Tones in the Southern dialect

Tones in the Southern dialect (Saigon a.k.a. HCM city) behave quite differently from the standard tones.

Vietnamese all Southern tones

Regarding tones in the Southern dialect, the good news is that there is no glottal stops. Another good news is that there are only five distinct tones in speech instead of six. However, the bad news is that more than half of the tones have a rising pitch, which means we can only differentiate between them based on their height.

Six basic tones

In speech, the Southern dialect only has five distinct tones because the second and fifth tones are pronounced the same.

First tone and fourth tone

The first and fourth tones in the Southern dialect are the same as their standard versions, there is nothing much to say.

Second tone and fifth tone

The second and fifth tones are pronounced the same in the Southern dialect: start with middle pitch and rise to high pitch. They are very similar to the standard third tone.

Vietnamese Southern second and fifth tones

Third tone

The third tone is very high in the Southern dialect. It is so high that it goes beyond the normal five-level scale. There is a slight rise in pitch.

Vietnamese Southern third tone

Sixth tone

The sixth tone starts with mid-low pitch and rises to middle pitch.

Vietnamese Southern sixth tone

All-in-one tone chart

Vietnamese all Southern tones in one

Checked tones

The checked tones are the same as their standard versions. Remember that the thing about checked tones is their height, not pitch contour, so only highs and lows matter.

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