TERMINOLOGY WORK IN VIETNAM - Full 10 điểm

TERM I NOLOGY WOR K I N V I ETNAM
Nguyen D i nh -Hoa

As one aspect of language planning and language treatment , te rminological
work in Vietnaml has been going on for at least five decades , initially through
efforts of individual science teachers and j ournali s ts - even when the medium
of i nstruction was still the French language - then later through concerted
efforts of educational leaders working around col leges and univers ities and
institutiona lised bodies . Even prior to 194 5 , many pol i tical , historical and
economic terms used by the press in vietnam had become current "even among non­
special i sts " . With the development and evolution of political l i fe and the
increase in li te racy amon g the masses since that date , new words had to be
invented to express new ideas and concepts in textbooks , pamphlets and news­
papers and magazines . Teachers at all leve l s called upon to use their mother
tongue as the medium of instruction contributed to the elaboration of an increas ­
ingly wealthy j argon for each branch of the social and natural sciences . This
paper will focus on the innovative proce sses by which Vietnamese inte l lectuals
regardles s of their political leanings have collect ively evolved a scient i fic
and technical terminology .

At t he beginning scientists and science teachers advocated diffe rent methods

in coining new terms in the 1940s . Some wanted to use French word s , part icularly

in chemistry ; others suggested the translite ration of those French terms into

Vietnamese ; still others preferred the u se of Sino-Vietnamese loanwords ( e . g .

l uu nhuge d udn g t h ap for anhydride s ul fureux) . A number o f writers advocated

the use of vernacular terms used in everyday parlance . There were even those

who recommended the reading aloud of international symbol s ( em- en-o- ha i for Mn02 ,
S - h a i - uy - K for s2 U K) , or the coining of a term based on the formula ( h i �m s i em
at khd ha i for H 2 ( SOq ) ' or even the use of some pig-Latin-like device ( ba i for
" h�eh b (en) (t)ai" a 2 next to the eat' , de for " d am) ( g i ) ae" a tt'iangle) ,
ganglion
sugge stive o f the Chinese method of fa n - eh i e or Vietnamese n6 i l a i .

The history of terminological work undertaken by Vietnamese educators and

scientists goes back to 194 2 , when Professor Ho�ng Xuan-H�n , mathematician ,
historian and phi lologist , pub lished his Danh-tJ khoa-hqc , a " col lection of terms

denoting scientific ideas and based on French" ( Hoang 1948 : vii ) . This pioneer
work has since been reprinted many times ( Saigon 194 8 , Paris 195 1 , Saigon 1970 ) .

In the 194 8 reprint edition , made necessary because the 1946 reprint had been
de stroyed by fire during the Franco-Vietnamese hosti lities in the capital c ity
of Hanoi , Pro fessor Ho�g reproduced a statement he had made in the first issue
of the review Khoa-h�c ' Sc ience ' in 194 1 :

The language of every country can become a s cienti fic language ,
and only necessity is the mother of invention . This review

Khoa-h�c wi l l prove that there is no difficult que stion that
cannot be explained in Vietnamese . Whether the explanation

David Bradley , ed . Papers in South-East Asian l i nguis tics No . 9 : 119
Language pol i cy , l anguage planning and sociol i nguistics in South­
East Asi a , 1 19-1 30 . Paci fi c Linguistics , A- 67 , 1985 .
© Nguyen Dinh-Hoa

Nguyễn Đ-H. "Terminology work in Vietnam". In Bradley, D. editor, Papers in Southeast Asian Linguistics No. 9: Language policy, language planning and sociolinguistics in South-East Asia.
A-67:119-130. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1985. DOI:10.15144/PL-A67.119
©1985 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s). Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL. A sealang.net/CRCL initiative.

120 NGUYEN DINH-HOA

is clear or not depends on the person doing the explaining .

Whether it is understood clearly or not depends on the

heare r . Thi s i s true of any country and any language .
( as cited in Ho�g 1948 : vi i i )

Earlier in a paper entitled Vocabulaire scientifique en l angue annarni te
read be fore �he Indochina Council on Scientific Re search on 29 October 194 1 ,
Pro fe ssor Hoang explained his obj ective and methodology a s follows :

. . . mon but est de chercher un mot s imple ou compose
correspondant a chaque mot s cientifique franqais . Je

me suis impose la regIe suivante : utiliser Ie plus

possible les mots de la langue ordinaire ; eviter les

periphrases pour de signer les idees simples et autant

que pos s ib le pour les idees composee s ; garder les mots

formes anterieurement et d ' un usage courant bien

qu ' il logique . Quand la formation annami te perd de la

concision et de la clarte , j ' ai utilise les racines

chinoises . ( 1948 :v)

In t h e Paris reprint edition o f 19 5 1 o f this eminently innovative and
ingenious glossary of terms in mathematics , physics , chemi stry , mechanics and
astronomy , the Introduction ( x i-xlix ) listed eight requirements for the coining
of new terms (xi-xvii i ) , then examined the three methods used ( xix-xxiii ) , pre­
vious experiences ( xxiv-xxvi i ) , and the principles fol lowed by the author
( xxvi i i-xxxiv) , and finally provided the chemical nomenclature ( xxxv-xliv) .

Of Professor Hoang ' s e ight requirements , which have been repeatedly cited
by other terminology workers , the first f ive pertain to the content and the last
three to the form of each newly-coined term .

On the first requi rement - that " each idea has t o have a term" - he said
that it is ne cessary to use not just monosyllabic word s , but also 2 - syllable and
3-syllable words to take care of future concepts . The second requirement stated
that each term "must refer only to one particular idea" , and the third require­
ment specified that " one idea cannot be expre ssed by several terms " . Indeed the
author cautioned teachers ag�inst using homon¥IDs or synonyms : he thus proposed

two different terms nguye n - t � and da· i - ng uy e n - t u as corresponding to the two sense s
o f French atorne , but only a single term cd- l o - rua for both French terms chlorure
and chl orhydra te .

S in ce according to the fourth requirement , a term " must help us remembef

its i de a easily" , the coinage hi n h - hgc was chosen for geometry ( instead of ky - ha ­

,

h9c ) because i t would make one think of shapes ( h i n h ) . The word in e veryday
language for to converge is t � , but s ince in science this verb involves the idea
of an accumulat ion , the compound q u i - t � was offered .

J The so lution of an equation should not be translated as re root , but ngh i �m­

so s ince it i s "a number which , when substituted for the unknown number o f an
equation , would prove the latter right" ( x i i i ) .

Fifthly , " terms in d i f ferent f ie lds mus t form a unifonp and interre lated

whole" . Thus for the equivalent of reflection , the term phan - x� was chosen for

use in �hysi�� as we ll as in acoustics and mechanics , leaving the bette� known

word pha n - ch l eu for only the former fie ld . Whereas laymen use kh .l n h - k h i , a
Chinese loanword meaning the light gas , the scienti fic term �roposed was hyt - ro ,
which would correlate with hyt - r u a , hyt - r a t , hyt - roc-xy t , h y t - r i c , etc . denoting
' hydrure , hydra te, hydroxyde , hydrique ' , respect ivel y . This last consideration

TERMINOLOGY WORK IN VIETNAM 1 2 1

constituted the mo st diffi cult cond ition in the elaboration of a s cientific

terminology , according to Professor Ho�ng ( xiv) .

The s ixth requirement is also the first crite rion regarding form. The

compound t h u - s a i , which means aberration , to be distinguished from sa i error ,
w�uld exist s ide by side with such compounds as ca� - s a i spherioa l aberration ,
s a c - sa i ohromatio aberration , etc . , in which the stem s a i , c lipped from t h u - s a i ,

is combined with other Chinese-borrowed modifiers , in the determiner-determined

orde r . Precedents for this proce s s of shortening were c;ch - t r ( leqon de choses ,
from c;ch - v � t t r (- t r i to investigate things an� to deepen knowledge , d a n h- g i ;
prestige , from danh- t i eng fame, renown i and g i a- t r � value, worth.

The next criterion pertains to the phonology of a new term , which mus t sound
all right to Vietnamese ears . Thus co-n i c oonio (a l ) would be more acceptable than

x i - p i - ra - l d spiral , wh ich sounds un-Vietnamese . Here Professor Ho�ng mentioned

a common phenomenon whereby a S ino-Vietname se syl lable is combined with a nat ive

le�eme that has the same mean�ng : cd-h9 i opportunjty , _ t�y t heo aooording to ,
t hd-ph�ng to worship , d a n h - t i en g fame, renown , t h i g i d time , etc . , re sulting in

better cadence .

Finally , a scienti fic term must be invented " in consonance with the history

of other ordinary terms in the language " . Here Professor Ho�ng discussed fore i gn

loanwords in Vi etnamese . Those from French have been shortened or adapted to

Vietnamese phonotactics : bo from beurre , pho-mat from fromage , o - t o from a uto ,
bu- l oon g from boulon , etc . As for the Chinese loanwords - usually referred to
as H an - V i � t Sino-Vietnamese - such as d ! a - cau earth, g lobe , t h i e n - van astronomy ,
d9 n g - v � t animal , t h i e n - t �o natural , etc . , they exist s ide by s ide with a host

of borrowed e lements which have been thorou� ly assimilated and integrated in

the vietn�ese voc�ulary : s �� i�on from !l� , t h i et i xua anoient from In

S d i xem xe t to ex�ne from � � c h i em- s a t , etc .

The author of Danh- t� khoa-hqc then proceeded to analyse the advantages and
disadvantage s of e ach of the three methods u sed in word coinage . First of all ,
ordinary words in the everyday language cannot be very efficient as s cientific
terms , even though they may have been thoroughly assimi l ated , because what is
needed is a s cientific term, and not a descriptive and explanatory phrase . The
word c h � y , which means to flow, to me lt , and also to leak , would not be adequate
as the equivalent of fusion . Combinations of free native lexemes , moreover ,
would result in lengthy phrases . They fulfil only the fourth , seventh and
eighth requirements , but not the others .

The second method , trans literation, fai l s to meet criteria ( 4 ) , ( 6 ) , ( 7 )
and ( 8) , but will be satis factory only i f not abused ( Hoang 194 8 : xxi i i ) •

Of the three methods , the last one , using Sino-Vietnamese forms , would ful­
fil all e ight requi rements , as shown in the table on page xxi i i of Danh-td khoa­
hqc .

Professor Ho�g mentioned the experience of the Japanese , who use nume rous

translite rations from English and German and also Sino-Japanese terms , and of
the Chinese , who by the mid 1930s had already worked out the ir appropriate
s cientific terminology ( xxvi-xxvi i ) . Vietnam ' s legal and pol i tical terminology
had been e laborated in various admini strative , penal and criminal codes i ssued
under the French Government-General of Indochina , so it would afford a useful
precedent for later workers in other disciplines .

1 2 2 NGUYEN DINH-HOA

Trans l i te rating requires the addition of new letters to represent phonemes
or syllables , such as p- (Vie tnamese words not beginning with thi s voice less

bi labial stop) , z - ( this initial fricative being repres ented by a non-barred d
in the q u�c - n g J orthography) , ce , c i , ce , as we ll as - 0 1 and - a I , to be distin­
guished from -on and - a n , respectively (xxxii i) .

P ro fes sor Ho�ng insi sted on the use of hyphens in compounds or trans l i te r­

ated te rms . As for the practice of running syl lables together , although he did
not use it in the earlier edition , calling it " a very useful but very daring
device " , he later resorted to it in the Paris edition of 1951.

Another high ly useful glossary i s D�o Van Ti�n ' s ( 194 5 , reprinted in 1950) ,

which contains te rms from the natural sciences - biology , physiology , zoology ,
botany , geology , etc .

Throughout the anti-French resi stance war and during the partition of the
country , 1 9 54 - 19 7 5 ( into the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the north , and
the Republic of Vietnam south of the 1 7 th paralle l ) , scientists and scholars in

both zones continued their terminology work to satisfy the needs of teaching and
research .

Seven French-Vietnamese glossaries containing about 40 , 00 0 terms in five
di fferent disciplines appeared : B�i Huy �ap 1948 for agronomy ; Trinh-Dinh Cung

1951 , Le Khtc Thi�n and pham Khtc Qu1ng 1951 for medicine ; �ao V� Ti�n 1950 for
botany ; �O Xuan Hdp 19 51 f;r surgery , ��o Trong Hoi 1954 for economics and finance ;
and Ph� Xuan Thai 1954 for philosophy . Most of the terms in those glos s aries ,

however , were still Chinese loanwords . After the Geneva Agreements of 1 9 5 4 put
an end to French rule , but provided for the partition of the land , some scientists
promoted the use of terms that had been internationali sed whi le others said that
those should be used only when neces sary , and Sino-Vietnamese terms were still

wide ly used ( h o� - xa for rai lroad, train , g i ao-d9n g - d� for osci l logram , e tc . ) .

The exciting terminological work contrasted sharply with the s ituation under
the French coloniali sts ' educational system , in which the medium of instruction
was French and the exams fol lowed the patterns in metropol i tan France . It should
be remembered tha t , prior to 1 945 , in senior high school classes taught in French,
Vi etnamese was relegated to the status of a second foreign language after Engl ish ,
German or Spanish (Nguyen Van Huyen 1969 : 46 ) .

Professor N�y Nhu Kontum , then Rector of the University of Hanoi , in the
article "Vietnamese as a medium to teach basic science s " ( 1969) provided a com­
parison between French-trained university teachers like himself and their young
students during the early 1940s in te rms of preparedness . The former , according
to Profes sor Ngl;ly Nhu Kontum ' s reminiscence s , " often felt at a loss , when using
our native tongue to express delicate feel ings , and even common ideas , not to

speak of complex and abstract notions , having l earned French s ince childhood"
( 1969 : 80 ) . By contrast , the latter - their students , particularly in the Lycee

du Protectorat , nicknamed Trudng Bu�i ' Pomelo School ' - in small groups named

" Dragon Group" , Thunder Group" , promoted the use of Vietnamese in daily conver­
sation and in serious di scuss ions of scientific topics and the avoidance of

' macaronic ' language (Ng�y Nhu Kontum 1 969 : 80 ; Nguyen Binh-Ho� 1 9 7 5 : 4 4 - 4 5 ) .

Pro fessor Tr� HJu Tudc , one time Vice-President of the Vi etnam Medical
As sociation in Hanoi , also related his experience of giving lectures in Vietnamese ,
upon h i s return from France :

Living abroad for fifteen years , I had to learn and teach
medicine in French . In 1 9 4 6 , when I came home and rece ived
a chair in otorhinolaryngology in the Hanoi Faculty of

TERMINOLOGY WORK IN VIETNAM 1 2 3

Medicine and Pharmacy , I made up my mind t o de liver my

first lecture in Vi etnamese . Though mine was not a fluent

Vietnamese , I could at leas t teach in my mother tongue ,

and this was an honour for me , a citizen of independent
( Tr�n HJu Tudc 1969 : 96 )
and free Vietnam .

In South Vietnam , too , university teachers - with a few exceptions - believed
just as their colleagues in the north did that "when teachers and students are
Vietnamese , the goal of study is to serve Vietnam for whose population - some
dozen million - the common language i s Vietnamese , it is natural th�t the�r means
of express ion cannot be any other language than Vietnamese" ( Ph�m �ong �i�n 1969 :
103 ) . In the fie ld of linguistics , to take an example from the social sciences
taught primarily in the Faculties of Letters of the universities of Saigon , HU�,
Dalat and c�n-thd , the teaching staff of varied backgrounds speedily worked out
all the technical terms needed . It is thus not entirely true that , in the south ,
Vietnamese did not enjoy the status o f a vehicular language at the college level .
Whatever hesitation there was was primarily due to a regrettable competition
between the French-trained and the U . S . -trained s cientists and physician s .

After the July 1960 conference convened b y Professor Le Van Thdi , then Dean
of the Saigon Faculty of Sciences , terminological work entered its systematic and
productive stage in South Vietnam . A Committee on Terminology , composed of eight
subcommittees , was charged with the task of standardising new , convenient terms
in mathematics , physics , chemistry , geology , zoology , botany , technology and
atomic energy . The Committee agreed to give common words ( t i �ng t hon g - t h udng )
priority over Sino-Vietnamese ( t i �ng goc n ho) or transliterations ( ph i en am) ( Le
Van Thch 1961) .

Some new problems were identified as ( 1 ) the systematisation of terms
borrowed from Chinese ; ( 2 ) the vietnamisation of forei gn terms ; and ( 3 ) the
setting-up of general principles of transliteration " to respect international
terminology and at the same time to be in agreement with modern science" ( Le Van
Thdi 196 1 ) .

Not al l o f the eight planned glossaries got published , but the difficulties
encountered in botany , for ins�ance , w:re typica� . Professor Ph�m Ho�ng H9, in

the Introduction to his Danh-tu thu· c-va· t Phap- Vi et ( 1 964 : x i ) , mentioned two
earlier works , Danh-tu thuc-va t by ( Le Van) Can �nd (Nguyen HJu) Qu;n , which he

said " few peorle unfortun�tely were able to consult" , and Danh-td khoa-hqc (v'!n­

va t-hoc) by �ao Van Ti�n ( 1945 , 1950) . These two glossarie s , particularly the
l�tte; , "provided us with a fairly serious and usable terminological foundation
and should have greatly helped in the transitional period in secondary education" .
But , he continued ,

. . . it i s a pity that many of our textbook writers did not

know about that book and have hurriedly coined new terms

without method or system , thus making technical terms at

the high school leve l chaotic and causing confusion among

students at exam time and upon their entrance into the
( Ph� Ho�ng H9 1964 : xi )
university system .

, Wh�le discussing the principles he had followed (xi-xvi ) , botanist Ph�
Hoang He: pointed out that in order to have " open-minded" terms to enable us " to
have a scientific culture" (xiii) , one should re ly heavily on " laboratories -

the source of science - as the most authoritative creators of terms used in a
particular discipline" ( xiv) .

124 NGUYEN DINH-HOA

, J
He adopted -Dao van Tien ' s taxonomic classification :

g i�i kingdom 9 i di p h 't subkingdom
division subdivision
nganh class , subclass
l dp order nganh phu suborder
m 't c / b 9 fami ly l dp ph't . subfami ly
ho: J genus b9 ph't species
g l ong variety he;> ph't or tong In troduct ion)
t hJ l o? i J
(f)�O Van Tien 1945 :

although not in every detail .

Common names of plants were suggested as good substitutes for " complicated
Latin names , at least at the secondary level" ( Ph�m Ho�ng H9 1964 : xv) .

Effort s in centralising and systematising scientific terminology are re-
flected in South Vietnam in the establishment of two bodies :

a National Committee on Terminology (Uy-ban Qu�c-gia So�n-th�o Danh-td
Chuyen-mon) , set up by Order No . llOl-GD-PC-ND of 18 May 1967 and
modified by Order No . 1985-GD-PC-ND of 30 August 1967 ; and

- a Committee on Language Codification (U�-ban f)i�n-ch� Van-t�) , set up

with the task of "defining the principles of translation and transliter­
ation o f foreign terms , reviewing existing glossaries , editing the

technical j argon for teaching purposes , examining usage , receiving
suggestions from teachers , and formalizing new or current terms whi le
dropping old-fashioned terms" (Noi-san Danh-t'u ChuYEm-mon 1969 : vi i-xi ) .

Of the 12 subject areas , several had their own jargon sanctioned by the
Education Ministry : 743 terms for physics , 370 terms for fine art s , and 1 , 25 3
terms for pharmacy published i n 1970 ; then 1 , 54 7 terms for chemistry , 776 terms
for botany , and 9 46 and 405 terms for atomic energy , letters A and B respectively ,
in 197 1 .

Parallel endeavours in North Vietnam , s ince 1969 coordinated by the

Institute of Linguistics (Vie• n Ngon-ngJ-ho• c) , resulted in a set of " P r i n c ip l es

J
of Transliteration of Indo-European Scienti fic Terms into Vietnamese" (Qui-tac
phien thu�t-ngJ khoa-he;>c nudc ngo�i ra ti�ng Vi�t) issued by the Social Sciences

Commission in 1968 and again in 1 97 7 . According to these rules , which i n 1965

were recommended for interim use by a committee set uP ? in 1964 �and comp�sed of �
upivefsity pr�fes:ors avd li�gui�t s J( such as T� Quang Buu , Ng�yen Th�c Cat , Ng�yen
Tai Can , Nguyen Van Chien , Le Kha Ke , Ng�y Nhu Kontum , LUu Van L_ang, Trudng Cong

Quy�n , etc . ) the forms , generally speaking , follow their pronunciations in the

donor language and at the same time make adjustments to the conventional ortho­
graphy ( q uoc- n g d) , most of the time based on the dialect of Hanoi , the capital
city . Thus , graphemic substitutions include z- for d- , d - for d- , j - for g i - ,
f- for ph - , etc . , i for y ; - p for - b , - v and - f , - t for - d and - 5 , - c for -g and

- r , - n for - 1 . Examples : andoz a , ando l aza ; j un , j u ra ; foton , f l o ; ox i ; am i p ,
pecmangana t , s un fua . The digraph g h is dropped for plain g , the grapheme x is
used for /5/ , as in ax i t , axe t a t , and the grapheme 5 is used for /5/, as in
sen l ac . Initial p- is used as wel l as the three symbols c , k and q for /k/ .
Consonant c lusters in initial position are introduced as b rom , c l o , f l o , while
a final or intervocalic consonant may be dropped : reanga realgar , d i a ba diabase ,

m i l i me t mi l limeter ( uy-ban Khoa-he;>c xa-h9i Vi�t-nam 1968 : 12-15 ) .

Le KhX K�, the linguist in charge of the Department of Scientific Terminology

in the Social Sciences Commission in 1 969 , discussed at length the role of free

and bound morphemes in a system of scientific j argon . The former are used to

TERMINOLOGY WORK IN VIETNAM 125

denote concrete concepts such as the following in biology , medicine and agri­
culture :

mang 0 1,J. instead of d Lldng - m6 amnion
anaemia
t h i eu mau b a,n - h u y et jaundice
stoma
? urethra
v�ng d a hoa n g - �a n u re ter
10 kh ( , mucosa
kh i -khong pseudopod
�ng dan dai n i e• u - da• o brachiopod
ong da lJ'. n i �u-quan

?

m�ng nhay n i e m - ma c
. � �.
chiln 9 i � g la-tuc
d9ng - v � t tay cuon d9ng-v�t uyen- t uc � ,
( 1969 : 120)

The latter - bound o r restricted morphemes - are used t o express abstract
concepts , mainly in new combinations . Thus , the stern t h Jc would yield ddn - t h Jc

monomia l , n h j - t h Jc binomia l , i am- t h Jc trinomial� and da - t h Jc po lynomiai in math­

ematics , j us t as the prefix dang- would yie ld dang-nh i �t isothermal , dan g - h Lldng
isotropic , etc . in physics ( 1 2 1 ) .

Also , a very productive device consists in using normally bound morphemes
o f Chinese origin as free lexemes in a specialised contex� of physics and math­
ematics : �an root , h�m tunction , h� system , l �c force , pho spectrum , t he poten­
tial , t r �dng, field , t uyen line , etc . ( 1 2 2 ) . In addition to nang energy , n h i � t
hea� , Nhu Thanh also mentioned some terms of traditional (Chinese) medicine :
t h uy water , ho� fire , and phong wind (NhJ Th�nh 197 7 : 19 ) .

Of course , lexical elements that �ave always b1en free can each be given a
very speciali sed mean ing : f ? n g form , tam centre , t h e body , or as in lingui stics ,
each case , ngo i person , t hd i tense , etc .

Chinese-borrowed morphemes have the great advantage of serving as extremely
productive affixe s : da- poly- or mu lti- recurs in da - d i � n po lygedron , da - g i ac
polygon , da-hLldng polytropic , da- v�c td polyvector , etc . ( Le Kha Ke 1969 : 1 2 3 ) .

Terminology workers o ften face the dilemma of using bound morphemes in the
Vietnamese order or in the original Chinese orde r : ax i t hoa ( Chinese order) is
found better than hoa ax i t for acidify , mo i hoa better than hoa m6i for labial­
ise (d) , hqp - phap-hoa better than hoa hqp- phap for legalise (d) . However , Viet­
namese word order is preferred whenever possible , as in : v i em hong , found better
than the previous coinage hong v i em laryngitis , v i em mom ( inste�d of mom v i em)
for stomatitis , v i em mu i ( i�stead of mu i v i em) for rhinitis ( Le Kh� Ke 1969 : 1 2 4 ) .

Extensive use is made of such nominali sers as s � action , each method , ph�p

method , t he status , etc . prefixed to ve rbs , or t (n h quality , <19 degree , etc .

,

prefixed to adjectives , and such verbali sers as - hoa - iser -fy , etc . suffixed to
nouns or adjectives : thus , from ax i t are derived ax i t hoa acidify , then s � ax i t
hoa acidification ( 1 2 5 ) .

To ensure the precision and the systematic character of terminology , each
term is created in relation to other terms expressing related noti09s : it is
importa�t for inst�nce to distinguish and contrast t r?ng aspect , k i eu type , d?ng
form , ma u mode l , h i n h morpho- , l o? i -oid , etc . , as we l l as several medical terms
sharing the core meaning of contraction or geological terms having in common the
idea of corrosion ( 12 5 - 1 2 6 ) .

Maximum use i s made of Viegnarnese synonymity : given the words ha i , do i ,
d i �p , n h j , t ru n g , son g for the idea of two� twin� or bi- the fol lowing linguistic
terms have been created : ng uye n - am do i diphthong , ph�p d i �p redoub ling , p h � - am
d i � p geminate , t� song- t h ut doublet ( 12 7 ) .

126 NGUYEN DINH-HOA

scientists and scholars agree that one should not create technical terms
at random or sacrifice a native and popular term j ust because it is not system­
ati c . A case in point is words denoting disciplines or science s . All the com­
pounds follow Chinese morphology , with the suffix - hoc equated with -ics� - logy :
toan - h�c mathematics , s�h9c history , l u� t -h�c juridical sciences , d l a- ch�t - h9c
geo logy , etc . When the time came to choose a term for ophthalmology , however ,
the specialists voted for khoa m�t , considered better than nhan - hoc or m�t hoc
( 128) , their colleagues in South Vietnam having long been used to · nhan - khoa . ·

A l ingui st in South Vietnam offered some rather ingenious way of using
' nat ional ' , that is to say , native elements in strict Vietnamese order t� call
those disciplines : h9�- ng� linguistics , h9c - h9 i - song socio logy , h9c-am- l �i
phonetics , etc . (Nguyen B�t-T�y 1959) , but this type of innovation has been
regarded as "extremi st" , " too bold" , and " unnecessary" ( LU'U Van Lang 1977 : 8) .

In general , both creativity and flexibility have manifested themselves as
the expe rts try to strike a medium between systematicity and national character
in the production of a real plethora of scientific glossaries and dictionaries
in both zone s : for example , glossaries of physics 1962 , chemistry 1962 , botany
1964 , economics 1974 , law and economics 1970 , public administration 1971 , etc .
in South Vietnam , and biology 1960 , mathematics 196 3 , chemi stry 1961 , technology
1962 , geography 196 3 , music 1969 , linguistics 1969 , law 1971 , etc . in North
Vietnam . Duplication was inevitable , and subsequent to the de facto ( in 1975) ,
then de j ure ( in 1976) , reunification of the country , cultural and scientific
activities have been better coordinated . Terminological work being no exception ,
on 7 May 1976 , a meeting was held at the Institute of Social Sciences of South
Vietnam between terminology cadres of the Vietnam Social Sciences Commission and

a number of university teachers , cultural workers and newspapermen in the south
( Saigon Gi�i -ph;ng 9 May 1976) .

Criteria for a sound and workable uniform terminology in each field have
been tested , and joint efforts on the theoretical level from Hoang Xuan Han ' s
list down have been increasingly utilised and systematised. Indeed three con­
ferences held on 2 7-2� Jul� 1978 in Hanoi , on 28-30 August 1978 in HU�, and on
8-9 October 1978 in Ho-Chi-Minh City , were followed by a " Conference on Standard­
isation of Orthography and Scientific Terminology" , sponsored by the Institute
of Linguistics and the Textbook Centre of the Ministry of Education , and convened
in Hanoi , 5-7 June 1979 . Reports presented at the latter were published in a
special i ssue ( 4 1 and 4 2 ) of Ngon-ng� (September-December 1979 ) .

The five essential virtues of an e ffective , modern terminology , as listed
by LU'U Van Lang, Rapporteur of the 1964 conference , have been repeatedly empha­
s ised : the scientific terminology must be precise , systematic , Vietnamese , com­
pact and easy to understand , to remember , to pronounce , to write and to read
(LU'U Van Lang 197 7 : 39-6 8 ; Le Kh� K� 1979 : 32-36 ) . Conditions certainly are ideally
ripe now for the formalisation of different technical glossaries and dictionaries .
This aspect - lexical modernisation and e laboration - o f Vietnam ' s language
pol icy will provide further and better tools in the dissemination of science and
culture .

NOTE

1 . This i s an updated version o f a paper read at the annual meeting o f ACTUAL
( American Council of Teachers of Uncommonly-taught Asian Languages) in San
Francisco on 26 November 197 7 .

TERMINOLOGY WORK IN VIETNAM 1 2 7

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� ., � ,
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•

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, R ...
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" " , , 2 ... - '" .,

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A-67:119-130. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1985. DOI:10.15144/PL-A67.119
©1985 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s). Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL. A sealang.net/CRCL initiative.