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.)

The sắc tone is called bén (our timeline's Central and Southern Vietnamese for 'sharp') in Lõis.

Orthography (Djuб Gwôg 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)

The letter v for /w/ is obsolete. k p q v x z are not part of the modern alphabet.

Rimes

• The nuclei are:
  • i u w ê ŷ y ô e â a o = i/y ư u ê ơ â ô e a ă o
  • In open syllables â ŷ are written without the circumflex.
  • 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
  • êw, yw, yi, ŷi, ôe = êu, âu, ây, ơi, ôi
  • ew, ao, aw, ae, ai, oe = eo, ao, au, ai, ay, oi
• Rimes with -nh and -ch finals are written as follows: aing/g, ying/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)

Dram nam drong goeб ngûiƨ da,
Djuб daeƨ djuб meingч cewз laƨ gged njaw.
Draeƽ gwa môdч gŵgч ƀêƽ ddyw,
Njungб đîwƨ drông tyiз maƨ đaw đŷnз longƨ.
Laч jiƨ ƀiƽ rhag du ffong,
Drŷiƨ saing gwen toeз maз hôngƨ đaingз ggen.

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/).