Before the 17th Century, Vietnamese was written using a script of modified Chinese characters called Chunom.1 Today, modern Vietnamese is written using the Latin alphabet minus j, w and z, which can still be appear in loan words. The Vietnamese alphabet also includes the following 14 letters: ?/?, Â/â, Ch/ch, ?/?, Ê/ê, Gi/gi, Kh/kh, Ng/ng, Nh/nh, Ô/ô, ?/?, Ph/ph, Th/th, and ?/?.2
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the current Latin-based Vietnamese writing system was first developed in the 17th Century by Portuguese missionaries and then later improved by Alexandre de Rhodes, a French missionary who added special marks to the Latin characters which indicated the tones specific to Vietnamese.3 In the beginning, this writing system was only used for Christian texts, but later began to gain in popularity. By 1910, it was made official by the French colonial administration in Vietnam. Qouc-ngu ("national language"), the Vietnamese writing system’s official name, is now taught and used throughout the country.4
One of the most unique aspects of the Vietnamese language is its use of a tonal system to indicate the meanings of words which are spelled the same in terms of consonant and vowel arrangement. In written Vietnamese, these tones are indicated through the use of five special marks, which are illustrated in this linked table.
Additional resources on the Vietnamese writing system can be found on the Web at:
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/Vietnamese.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_language#Writing_system
1 "Austroasiatic languages" Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=74999
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2 "Vietnamese alphabet" Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_alphabet#The_letters
[Accessed December 15, 2004]
3 "Quoc-ngu" Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9062316
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4 "Austroasiatic languages" Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=74999
[Accessed December 15, 2004]