Edited by Bridget Drinka
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 350] 2020
► pp. 431–452
This paper is an account of the emergence of the low, back, unrounded vowel /ɑ/ in the Quảng Nam dialect spoken in south central Vietnam. This vowel is not seen in any other dialects. The paper provides evidence for a trace of this vowel in two subdialects of Hà Tĩnh province, north central Vietnam (Phạm, 1997, 2014, 2016), and claims that the Quảng Nam /ɑ/ originated from Hà Tĩnh dialects through migration. It was brought to Quảng Nam by early settlers mainly during the 15th to 18th centuries, where the vowel was further internally restructured through various linguistic processes. The Quảng Nam /ɑ/, therefore, originates from two sources: dialect contact and internal restructuring.