Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thi Ngoc Lang... the preserver of the Southern language

Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thi Ngoc Lang , "the keeper of the Southern language", has quietly left this world. Her passing not only leaves behind endless sorrow for her family, colleagues, and students, but also leaves a gap that is difficult to fill in the research and preservation of the unique linguistic values of the Southern region. More than a scientist , she is a great soul, a person who has devoted her entire life to listening, understanding, and telling the story of her homeland's language with all respect and love.

Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thi Ngoc Lang signed autographs for readers at the meeting with the authors of the book series "Beautiful Vietnamese Language".

A life of quiet, humble research

Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thi Ngoc Lang was born in 1951 in Saigon, where she grew up in the typical Southern language environment. From her earliest years, she showed a passion for the Vietnamese language, especially the Southern dialect. Her research career focuses on discovering and preserving the unique linguistic values of this land.

She is the author of many important research works , notably Southern Dialects (Social Sciences Publishing House, 1995), Some issues on social dialects (Editor-in-Chief, Social Sciences Publishing House, 2005), Incorrect and ambiguous sentences (co-author,Education Publishing House, 1992), Practical Vietnamese (co-author, Ho Chi Minh City National University Publishing House, 2005), Correcting grammatical errors: conjunction errors (co-author, Education Publishing House, 1989), and Vocabulary errors and how to correct them (co-author, Social Sciences Publishing House, 2002).

Book series "Rich and beautiful Vietnamese".

She is also the only female author honored in the book series "Beautiful Vietnamese Language" by Tre Publishing House in 2024 , a testament to her great contributions in the field of linguistics. Her works not only have academic value but also contribute to preserving and promoting the cultural identity of the Southern region.

Writing about her, Associate Professor Dr. Le Khac Cuong, Vice Principal of Hong Bang International University, shared that the differences, "deviations" in tone, intonation or word usage, and structure of a speaking community in each region are "sediments" that create a distinct mark. If not thoroughly equipped with phonetics, semantics; and more importantly, love for Vietnamese, love for the Southern language, those "sediments" are certainly not easy to detect, not easy to describe.

Southern dialect, a branching stream from the northern migrants who crossed Ngang Pass to open up the land, expand the territory, blending with other ethnic groups to create a brilliant, colorful picture. The hundred-year history in the thousand-year history of the nation is a unique, rich blend in a unified whole. Reaching that boundary, it is no longer a language. It is a culture.

“Throughout a lifetime of quiet, humble and serious research, Associate Professor Dr. Tran Thi Ngoc Lang has done that,” Associate Professor Dr. Le Khac Cuong shared.

Southern Dialect Narrator

For Associate Professor Dr. Tran Thi Ngoc Lang, dialect is not only the language of the land but also the soul of culture, life and memory. Her love for the Southern dialect is deeply summarized in her work “Southern Vietnamese”, the most typical book in her more than 40-year career of language research.

"Southern Vietnamese Language" by Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thi Ngoc Lang.

" Southern Vietnamese " is a collection of research works by Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thi Ngoc Lang on the Southern dialect in comparison with the Northern, Central and national dialects in general. First published by the Social Sciences Publishing House in 1995, the work is the result of a process of collecting, analyzing and meticulously contemplating the language she was exposed to since childhood.

Not simply an academic work, "Southern Vietnamese" is a humanistic journey through many layers of meaning: from phonetics to sentiment, from theory to real life, from folk culture to modern literature. In his articles, the author analyzes and explains linguistic phenomena in a thorough and extremely interesting way.

The book is divided into three main parts, the first of which explains the differences in vocabulary and semantics between the Southern dialect and the national Vietnamese. In the second part, she painstakingly classifies and systematizes the groups of Southern words - from "trong" (referring to a third person), to "chanh" (chanh choe), "giut" (giất), "hong" (khong), or "ba" (ba a). These words seem simple but are full of personality, life and regional color.

“Like the drops of alluvium silently fertilizing the delta, to give life sweet fruits and good trees, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thi Ngoc Lang spent her whole life quietly cultivating and searching in the land of languages for the sparkling pearls hidden in the simple voices of the people of the Southern region. Whether in research, teaching or in daily life, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thi Ngoc Lang always maintains the gentle, simple features of a Southern woman, still with a gentle smile that always supports generations of students”, Associate Professor, Dr. Le Khac Cuong shared emotional lines about her.

The special point that makes this work highly appreciated is the last part, where she uses literature to illuminate language. The sharp analysis in the works of Ho Bieu Chanh, Son Nam, Nguyen Ngoc Tu… helps readers feel the beauty of Southern speech not only in meaning but also in soul, a rustic, simple yet profound soul.

Without forcing the dialect into a standard language, she let that language live true to its nature, with its original beauty. That is why Southern Vietnamese was not only republished by Tre Publishing House in the Rich and Beautiful Vietnamese bookshelf, but was also taught and cited in many later linguistic works.

That book, like her life, is a persistent whisper: that dialect is not inferior, it is just waiting for someone to understand and retell its story with all respect. And Associate Professor Dr. Tran Thi Ngoc Lang is that storyteller, the storyteller in the Southern dialect.

Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thi Ngoc Lang said that after Southern Vietnamese, she planned to write the next book about reduplicated words, because reduplicated words are a characteristic of Vietnamese. Just open the book Chinh Phu Ngam or Truyen Kieu , you will see that there is no language that can be translated better than Vietnamese. Unfortunately, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thi Ngoc Lang has passed away, unable to realize this dream.

Associate Professor Dr. Tran Thi Ngoc Lang has passed away, but the "sparkling pearl" she left behind will remain forever and its light will inspire those who love and want to learn about the richness of the Vietnamese language.

Source: https://khoahocdoisong.vn/pgsts-tran-thi-ngoc-lang-nguoi-gin-giu-tieng-phuong-nam-post1542416.html