Graphemic borrowings and transformations from Sinitic: The case of Quốc Âm Thi Tập

Abstract

Abstract

This essay studies Vietnamese demotic Nôm characters used to transcribe Sinitic loanwords in the text of Quốc Âm Thi Tập [Poetry Collection in the National Language] by Nguyễn Trãi (1380–1442) using an interdisciplinary approach that combines graphology, historical phonetics, and etymology. The text under study (with 11,067 unique instances of Nôm characters) has 1434 Nôm characters used to transcribe Sinitic loanwords, with 8040 instances of recurrence. These Nôm characters are divided into 10 categories, along two principal groups: (A) Nôm characters that are borrowed from Sinitic; and (B) Nôm characters that are self-generated. Statistics shows that the major trend of Nôm characters used to transcribed Sinitic loanwords is from borrowing (93.3%), while the minor trend is from self-generation (6.7%). Group (A) of Nôm characters mainly uses the method of graphemic borrowing from Sinitic, while group (B) uses two principal methods of graphemic creation: phono-semantic compound and phono-equivalent compound. The results show that basically the system of Nôm characters used to transcribe Sinitic loanwords inherits the graphological tradition of Sinitic as expressed on the following levels: (a) graphemic components from radicals and existing Sinitic characters; (b) methods of graphemic creation including phonetic loan and phono-semantic compound. However, the methods of graphemic creation and the evolution of the graphic form of Nôm characters all follow the common trends of the histories of Nôm characters and the Vietnamese language.