Some ways to distinguish L/N when speaking and writing Vietnamese

Error replacing the initial consonant /l/-/n/ occurs in three cases:

– School Case 1: replace the fixed sound /l/ to /n/ (for example: “cold” to ‘nasty”).

– Case 2: replace the fixed sound /n/ to /l/ (for example: “mountains” becomes “mountains”).

– Case 3: replace the indefinite sound as When it’s right and when it’s wrong, it’s indistinguishable, for example: “glutinous rice village” is pronounced “ núa lep lang”.

Discussing treatment and practice to pronounce these two sounds correctly. There are many ways to distinguish l-n when speaking and writing Vietnamese. In this article, they are I introduce some techniques (often called “tips”) that some Vietnamese linguists have suggested in many different Vietnamese language documents. In addition, with our expertise in speech therapy, we will mention ways to distinguish between l-n while speaking and writing Vietnamese from the perspective of Vietnamese speech therapy in another article.

1. Tips to distinguish writing letters l-n

To make it easier to distinguish letters when writing tip “l high n low” is used to describe the height of the two letters representing these two sounds. But many people have changed it into the trick “n low n high” or “l low l high” based on your own pronunciation. In fact, this tip only partly helps distinguish when writing words rather than when speaking. On the contrary, when modified, this trick makes the speaker even more confused when speaking.

2. Tips to distinguish between l-n when speaking and writing according to the rules of Vietnamese syllable formation

Based on the basis/rules of combination in syllable formation The 7 tips listed below list the system vocabulary whose first consonants are /l/ and /n/ so that when speaking or writing, they will not overlap.

Thing tip best: In the syllable /l/ only precedes the middle sound but /n/ does not (except for the special case “oocyte”) . For example, the following words should be pronounced l: loud speaker loa loan phoenix oil stain loang   say save loud luent</ span> circle loanh close loanh around law law luyen sorry …

Second tip when not sure whether /l/ or /n/ in a rhyming word [1]</span > if this consonant appears in the first word, it is definitely the /l/ consonant. You can list rhyming words that start with the consonant /l/ as follows: loat dat dap dap dap dap dap dap lounging around long and drowsy lazily wandering around lounging around promiscuously promiscuously lazily lazily lazily rambling … According to the complete list, the rhyming pattern begins with /l/ as above there are about more than 300 words.

Third tip when not sure whether /l/ or / n/ in a rhyming word where the first consonant of the first word is /z/ (gi d) and this consonant appears in the second word, it is definitely the /n/ consonant, for example: difficult anchor

Fourth tip when it is not possible to determine whether /l/ or /n/ in a rhyming word where this consonant appears in the second sound and the first consonant of the second syllable is not /z/ (gi d), then it is the consonant /l/  (except in the case: bowling stilted …) example: craggy < span style=”FONT-STYLE:italic”>brag …

Fifth tip when It is not possible to determine whether /l/ or /n/ in a rhyming word where the first consonant is missing the first consonant, then the first consonant of the second word is /n/ for example: repent and feel guilty

Sixth tip words that cannot be distinguished are /l/ or /n/ but is synonymous with another word written with /nh/, then write /l/ for example: lam le- nham nhah; ridiculous-ridiculous; miss the village – miss the gentle;jasmine-jasmine; words; mistake-mistaken

Seventh tip in a word with initial consonant, both sounds in That word must be the same consonant. Therefore, we only need to know whether a word begins with /l/ or /n/ to infer the other word: For example, both are l: cool sparkling glitter … It’s all n: no ne n n na flân nhih …

Tips to list the vocabulary system with the initial consonants /l/ and /n/ according to the seven tips above have systematized a number of vocabulary certain so that users do not get confused when speaking and writing. It is also a very useful resource for speech-language pathologists, teachers and other adults to use in pronunciation training programs or language development programs for both children and adults. .

However, the above vocabulary list system does not cover all words with the first consonant /l/ or /n/ that are easily confused in Vietnamese, for example: non nuoc with can of water (sweet) … Moreover, the above vocabulary system seems to help people Used more in writing than in speaking. Because when speaking normally, users rarely stop to analyze the syllabic structure of the word to pronounce /l/ or /n/, for example when reading “Walking around the yard with a chicken and a chicken…” would be odd and not give the speaker enough time as they stop to analyze “loanh” will not be read as “noanh” because /n/ does not go with a buffered syllable. As for young children, they will imitate other people’s pronunciation and gradually use it out of habit, but will not be able to analyze the syllable structure like adults. Therefore, in addition to using the above tips and not everyone can use the above tips,  therapeutic practice methods are still very necessary. design.

Although our writing style may be difficult to understand and complicated, analyzing a problem must be viewed from many different perspectives in a critical way. It’s up to each individual to choose and use the information they need. On the occasion of Vietnamese Teachers’ Day November 20, we would like to send congratulations to all teachers! We wish all teachers to keep their love for their profession forever, especially  teachers who work with students with special needs!

MSc. Pham Thi Ben
Department of Special Education – Hanoi University of Education