Verse:Lõis/Vietnamese

Vietnamese in Lõis is essentially the same as in our timeline, but uses a different Romanized orthography developed by a Welsh convert to Catholicism in the 17th century. (We stipulate that ph already spirantized by that time in Lõis.)

Orthography (Djuб Gwog Nguб)

Initials

• m n nj ng = m n nh ng
• b ƀ d đ dr dj g = p b t đ tr ch c/k/qu
• ff t c = ph th kh
• s rh = x s
• f dd j gg = v d gi g
• l r = l r

-w- medial: Wîn (Uyên), Ngwînб (Nguyễn), Fîn (Viên)

Rimes

• The nuclei are:
  • i u w e y y̆ o η a ă ɷ = i/y ư u ê ơ â ô e a ă o (The capital forms of η and ɷ are И and Ω)
  • î û ŵ = ia/iê, ưa/ươ, ua/uô
• -m -n -ng -b -d -g are used for the finals -m -n -ng -p -t -c
• Rimes with /j/ and /w/ finals:
  • îw, ûw, ûi, ŵi = iêu, ươu, ươi, uôi
  • iw, uw, ui, wi = iu, ưu, ưi, ui
  • ew, ow, ei, yi, oe = êu, âu, ây, ơi, ôi
  • ηw, ao, aw, ae, ai, ɷe = eo, ao, au, ai, ay, oi
• Rimes with -nh and -ch finals are written as follows: aing/g, eing/g, ing/g = anh/ch, ênh/ch, inh/ch

Tones

Tones are written with syllable-final tone letters: (none) ƨ з ч ƽ б = ngang, huyền, sắc, nặng, hỏi, ngã. Sắc syllables with a stop coda do not take a tone letter.

Sample (from Truyện Kiều)

Drăm năm drɷng gɷeб ngûiƨ da,
Djuб daeƨ djuб meingч cηwз laƨ ggηd njaw.
Draeƽ gwa modч gŵgч ƀeƽ ddow,
Njungб đîwƨ drong teiз maƨ đaw đynз lɷngƨ.
Laч jiƨ ƀiƽ rhăg du ffɷng,
Dryiƨ saing gwηn tɷeз maз hongƨ đaingз ggηn.

Dialectology

Some conservative North-Central dialects in Lõis have [r̥] for /ʂ/ (and [r] for /ɹ/); this is a continuation of /Cr/ clusters which are the native sources of /ʂ/. Some Southern dialects merge /ʂ/ with /x/ into [x] (these dialects also merge /ɹ/ and /ɣ/).