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. In Irta bén only denotes non-entering sắc.

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)

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
  • 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, ow, ei, 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, 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)

Dram nam drong goeб ngûiƨ dâ,
Djuб daeƨ djuб meingч cewз lâƨ gged njaw.
Draeƽ gwâ modч gŵgч ƀêƽ ddow,
Njungб đîwƨ drông teiз mâƨ đaw đŷnз longƨ.
Lâч jiƨ ƀiƽ rhag du ffong,
Drŷiƨ saing gwen toeз mâз 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/).