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12 - The Romanized writing of Vietnamese: A unique case in the Far East

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2024

Dan Savatovsky
Affiliation:
Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3
Mariangela Albano
Affiliation:
Università di Cagliari, Sardinia
Thi Kieu Ly Pham
Affiliation:
Vietnam National University
Valérie Spaëth
Affiliation:
Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3
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Summary

Abstract: Historical circumstances have left the Vietnamese language with a legacy of three written systems: sinograms, introduced at the same time as the Chinese Empire's political control and the classical Confucian books; the nôm script, sinograms adapted to the Vietnamese language; and Romanized writing, created by Jesuit missionaries, which has had official status since 1945. The Vietnamese use of a Latin-type alphabet is a unique phenomenon among countries marked by Confucian doctrine in the East Asian cultural sphere. In this chapter, we retrace the creation of the Romanized writing ([chữ] quốc ngữ) since 1615 and its subsequent evolution. We analyze the historical and literary context and the opinions of the relevant figures in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to show the extent to which quốc ngữ has occupied the role of the official script of Vietnam.

Résumé : Les circonstances historiques ont légué à la langue vietnamienne l’héritage de trois systèmes d’écriture: les sinogrammes, introduits en même temps que le contrôle politique de l’Empire chinois et les classiques confucéens ; l’écriture nôm, des sinogrammes adaptés à la langue vietnamienne ; et l’écriture romanisée, créée par les missionnaires jésuites, qui est revêtue d’un statut officiel depuis 1945. L’utilisation par les Vietnamiens d’un alphabet de type latin est un phénomène unique parmi les pays marqués par la doctrine confucéenne dans la sphère culturelle est-asiatique. Dans ce chapitre, nous retraçons la création de cette écriture ([chữ] quốc ngữ) depuis 1615 et son évolution ultérieure. Nous analysons le contexte historique et littéraire ainsi que les opinions des personnalités concernées à la fin du dix-neuvième siècle et au début du vingtième siècle pour montrer de quelle manière le quốc ngữ a occupé le rôle d’écriture officielle.

Keywords: Vietnamese language. Vietnamese writing. Alphabetical system. Chinese characters. quốc ngữ script.

Mots-clés: Langue vietnamienne. Écritures du vietnamien. Système alphabétique. Sinogrammes. Écriture quốc ngữ.

Type
Chapter
Information
Language Learning and Teaching in Missionary and Colonial Contexts
L'apprentissage et l'enseignement des langues en contextes missionnaire et colonial
, pp. 367 - 388
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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