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Vietnamese

vr.tr.vietnamese · thing-q9199

Let an agent explain the Vietnamese language and its dialects, relay phonology, grammar, scripts and history from linguistic sources with attribution, describe its status in Vietnam and the diaspora, and distinguish Vietnamese from Chinese, from other Vietic and Austroasiatic languages and from the Vietnamese people.

Thing Registry Information and virtual systems INF.MED

Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled

4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions

Understand What Vietnamese is.

Definition

Definition and classification.

Definition

Definition.

  1. What is Vietnamese, how is it classified within Austroasiatic, and how does it differ from Chinese? definition
  2. Is the question about the language, a dialect, a script, the people or the diaspora? boundary

Dialects

Dialects.

Dialects

Dialects.

  1. How do Northern, Central including Thanh Hoa, and Southern Vietnamese differ in tones and vocabulary? definition
  2. Which entry fits the specific dialect? action
Learn Grammar and learning.

Features

Phonology and grammar.

Features

Features.

  1. What are the main features of Vietnamese tones, syllable structure, classifiers and word order? provenance
  2. Which references are standard? provenance

Resources

Learning resources.

Resources

Resources.

  1. What dictionaries, courses and corpora exist for learning Vietnamese? provenance
  2. Which sources are cited? provenance
Scripts Scripts and history.

Scripts

Scripts.

Scripts

Scripts.

  1. How were chu Han and chu Nom used, and how did Quoc ngu become the standard, as historians describe? provenance
  2. Which entry fits chu Nom? action

History

Language history.

History

History.

  1. How did Vietnamese develop, and how did Chinese contact shape its vocabulary? provenance
  2. Which entry fits Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary? action
Context Status and diaspora.

Status

Status in Vietnam.

Status

Status.

  1. What is the status of Vietnamese and minority languages in Vietnam? provenance
  2. Which entry fits languages of Vietnam? action

Diaspora

Diaspora.

Diaspora

Diaspora.

  1. How is Vietnamese maintained in the United States and other diaspora communities, with findings attributed? provenance
  2. Which entry fits overseas Vietnamese? action

Classifiers Filled

Family
Thing Registry
Category
Information and virtual systems
Entry kind
thing
Plane
INF
Domain
INF.MED
Other names and narrower kinds
Vietnamese language in the United States, chữ Hán, Southern Vietnamese, Thanh Hóa Vietnamese, Northern Vietnamese, Overseas Vietnamese, Middle Vietnamese, Central Vietnamese

What it is Filled

An Austroasiatic language of the Vietic branch, the national and official language of Vietnam spoken by about 85 million people there and by overseas Vietnamese communities, notably in the United States, with Northern, Central including Thanh Hoa, and Southern dialects, a tonal phonology with six tones in the Hanoi standard, and a history of writing Vietnamese in chu Nom, developed using and adapting Chinese characters, before the adoption of the Latin-based chu Quoc ngu in the 20th century; chu Han was used for writing Classical Chinese in Vietnam, and Vietnamese has a large vocabulary of Sino-Vietnamese loans.

Why it exists Filled

Let an agent explain the Vietnamese language and its dialects, relay phonology, grammar, scripts and history from linguistic sources with attribution, describe its status in Vietnam and the diaspora, and distinguish Vietnamese from Chinese, from other Vietic and Austroasiatic languages and from the Vietnamese people.

Distinguishing features Filled

  • Tonal and analytic
  • Latin-based script
  • Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary
  • Regional dialects

What robots and AI may and may not do Filled

Must not

  • Drop tone marks in ways that change meaning in a translation.
  • Treat one regional dialect as wrong or inferior.
  • Mistranslate legal or medical documents without warning that a qualified translator is needed.

Only with a human decision

  • Providing translations for legal, medical or immigration use.

May

  • Translate and explain Vietnamese, naming the dialect and source.
  • Explain tones, the Latin-based script and dialects, citing linguistic sources.

Moral aspects Filled

  • Language access affects Vietnamese speakers' rights in courts, health care and immigration.
  • Dialect prejudice can stigmatize speakers.

Who is affected

  • Vietnamese speakers
  • Overseas Vietnamese communities

Owners Filled

Steward

The public: held in common by its speakers.

Links to other meta-models Filled

parent

  • Q2355546 - registry parent class

related

  • Vietic - in registry terms
  • Austroasiatic languages - as its largest member
  • Vietnamese alphabet - chu Quoc ngu
  • chu Nom - and chu Han

What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled

Identity and identifiers required Filled

  • Vercy registry: vr.tr.vietnamese
  • Wikidata: Q9199 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9199)
  • ISO 639-1: vi Vietnamese
  • ISO 639-3: vie Vietnamese
  • Glottolog: viet1252 Vietnamese

Direct properties not applicable Not applicable

  • speakers: about 85 million - in Vietnam, plus diaspora
  • tones: 6 count - Northern standard
  • Quoc ngu adopted officially: 20th century period - from Jesuit romanisation of the 17th century
  • Vietnamese speakers in the US: about 1.5 million - estimates

Plane INF: no invented physical properties.

Recognition optional Filled

  • Vietnamese is a Vietic Austroasiatic language of Vietnam.
  • Vietnamese has Northern, Central including Thanh Hoa, and Southern dialects and is also spoken in the United States.
  • Chu Nom was developed for writing Vietnamese, while chu Han was used for writing Classical Chinese in Vietnam.
  • Chinese is Sino-Tibetan, Muong is a related Vietic language, and the Vietnamese people are an ethnic group.
  • Not a visible object; speech and text in the Latin-based Quoc ngu script.

Capabilities and actions required Filled

  • explain dialects and features
  • relay scripts and history
  • describe status and diaspora
  • distinguish from related languages

Hazards and failure modes required Filled

  • Assuming Vietnamese is related to Chinese
  • Confusing the language with the people
  • Political framing of diaspora and dialect differences

Standards and interfaces required Filled

  • Vietnamese constitution naming Vietnamese the national language
  • ISO 639 codes
  • Orthographic conventions of Vietnamese education

Context of use required Filled

  • Not applicable; a language.
  • Northern Vietnamese including the Hanoi standard
  • Central Vietnamese including Thanh Hoa and Hue varieties
  • Southern Vietnamese including the Saigon variety
  • historical Vietnamese written in chu Han and chu Nom
  • overseas Vietnamese varieties such as Vietnamese in the United States

Sources Filled

  1. Wikidata item Q9199: Vietnamese - identity and sense of the item
  2. Wikipedia: Vietnamese language - general description of the item

Open questions

  • Should chu Nom and the Vietnamese alphabet be separate primary entries?
  • How should linguistic sources be linked?
  • The registry entry has merged aliases naming dialects, scripts and diaspora groups; should they be split off?

Machine files

Provenance

thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed

Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q9199/spec.json