TTLA: A Survey of the Sino-Vietnamese Phenomenon of Village and Commune Place Names in the Northern Delta

1. Full name of doctoral candidate: TRUONG NHAT VINH 2. Gender: Male

3. Date of birth: December 18, 1988 4. Place of birth: Hanoi

5. Decision No. 3684/2015/QD-XHNV dated December 31, 2015, of the Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU Hanoi, recognizing the doctoral student.

6. Changes in the training process

- Extend the training period by one year, from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2019.

- The dissertation title has been adjusted according to the requirements of the Faculty Council on December 30, 2019.

Original thesis title:"A survey of how village place names in the Northern Delta region have been Sinicized."

The thesis title has been changed to: “"A Survey of Sino-Vietnamese Phenomena Regarding Village and Commune Place Names in the Northern Delta"

7. Thesis title:A Survey of Sino-Vietnamese Phenomena Regarding Village and Commune Place Names in the Northern Delta

8. Major:Languages ​​of Vietnam's Ethnic Minorities9. Code:62 22 01 09

10. Scientific Advisor

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khang

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Thi Hong Hanh

11. Summary of the new findings of the thesis

- The thesis statistically identifies 794 villages in the Northern Delta that still retain their Vietnamese and corresponding Sino-Vietnamese names. Simultaneously, the thesis determines the linguistic origins of some village place names through historical phonetic comparison. The results show that some place names bear the mark of linguistic contact between Vietnamese and Austroasiatic, Austronesian, and Tai-Kadai languages. Among these are names originating from the languages ​​of Vietnam's ethnic minorities.

- Regarding structural characteristics: both Vietnamese and Sino-Vietnamese names have complex structures consisting of common and specific components. The common component in both types of names has a simple structure. The specific component in Vietnamese names has a simple structure, while the specific component in Sino-Vietnamese names has a compound structure.

- Regarding semantic characteristics: Vietnamese names often have unclear meanings. Sino-Vietnamese names are generally easier to determine the meaning of, but special attention should be paid to the correlation between the written form and the phonetic structure of the name.

- Regarding the relationship between Vietnamese and Sino-Vietnamese names: Phonetic relationships are far more dominant than semantic relationships.

- From the above descriptions, the thesis initially concludes that the phonetic aspect is a particularly important aspect in the process of Sinicizing Vietnamese village and commune names. From a phonetic perspective, the Sinicization process of Vietnamese place names and village/commune names reflects several principles:The firstThere are two main methods used in the process of Sinicizing Vietnamese names: the method of completely preserving the phonetic form and the method of phonetic correspondence;Monday, with phonetic correspondence, both syllables or/or one of the two syllables in the Sino-Vietnamese name will reflect this correspondence;TuesdayThe Sino-Vietnamese and Vietnamese syllables largely share the same initial consonant and correspond to each other in the vowel part of the syllable. Generally, the phonetic correspondence between the names of villages and communes in Northern Vietnam not only provides knowledge about the process of Sino-Vietnamese adaptation of village and commune names in particular, and Vietnamese place names in general, but also serves as evidence reflecting the historical transformation of Vietnamese phonetics over time.

12. Practical applications

The materials in this dissertation serve research in historical linguistics and linguistic-cultural contact.

13. Further research directions: toponymy, linguistic-cultural contact, comparative-historical linguistics.

14. Scientific works related to the dissertation

- Truong Nhat Vinh (2018),"Regarding some pairs of Nom names and Sino-Vietnamese names of village place names that have semantic relationships”, Language & Life Magazine (2), pp. 69-75.

- Truong Nhat Vinh (2019),"Regarding some pairs of Nôm-Sino-Vietnamese place names in Northern Vietnam, there is a phonetic relationship.”, Language & Life Magazine(3), pp.15-27.

                                                                    INFORMATION ON DOCTORAL THESIS

1.Full name: TRUONG NHAT VINH 2. Sex: Male

3. Date of birth: December 18, 1988 4. Place of birth: Hanoi

5. Admission decision number: 3684/2015/QD –XHNV dated December 31, 2015

6. Changes in academic process:

- Training period was extended from 01 January 2018 to 31 December 2019

- Thesis title was revised from:An investigation into the way to Sino-Vietnamise typonyms in Northern Delta villagesbigAn investigation of Vietnamese & Sino-Vietnamised typonyms of Northern Delta villages

7. Official thesis title:An investigation of Vietnamese & Sino-Vietnamised typonyms of Northern Delta villages

8. Major: Language of Vietnamese ethnic areas. 9. Code: 62 22 01 09

10. Supervisors:

Prof. Nguyen Van Khang, PhD

Associate Professor Tran Thi Hong Hanh, PhD

11. Summary of the new findings of the thesis:

- The thesis identifies 794 typonyms of villages in Northern Delta that have both Vietnamese and corresponding Sino-Vietnamese names. Based on historical-comparative method, the origin of some toponyms was phonologically reconstructed. The results show that there are toponyms which reflect the language contact of Vietnamese and other Austroasiatic, Austronesian and Tai-Kadai languages. Among them, many toponyms were analyzed to be originated from the languages ​​of ethnic minorities in Vietnam.

- In terms of grammar: both Vietnamese and Sino-Vietnamese names have complex structure with general name and proper name. The general name of both kinds has simple form. The proper name of Vietnamese is simple while that of Sino-Vietnamese is compound.

- In terms of semantics: Vietnamese names do not usually have clear meaning. By and large, it is easier to identify the meaning of Sino-Vietnamese names but the correlation between characters and pronunciation should be well aware.

- In terms of the relationship between Vietnamese and Sino-Vietnamese names: phonetic relationship is significantly more dominant than semantic relationship.

- The findings of this study indicate that the process of converting Vietnamese village names into Sino-Vietnamese mainly focuses on phonetic features. Semantic features are less emphasized. From the phonetic perspective, the integration of Vietnamese words into Sino-Vietnamese relfects the following rules. First, there are two main ways of changing Vietnamese names into Sino-Vietnamese: conserving pronunciation and correspondence pronuciation. Second, with regard to pronunciation correspondence, both syllables and/or one of the two syllables of Sino-Vietnamese names reflect pronunciation correlation. Third, Sino-Vietnamese and Vietnamese syllables which are in the phonetic relationship mostly have identical head vowels and corresponding rhyme. By and large, pronunciation correspondence of geographical names of villages in Northern Delta does not only provide knowledge of the process of changing village names in specific, geographical names in Vietnam in general into Sino-Vietnamese but is also an evidence of changes in Vietnamese pronunciation over time.

12. Practical applicability:

The thesis's materials serve for the studies of historical linguistics and cultural-linguistic exposure.

13. Further research directions: place name, contact language – culture, historical - comparative linguistics

14. Theses related publications:

- Truong Nhat Vinh (2018), “A study on the semantic relation between pairs of Nom – Sino – Vietnamese names of villages”,Journal Language & Life.Vol 2 (269), pp.69-75.

- Truong Nhat Vinh (2019), “A study on the phonetic relation between pairs of Nom & Sino –Vietnamese name of villages in the Northern Delta Vietnam”,Journal Language & Life. Vol 3(283), pp.15-27.