Abstract

The language described here, known to its native speakers as tiếng Việt-nam or simply tiếng Việt (literary appellations: Việt-văn or Việt-ngữ) is used in daily communication over the whole territory of Vietnam, formerly known as Annam (whence the older name for the language, Annamese or Annamite). It is the mother tongue of the ethnic majority called người Việt or người Kinh - some 66 million inhabitants who live in the delta lowlands of Vietnam, plus over one million overseas Vietnamese, in France, the USA, Canada, Australia, etc. Other ethnic groups (Chinese, Cambodians, Indians and the highlanders called ‘Montagnards’) know Vietnamese and can use it in their contacts with the Vietnamese.