The Languages of Vietnam: Mosaics and Expansions

The languages of Vietnam reflect the historical migrations of prehistoric people groups as well as successive waves of cultural influence by world civilizations over many thousands of years. In addition to cultural spread, certain of Vietnam’s ethnicities also constitutes social mosaics in the sense of Renfrew (2000), growing and flourishing in place. The linguistic fabric of the nation is woven of widely different strands, including Austroasiatic and Austronesian speech communities, Sino-Tibetan and Kra-Dai (Tai-Kadai), as well as Hmong-Mien. Despite the chaos of the last half century, national and international scholars, building on French studies of the nineteenth century, have been able to document language names, places, populations, and linguistic relationships to a degree never achieved in the past. The story of the peoples of Vietnam is a rich one that invites renewed understanding.