chinese) origin. As it turns out, however, they never know that most of those basic words really are cognate to those of ST (refer to Shafer's ST list). Per Cao Xuan Hao (2001), there is not such thing as the so-called "pure-Vietnamese words"; neither Viet-Muong nor Mon-Khmer were ancient Vietnamese and its existing vocabularies are variations of lexical mixture from different sources dominated with more than 70% of C origin.

Nevertheless, 90% or more is my estimate for those V word that have the C origin. Whether it is accurate or not, the point to be made here is that sound changes are multifaceted in both time and space and one C word could evolve synchronously into different V words at different periods as long noticed by Haudricourt (1961) and already noted by the late renown etymological linguist Starostin, and many other Sinologists such as Nguyen Tai-Can and Wang Li, that C words of Classical Chinese are pronounced differently from words of the vernacular language which were from an older form known as OC or AC. We have already showed and proved that point from what we have observed from the sound change patterns as selectively illustrated above. It is no doubt that, from a relatively complete reliably verifiable list with solid gramatically phonological rules, we will eventually finalize a Han-Viet etymology dictionary in a very near future.

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VIII) CONCLUSION:

Among other issues, three major points that have been prominently discussed in this paper are (1) dissyllabism of both V and C, (2) an analogical approach drawn from such recognition of dissyllabic nature, (3) focus on V etyma cognate to those of ST and OC as sumarized below.

So far as it is concerned, in the field of VS studies V words of C origin have not been fully explored as they deserve. Though some VS aspects have been addressed under different subject matters since the last century, a majority of specialists of V have examined the V etymology of C origin to date by comparing mostly monosyllabic words with equivalents of individual C characters. Their most common approach is to treat VS words only within the framework of the phonological system of SV as compared to that of MC but neglect comparative analysis of ST etyma, reconstructed OC or AC, and modern C dialects for the most parts even though they have evidently given rise to a wide range of active words in the V living language of our time.

For the former, characteristically, if there is any meaningful work having been done in the VS fields, it has been plagued with a deeply-rooted misconception that the true nature of both C and V are those of monosyllabics where monosyllabic V words of C origin, as a result, have been only investigated monosyllabically, that is, on one-to-one basis. To make the matter worse such misleading conception of V and C monosyllabism is still widely accepted and V or C is often cited as a good example of monosyllabic languages. There is no surprise that such short-sightedness is par for the course these days as clearly demonstrated by the current V othorgraphy where each syllable, governed by the concept of "tiếng" or a "complete sound" -- which invariably could be a morpheme, syllable, or word -- is falsely treated as a complete lexical unit as a "word" in writing, no matter how many syllables an actual word is made up. Needless to say that incorrect perception and aptitude possessed by contemporary V grammarians have undoubtedly contributed more negatively to the already-outdated defficient approach in search for V etymology.All those shortcomings have certainly hindered further any development having break-through nature in the V etymological study and virtually made no new discovery of V words of C origin for at least four decades. That is the reason why the subject of dissyllabism in both V and C has been discussed in length in this paper with different perspectives, giving rise to a new dissyllabic methodology of how to identify etymologically a great number of V words of C origin within such dissyllabic framework.

In terms of genetic linguistic affliation, ST linguistic family or not, it is hoped that the new analogical approach, etymologically, basically revolving around the OC nucleus, introduced herein will lead the way and pick up some momentum in the VS field or, at least, will open up other possible venues with the ST etymological background based on the apparent cognateness as we have clearly seen in V and ST comparative cases in Shafer's list. Wiith the results that we are having so far they can be used to clarify some other etymological issues revolving around ST-oriented basic word stratum as it has gone under scrutiny in this research or, alternatively, you can investigate further the core matter in the same manner as new way of exploring VS etymology. In deed they solid cases as proofs of V etyma of C origin. For those words that are of any other roots as those of MK, for the same matter, lexicologists of V will eventually be able to compile a modern V dictionary completed with lexical etymology for the first time in history.

[To be continued -- this research is still in the process of extensive editing. Refer to the editing version.]

 

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