Many argue that people from Quang Nam province cannot pronounce the "a" sound (the /a/ phoneme). The /a/ sound, which involves widening the mouth and not rounding the lips, and is common in standard Vietnamese and most languages worldwide , has somehow disappeared without a trace in Quang Nam. Then "cái ca" becomes "cứa coa," "ba má" sounds like "boa móa"... what more is there to argue about?
Actually, that's not the case. The /a/ sound is still very common and easily recognizable in the Quang Nam accent. Many areas in Quang Nam pronounce "cay" as "ca" in standard Vietnamese, and in some places, "cau" becomes "ca". It's just that people are influenced by the written "a" and don't distinguish it from the /a/ sound, so they perceive it that way.
Even when "ca" is pronounced as "coa," the /a/ sound remains unchanged. The phonetic notation for "ca" is /ka/, and for "coa" it's /kwa/. The Quang dialect simply adds a semi-vowel /w/ (a narrow, rounded sound similar to the "u" sound) before the /a/ sound. Instead of opening the mouth wide and pronouncing /a/ like in standard Vietnamese, the Quang dialect extends the sound, gliding from a narrow /w/ mouth shape to a wide /a/ mouth shape.
So why did "cay" become "ca"? It sounds very strange, and I really want to argue about it. In this word, the semi-vowel /j/ (pronounced like "i") in "cay" /kaj/ has been omitted, becoming "ca" /ka/. Similarly, the semi-vowel /w/ in "cau" (/kaw/) has also been lost, so "cau" becomes "ca" (/ka/).
People from other regions who want to learn a little Cantonese often get discouraged when they find it difficult to pronounce.
The word "học hỏi" (to learn) becomes "hạc hủa" (crane), sounding like two completely different words. Actually, there's a reason for this. In standard Vietnamese, "học" has the phoneme structure /hawk/, written with the letter "o" but with the vowel /a/, pronounced like "ha-uc". In the Quang Nam accent, the semi-vowel /w/ is also omitted for easier pronunciation, resulting in /hak/, pronounced like "hạc".
The case of "hỏi" (/hɔj/) is a bit more intriguing, transforming into "hủa" (/huə/). The rounded, wide-lipped vowel /ɔ/ is replaced by the narrow-lipped, easier-to-pronounce diphthong /uə/, while the final semi-vowel /j/ is dropped. In the Thanh Hoa dialect, this word sounds quite similar to the Quang dialect, but still retains the final /j/, "huở-i" /hwəj/. The Hue dialect is almost the same, "hỏi" becomes "hoải" /hwaj/, with a wide-lipped /a/ sound. It's the same Vietnamese root, but with additions, subtractions, or slight distortions, it becomes a regional "specialty."
"The word 'bee' in Quang Nam is pronounced 'con ang'." In standard Vietnamese, "ong" isn't actually the vowel /ɔ/ like in "ngon" or "con"... It's /awŋ/, similar to the quick pronunciation "au-ng". In the Quang Nam accent, in the areas north and south of the Thu Bon River, the /w/ sound is lost, becoming "ang" (/aŋ/). "Mom, I see three bees" (Má ơi, con thấy boa con ang).
In my hometown, a village in the old midland region of Quang Nam province, during Tet (Lunar New Year), people often have the custom of "making age." How can age be "made"? It's essentially the same as giving "gifts of age" as in other places. Gradually, people started mispronouncing it as "making age." Many people, hearing "made" and mistaking it for "making," changed it to "making age" to sound less provincial and more formal for Tet.
Language, with its arbitrary phonetic structure, is very fragile and easily changeable. This can be due to clashes between different language streams, sometimes due to slight additions or subtractions for pronunciation convenience, and sometimes simply from small mistakes like the one above.
The Vietnamese language has evolved with each migration of the Vietnamese people. Mountains and rivers separate the country, history has taken many turns, and various ethnic groups have blended together, resulting in different pronunciations across regions. However, the Quang Nam accent, or the Quang Nam dialect, has undergone a somewhat drastic transformation, making it sound a bit unfamiliar and harder to pronounce.
Source: https://baodanang.vn/hac-hua-tieng-quang-3324523.html
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