In this second installment of the series Is Vietnamese Just the New Chinese Language?, Professor John Phan continues his exploration of the linguistic relationship between Vietnamese and Chinese. Building on the earlier discussion of language shift and the “Norman Conquest” analogy, Phan examines the deep and multilayered influence of Chinese on the development of Vietnamese. He situates his own contribution—arguing that a spoken form of Chinese became native to northern Vietnam and facilitated a large-scale linguistic shift—within a much broader scholarly tradition. Along the way, he acknowledges the foundational work of earlier linguists, from Maspero and Wang Li to André Haudricourt and Michel Ferlus, while also highlighting contemporary voices advancing the field today.

This episode further addresses the complexities of Chinese linguistic influence, emphasizing that “Chinese” itself is not a single entity but a vast language family whose different phases and dialects exerted influence at different times. Phan outlines the major historical periods of Chinese—Old Chinese, Han-era Chinese, Middle Chinese, and later modern varieties—and explains how each left distinct traces on Vietnamese phonology, vocabulary, and tonal development. He also underscores the collaborative nature of linguistic scholarship: rather than presenting his argument as a solitary innovation, Phan stresses the collective work of generations of scholars whose debates, disagreements, and refinements have shaped our current understanding of Vietnamese linguistic history.