440 - Is Vietnamese Just the New Chinese Language? AMA Double Down with Prof. John Phan

In this second episode of Ancient Vietnam, we return to the world of early Vietnamese history—this time loosely based on an AMA (Ask Me Anything) version shaped by the voices and comments of our audience. Building on the foundational themes of the first episode of the series Ancient Vietnam, co-host John Phan joins us to dive deeper into the linguistic and cultural mysteries that sparked so much joy, conversation and curiosity.

Early in this episode, John introduces the concept of language shift through a comparison to Norman England, showing how language imposition can reshape native speech without erasing cultural identity. This idea threads through the episode as we explore how Vietnamese developed under centuries of outside influence and internal change.

John and Kenneth also respond to listener questions about tonality: when tonal features emerged in Vietnamese, how they function, and why similar developments appeared in Chinese. Along the way, they dismantle common assumptions about ethnicity and language, emphasizing that racial or genetic identity doesn’t necessarily equate to linguistic heritage.

Finally, the episode turns to the historical formation of the name Vietnam itself—tracing its evolution through dynasties, borders, and political imagination. What did "Viet" and "Nam" originally mean? And how did their pairing come to represent an enduring national identity?

This follow-up episode is both a reflection and a deepening of the conversation—expanding on the hidden dynamics of language, power, and identity in Vietnam’s distant past. Join us as we continue to unearth the stories embedded in scripts, sounds, and names.

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John D. Phan is an Associate Professor of Vietnamese Humanities at Columbia University, based in the Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures and the Weatherhead East Asian Institute. He focuses on the linguistic history of Vietnam and its cultural context.

.His first book, The Lost Tongues of the Red River: Annamese Middle Chinese & the Origins of the Vietnamese Language, published in April 2025 by Harvard University Press, posits the existence of a regional dialect of Middle Chinese once spoken in northern Vietnam (the Red River Delta) and explores how this dialect influenced the emergence of Vietnamese

Phan completed his M.A. at Columbia University (on Ming‑Qing vernacular fiction, 2005) and earned his Ph.D. from Cornell (on Sino‑Vietnamese language contact, 2012). His scholarship examines the evolution of writing systems, vernacular literary forms (like chữ Nôm), and the social-political implications of multilingualism in East Asia

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Many of you still have the chance to record and preserve the legacies of your own families. I’ve sat with families now for interview sessions to record the rich histories of parents and explore the lives of the generations that preceded them. Don’t let your family stories go untold! Take a moment to reach out and together we will bring out your family’s story on a recorded journey. - Kenneth Nguyen

Visit vietnamstorybank.com today for more information.

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