A Study on the Modern Vietnam-Chinese [k/c] and [ŋ/ɲ] Sounds in the Coda Position

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the phonological conditions of the palatal consonants (c/ɲ) which de- rive from the velar consonants (k/ŋ) in the coda position in Vietnamese-Chinese sounds. These conditions were expected to be different from those of both Middle Chinese and Korean-Chinese sounds. For this study, the Middle Chinese and Korean-Chinese sounds were compared and contrasted. The research results showed the fol- lowing: First, in Vietnamese-Chinese sounds, the palatal consonants (c/ɲ) appeared in the back position of front vowels (i/e). Second, the coda of Vietnamese-Chinese appeared with both (c/ɲ) (palatal) and (k/ŋ) (velar) after the vowel (a), while the coda of Vietnamese appeared with (ae, ɐ, iɐ, Iɛ) (Middle Chinese sounds) as well as Middle Chinese back vowels (ɑ, ɔ). Third, the coda of Vietnamese-Chinese palatal sounds appeared when the semivowel (j) was pronounced either after or before the core vowels in Middle Korean-Chinese sounds. Therefore, the most frequent Vietnamese-Chinese sounds in the coda position were (ɛ) or (jə) similar to the modern Korean-Chinese sounds. Consequently the (ɛ) in modern Korean changed from the Middle Korean sounds (aj), (ʌj), which may help to infer that the coda of Vietnamese contains the semivowel (j).