[Vnbiz] Vietnamese language is the base of Chinese language

Sun Nov 11 09:13:09 PST 2007

Bros Thien and Hoanh, and CACC,
   I'm a bit of a 'self-professed amateur' linguistic anthropologist. I 
do not accept the widely held belief that Modern Vietnamese (in its 
spoken form, there was no written form 4,000 years ago) is a member of 
the Mon-Khmer family of languages.

   I believe the Vietnamese language has its "roots" in the ethnic 
minorities of the mountains of China and the bordering areas of NW 
Vietnam. I favor the position that time, human migration/movement and 
the subsequent linguistic changes have destroyed or obscured the true 
origins of the Vietnamese language. I am fairly sure it should be a 
member of the Sino family group, but the current research cannot confirm 
or deny this.

   Bro Hoanh, your supposition of 70% Cantonese needs also to take into 
account the 1,000 years of Chinese domination of Vietnam. Everybody 
knows that language from the "colonial power" flows down into the 
'language on the ground'. That is why we now have Chinese, French and 
American words that are totally used and accepted in Vietnamese (albeit 
usually as transliterations: 'so-mi', 'pho-mai', etc.). I contend that 
your supposition has some basis in fact, but that your reasoning for 
this may be questioned.

   A fascinating subject. When I get rich enough to retire, I will spend 
my millions on finding the true source of the Vietnamese language!

Shane
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Shane Wall
Principal,

Trans Lingual Express
188/16 Nguyen Thuong Hien St,
P.1, Q. Go Vap, HCMC,
Vietnam

Mail: shane.wall at translingualexpress.com
Web: www.translingualexpress.com

Ph: +84 (8) 588 1701

Mbl: +84 (090) 9484 753 (English)
Mbl: +84 (090) 7885 375 (Vietnamese)

Tran Dinh Hoanh wrote:
> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>   
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Dear anh Thien & CACC,
>  
> Following is a link to an interesting article "Vietnamese language -- 
> a major component to establish Chinese language" (Tiáº¿ng Viá»‡t chá»§ thá»ƒ 
> táº¡o nÃªn ngÃ´n ngá»¯ HÃ¡n).
>  
> I am neither a linguists nor an anthropologist, so I am not competent 
> in this matter.  A major point in the article is to prove that the 
> Vietnamese language is not a loan (vay muon) from the Chinese language 
> as many linguists have thought.  As I say I am not a linguist so I am 
> not competent in the matter of language.  However, I can see very 
> cleary that 70 percent of the current Vietnamese (oral) language is 
> similar to Cantonese.  And if that means we Vietnamese are a mixture 
> of Southern Chinese and the native in Northern Vietnam, then be it.  
> And that may not mean our ancestors "borrowed" our language from the 
> Cantonese, but our ancestor mixed  *their* Cantonese with *their 
> *non-Cantonese language (Thai-Mon Khmer or Malaysian?) to create the 
> modern Vietnamese.  And that is a very good invention, taking two old 
> elements to make a new element. 
>  
> Having say that, I am still incompetent to issue an opinion on the 
> interesting article that anh Thien shares with us today.  Thanks, 
> brother Thien.
>  
> Enjoy reading.
>  
> Hoanh
>  
> (Note:  Many scholars have tried hard in language and philosophy to 
> make Vietnam the source of Chinese philosophy and language, including 
> Kim Dinh, my philosophy professor.  I am not sure their arguments 
> are based on strong evidence.  My professor Kim Dinh has never 
> succeeded in convincing me that the Vietnamese was the author of 
> ancient Chinese philosophy such as Kinh Dich, although I do like his 
> philosophy Triet Ly An Vi.  I am thinking, we should not feel 
> inferiority about who is the source of who and what.  We are who we 
> are.  We just have to be confident about ourselves)
>  
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: *Tran Ba Thien* <tranbathien at gmail.com 
> <mailto:tranbathien at gmail.com>>
> Date: Oct 19, 2007 11:15 PM
> Subject: Tieng Viet chu the tao nen ngon ngu Han
> To: Tran Dinh Hoanh <tdhoanh at gmail.com <mailto:tdhoanh at gmail.com>>
>
>  
> Hi anh Hoanh,
>  
> tu lau, chung ta van cho rang 70% tu ngu tieng Viet la "vay muon" tu 
> tieng Han. The nhung sau khi doc bai nay toi bong giat minh.
>  
> http://vannghesongcuulong.org/vietnamese/tulieu_tacpham.asp?TPID=5320&LOAIID=29&LOAIREF=5&TGID=711 
> <http://vannghesongcuulong.org/vietnamese/tulieu_tacpham.asp?TPID=5320&LOAIID=29&LOAIREF=5&TGID=711>
>  
> Anh xem va toi nghi rang rat thu vi neu minh share cai thong tin nay 
> cho moi nguoi. Co le tu nay ta se noi rang tieng Viet va Han co chung 
> mot nguon goc. Tieng Anh cua toi yeu lam nen khong biet se viet loi 
> gioi thieu nhu the nao de goi vao mailing list cua chung ta. Vay mong 
> anh share dum nhe.
>  
> Chuc vui
> Tran Ba Thien
> tranbathien at gmail.com <mailto:tranbathien at gmail.com>
>
>
> -- 
> Tran Dinh Hoanh, Esq., LLB, JD
> Washington DC
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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