Abstract
For a long time, Classical Chinese called "the Han or scholars' script" was used in Vietnamese education, religion, legislation and administration -- and even in private deeds and contracts. After independence was gained in 939 A.D. native scholars gradually succeeded in the invention of a demotic system of writing referred to as "the southern script" (chu nom). This paper traces the history of this highly creative collective effort to use Chinese characters and parts thereof to transcribe the Vietnamese language.
The paper examines in detail the evolution of different methods of using characters, radicals and diacritics, then relates various approaches to the area of nom studies, to its contribution to Vietnamese historical linguistics and to the analysis of major gems of Vietnamese classical and folk literature, including such narratives in verse as The Tale of Kieu.
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