Research of square scripts in vietnam an overview and prospects

Article

Research of square scripts in Vietnam:
An overview and prospects

Journal of Chinese Writing Systems
2019, Vol 3(3) 189–198
© 2019 The Author(s)
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DOI: 10.1177/2513850219861167
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Nguyê˜n Tuâ´n Cu̓ò̓ ng

Institute of Sino-Nom Studies, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Vietnam

Abstract
This paper first assesses the achievements and limitations of square scripts research in Vietnam, and then progresses to
sketch out necessary steps that should be undertaken in the near future. The paper argues that researchers in Vietnam
need to face the reality that the field of grammatology (or graphology), specifically regarding the research of square
scripts, on the whole remains weak in many areas, despite some achievements, such as in the aspect of Nom script.
Within the present academic circumstances, a key issue will be entering into the international arena and co-operating
on multiple levels with international academia in order to absorb the knowledge and experience of the international
community, thereby creating a stable foundation on which this field can be developed in Vietnam.
Keywords
Grammatology, Nom script, Sinographs, square script, Vietnam

Introduction
In modern Vietnam there are currently three types of scripts, with each type containing within itself diverse subdivisions.
1. The first category comprises scripts are those which have their origin in Sinographs (or Han characters, Chinese

characters, Chinese script) – these include Sinographs, Việt Nom (the square script for Vietnamese language) and
three ethnic majority scripts of Tày Nom, Dao Nom and Ngạn Nom (Nguyễn QH, 2008). All of these four kinds
of Nom are semantic-phonemic scripts like Sinographs; therefore they should be labelled ‘square scripts’.
2. The second category comprises scripts are those which are derivatives of Indian script, including the Cham and
Thai scripts which are derivatives of India’s early Brahmi script. These scripts are all phonemic. The Thai script
includes four archaic scripts: Lai Pao Thai, Quỳ Thai, Đèng Thai and Northwestern Thai (Trần, 2000).
3. The third category comprises scripts are those which are based on the Roman alphabet; a 22-character alphabet is
used to write the language of 22 ethnicities, including the Kinh people (Romanized sctipt, or ‘chữ Quốc ngữ’) and 21
minorities. Among the 54 ethnicities in Vietnam, there are still 28 without their own script (Hoàng, 2001; Trần, 2000).
This basic overview makes clear that the situation of scripts in Vietnam is diverse and uniquely complex (Nguyễn VL,
2013). New research on multiple scripts in the history of Vietnamese scripts has shown that, as a whole, the ancient
scripts of Vietnam were often used side by side, even within a single text, showing that not only did they not exclude one
another, but they actually coexisted, showcasing the diverse and harmonious nature of Vietnamese scripts throughout
history (Nguyễn TC, 2018).
This paper focuses on the first type of scripts; that is, the scripts that are based on Sinographs, the so-called ‘square
scripts’ or ‘square-block scripts’. Because square scripts in Vietnam include Sinographs and four types of Nom script,
the research of square scripts can be called ‘Sino-Nom studies’ (nghiên cứu Hán Nôm), despite the fact that ‘Sino-Nom

Corresponding author:
Nguyê˜n Tuâ´n Cuò
̓ ̓ng, Institute of Sino-Nom Studies, 183 Ða˘.ng Tiê´n Ðông Street, Ðô´ng Ða District, Hanoi, Vietnam, zipcode 100000.
Email:


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studies’ include a wider focus beyond the research of mere characters. This paper provides only a general overview rather
than going deep into details. Because of this, I do not cite all the details of each researcher and their research covering

the past century – rather, I merely highlight some of their unique contributions.

The research of square scripts in Vietnam: Situation, success and limitations
Research materials
The majority of research material for square scripts in Vietnam is centred in the Sino-Nom archives of the Institute of
Sino-Nom Studies in Hanoi. Based on statistics in 2016, the institute currently contains approximately 35,000 individual
books, among which there are about 6000 unique titles.1 The total number of stone stele inscription rubbings is about
70,000. These numbers confirm the institute’s first standing as an archive centre for old books in Vietnam. The collection
is made up primarily of Sinographic texts, followed by Việt Nom texts (about 800 unique titles), followed by Tày Nom.
Dao Nom texts are not common and there are no Ngạn Nom texts. In reality, the texts reveal that Việt Nom texts appear
both as manuscripts and woodblock printed texts, whereas the other three Nom scripts only appear as manuscripts.
There are several other archive centres in Vietnam; however, they have smaller collections. These include the National
Library in Hanoi, National Archive Center I, Library of the Institute of Social Sciences Information, and several private
collections.
Aside from these, many research materials are widely distributed across various regions of the country in the form of
inscriptions on steles, bells, medals, plaques, parallel couplets, woodblocks and ancient texts, etc. These are represented
on a variety of media such as paper, stone, wood and brick. The Institute of Sino-Nom Studies annually organizes projects to collect and make rubbings and take pictures of these sources in order to diversify the institute’s collection.
For various historical and cultural reasons, there are a number of Vietnamese Sino-Nom materials, yet to be fully
documented, archived in France, Japan, China, Taiwan, England, America, Thailand and other countries. The total
number of these materials remains unclear. It is expected that in the near future an international symposium centred on
Sino-Nom materials archived overseas will soon be organized, with the object in mind being cataloguing the complete
corpus of Sino-Nom materials stored outside Vietnam in order to offer to researchers a complete catalogue of Sino-Nom
sources both within and outside of Vietnam.
Educational institutions of square scripts. Regarding their place in organized education (aside from schools teaching
modern Chinese), square scripts in Vietnam are no longer treated as a ‘living script’, but solely as a ‘dead script’ preserved
only in written materials no longer used in daily life. Hence, education in square scripts aims primarily at researching
old Sino-Nom texts. There are several large centres that focus on training Sino-Nom specialists; these include (a) the
Section of Sino-Nom – a subset of the Department of Literature at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities of
Vietnam National University in Hanoi (VNU-USSH) – which offers Bachelor, Master and Doctorate education; (b) the
Section of Sino-Nom of the Department of Philology at Hanoi National University of Education (HNUE), which offers

Master and Doctorate training; (c) the Department of Sino-Nom at the Graduate Academy of Social Sciences (at Vietnam
Academy of Social Sciences – VASS) provides Master and Doctorate education, the Institute of Sino-Nom Studies is in
charge of academic issues; (d) the Section of Sino-Nom of the Department of Literature and Linguistics (at the University
of Social Sciences and Humanities, of Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City), which offers Bachelor and
Master education; and (e) the Department of Philology at Huế University of Science with a Master’s programme. Aside
from these, Sino-Nom is also integrated as a supplementary subject in the curriculum of several university courses such
as language and linguistics, history, tourism, museums and archives. The Vietnam Buddhist Academy has also designed
several Sino-Nom courses for the education of Buddhist clergy.
In the private sphere, Sino-Nom is also taught in several centres such as Nhân Mĩ School (Nhân Mĩ học đường,
Hanoi), Vân Trai School (Vân Trai học uyển, Hanoi), and various classes distributed across the countryside alongside
calligraphy classes concentrated in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh city and Hue.

Research institutions of square scripts
The formal educational organizations described above are the main centres of Sino-Nom research, among which the
most important is the Institute of Sino-Nom Studies – a research institution on the national level founded in 1970,


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currently with a staff of 70 members (over 40 of whom are research staff). The remaining institutions and organizations are educational in nature, with each one having about 5–10 lecturers specializing in the discipline of Sino-Nom
studies. Aside from these, there are several researchers working in the field of cultural administration at central and
local levels, along with several independent scholars with profound professional knowledge. The total number of
professional Sino-Nom researchers in Vietnam is most likely no more than 150 people, centred mainly in Hanoi, Hue
and Ho Chi Minh City.

Research of Sinographs remains weak, focusing on ‘modern scripts’ as opposed to ‘ancient scripts’
The study of Sinographs is a field that remains largely untapped in Vietnam. The primary similarity between all
research projects on Sinographs in Vietnam is that they are all limited to generalized introductions on the history of

Sinographs, the construction of Sinographs, the main script styles in calligraphy, the simplification and Romanization
of Sinographs in the 20th century, and the influence of Sinographs on the construction of various Nom scripts. Thi Đạt
Chí, a hobbyist researcher of Chinese descent, published Researching Sinographs, a small book of only 50 pages which
was totally introductory in nature (Thi, 1960). Nguyễn Quang Hồng has undertaken new efforts to discuss central
issues and terms in the research of square scripts with other East Asian scholars (Nguyễn QH, 2008). Most recently,
Nguyễn Đình Phức and his colleagues published Grammatology of Sinographs, the first college textbook in Vietnam
on the study of Sinographs (Nguyễn ĐP et al., 2015). Unfortunately, although the book displays new efforts by young
scholars, the content of the book is rather modest, consisting of only 100 pages. Among the various research topics surrounding Sinographs in Vietnam, that which receives the most attention is that of Sino-Vietnamese reading. Regarding
this topic, Nguyễn Tài Cẩn is a key scholar who published a study of international standards (Nguyễn TC, 1979). In
addition, there are two recently published Doctorate dissertations by Nguyễn Đại Cồ Việt at Beijing University and
Duong John Phan, a Vietnamese-American, at Cornell University. Another point that should be addressed is that the
research of ‘taboo characters’ in Vietnamese history is centred on the work of Ngô Đức Thọ (Ngô, 1997). Recently,
Sinographs in Vietnam attracted some foreign scholars, such as Sasahara Hiroyuki, Kosukegawa Teiji, He Huazhen 何
华珍, etc., in which some recent researches by He Huazhen and his colleagues about variant forms of Sinographs are
interesting and potential.
One feature of Sinograph research in Vietnam is that it is completely focused on ‘modern scripts’; that is, the various
scripts of Sinographs that are ‘modern’ as opposed to those which are ‘ancient scripts’ such as Oracle Bone, Bronze
and Seal scripts. Research on ancient scripts by scholars are extremely few in number, including those contributions by
Nguyễn Việt, Trịnh Sinh, An Chi, Đinh Khắc Thuân co-authored with Ye Shaofei. Currently, in the Institute of SinoNom Studies there is one scholar named Nguyễn Quang Thắng, working on his research on Seal Script in Vietnam’s
inscriptions. Once finished, this work will be a new contribution to the study of ancient scripts in Vietnam.

Research of Nom is strongly developing, focusing on Viêt Nom
˙

The most significant accomplishment in the research of square scripts in Vietnam lies in the research of the Việt Nom
script. This can be explained by the fact that the Việt Nom script is the largest indigenous script that wielded the greatest
influence, was used most widely in the Vietnamese community and has more extant texts compared to Tày Nom, Dao
Nom and Ngạn Nom.
Important scholars who have contributed to the study of Việt Nom include Bửu Cầm (before 1975), Đào Duy Anh
(1975), Trần Văn Giáp (2002, published posthumously), Lê Văn Quán (1981), Nguyễn Tài Cẩn (1985, 2003), Nguyễn

Khuê (1987–1988), Nguyễn Ngọc San (1987, 2003), Nguyễn Tá Nhí (1997), Hồng Thị Ngọ (1999), Trương Đức Quả
(1997), Hồng Hồng Cẩm (1999), Lã Minh Hằng (2004), Nguyễn Thị Lâm (2006), Nguyễn Quang Hồng (2008) and
several younger scholars such as Hoa Ngọc Sơn (2005), Nguyễn Đình Hiền (2012), Trần Trọng Dương (2012), Nguyễn
Tuấn Cường (2012), Nguyễn Thị Tú Mai (2012), Đỗ Thị Bích Tuyển (2014), etc. Việt Nom is discussed and assessed from
perspectives such as origins, time period of appearance, historical developments, construction, relationship between
the written word and spoken Vietnamese, the influence of Sinographs on Nom script, and the creative and nationalistic
aspects of Nom. Among the publications on Việt Nom, An Outline of Grammatology of Nom Script (Khái luận văn tự học
chữ Nôm) by Nguyễn Quang Hồng is the most comprehensive and, in addition to covering practically all aspects of Nom
research, also goes into various specific issues relevant to international scholarship (Nguyễn QH, 2008). If one work on
Nom text was considered to be translated into other languages, I would suggest that this work be chosen.
There are a number of foreign scholars who have contributed greatly to research of the Việt Nom script. These
include Tomita Kenji, Shimizu Masaaki, Wen You 闻宥, Chen Jinghe 陈荆和, Luo Changshan 罗长山, Li Leyi 李乐毅,


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Ma Kecheng 马克承, Lin Minghua 林明华, Shi Weiguo 施维国, Qi Guangmou 祁广谋, Nie Bin 聂槟, Li Yashu 李亚
舒, etc. However, it must be noted that not many foreign scholars are to actually read Vietnamese written in Nom texts
(because they are not fluent in Vietnamese) and therefore they usually focus on issues such as dating the appearance of
Nom script and the influence of Sinographs on Việt Nom script – that is to say, these scholars seldom deal with a purely
grammatological focus.
Regarding the three other Nom scripts belonging to ethnic minorities, the Tày Nom script receives the most attention. Research of Tày Nom script has received contributions from Cung Khắc Lược (1992), Nguyễn Văn Huyên (1995),
Hoàng Triều Ân (2003), Lục Văn Pảo, Lưu Đình Tăng, and several scholars belong to a younger generation such as
Hoàng Phương Mai, Nguyễn Văn Tuân, Phạm Hoàng Giang, Trần Thu Hường, Chu Xuân Giao and Triệu Thị Kiều
Dung. These researchers focus on issues such as the origins and construction of Tày Nom script along with their
relationship to Việt Nom script, Sinographs and Zhuang script 壮族方块字. The Institute of Sino-Nom Studies has
published a series of transliterations and photo reproductions of Tày Nom script, edited by Trịnh Khắc Mạnh, now
numbering about 20 volumes. Recently, Tày Nom has attracted the attention of foreign scholars such as David Holm

(National Chengchi University) and Shimizu Masaaki (Osaka University). This bears good tidings for the field of Tày
Nom research.
There are few people who research Dao Nom script – the contributions of Hoàng Hựu (2007, 2012) form the primary
basis of research in this area. Ngạn Nom script has only been introduced in one research essay of Nguyễn Quang Hồng in
2007, due to the paucity of Ngạn Nom texts. Clearly, these are fields that remain empty – partially due to lack of extant
and available research materials.

Compiling dictionaries of Chinese and Nom characters
In terms of classical Chinese dictionaries (excluding modern Chinese–Vietnamese dictionaries aimed at students of
modern Chinese), the dictionaries of Đào Duy Anh (1932) and Thiều Chửu (1942) published in the first half of the 20th
century and reprinted many times since remain the most popular in Vietnam. Aside from these two dictionaries, dictionaries have also been compiled by Bửu Kế (1999), Phan Văn Các (1999), Vĩnh Cao and Nguyễn Phố (2001), Nguyễn Tôn
Nhan (2002) and Trần Văn Chánh (2011).
Regarding Nom scripts, Việt Nom, Tay Nom and Dao Nom characters have all been compiled into dictionaries –
Hoàng Triều Ân has compiled A Dictionary of Tày Nom Characters (Từ điển chữ Nôm Tày, 2003) and Hoàng Hựu has
compiled A List of Nom Characters used by the Dao Minority (Bảng tra chữ Nôm dân tộc Dao, 2012).
Dictionaries of Việt Nom are especially diverse. From 1970 to the present, many Việt Nom dictionaries have been
compiled and published including those of Nguyễn Quang Xỹ and Vũ Văn Kính (1971), the Institute of Linguistics (1976),
Vũ Văn Kính (1992, 1994, 2002), the Trương Đình Tín and Lê Q Ngưu (2007), Trần Văn Kiệm (2004), Nguyễn Quang
Hồng (2006, 2014), the Institute of Vietnamese Studies (2009), with contributions from foreign scholars such as Takeuchi
Onosuke (1988) and Paul Schneider (1993). Among the titles listed above, the newest publication, A Dictionary of Nom
Characters with Quotations and Annotations (Tự điển chữ Nôm dẫn giải, 2 volumes) by Nguyễn Quang Hồng (2014) is
the single largest achievement in the history of Nom dictionaries in Vietnam. Regarding the organizational method of
Nom dictionaries, there are two main patterns: one is dictionaries compiled based on the memory of the compiler without
referencing Nom texts; the other is dictionaries with references to extant Nom texts, making them more reliable. Today,
there are only three dictionaries that have been compiled according to this second method – two by Nguyễn Quang Hồng
(2006, 2014) and one by the Institute of Vietnamese Studies (2009).

Digitization and creation of a Sino-Nom keyboard
Within the past 20 years, Sino-Nom scholars and technology experts have worked together in order to digitize SinoNom characters, create a font of Việt Nom characters and create keyboards and input methods for Sino-Nom characters.
Currently, almost 10,000 Việt Nom characters have been adapted into fonts and incorporated into international Unicode.

The digitization of Nom characters is the result of efforts from the Vietnamese Nom Preservation Foundation (VNPF; the
USA), the Mojikyo organization (Japan), the Dynalab company (Taiwan), the Đạo Uyển group, and several experts from
the Institute of Information Technology and Institute of Sino-Nom Studies (Vietnam). There are two common Sino-Nom
keyboards used in Vietnam – one created by the Tống Phước Khải group, the other created by the Phan Anh Dũng group.
The VNPF has also collaborated with the Vietnamese National Library in Hanoi to digitize over 1200 Sino-Nom books
in their collection.2 The digitization of Sinographs and Nom characters in Vietnam has helped to convenience many
researchers of the Sino-Nom scripts.


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Script ethnocentrism. Beginning in the mid-20th century, a phenomenon has arisen in Vietnam which I tentatively
call ‘script ethnocentrism’. Supporters of this ideology work to prove two points:
(i) A non-Chinese script was native to Vietnam prior to the introduction of Sinographs. This script is called ‘tadpole
script’ – even though there is no supporting evidence of its existence.
(ii) Sinographs are the invention of the Vietnamese people, not the Chinese. Supporters of script ethnocentrism are
often amateur ‘scholars’ of grammatology; for example, Lê Trọng Khánh (1986, 2010), Hà Văn Thuỳ (2008), Đỗ
Văn Xuyền (2012) and Viên Như (2014). Someone even runs a website particularly for ‘ancient script of Vietnam’.3
Contradictory responses to their views offered by professional specialists (such as Trần Trọng Dương’s response
to Hà Văn Thuỳ) have seemed to reach a dead end due to differing understandings of linguistics and history,
along with methods and standards in scientific research. The root of script ethnocentrism can be explained as
an outgrowth of extreme nationalism and ethnocentrism beginning in the mid-20th century. However, whereas
these ideologies wield a heavy influence in society, Vietnamese academia seems immune to script ethnocentrism.
These theories show a tendency to develop in regions outside of China, the central birthplace of Sinographs. They
are worthy of research from the perspective of psychology and sociology related to scripts.

Prospects for square script research in Vietnam
Creating a digital database for square scripts

As mentioned above, research materials related to square scripts, especially Sinographs and Việt Nom script, in Vietnam
are extremely diverse. It is very necessary to invest time in creating a digital database in order to aid the research of
these scripts. Such a database could be divided along lines of research subject and be used to initiate research ranging
from specific to general. Modern scholarship emphasizes the need for a detailed database of individual characters – not
merely the digitization, photo reproduction or scans of texts. Optical character recognition (OCR), correct portrayal of
characters, fonts representative of different script styles, and online databases with open access are important in order
to provide useful and up-to-date resources for researchers. In this regard, Vietnamese Sino-Nom scholars must learn
from the methods and examples of the Center for the Study and Application of Chinese Characters at East China Normal
University in their dealings with Sinographs.

Co-operation with foreign institutions and scholars
In the field of ‘square scripts’ in Vietnam, tight co-operation is needed with foreign institutions in both training scholars and doing research. Some potential young scholars should be sent to Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea,
Europe and the USA to deal with their MA or PhD theses. They would have opportunities to learn from these best
centres of grammatology, in order to prepare their knowledge and methodology to conduct studies on square scripts in
Vietnam, or compare with other scripts in the ‘Sinographic cosmopolis’ (or Sinosphere). Vietnam also needs to invite
foreign scholars to come to Vietnam to do research on Sinographs and Nom scripts in Vietnam, or to conduct comparative studies between Vietnamese square scripts and Manyogana, Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji in Japan, and Hanja,
Hangul and Hyangka on the Korean Peninsula, etc. Vietnamese scholars should work with foreign scholars to learn from
their knowledge and experience by participating in international conferences, research projects, studying abroad, and
having their publications published in foreign grammatological journals. In Vietnam, as for the field of ‘square scripts’
in particular and the field of scholarship in general, international integration is a must-go path in the present situation of
globalization and internationalization.

Organizing square script education at the elementary and university levels
At present in Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, Sinographs continue to be taught within the elementary
school system – in China and Taiwan this is obvious since Chinese characters are used to write the local language. In
Japan and Korea, students graduating from secondary school are required to know a certain number of Sinographs. Since
the abandonment of the Vietnamese civil service examination in 1919, Chinese characters continued to be taught in
state-sponsored classes (in the regime of Republic of Vietnam, 1955–1975) or in private classes nationwide. After 1975,
Chinese characters ceased to be a part of the elementary curriculum compiled by the Ministry of Education and Training.

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This has caused Vietnamese people to become increasingly alienated from Sino-Nom scripts. Due to this rupture of
continuity between past and present, Vietnamese people are largely unable to read old texts. Sino-Nom scripts are now
taught in only a few programmes related to specialized research as described above.
It is not unreasonable that opinions have been put forth supporting the reinvigoration of Sino-Nom script education
at the elementary and secondary levels along with the reintroduction of Sino-Nom script education at university level in
subjects related to social sciences and humanities. I am of the persuasion that this is an important subject requiring careful research that would ideally propose a suitable method for introducing Sino-Nom script education into public schools
(for example, offering Sino-Nom classes as an option, not as a required course) in order to satisfy the needs of society
rather than as a matter of enforcing policy.

Translating foreign publications of square script research into Vietnamese
To alleviate the lack of published research on Chinese characters in Vietnam, Nguyễn Tuấn Cường translated 11
general-view papers written in Chinese and English by Chinese and American scholars on topics including general grammatology, studies of East Asian scripts, studies of Sinographs, constructionist Sinographic studies, cultural Sinographic
studies, Sinographic phonology, revised Sinographs and Pinyin Romanization – the collected translation of these papers
totalled around 250 pages. These translations can be used as an introductory map of Chinese character studies (Nguyễn
TC, 2010). A classic book – A History of Writings by J. Friedrich (1966) – was translated by Phạm Văn Khoái (2006) but
remains in an unpublished collection of translated materials unknown to a large readership. However, in reality, this collection of translated materials has been used in lectures on Sino-Nom at a number of universities at various levels.
Despite this, the translations mentioned above are limited in scope and are introductory in nature. It is pertinent to
select, translate and publish other works on character studies written around the world – from works with a broad spectrum (such as those by Coulmas, 1996, 2003; Diringer, 1962; Gelb, 1952; Sampson, 1985; Schmandt-Besserat, 1992) to
those focusing on scripts in East Asian countries (such as those by Kim, 2005; Kono, 1994; Mizoguchi et al., 1992; Qiu,
1988; Sasahara, 2011; Sha, 2008; Shaughnessy, 1997; Wang YL, 2001; Zhou, 1997, 1998) and those written by foreign
scholars focusing specifically on square scripts in Vietnam (such as those of DeFrancis, 1977; Liang, 2014; Minea 1972;
Wang L, 1958; Wei, 2004). Vietnamese scholars will need to consult international academia regarding the selection of
appropriate and relevant works to be translated into Vietnamese.

Researching issues in character studies as a whole

The key issues in character studies must be expanded upon from important points such as the origin and development of
scripts; the construction of scripts; the history of scripts; comparison between scripts; the influence of foreign scripts;
script construction, pronunciation and meaning; script education; societal and cultural studies of scripts, etc. Most especially, efforts must be made to delve into the research of ancient scripts (not just modern scripts) not only to read seal
scripts common to Vietnamese steles and stamps, of which many remain unreadable, but also to collaborate with other
East Asian researchers in the deciphering of ancient Sinographs.4

佛

閒

數

國

齊

問

Figures 1–14. Several variant Sinographs in Vietnam.

義

臨

巍

溪

德

歲

蕭

遠


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Research of popular variant Han characters in Vietnam. Variant characters appear all over the Sinographic cosmopolis,
including China, the centre of Sinitic characters, and outer regions such as Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Vietnam has many
unique variant characters. There are cases of variants of individual characters; for example, the character Phật/Fó 佛
‘Buddha’ is written
(亻+西+國 ＝ person from western country) or (亻+ 天 = heavenly person), not (西域哲人 =
wise person from western region) and 仸 (亻+ 夭 = ogreish person) as it is in Chinese variants. The variant character Nho/
Rú 儒 ‘Confucian’ is written 伩 (whereas in Chinese, ‘伩’ is the variant of the character ‘信’ ‘faith’). The variant character
Đức/Dé 德 ‘virtue’ is written
; the variant for Tiêu/Xiāo/ 蕭 ‘desolate’ is written (Dương/Yáng羊 ‘gout’ with a
point underneath). There are also variants of several common stroke patterns such as the so-called ‘tháu đấm’, which is
represented by two points on either side of a simplified form of a character. Radicals such as 釒，飠，糸 written ‘ ‘ on the
left side of a character are also often met. More research on popular variants of Sinographs in Vietnam is necessary to
contribute to the research of variant characters in East Asia.

Researching bilingual ‘Sino-Viê.t’ and Bi-scriptual ‘Sino-Nom’ dictionaries
Regarding dictionaries (both single-character and multi-character), past Vietnamese lexicographers were unique in
that they rarely tended to compile purely Sinographic dictionaries (i.e. dictionaries that defined Sinographs in literary
Sinitic). However, they were quite fond of compiling bilingual Sino-Việt and bi-scriptual Sino-Nom dictionaries, which
were composed of both Chinese and Vietnamese in a linguistic aspect, represented by both Sinographs and Nom script

in the written aspect. Dictionaries of this kind were compiled from the 15th–17th centuries to the 20th century.5 These
are important sources from which to research the history of standardization of Sino-Nom characters in Vietnam, the
history of translation, Vietnamese historical vocabulary, and archaic words. By analysing these dictionaries, we can
develop the most commonly used vocabulary of Sinographs in Vietnam and compare these dictionaries with dictionaries
compiled in other East Asian countries. Currently, there are several research projects in Vietnam focused on these types
of dictionaries, such as those of Trần Xuân Ngọc Lan (1985), Lã Minh Hằng (2013) and Hà Đăng Việt (2014), Hoàng Thị
Ngọ (2016) and Trần Trọng Dương (2016). Most recently, Vietnamese and Chinese scholars co-operated to organize an
international conference in Hangzhou, China, in May 2017 about Vietnamese Sino-Nom dictionaries; the edited volume
(He and Nguyễn, 2017) published after that should be a good read in the field.

Researching the history of Sino-Nom script education in the past
A common research topic in Vietnam, one with a good number of publications, is Sino-Nom script education throughout Vietnamese history. These research projects share a common point in their focus on higher education among the
scholar-official class – that is to say, they gravitate more towards Confucian moral education rather than the elementary
education of children; that is, basic character and linguistic education (Nguyễn TC, 2015). Even in regard to higher
education, the primary focus is educational content and the organization of exam essays – little has been researched
regarding educational activities as they relate to central elements of education such as the educator, the student, content
of studies, study materials, tuition and fees, examination formats, goals and purposes of education, results of education,
societal needs, etc. Deeper research of Sino-Nom script education in Vietnamese history will be a great help in understanding the intellectual basis of traditional Sino-Nom writers – the authors of the Sino-Nom texts that we archive today.

Researching compatibility of written scripts with language in Vietnam
Influenced by Darwinian evolutionary theory and Eurocentrism, a number of early 20th-century researchers proposed
that written scripts around the world all evolved from pictographs, to ideographs, to alphabets (Diringer, 1962; Gelb,
1952; Zhou, 1997). From the end of the 20th century to the present, this view of a ‘three-part development’ has been quite
heavily criticized, especially by Chinese and American scholars. The critics argue that the development of alphabetical
scripts in Europe cannot be applied to scripts with different organizational systems such as Sinographs. The movement
to completely Romanize the Chinese language in the early 20th century eventually failed, an eloquent witness to the
superior compatibility of Chinese characters to represent an isolated language like Chinese.
Like Chinese, Vietnamese is also an isolated language. Before the creation of the ‘Quốc ngữ script’ (literally ‘script
for national language’ – a Romanization of Vietnamese which appeared around the 17th century and which was universally promoted in the early 20th century), the Việt Nom script was the sole script used to write the Vietnamese language
for almost 1000 years until it was replaced entirely by Quốc ngữ script. This decision was influenced by historical and

cultural reasons – there can be no fantasies about a distant future in which the Vietnamese people will return to use Nom


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script as they did in the past. However, from the perspective of script research, the compatibility of Việt Nom and Quốc
ngữ scripts to the Vietnamese language must be compared and researched. This is an issue with theoretical implications
which the discipline of Sino-Nom grammatology in Vietnam can explore to contribute to science and life.

Calligraphy: Scripts from practical and artistic perspectives
The history of Sinographs is linked to the history of calligraphy. In Vietnam there have been several unique styles of
calligraphy rarely seen in Asia; for example, the style used on decrees of the Restored Lê dynasty (1533–1789). Inheriting
and carrying on the calligraphic tradition, there are about 20 calligraphers in modern Vietnam who have reached high
standards in their art. All of these calligraphers are in their 30s–40s and have been self-motivated and autodidactic in
their practice of calligraphy. They have been the main factors behind the Sino-Nom calligraphy activities during the New
Year festival around the House of Great Learning in the Temple of Confucius in Hanoi for 20 years now. Their activities
have even had a wider social impact; following their example, within the past decade hundreds of people have begun to
set up stands around the Temple of Confucius in Hanoi to showcase and sell their calligraphy during the New Year. For
the most part, these young calligraphers follow traditional trends in East Asian calligraphy. A prime example is the calligrapher Nguyễn Sử, author of the first book written on the history of Vietnamese calligraphy – A History of Calligraphy
in Vietnam (Lịch sử thư pháp Việt Nam) published in 2017. Aside from traditional calligraphy, there are few avant-garde
calligraphers as well. The ‘Zenei Gang of Five’ includes Lê Quốc Việt, Nguyễn Đức Dũng, Trần Trọng Dương, Nguyễn
Quang Thắng and Phạm Văn Tuấn (the latter three are researchers at the Institute of Sino-Nom Studies). Their activities
are both well organized and creative. Their calligraphy exhibits receive much attention and some of their works have
been purchased for thousands of US dollars. Regrettably, as yet there has been no sustained research on Vietnamese
Sino-Nom calligraphy from either practical or artistic perspectives. From the viewpoint of reading square characters,
research of Vietnamese calligraphy gives insight into the methods employed with brush strokes, helping researchers to
read difficult texts, such as those written in the cursive or seal scripts.

Conclusion
Some argue that Vietnam has yet to develop a field specializing in the study of written characters. Although this view
has some merit, I find it quite extreme. Regardless, researchers in Vietnam must face the reality that this field – specifically regarding the research of square scripts, despite having gained some achievements (as in the research of Nom
Việt script) – on the whole remains weak in many areas such as research staff, level of professional expertise, research
methods, research achievements, international presence, and primitive and outdated databases. In the near future, there
will be duties that will require both internal and external cooperation. Internal affairs are those that Vietnamese scholars
must take care of themselves; external affairs are those that will require the assistance of international academia. In these
present circumstances, I think that the key issue will be entering into the international arena and cooperating on multiple
levels with international academia in order to absorb the knowledge and experience of the international community,
thereby creating a stable foundation on which this field can be developed in Vietnam.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding
This research is funded by Vietnam National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED) under grant number 602.02-2016.03.

Notes
1
2
3
4
5

Websites of catalogues of Sino-Nom materials at the Institute of Sino-Nom Studies: , http://hannom.
vass.gov.vn (in Vietnamese); http://140.109.24.175/pasweb (in Chinese).
Free access: />See />The author thanks Mr Nguyễn Quang Thắng (Institute of Sino-Nom Studies) for providing the variant Sinographs shown in
Figures 1–14.
Some titles include: Chỉ nam ngọc âm giải nghĩa [指南玉音解义], Tam thiên tự [三千字], Ngũ thiên tự dịch quốc ngữ [五千字译
国语], Thiên tự văn giải âm [千字文解音], Đại Nam quốc ngữ [大南国语], Nhật dụng thường đàm [日用常谈], Nam phương danh

Cu’ò’ng

197

vật bị khảo [南方名物备考], Tự Đức thánh chế tự học giải nghĩa ca [嗣德圣制字学解义歌], Nan tự giải âm [难字解音], Tự loại
diễn nghĩa [字类演义], Chỉ nam bị loại [指南备类].

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Volume 3 Number 3 September 2019

Contents
Special Issue: Sinic scripts in Sinosphere
Editorial
Editor’s word

139

Lee Kyoo-Kap

Articles
An exploratory survey of the graphic variants used in Japan: Part one

141

Xiaohong Liang

Yìcún Wénzì (extant characters) in Japanese lexicon: Exploring characters of historically
Chinese origin with evidence from Six dynasties, Sui and Tang dynasties, China

153

Hiroyuki Sasahara

The history of Nôm: A periodization

175

Trâ`n Trong Du’o’ng
˙

Research of square scripts in Vietnam: An overview and prospects

189

Nguyê˜n Tuâ´n Cu̓ò̓ng

A sketch of Chinese character variants in Vietnam: With a focus on the variants of ‘Buddha’

199

Manh Khac Trinh

Korean-coined characters and syllable structure
Yongki Lim, Jiyoung Lee

205