General Linguistics

Episode 2: The classification of languages

Outline:
1. Some preliminaries
2. Genetic classification
3. Typological classification
1. Some preliminaries

1.1. Dialect and language

1.2. Types of language classification
Questions for discussion
What are the differences between British English, American English and
Canadian English?
Dialectal differences

http://legal-interpreters.com/blog/language-vs-dialect/2017/06/19
 Questions for discussion
What are the differences between Northern Vietnamese and Southern Vietnamese?
Dialectal differences

https://ihay.thanhnien.vn/mang/share-di-bro/khac-biet-thu-vi-trong-ngon-ngu-2-mien-bac-nam-12712.html
Dialectal differences

https://ihay.thanhnien.vn/mang/share-di-bro/khac-biet-thu-vi-trong-ngon-ngu-2-mien-bac-nam-12712.html
Dialectal differences

https://ihay.thanhnien.vn/mang/share-di-bro/khac-biet-thu-vi-trong-ngon-ngu-2-mien-bac-nam-12712.html
Dialectal differences

https://ihay.thanhnien.vn/mang/share-di-bro/khac-biet-thu-vi-trong-ngon-ngu-2-mien-bac-nam-12712.html
Dialectal differences
Dialectal differences
Dialectal differences
How to decide whether the two linguistic communities
speak different languages or different dialects of the same
language?

Mutually intelligible
How to decide whether the two linguistic communities
speak different languages or different dialects of the same
language?

Mutually intelligible

How about different dialects of Chinese?

 Cantonese vs
Mandarin

https://www.tripsavvy.com/what-is-the-difference-between-mandarin-and-cantonese-1535880
http://legal-interpreters.com/blog/language-vs-dialect/2017/06/19
1.1. Dialect and language
Political, cultural, social, historical, religious factors often intervene in
the determination of linguistic boundaries.
1.2. Types of language classification
• Genetic classification => language family
• Typological classification => linguistic typology
• Areal classification => linguistic area
What is the classification of
Vietnamese?
• Genetically?
• Typologically?
• Areally?
What is the classification of
Vietnamese?
• Genetically? Austro-Asiatic language family
• Typologically? Isolating language typology
• Areally? Southeast Asian linguistic area
2. Genetic classification
2.1. Some preliminaries
2.2. The genetic classification of Vietnamese
What does it mean for the two languages to be genetically related?
What does it mean for the two languages to be genetically related?

Hypothetically they have sprung from a common proto-language

Family
Họ ngôn ngữ
Branch 
Nhánh ngôn ngữ

Sub-branch Nhóm ngôn ngữ

Ngôn ngữ thành phần
Questions for discussion
• Compare English vs German/Dutch
• Compare English vs French
Questions for discussion
What is the genetic classification of English?
https://englishliving.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/english-a-family-tree/
Questions for discussion
How many language families in Southeast Asia?
 Language families in Southeast Asia
http://www.seasite.niu.edu/crossroads/hartmann/language.JPG 
Language families in Southeast Asia

1. Nam Á Austroasiatic
2. Nam Đảo Austronesian
3. Thai - Kadai Tai - Kadai
4. Mông - Dao Miao - Yao
5. Hán Tạng Sino - Tibetan
Austroasiatichttp://concise.britannica.com/ebc/art-2104/Distribution-of-the-Austroasiatic-languages
Miao-Yaohttp://www.britannica.com/eb/art-95147/Distribution-of-Hmong-Mien-language-
family-in-China-and-Southeast
Sino- Tibetanhomepage2.nifty.com/.../languagefamilies.html
Tai languageshttp://concise.britannica.com/ebc/art-2106/Major-divisions-of-the-Tai-languages-and-related-languages
Austronesianhttp://updatecenter.britannica.com/eb/article?articleId=109806
Questions for discussion
How many language families in Vietnam?
 Language families in Vietnam
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/indochina
_eth_1970.jpg
Language families in Vietnam

1. Nam Á Austroasiatic
2. Nam Đảo Austronesian
3. Thai - Kadai Tai - Kadai
4. Mông - Dao Miao - Yao
5. Hán Tạng Sino - Tibetan
Questions for discussion
What is the genetic classification of Vietnamese?
 Questions for discussion
What is the genetic classification of Vietnamese?

= Which language family/branch/sub-branch does Vietnamese belong to?

Criteria for genetic classification

✘ writing system
✘ tonal system
✘ syntax
✔ lexical correspondence of basic vocabulary (từ vựng cơ bản), not cultural
vocabulary (từ vựng văn hoá)

Tlốc
 Questions for discussion
What is the genetic classification of Vietnamese?

= Which language family: Austro-Asiatic

Which branch: Môn Khmer
Which sub-branch: Việt Mường
 Tiếng Việt thuộc họ Nam Á (Austro-asiatic), nhóm Môn Khmer, nhánh Việt Mường

Họ Nam Á

Munđa Nicobar Aslian Môn

MonKhmer
Khmer

Munđa Bắc Nicobar Aslian Nam Khasi

Munđa Nam Aslian Trung tâm Môn

Nihal Aslian Bắc Khmer

Pear

Bahnar

Katu

Việt-
Việt –Mường
Mường

Khmú
Nguồn: Robert Parkin, A guide to Austroasiatic Speakers and
Their languages, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu 1991 Palaung

05/17/2025 Phan Thị Huyền Trang 44

Austroasiatichttp://concise.britannica.com/ebc/art-2104/Distribution-of-the-Austroasiatic-languages

05/17/2025 Phan Thị Huyền Trang 45

Different proposals on the origin of
Vietnamese
Jean-Louis Taberd (1838): Vietnamese derives it origin from Chinese

Dịch theo: Gage, William W. 1985. Vietnamese

in Mon-Khmer perspective. In Suriya Ratanakul
and David Thomas (eds.) Papers in Southeast
Asian Languages and Linguistics in Honour of
André-Georges Haudricourt. Bangkok, Mahidol
University. pp. 493-524. Institute of Language
and Culture for Rural Development, Mahidol
University.
 Different proposals on the origin of
Vietnamese
Chinese: homepage2.nifty.com/.../languagefamilies.html

05/17/2025 Phan Thị Huyền Trang 47

 Different proposals on the origin of
Vietnamese

• James Richardson Logan (1856): Vietnamese belongs to Mon-Anam

formation.

 Logan, James Richardson (1856). Ethnology of the Indo-Pacific islands, Part 2, Chapter 6, Appendix A: Comparative
Vocabulary of the numerals of the Mon-Anam formation. Appendix B: Comparative vocabulary of miscellaneous
words of the Mon-Anam formation. Journal of the Indian Archipelago, 1.

 Logan, James Richardson (1859). The Mon-Anam formation. Journal of the Indian Archipelago, 3.1:153-183.
Different proposals on the origin of
Vietnamese
Maspéro, Henri (1912). Etude sur la phonétique historique de la langue annamite. Les
initiales [Nghiên cứu về ngữ âm lịch sử tiếng Annam. Các phụ âm đầu] Bulletin de l'Ecole
Française d'Extrême Orient 12.1-27.

Belongs to
Tai
Vietnamese family

Basic vocabulary

Syntax

Tone
 Different proposals on the origin of Vietnamese
Tai languageshttp://concise.britannica.com/
ebc/art-2106/Major-divisions-of-the-Tai-languages-
and-related-languages

05/17/2025 Phan Thị Huyền Trang 50

Lexical correspondences between Vietnamese
and Tai languages
Lexical correspondences between Vietnamese and Mon-Khmer languages
Lexical correspondences between Vietnamese vs Mon-Khmer vs Tai
Việt Môn Khmer Thái Lào
Chân Jơng Jơng
Cằm Dgăm
Mặt Măt
Mũi Muh Muh
Tóc Sok Săk
Cổ
Bi Pli Bi
Bụng Bung1 Pang4

Vietnamese– Môn-Khmer: basic vocabulary correspondences: 20%

Vietnamese –Tai : basic vocabulary correspondences: 7%
(Nguồn: Gage, William W. 1985. Vietnamese in Mon-Khmer perspective. In Suriya
Ratanakul and David Thomas (eds.) Papers in Southeast Asian Languages and
Linguistics in Honour of André-Georges Haudricourt. Bangkok, Mahidol University. pp.
493-524. Institute of Language and Culture for Rural Development, Mahidol University.)
A.G.Haudicourt
(1953) - Việt Mường sub-branch
Belongs to
- Mon-Khmer branch
Vietnamese
- Austro-Asiatic family

 Haudricourt, André-Georges. 1952. L'origine môn-khmèr des tons en

viêtnamien. Journal Asiatique 240:264-265.
 Haudricourt, André-Georges. 1953. La place du viêtnamien dans les
langues austroasiatiques. Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris
49.1:122-128.
 Haudricourt, André-Georges. 1954. De l'origine des tons en viêtnamien.
Journal Asiatique 242:69-82.

 [André-Georges Haudricourt. The origin of tones in Vietnamese. 2018,

translated by Marc Brunelle. In: Haudricourt, André-Georges. Evolution
of languages and techniques. (Ed.) Martine Mazaudon, Boyd
Michailovsky & Alexis Michaud. (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and
Monographs 270). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.]
 Việt –
Mường

Mã
Arem Chứt Aheu Pọng CuốiMường Việt
Liềng
Questions for discussion
• What is the language that was spoken during Hai Bà Trưng period?
Questions for discussion
• What is the language that was spoken during Hai Bà Trưng period?

Proto Viet-Muong
Questions for discussion
• What is the language that was spoken during Hai Bà Trưng period?

Proto Viet-Muong

• What is the historical/cultural consequence of this linguistic finding?

 Stages of Vietnamese evolution
(Trần Trí Dõi Giáo trình Lịch sử tiếng Việt (sơ thảo), NXB
ĐHQGHN, 2005)
Stage Approximate Time Characteristics
Mon-Khmer Before 1,000 B.C.E Ancient basic vocabulary, e.g. một, hai, ba, bốn, năm, trời, măng, trái, trâu; affixes,
incl. infixes, e.g. kῡak (V. quàng), kanῡak (N. khăn quàng); second syllable stressed
in bi-syllabic words.
Proto-Viet- 1,000 B.C.E – first Đông Sơn period, Van Lang-Au Lac states over Red-Ma-Ca river basin; Austroasiatic
Muong few centuries C.E. in contact with Austronesian; affixes disappearing; bi-syllabic words CvCVC; initial
consonant clusters; mono- => bi-syllabic words; no tones yet.
Ancient VM First century C.E. – Under Northern occupation; influenced by Tai-Kadai and Sino languages; large
VIII-IX centuries numbers of borrowing from Sino during the T’ang period; highly monosyllabic;
C.E. affixes no longer exist; 3-4 tones (no ? and ~).
VM Common X – XIV centuries Continued borrowing to enrich lexicon; early sign of divergence to V and M;
monosyllabic in tandem with bisyllabic words; trời, tlơj, blơj; trăm/tlam; 6 tones.
 Stages of Vietnamese evolution
(Trần Trí Dõi Giáo trình Lịch sử tiếng Việt (sơ thảo), NXB
ĐHQGHN, 2005)
Stage Approximate Time Characteristics
Old/Ancient XIII, XIV, XV Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary 70-75%; Nom script along with Sino script; popular vs.
Vietnamese elite/governmental vernaculars; Quoc am thi tap by Nguyen Trai.
Middle XV - early XIX First contact with Indo-European languages; quoc ngu invented by Alexandre de
Vietnamese Rhodes; prose language took shapes. No more consonant clusters; tlêu ngươi, blan
blở, mlầm, mlạt => trêu ngươi, trăn trở, lầm/nhầm, lạt/nhạt.
Modern XIX – present
Vietnamese
3. Typological classification

• Phonological typology
• Morphological typology
• Syntactic typology
 Loại hình hình thái học
(Morphological typology)

NN đơn lập
NN đa tổng hợp NN chắp dính NN hòa kết
(isolating)
(polysynthetic) (agglutinating) (fusional)

1 word = 1 1 word = >1 morpheme

morpheme 1 word= 1 sentence 1 word = > 1 morpheme
1 morpheme
= 1 grammatical meaning 1 morpheme
= > 1 grammatical meaning
Ngôn ngữ đơn lập (isolating
languages)

Source: https://allthingslinguistic.com/post/50939757945/morphological-typology-illustrations-from
Ngôn ngữ hòa kết (fusional
languages)

Source: https://allthingslinguistic.com/post/50939757945/morphological-typology-illustrations-from
Ngôn ngữ chắp dính (agglutinative
languages)

Source: https://allthingslinguistic.com/post/50939757945/morphological-typology-illustrations-from
Ngôn ngữ đa tổng hợp (polysynthetic
languages)

Source: https://allthingslinguistic.com/post/50939757945/morphological-typology-illustrations-from
Source: http://linguisticsbunker.tumblr.com/post/146366338060/what-is-english
Questions for discussion

1. What is the typological classification of Vietnamese?

2. What is the typological classification of English?
3. What is the typological classification of Korean?
4. What is the typological classification of Russian?
Source: http://linguisticmaps.tumblr.com/post/120857875008/513-morphological-typology-tonal-languages