IN ADDITION TO GIVING A COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF THE GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE OF VIETNAMESE, THIS TEXT CONTAINS A STUDY OF VIETNAMESE PRONUNCIATION, BASED ON THE EDUCATED SPEECH OF HANOI, WHICH IS CONSIDERED STANDARD. ANOTHER ENTIRE SECTION IS DEVOTED TO DIALECTAL DIFFERENCES, SPECIFICALLY TO COMPARISONS WITH THE SPEECH OF SAIGON. ALL PHONOLOGY IS PRESENTED IN IPA (INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET) SYMBOLS. THE AUTHOR EMPHASIZES THAT, ALTHOUGH SOME SAMPLES OF SPEECH MAY SEEM UNNATURAL, ALL WERE RECORDED BY NATIVE SPEAKERS AND CHECKED AGAINST LINGUISTICALLY TRAINED INFORMANTS. THE WRITING SYSTEM IS DISCUSSED IN DETAIL, WITH PARTICULAR ATTENTION ON SPELLING CONVENTIONS AND THE FORMAT OF VIETNAMESE DICTIONARIES. CONCERNING THE GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE OF VIETNAMESE, THERE IS AN ANALYSIS OF MORPHEMES, CONSTITUENT STRUCTURES, AND SYNTAX. OTHER CHAPTERS ARE DEVOTED TO COMPOUNDS, PSEUDO-COMPOUNDS, AND DERIVATIVES, WITH A SPECIAL NOTE ON THE CONSTRUCTION CALLED THE "FOCAL ELEMENT." THIS IS A RESTRICTIVE PHRASE WITH A PREDICATE AS HEAD AND VARIOUS SUBSTANTIVALS AS FOCAL-COMPLEMENTS. THIS GRAMMAR IS PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON PRESS, SEATTLE 98105 ($6.50). (FB)