In communal worship settings, đọc kinh is characterized by cantillation, or the ritual chanting of prayers and responses.
Within the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, Vietnamese liturgical practise is distinct in its extensive use of cantillation: all prayers and responses during the Mass are either sung or chanted, but never spoken.
[3] It is suspected that cantillation in Lao and Hmong Catholic liturgies is due to Vietnamese influence.
Cantillation is far from universal among tonal languages, but Fuzhou Catholics in Fujian have a similar practise.
For example:[6] Parishes in the former West Tonkin diocese use the three-note scale of fa-sol-la, so the incipit of the Hail Mary is rendered:[7]