HA NOI (VNS) —  A dictionary of Nom scripts – the Chinese-based Vietnamese script that was widely used between the 15th and 19th centuries – will be introduced to the public today.

Compiled by linguistics researcher Prof Nguyen Quang Hong, the 2,323-page dictionary features 9,450 Nom scripts with more than 14,000 Vietnamese syllables. So far, the publication is the largest-ever of its kind in the country.

To complete the dictionary, Prof Hong, who is former deputy head of the Institute of Han-Nom (Sino-Nom) Studies, had to collect, represent by phonetic symbols, study and classify the script over several decades.

During the ceremony to release the dictionary, which takes place this afternoon at the Trung Nguyen Book Cafe, 52 Hai Ba Trung Street, the author and some other linguistics researchers will talk about the Nom script's preservation along with the introduction of the publication. — VNS