|
Symbol |
Name |
Description |
Examples |
 a |
(ngang) |
Mid or high-mid trailing
pitch, nearly level when syllable is not final in pause
group; in final syllables pitch falls to low range
(citation forms often show level pitch) |
ba - three |
|
không - not |
|
ăn - eat |
|
tư - fourth |
|
mơ - dream |
|
à |
huyền |
Low trailing pitch, often
accompanied by breathy voice quality |
và - and |
|
gần - near |
|
bằng - made of |
|
cờ - chess |
|
á |
sắc |
High rising pitch, often
heard as nearly high level in rapid speech |
cá - fish |
|
sách - book |
|
số - number |
|
bắn - shoot |
|
cứ - persit |
|
lớp - class |
|
ạ |
nặng |
Low dropping pitch, abruptly
falling to bottom of normal voice range; syllable ends
in stop or cut off abruptly by glottal stop |
mạ - rice seedling |
|
nặng - heavy |
|
chợ - market |
|
ngựa - horse |
|
lại - come |
|
cập - briefcase |
|
vật - thing |
|
sạch - clean |
|
được - get |
|
ả |
hỏi |
Mid-low dropping pitch, less
abrupt than the tone đust decribed accompanied in
citation forms by rise at end |
cả - elder |
|
hỏi - ask |
|
ổ - nest |
|
thử - try out |
|
ã |
ngã |
High rising pitch,
accompanied by glottal stop or "strangulted" vowel
quality |
đã [anterior tense marker] |
|
mỗi - each |
|
chữ - written word |
|
cũng - likewise |