The Vietnamese language, an Austroasiatic language, shares linguistic features with several other languages commonly spoken in Southeast Asia. However, it is still quite a unique language. According to the eLinguistics.net analysis using specific software modules to assess linguistic relationships, the five languages most similar to Vietnamese are Santali, Minangkabau, Balinese, Aceh, and Khmer.
- Santali (26.2)
Like Vietnamese, Santali is part of the Austroasiatic family, albeit from the Munda branch. As a result, their vocabulary has shared roots. However, Santali is primarily spoken in India. Both languages exhibit relatively analytic morphology, though Santali has more inflectional morphology compared to Vietnamese. - Minangkabau (24.1)
Although Minangkabau is an Austronesian language, its historical interactions with Austroasiatic languages have led to some shared features, particularly in the areas of grammar and phonology. Minangkabau is primarily spoken in Sumatra. These languages share a number of loanwords. - Balinese (23.4)
Balinese is natively spoken on the island of Bali, east of Java. It is yet another Austronesian language on this list. Some similarities in vocabulary between Balinese and Vietnamese can largely be attributed to historical interactions through trade, as well as shared cultural and religious influences. - Acehnese (23.0)
Acehnese is primarily spoken in the province of Aceh at the northern tip of Sumatra. There are shared loanwords and phonetic characteristics due to historical maritime trade routes connecting these regions. Both languages show analytic tendencies and similar sentence structuring due to the influence of surrounding linguistic communities. - Khmer (22.2)
Cambodia borders Vietnam and its primarily language, Khmer, is a Austroasiatic language, however their vocabulary is still significantly different despite their shared roots. However, Vietnamese has been heavily influenced by Chinese, while Khmer has borrowed more from Sanskrit and Pali.
(to be considered for the list, the language must be spoken by at least one million people)