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The History of Vietnamese Final Palatals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

Laurence C. Thompson
Laurence C. Thompson*
Affiliation:
University of Hawaii
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Abstract

There has been considerable controversy about the nature and interpretation of the elements written -ch, -nh in standard northern Vietnamese; several recent analyses deny them separate status, equating them with final velars. Comparison with the corresponding finals in other dialects suggests they were originally distinct from velars, and this view is further supported by comparative evidence from the related Muong language. The results of the study have implications for the further comparison of Vietnamese and Muong with other Austroasiatic languages and raise some questions about the part Chinese loanwords have played in the development of these elements.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 43 , Issue 1 , March 1967, pp. 362 - 371
Copyright
Copyright © 1967 by Linguistic Society of America

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