Analyses of Nôm

Abstract

In the tangled history of Vietnam with many political and cultural impacts with China due to the geographic location of these two countries, there is a script named Nôm which is an invention of Vietnamese elite based on the Chinese writing to record Vietnamese.

This study is as the first steps made for a long journey to the sea of Nôm. I have attempted to analyze some hundreds of Nôm characters to uncover its structural principles, and to see its development. There are still plenty of significant documents and books in Nôm script which have not been deciphered. Many of them possibly bear terms that could touch or shed light on the Chinese history and the history of Vietnam itself.

Languages are as a mirror, they reflect thoughts and even histories of concerned peoples. Vietnam was ruled by the Chinese for over a thousand year, but the first invasion from China is dated back for more than 2000 years ago. Nôm script was invented and even it was not officially codified it stayed in use for a thousand year. This analysis will moderately give an extensive picture of Nôm script.