From: ltran@lsil.com (Linh T. Tran 4900)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese
Subject: [LANG] The Unofficial Rules of placing marks (second edition)
Date: 21 Nov 92 23:01:15 GMT
Reply-To: ltran@lsil.com
Organization: LSI Logic Corporation
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

Here is the second draft of the proposed standard on placement of
diacritic marks in Vietnamese. :-) Of course, it is unofficial. This is 
essentially what I put forth in recent article, enriched by one more rule
that I have missed.

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Taken into accounts many existing publication since early 20th century to now,
in the attempt to simplify the rules of placing marks, and in the effort to
simplify spelling check in Vietnamese which also includes the right placement
of marks, we here by propose the following set of rules.

DEFINITIONS:

	Simple Fore-Consonent: b,c,d,dd,g,h,l,m,n,r,s,t,v,x . 
	Composite Fore-Consonent: ch,gh,gi,kh,ng,nh,qu,sh,th,tr. 
	Simple Rear-Consonent: c,m,n,p,t . These follows vowel.
	Composite Rear-Consonent: ch,ng,nh . These follows vowel.
	Vowel: a,e,i,o,u,y, except i if preceded by g and u if precede by q.
	Diacritical mark: ',`,?,~,. .
	Vowel-Modifier mark: + (as in u+), ^ (as in o^n or a^n), ( (as in a(n)

CONSTRUCT:
	Vietnamese written words all have the following construct:
	[fore-consonent] vowel1 [vowel2] [vowel3] [back-consonent]
	It is mandatory to have a vowel (vowel1) while other components are not
	obligatory. The consonents coule be simple or composite.

The rule system follows the priority order. Following the rules from 1 to 5, 
stop at the first rule which applies.

RULE 1: NEVER PLACE A DIACRITICAL MARK ON A CONSONENT (COMPOSITE OR SIMPLE)
	ALWAYS PUT IT ON A VOWEL
	Thus, when there is only vowel1, but not vowel2 or vowel3, rule 1
	forces the diacritical mark to be on vowel1.
	Example: qua?n, gia` .

RULE 2: ALWAYS PLACE A DIACRITICAL MARK ON A VOWEL WHICH BEARS A VOWEL-MODIFIER
	MARK, IF PRESENT.
	When there are two or three vowels, one of the vowels might bear a
	vowel-modifier mark. In this case, the diacritical mark should go
	onto that vowel.
	Example: tie^'u, nguye^~n .

RULE 3: ALWAYS PUT THE DIACRITICAL MARK ON THE VOWEL NEAREST TO THE 
	BACK-CONSONENT, IF PRESENT.
	Example: hoa`ng, thu+o+`ng .

RULE 4: IF THERE ARE TWO VOWELS, WHICH DON'T BEAR ANY MODIFIER, AND
	THERE IS NO BACK-CONSONENT, ALWAYS PLACE THE DIACRITICAL MARK
	ON VOWEL1.
	Example: o`a, ho'a, thu?y .

RULE 5: IF THERE ARE THREE VOWELS, WHICH DON'T BEAR ANY MODIFIER, AND
	THERE IS NO BACK-CONSONENT, ALWAYS PLACE THE DIACRITICAL MARK
	ON VOWEL2.
	Example: khuy?u (trong con ddu+o+`ng khu'c khuy?u).
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Those rules might not be perfect. If you find exceptions, please report to me.
Please specify the source (in which book or magazine, etc.). I will favor the
interpretations from dictionaries (which establish the standards of writing
in any language, Vietnamese included).

If these rules prove to be correct (as written by many books already printed),
this set of rules might be used as part of a rudimentary spell-checker.

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Linh Tran
ltran@lsil.com
of course, it is only my opinion.
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