Five tones instead of six, no glottal catch anywhere, v said as y, d and gi said as y, and final n and t drifting back to ng and c. It is softer and more sung than Hanoi's, and it is what most overseas Vietnamese speak. Two limits of working from the site's Hanoi transcription rather than from the spelling: the reference has already merged r into /z/, so the rule that sends /z/ to /j/ catches r-words too, which Saigon actually says with a retroflex or a trill; and Saigon keeps s (retroflex) apart from x, which a rule on a single /s/ cannot show.
Where: Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong delta
Anything the spelling engine can transcribe, the accent can move. Slow it down to hear the shape.
A wider, more musical pitch range, with the merged hỏi-ngã tone swooping down and up. A little slower, and the final stops less abrupt.
In the order the mouth applies them. Every before-and-after is playable — click the IPA. The pattern is the rule as the engine runs it, for the curious.
v → jHow: Do not let the teeth touch the lip; start from the y of 'yes'.
The south never developed a /v/; the letter v is read as the glide /j/. vui 'happy' sounds like 'yui', Việt like 'Yiệt'.
| Word | Reference | Accent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| vui | happy | ||
| Việt Nam |
z → jHow: The y of 'yes' again.
What Hanoi says as /z/ for d and gi, the south says as /j/: dạ 'yes' is 'yạ', gì 'what' is 'yì'. The reference has folded r into the same /z/, so r-words come out with /j/ here too; Saigon really says those with a retroflex /ʐ/ or a trill.
| Word | Reference | Accent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| dạ | yes (polite) | ||
| gì | what |
(?<=[aăɤɤ̆ɔou])n(?=[˥˦˧˨˩ˀ]|$| ) → ŋWhen: after a back or central vowel, at the end of the syllable
How: Let the back of the tongue close instead of the tip.
ăn 'eat' comes out 'ăng', bốn 'four' as 'bống'. After the front vowels (i, ê, e) the n stays.
| Word | Reference | Accent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ăn | to eat | ||
| bốn | four | ||
| tin | unchanged — front vowel |
(?<=[aăɤɤ̆ɔou])t(?=[˥˦˧˨˩ˀ]|$| ) → kWhen: after a back or central vowel, at the end of the syllable
How: Close at the back of the mouth, unreleased.
The same shift as n → ng, on the stops: mất 'lose' as 'mấc', một 'one' as 'mộc'.
| Word | Reference | Accent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| mất | to lose | ||
| một | one |
˧˥ˀ|˧˩˧ → ˨˩˦How: Drop, then rise — with no catch in the throat.
South of Huế the broken-rising ngã and the dipping hỏi fell together into a single low dipping-rising tone. The spelling keeps both marks; southern children learn which words take ã as a list.
| Word | Reference | Accent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| mã | horse; code | ||
| mả | tomb — now identical to mã | ||
| hỏi | to ask |
˨˩ˀ → ˨˩˨How: Go low and let the syllable finish on its own.
Southern nặng is low and slightly dipping, and the vowel runs its full length; the Hanoi cut-off is gone.
| Word | Reference | Accent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| mẹ | mother | ||
| chị | older sister; you |
Other accents of Vietnamese: Hanoi · all accents