Tones
Vietnamese vowels are all pronounced with an inherent tone. Tones differ in:
- length (duration)
- pitch contour (i.e. pitch melody)
- pitch height
- phonation
Tone is indicated by diacritics written above or below the vowel (most of the tone diacritics appear above the vowel; however, the nặng tone dot diacritic goes below the vowel). The six tones in the northern varieties (including Hanoi), with their self-referential Vietnamese names, are:
| Name | Description | Diacritic | Example | Sample vowel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ngang 'level' | mid level | (no mark) | ma 'ghost' |  a (help·info) |
| huyền 'hanging' | low falling (often breathy) | ` (grave accent) | mà 'but' | à (help·info) |
| sắc 'sharp' | high rising | ´ (acute accent) | má 'cheek, mother (southern)' | á (help·info) |
| hỏi 'asking' | mid dipping-rising | ̉ (hook) | mả 'tomb, grave' | ả (help·info) |
| ngã 'tumbling' | high breaking-rising | ˜ (tilde) | mã 'horse (Sino-Vietnamese), code' | ã (help·info) |
| nặng 'heavy' | low falling constricted (short length) | ̣ (dot below) | mạ 'rice seedling' | ạ (help·info) |
Other dialects of Vietnamese have fewer tones (typically only five).
In Vietnamese poetry, tones are classed into two groups:
| Tone group | Tones within tone group |
|---|---|
| bằng "level, flat" | ngang and huyền |
| trắc "oblique, sharp" | sắc, hỏi, ngã, and nặng |
Words with tones belonging to particular tone group must occur in certain positions with the poetic verse.
~Info courtesy of Wikipedia~
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