The name Quang Nam is anchored in the accent

When you think of Quang Nam, what immediately comes to mind? This question, at first glance, seems so simple that it can be blurted out immediately. But I don't think so.

Hometown of Quang Nam. Photo: LE VAN

Right at this moment, suddenly I heard two lines of poetry echoing, to be honest I don’t remember whose poem it was or if it was mine? I’m not sure anymore. But it was in line with my feelings, so I’ll write it down: “Has my heart said anything yet? Am I about to say it or have I just said it?”

Hearing the voice reminds me of home.

Saying anything about Quang Nam is as difficult as holding a handful of seeds in your hand, each one tiny, how can you classify them? You can only choose randomly from your memory of colors and sounds.

I still remember in 1982, after more than 5 years living in the K battlefield, I was lucky to be able to carry my backpack back to my birthplace. All the roads, trees, vehicles, and even people, in my eyes had become strange. Even though everything was “mine”, I still felt lost. Oh my!

My feet, which had once crossed forests and waded through streams, now felt hesitant as they stepped onto the streets. The wind blew from Ngu Hanh Son, the sun was warm. White clouds floated from Son Cha. The salty sea air wafted from My Khe. Everything was familiar, but then a feeling of loneliness arose in my heart.

“

Place names are the "memory identity" of a person's life, not just common names to distinguish between lands.

Then, strangely enough, this feeling only disappeared when I entered the crowd, and heard the voices of the people of Quang. Immediately, the sharp, low, heavy, and low sounds, the sounds of "what's wrong" and "what's wrong"... awakened in me memories of the old days. Made my heart feel light. Made my mind slow down. Ah, this is home.

Not far away
Hearing the voice reminds me of home.

Meeting an old friend in a foreign land

Why is it that just by hearing the voice of the same hometown, people feel sympathetic towards each other? How can we explain it? Is it because we drank the same water, breathed the same flavor of the mountains and rivers there?

The Quang accent remains as an identity of the country. Photo illustrating the coastal area of ​​Quang Nam. Photo: LTK

There is an old poem that says “Tha huong ngoi co tri”, that when going to a far away place, in a foreign land, if you can meet an acquaintance, it is a great joy. Actually, it is not necessary to know each other, just being from the same hometown and speaking the same language is enough to feel close. From that voice, all barriers of normal communication are gradually removed, bringing people closer together.

That said, what do you think?

I think, when someone puffs out his chest and says that the land where he was born is the "land of talented people", and that other places cannot compare, then that is an unusual, even humorous, expression.

Because, on the unified land of North and South, where is it not like that? Culture, history, and people in every land are “equal”. No matter what, the homeland is the place where people are always proud of and miss for life. So, does the name of that land play this role? Of course it does. But then, place names can change over the years, and the next generation will no longer remember them.

For example, in Quang Nam, specifically where the middle-aged poet Bui Giang wrote the poem: "Dreaming of the deserted old town/ The sail of the misty waves of Hoi An afternoon", there is a love song: "Love each other, don't be too shy/ Let's meet again at Cau Ro Be wharf". It sounds poignant and affectionate, but then we wonder where the Cau Ro Be wharf is now?

The boat shakes across Ti, Se, and Kem
Bumpy steps of Ram, Ri, Lieu

The poem by patriot Tran Quy Cap. Reading it makes me feel familiar, because I have heard of those place names more or less, but specifically where are they?

Thinking that, reading old books and newspapers, sometimes encountering some place names, thinking they are strange but unexpectedly, I may have been there before. Place names, in themselves, are a value, related to cultural, historical, economic , human events… existing from the past.

For this reason, place names also have another important element, which is that they belong to the consciousness and indelible memories of the people living on that land. Place names are not just names, but also the spirit from the power of the past, urging modern people to know how to live, to look towards the future in a righteous way, at least not to betray the invisible past that has existed.

That's the idea, but sometimes the place name changes.

Any change makes people dizzy and surprised, especially about place names. Because place names are the "memory identity" of a person's life, not just common names to distinguish between lands. In the past, even if we dreamed, even if we let our imagination soar to the ninth heaven, we could not imagine that one day the name Quang Nam would no longer be an administrative name. No one dared to think of this change. But then, it still happened.

Cantonese accent is identity

So, what will keep that place name lasting through the years?

With this question, we must spend a lot of ink and debate, discussion to get the answer and it will take time. In general, the answer is not easy.

However, when thinking about this change, I dare to think of another way of existence not from the landscape, from the objects but from the voices of the residents there.

To me, the Quang accent is an identity that will never be lost. It just exists from generation to generation.

The basic element is the voice from the phonetics, intonation, vocabulary… which plays the role of anchoring the name of that place. In other words, the administrative name is a convention, a general rule, but the voice of each individual stands outside, is the flow of regional sounds. And they still do not change. Isn’t that also a way to preserve the identity of the name Quang Nam, other regions are similar.

Nowadays, we live in the era of “flat world ”, oriented towards global people, who can communicate in many different languages. That is true, but only when speaking Vietnamese, listening to Vietnamese, can people feel the full nuances of those words.

Again, it is also Vietnamese but the Vietnamese of the place where one first cried, when speaking, one can fully express one's emotions, when listening, one can most clearly understand the flexibility of those words. For example, when hearing "xa lac", I only receive information, but when hearing "xa quec" in Quang Nam accent, honestly, it is not only information but also emotion.

When the place name changes, it still changes in a better direction in the synchronous development of the whole country, but the familiar name - the inherent name is still there, at least it is still anchored by the voice. Is thinking like that too romantic? I do not argue because I know for sure that the soul of each person's hometown will never be lost, we still feel it every day in life:

Not far away
Hearing the voice reminds me of home.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/danh-xung-quang-nam-neo-giu-tu-giong-noi-3157104.html