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'''Is it "pho" or "phở"? Why Vietnamese diacritics don't belong in English-language writing.'''

'''Is it "pho" or "phở"? Why Vietnamese diacritics don't belong in English-language writing.'''

# The major U.S. style guides, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'',<ref>''Chicago Manual of the Style'', p. 350. “For general matters of spelling, the University of Chicago Press recommends using...''Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary''."<br>CMOS, p. 350. “Although the University of Chicago press uses Webster as its spelling authority, the use of other standard dictionaries such as the ''American Heritage Dictionary'' and the ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language'' is also acceptable.”<br>CMOS, p. 387. “For the names of well-known deceased persons, Chicago generally follows the spelling in ''Merriam-Webster’s Biographical Dictionary'' or the biographical section of ''Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.''”</ref> APA, AMA, and MLA,<ref>Gibaldi, Joseph, ''MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers'' (2003), p. 61. "Your instructor will probably recommend a standard American dictionary such as ''The American Heritage College Dictionary'', ''Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary'', or ''Random House Webster College Dictionary''. Because dictionaries vary in matters like word division and spelling preference, you should, to maintain consistency, use the same one throughout your paper."</ref> recommend Merriam-Webster spelling. British style guides recommend Oxford spelling.<ref>''Oxford Style Manual'', p. 160. “The best advise is to treat any one item consistently within a given text and follow the newest edition of a suitable dictionary, such as the ''Concise Oxford Dictionary''.”</ref> Both Merriam-Webster and Oxford give Vietnamese names without diacritics. ''Merriam-Webster Geographic Dictionary'' includes various smaller Vietnamese towns, so this treatment is not just for well-known or "anglicized" names.<ref>CMOS, p. 403, “For the spelling of names of places, consult ''Merriam-Webster’s Geographic Dictionary.''”</ref>

# The major U.S. style guides, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'',<ref>''Chicago Manual of the Style'', p. 350. “For general matters of spelling, the University of Chicago Press recommends using...''Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary''."<br>CMOS, p. 350. “Although the University of Chicago press uses Webster as its spelling authority, the use of other standard dictionaries such as the ''American Heritage Dictionary'' and the ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language'' is also acceptable.”<br>CMOS, p. 387. “For the names of well-known deceased persons, Chicago generally follows the spelling in ''Merriam-Webster’s Biographical Dictionary'' or the biographical section of ''Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.''”</ref> APA, AMA, and MLA,<ref>Gibaldi, Joseph, ''MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers'' (2003), p. 61. "Your instructor will probably recommend a standard American dictionary such as ''The American Heritage College Dictionary'', ''Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary'', or ''Random House Webster College Dictionary''. Because dictionaries vary in matters like word division and spelling preference, you should, to maintain consistency, use the same one throughout your paper."</ref> recommend Merriam-Webster spelling. British style guides recommend Oxford spelling.<ref>''Oxford Style Manual'', p. 160. “The best advise is to treat any one item consistently within a given text and follow the newest edition of a suitable dictionary, such as the ''Concise Oxford Dictionary''.”</ref> Both Merriam-Webster and Oxford give Vietnamese names without diacritics. ''Merriam-Webster Geographic Dictionary'' includes various smaller Vietnamese towns,<ref>CMOS, p. 403, “For the spelling of names of places, consult ''Merriam-Webster’s Geographic Dictionary.''”</ref> so this treatment is not just for well-known or "anglicized" names.

# Other standard reference works that cover Vietnam also remove the diacritics: ''Britannica'', ''Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War'' (2011), ''Encyclopedia of Modern Asia'' (2002), ''National Geographic Atlas of the World'', and ''Lonely Planet Vietnam''. ''Britannica'' is edited by University of Chicago Press copy editors trained in Chicago style, which is the most widely admired editing style.<ref>''Britannica'' created its current diacritics style for its 1974 edition. Merriam Webster and other publishers adopted the same style a few years later. Pre-1974, the standard style was to use only Western European (Latin-1) diacritics. This is still a common style in non-academic writing.</ref>

# Other standard reference works that cover Vietnam also remove the diacritics: ''Britannica'', ''Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War'' (2011), ''Encyclopedia of Modern Asia'' (2002), ''National Geographic Atlas of the World'', and ''Lonely Planet Vietnam''. ''Britannica'' is edited by University of Chicago Press copy editors trained in Chicago style, which is the most widely admired editing style.<ref>''Britannica'' created its current diacritics style for its 1974 edition. Merriam Webster and other publishers adopted the same style a few years later. Pre-1974, the standard style was to use only Western European (Latin-1) diacritics. This is still a common style in non-academic writing.</ref>

# Go on Amazon and search for "Vietnam" books. I guarantee that no book that comes up in the top twenty will use Vietnamese diacritics in the running text.

# Go on Amazon and search for "Vietnam" books. I guarantee that no book that comes up in the top twenty will use Vietnamese diacritics in the running text.