Quốc ngữ, the Latin alphabet for Vietnamese
Quốc ngữ, el alfabeto latino del vietnamita
- Date
- c. 1620-1651 · confidence high
- Place
- Hội An, Quảng Nam, Vietnam
- Credited to
- Jesuit missionaries (Francisco de Pina, Gaspar do Amaral, António Barbosa, Alexandre de Rhodes) with Vietnamese collaborators
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
A transcription of Vietnamese tones and phonemes in Latin letters, drawn up in Hội An by Jesuit missionaries around 1620-1640 and fixed in Alexandre de Rhodes's dictionary published in Rome in 1651. It became the official script in the 20th century.
It is often credited to Rhodes alone; the earlier work of Pina, Amaral and Barbosa and of Vietnamese interpreters was decisive. It became the official script under French colonial education (c. 1910) and after independence (1945).
What it led to
- mass literacy in Vietnam in the 20th century
- modern Vietnamese press and literature
- displacement of chữ Hán and chữ Nôm