The issue is distinguishing between writing i (short) and y (long).

Currently, there is still confusion regarding the choice of spelling in Vietnamese (Quốc ngữ script).i shortandlongIn some cases, specifically when the /i/ sound acts as the main vowel in an open syllable (without a final consonant) following the consonants /h, k, l, m, s, t/. Therefore, two spellings still exist.

hope engineering/technological

theory/reasoning fine arts/ fine arts

company/company officer/officer

Actually, to discuss this issue thoroughly, we would need to address a broader scope, namely the spelling of the Vietnamese Quốc ngữ script in general. However, that would make the article too long; therefore, we will only briefly address the general issue, mainly focusing on what relates to writing.short i/ long y, revolving around the principlerecordgoodnotesThose who favor a phonetic perspective argue that both wordsi shortandlongIn all the above cases, the /i/ sound is pronounced the same way, so there is essentially no difference. Therefore, it is best to combine the two spellings into one for consistency and simplicity. (Textbook)Fundamentals of Linguistics and the Vietnamese Languagewrite:"Currently, there are instances in spelling where the same phoneme is arbitrarily written in two different ways. This is the haphazard spelling of i/y and d/gi."”⁽¹⁾And the author suggests:"Let's standardize writing the vowel - the main sound /i/ - with the letter "i", for example: reasoning, technology, fine arts,..."” ⁽²⁾This isn't just the opinion of the textbook's author; it's been a general trend among linguists for many years. However, society is not easily accepting of these proposals, despite certain reasonable reasons. Although the vast majority lack linguistic theory, through their native language intuition, they recognize the need for standardized writing.i shortIt's like a loss or a shortage of something, hence the way it's written.longThese institutions are still maintained in various places. For example: – At 20 Ly Thai To Street, Hanoi, there are two of the largest "literary" institutes in our country – the Institute of Literature (with its official publication being a magazine).Literature) and the Institute of Linguistics (with its journal)Language) – while the other sideLanguagewritei short, besideLiteraturestill writinglong. – The Education Publishing House stipulates that the above cases must be written uniformly.i shortHowever, when the publishing house's subsidiaries were established, the company names were initially written asti(short i), but over time people found it increasingly inconvenient, so they gradually switched to writing.ty(long y). – Some authors write books for the Educational Publishing House, while accepting to write in a standardized format.i shortFor textbooks, other books still suggest writing in a differentiated style.i is short / y is long.Linguist and cultural researcher Tran Ngoc Them initially also strongly supported writing in unison.i shortHowever, he later realized that, from a cultural standpoint alone, it was problematic. In his comments on the new 4th grade textbook (2005), he pointed out the uniformity in writing.i shortThis is an extreme and inappropriate approach, especially when dealing with proper names, as tradition and individual freedom must be respected there. The following year, the Education Publishing House revised the way proper names are written to reflect this change. (Writing)Chuong My, Ly Tu TronginsteadChương Mĩ, Lý Tự TrọngIn particular, scholar Cao Xuan Hao, for a long period, single-handedly opposed the merger policy.i shortandlong, as well as the general policy of reforming the Vietnamese Quốc ngữ script. What most linguists consider to be the phonetic transcription system.1-on-1(One sound – one letter and vice versa) is an advantage of the Vietnamese Quốc ngữ script – but he offers the opposite assessment:"The weakness of the Vietnamese Quốc ngữ script is not that it is not truly a phonetic transcription system, but that it is purely phonetic in nature and completely incapable of fulfilling the task of expressing meaning that it should be performing. This weakness is most evident and harmful in the case of homonyms, which are very common in Vietnamese. However, just like English and French, the places considered illogical are precisely those that distinguish the meaning and origin of homonyms, such as..." skin and family, reason and reason(in a whisper). etc. Unfortunately, there aren't many places like that." ⁽³⁾Below, we will further analyze the shortcomings of the policy of uniformly writing.i shortand the rationale for advocating for the preservation of distinctions.i short/longIf we apply the principles of phonology in this way...1 – 1Between sound and letter, besidesshort i/ long yIn the aforementioned open syllable, a series of other cases will also need to be handled "consistently". For example:

• i/uindependent as syllables:medical, approval, significance, power, requirement, weakness, fragility,...→International, standard, meaning, requirements,...Andi/uin rhyming combinations:knowledgeable, giving advice, donating, explaining,...→Knowledge, advice, donations, explanations,...
• c/k/q(recording the "flag" together):national anthem, national salvation, winding road,… → kuốc ka, kứu kuốc, kon đường kuanh ko,…
• d/gi(recorded with "d"):family education → family educationorfamily education
• g/gh(recorded with the sound "g"):rough, jealous → rough, jealous
• ng/ngh(recorded together with "suspicion"):Hesitant, arrogant → hesitant, arrogant

In addition, there are many other "irrational" cases: writinguandoWhen recording the /u/ sound together:nouhe/sheoOlder brother; writeuandowhen recording the final sound /u/:heartu/ bao; writeeatandaWhen recording the same short /a/ sound:Seatn/sau(children still spell)"á-u-au, sờ-au-sau""...etc. If everything were standardized to create a "perfect, flawless phonetic system," we would have a "modern" script far different from the current one. The consequence would be that in a few decades, our descendants would be unable to read the script from our time onwards! But more importantly, if we thoroughly apply the principles of phonetics as described above, we might achieve some results."convenientIf that's the case, then we'll lose a lot.profitother.The first, it loses its clarity. For example, if the writing is uniform.familytempleasskinmeat,reasontheasreasonlittleThis would lead to a loss of semantic distinction and also a loss of etymological identification.MondayHowever, it loses its richness. For example, in proper names, people have the right to choose how to express a certain meaning. Between names are...Tinymeaning "baby" is different fromRatmeaning "Year of the Rat". Most people choose these names.long(of Chinese origin) to express formality: chooseX(hopefully), don't choose5(giggling) choosePeriod(expectations), not selectedPeriod(bargaining), etc. Furthermore, in some cases, it loses its cultural beauty. For example, between "công ty" and "công ty," people find writing "công ty" better. Why? Because the word "ti" is written in "ti trôn," and "ti" also means "breast" (touching the nipple). Writing "công ty" is more formal than "công ti" for that reason. This explains why, for half a century, despite numerous calls from linguists and a series of textbooks pointing out this "illogicality," it still persists!Life always presents wise choices, opposing dogma and dogmatism.Where does this voluntarism originate? In my opinion, it stems from the mechanical application of phonetic theory, treating letters merely as symbols for sounds."Audio recording" without regard to the content or meaning of the word.which only records the sequence of sounds of the word. Phonetic writing is phonetic representation, not semantic representation.The relationship between letter and ideaThere is a relationship here. indirectlywhere sound is the intermediary: letter - sound - meaning”⁽⁴⁾(The quoteer emphasizes): The above statement is actually only true in general terms for phonetic writing systems, in relation to the opposing category of ideographic writing systems. Principles have theoretical value, helping to provide a general understanding, but specific phenomena must be examined in detail. Reality is always richer than theory. In reality, according to many linguists worldwide, there is no purely phonetic writing system, just as there is no purely ideographic writing system. In our opinion, while the Vietnamese Quốc ngữ script is phonetic, that is only in general terms; the rest...note-taking propertiesIts size is not small either. Besides symbols and abbreviations like m, m², m³, kg, kw, kb, D, ^, %, <, >, &, @, vv, XHCN, UBNN,... obviously that isnotesthenThe current "super-dialectal" spelling system is a vivid manifestation of its ideographic nature.The current spelling system is called "super-dialectal" because it is not entirely "faithful" to the pronunciation of any particular dialect. Northern Vietnam does not distinguish between the initial sounds /ch - tr/, /x - s/, /d/gi - r/ when speaking, but they do distinguish them when writing, hence the form (quả).lemon– (fight)painting,pretty(Pretty) -born(living),… are forms of ideographic representation; the South does not distinguish between final sounds /n – ng/, t – c/, rising – falling tones, initial sounds /v – d/,… therefore (light)Moon– (child)python,catch(hand) -north(bridge),invite(ball) -droop(down),… are forms of notation. Therefore, even if these forms are merged.short i/ long y, d/ giThat wouldn't add much, and it would be impossible to completely transform the Vietnamese Quốc ngữ script into a phonetic writing system. If we were to remain faithful to the "phonetic" principle (writing as we speak), the Vietnamese language would split into at least two parts: the Southern dialect and the Northern dialect. But Vietnamese people from Móng Cái to Hà Tiên have little difficulty with spelling, even though many words are pronounced differently, meaning they sound the same but are written differently. Why is that? Firstly, because...Writing is a system, relatively independent of the phonetic systemIn the early stages of the development of the Vietnamese Quốc ngữ script, it may have been a system of characters.1-on-1For the phonetic system, this means it's quite "reasonable." But in the course of development, phonetics and writing have evolved along separate paths, not entirely dependent on each other, eventually arriving at the form we see today. Secondly, due to this relative independence, writing has become a...other communication channelsSpoken language is received byhearing, while written language was received byvisionAccording to Cao Xuan Hao:When a writing system has been in use for several centuries, it becomes a cultural tradition. Each word gradually acquires its own distinct appearance. A gestalt that people are so familiar with that it can no longer be changed. And this visual gestalt created by the writing system is associated with the meaning of the word regardless of pronunciation, and thus the reader distinguishes homonyms even without the aid of conversational situations or the presence of a conversational partner…” ⁽⁵⁾ GestaltGestalt's theory is a psychological theory. In Vietnamese, the word is equivalent to "form," "shape," "shape," and "general appearance." Gestalt's theory is applied in many fields. Regarding cognition specifically, it posits that human perception is not singular or sequential, but rather synthetic, holistic, and instantaneous (hence some translate it as the "total image" theory). For example, we recognize an acquaintance not by examining each individual feature (eyes, nose, posture, etc.) and then adding them together, but by recognizing the entire appearance simultaneously. Similarly, in reading, we don't "spell" out each sound, combine the sounds, and then deduce the meaning; the meaning comes immediately upon perceiving the entire "word," without needing any sound to be heard. In other words, the meaning comes directly from the word, without needing to pass through the intermediate "bridge" of sound. In short, it maintains two forms.short i/ long yThere are deeper reasons for this, from many perspectives. As for the difficulty in writing, it's entirely possible to overcome it. In fact, most of it already has established rules.⁽⁶⁾, leaving only the case when they make the syllable open after consonants./h, k, l, m, s, t/This will be discussed below. In the case of letters following the six consonants /h, k, l, m, s, t/, a basic habit has already formed: writingi shortwhen it is a wordpurely Vietnamese; writelongwhen it is a wordSino-VietnameseNow we just need to standardize that practice. The table below lists some cases in matching homonyms (if there are no homonyms, use the symbol X; for Sino-Vietnamese synonyms, only 1 or 2 cases are mentioned, for example:glass– “separation”: divorce).

Consonant	Pure Vietnamese words	Sino-Vietnamese words
h	(laughing) hi hi (eyes) squinting, squinting, blowing nose, chuckling, gloating	Hope for fun, theater, theater, joy and sorrow, happiness and forgiveness, double happiness.
k	scrubbing, haggling, signing (kilogram) X X meticulous, thorough	expectation, exam, thrill, national flag, travelogue, signature, musical notation, journalist; parasitic envy, cavalry, anniversary, discipline, yearbook, commemoration, century of prostitutes, technique, variety show
l	li (millimeter), li (cup), (lined) paper, li (pants), li bì, li ti, lì lớm, mịn lì, lì xì (style), li (speaking) lí nhí (I told you so) li	(Hexagram) Ly, divorce X theory, village, sea, provincial capital, dysentery
m	(groups) mi, mi ca, not mi (cassava), wheat flour, MSG, mu mi X	My, my ...
S	Ficus microcarpa, black fig tree, fig tree, wholesale purchase X	foolishness, infatuation, humiliation of scholars, pride, and vanity.
t	tiny, tiny, (baby) tiny, tiny, tiny, (drinking) tiny, tiny, tiny, (crying) tiny, tiny, (crying) tiny, tiny, (crying)	ty (department), self-ty, company, tỳ (spleen), tỳ bà (pale), tỳ thiếp, tỳ tướng (year), tỷ lệ (ratio), tỷ dụ (example), tỷ thí, tỵ nạn (year), tỵ

Some might wonder: how do you distinguish between Sino-Vietnamese words and purely Vietnamese words? Actually, through native linguistic intuition, generally everyone can recognize them, just like knowing when to use a word.ladyWhen to use the wordwifeWhen to usewomenWhen to usewomanRegarding the distinction between Sino-Vietnamese and purely Vietnamese elements, we will discuss this on another occasion. Here, we will only state the most common rule: Purely Vietnamese elements can be used independently, while most Sino-Vietnamese elements cannot. For example,two countriesinstead of sayingtwo countriesHowever, the issue of distinguishing between Sino-Vietnamese and purely Vietnamese isn't that important. If it's standardized and books and newspapers serve as examples, then the writing style will be fine.igoodygradually they will becomegestaltin everyone's mind, and writing correctly has beenautomation, just like everyone has always written it correctly.medical/ (class) i sheet, advantage/ ỉ eo, meaning/ í ớiwithout having to think about it.For terms of foreign origin and foreign proper names, the original spelling should be retained. For example: hydrogenium -> hy-đrô; histamine -> hi-xta-min; Myanmar -> My-an-ma; Midway -> Mít-guây. For a nation, over a few centuries, each word will gradually develop its own unique form.gestaltFor a person, it only takes five to seven years at most (let's say they finish 9th grade) to form that mindset.gestaltVisual perception for each word – meaning, and correct spelling.i/uIt's not very difficult. This issue needs to be standardized soon. Because ifi shortThe "standardization" seen in some media and publishing houses today will facilitate arbitrary writing, disregarding meaning. Over time, thisgestaltThe meaning is already fixed; it's impossible to go back and differentiate it anymore.⁽¹⁾ Mai Ngoc Chu, Vu Duc Nghieu, Hoang Trong Phien.Fundamentals of Linguistics and the Vietnamese Language. Education Publishing House, 2003, p. 123.⁽²⁾ Mai Ngoc Chu, Vu Duc Nghieu, Hoang Trong Phien. Ibid, p. 123.⁽³⁾ Cao Xuan Hao.Vietnamese language - Vietnamese literature - Vietnamese people. Tre Publishing House, 2003, p. 113.⁽⁴⁾ Mai Ngoc Chu, Vu Duc Nghieu, Hoang Trong Phien. Ibid, p. 120.⁽⁵⁾ Cao Xuan Hao. Ibid, p. 110.This paper was presented at the 2010 National Linguistics Conference.