ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief introduction to the writing systems of the Vietnamese language with focus on the Romanized writing system and discusses the phonetic system of the language in depth. Asound is indicated between a pair of square brackets; e.g. [a] refers to the a-sound. Occasionally, a special symbol of the International Phonetic Alphabet is used to transcribe a sound, which is also enclosed between square brackets. The mid-level tone has a pitch starting at the mid point of the normal speaking voice range and remaining stable during the pronunciation of a syllable. It is very important to keep the mid-level tone at the same pitch level in the flow of speech, without any fluctuation, when pronouncing the syllables having this tone in a sentence. The pitch pattern of the mid-level tone does not change at all. This tone stays at a single pitch level.
