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Khmer language
*** Shopping-Tip: Khmer language
{{Infobox Language
|name=Khmer
|nativename=
Image:PhiesaKhmae.gif {{IPA|[pÊ°iË?É™saË? kÊ°maË?e]}}
|familycolor=Austro-Asiatic
|states=
Cambodia,
Vietnam,
Thailand,
United States USA,
France,
Australia
|speakers=15.7 to 21.6 million (2004)
*Native speakers: 14.7 to 20.6 million
**Cambodia: 12.1 million
**Vietnam: 1.1{{ref|1}} to 7{{ref|2}} million
**Thailand: 1.2 million
**USA: 190,000
**France: ca. 50,000
**Australia: 22,000
**Canada: 16,500
*2nd language speakers: 1 million in Cambodia
|fam2=
Mon-Khmer languages Mon-Khmer
|fam3=
Eastern Mon-Khmer
|nation=
Cambodia
|iso1=km|iso2=khm
|lc1=khm|ld1=Central Khmer|ll1=Khmer language
|lc2=kxm|ld2=Northern Khmer|ll2=Khmer language
|notice=Indic}}
'''Khmer''' (ភាសា�្មែរ) is one of the main
Austroasiatic languages.
Sanskrit and
PÄ?li Pali have had considerable influence on the language, through the vehicles of
Buddhism and
Hinduism. As result of their geographic proximity, the Khmer language has influenced
Thai language Thai and
Lao language Laotian and vice versa.
Khmer is somewhat unusual among its neighboring languages (
Thai language Thai,
Lao language Laotian and
Vietnamese language Vietnamese) in that it is not a
tonal language.
Phonology
Modern Standard Khmer has the following consonant and vowel phonemes.
(Please note: The phonological system described here is the inventory of sounds of the spoken language, not how they are written in the
Khmer alphabet.)
Consonants
{| class="wikitable"
! || Labial || Apical || Palatal || Velar || Glottal
|-
!Plosive
|{{IPA| pÊ° p É“}}||{{IPA|tÊ° t É—}}||{{IPA|cÊ° c}}||{{IPA|kÊ° k}}||{{IPA|Ê”}}
|-
!Nasal
| {{IPA|m}} || {{IPA|n}} || {{IPA|ɲ}} || {{IPA|ŋ}} ||
|-
!Liquid
| || {{IPA|r l}} || || ||
|-
!Fricative
| {{IPA|}} || {{IPA|s}} || || || {{IPA|h}}
|-
!Approximant
| {{IPA|Ê‹}} || || {{IPA|j}} || {{IPA|}} ||
|-
|}
The consonants {{IPA|/f/}}, {{IPA|/ʃ/}}, {{IPA|/z/}} and {{IPA|/g/}} occur only in loanwords from French and other recent introductions.
Vowel nuclei
{| class="wikitable"
!Long vowels
| {{IPA|i}} || {{IPA|eË?}} || {{IPA|É›Ë?}} || {{IPA|ɨË?}} || {{IPA|É™Ë?}} || {{IPA|É?Ë?}} || {{IPA|aË?}} || {{IPA|uË?}} || {{IPA|oË?}} || {{IPA|É”Ë?}}
|-
!Short vowels
| {{IPA|i}} || {{IPA|e}} || || {{IPA|ɨ}} || {{IPA|É™}} || {{IPA|É?}} || {{IPA|a}} || {{IPA|u}} || {{IPA|o}} ||
|-
!Long diphthongs
|{{IPA|iÉ™}} || {{IPA|ei}} || {{IPA|É?e}} || {{IPA|ɨə}} || {{IPA|əɨ}} || {{IPA|É?É™}} || {{IPA|ao}} || {{IPA|uÉ™}} || {{IPA|ou}} || {{IPA|ɔə}}
|-
!Short diphthongs
| || {{IPA|eə̆}} || || || || || || {{IPA|uə̆}} || {{IPA|oə̆}} ||
|}
It must be noted that the precise number and the phonetic value of vowel nuclei vary from dialect to dialect.
Syllables and words
Khmer words are predominantly of one or two syllables. There are 85 possible clusters of two consonants at the beginning of syllables and two three-consonant clusters with phonetic alterations as shown below:
{| class="wikitable"
! || {{IPA|p}} || {{IPA|ɓ}} || {{IPA|t}} || {{IPA|ɗ}} || {{IPA|c}} || {{IPA|k}} || {{IPA|ʔ}} || {{IPA|m}} || {{IPA|n}} || {{IPA|ɲ}} || {{IPA|ŋ}} || {{IPA|j}} || {{IPA|l}} || {{IPA|r}} || {{IPA|s}} || {{IPA|h}} || {{IPA|ʋ}}
|-
!{{IPA|p}}
| || || {{IPA|pʰt}}- || {{IPA|pɗ}}- || {{IPA|pʰc}} || {{IPA|pʰk}}- || {{IPA|pʔ}}- || || {{IPA|pʰn}}- || {{IPA|pʰɲ}}- || {{IPA|pʰŋ}}- || {{IPA|pʰj}}- || {{IPA|pʰl}}- || {{IPA|pr}}- || {{IPA|ps}}-|| ||
|-
!{{IPA|t}}
| {{IPA|tʰp}}-|| {{IPA|tɓ}} || || || || {{IPA|tʰk}}- || {{IPA|tʔ}}- || {{IPA|tʰm}}-|| {{IPA|tʰn}}- || || {{IPA|tʰŋ}}- || {{IPA|tʰj}}- || {{IPA|tʰl}}- || {{IPA|tr}}- || || || {{IPA|tʰʋ}}
|-
!{{IPA|c}}
| {{IPA|cʰp}}-||{{IPA|cɓ}} || || || || {{IPA|cʰk}}- || {{IPA|cʔ}}- || {{IPA|cʰm}}- || {{IPA|cʰn}}-|| || {{IPA|cʰŋ}}- || || {{IPA|cʰl}}- || {{IPA|cr}}- || || || {{IPA|cʰʋ}}-
|-
!{{IPA|k}}
| {{IPA|kʰp}}- || {{IPA|kɓ}} || {{IPA|kʰt}}- || {{IPA|kɗ}}- || {{IPA|kʰc}} || || {{IPA|kʔ}}- || {{IPA|kʰm}}-|| {{IPA|kʰn}}- || {{IPA|kʰɲ}}- || {{IPA|kŋ}}- || {{IPA|kʰj}}- || {{IPA|kʰl}}- || {{IPA|kr}}- || {{IPA|ks}}-|| || {{IPA|kʰʋ}}-
|-
!{{IPA|s}}
| {{IPA|sp}}-||{{IPA|sɓ}} || {{IPA|st}}- || {{IPA|sɗ}}- || || {{IPA|sk}}- || {{IPA|sʔ}}- || {{IPA|sm}}-|| {{IPA|sn}}- || {{IPA|sɲ}}- || {{IPA|sŋ}}- || || {{IPA|sl}}- || {{IPA|sr}}- || || || {{IPA|sʋ}}
|-
!{{IPA|Ê”}}
| || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || {{IPA|ʔʋ}}-
|-
!{{IPA|m}}
| || || {{IPA|mt}}- || {{IPA|mɗ}}- || {{IPA|mc}} || || {{IPA|mʔ}}- || || {{IPA|mʰn}}- || {{IPA|mʰɲ}}- || || || {{IPA|ml}}- || {{IPA|mr}}- || {{IPA|ms}}- || {{IPA|mh}}- ||
|-
!{{IPA|l}}
| {{IPA|lp}}-|| {{IPA|lɓ}} || || || ||{{IPA|lk}}- || {{IPA|lʔ}}- || {{IPA|lm}}-|| || || {{IPA|lŋ}}- || || || || || {{IPA|lh}}- || {{IPA|lʋ}}-
|-
|}
Syllables begin with one of these consonants or consonant clusters, followed by one of the vowel nuclei. When the vowel nucleus is short, there has to be a final consonant.
{{IPA|/p/ /t/ /c/ /k/ /ʔ/ /m/ /n/ /ɲ/ /ŋ/ /l/ /h/ /j/}} and {{IPA|/ʋ/,}} can exist in a syllable coda. {{IPA|/h/}} and {{IPA|/ʋ/}} become {{IPA|[ç]}} and {{IPA|[w]}} respectively.
The most common word structure in Khmer is a full syllable as described above, preceded by an unstressed, “minor� syllable that has a consonant-vowel (CV) structure CV-, CrV-, CVN- or CrVN- (N is any nasal in the Khmer inventory). The vowel in these “minor� syllables is usually reduced to {{IPA|[ə]}} in the spoken language.
Words can also be made up of two full syllables.
Words with three or more syllables are mostly loanwords from other languages, usually Pali, Sanskrit, or French.
Dialects
Dialects are sometimes quite marked; notable variations are found in speakers from
Phnom Penh (the capital city),
Battambang in the countryside and the northern dialects of Thailand (such as in Surin province).
A notable characteristic of the Phnom Penh accent is a tendency towards what might be considered "relaxed" pronunciation, with some parts slurred together or dropped entirely. For instance, "Phnom Penh" will sometimes be shortened to "m'Penh". Another characteristic of the Phnom Penh accent is observed in words with an "r" in the second position of the first syllable (that is, where "r" is the second consonant, as in the English word "bread"). The "r" is not pronounced, and the first consonant is pronounced harder than usual, and the syllable is spoken with a dipping tone much like the "há»?i" tone in Vietnamese. For example, some people pronounce "dreey" (meaning "fish") as "te"; the "d" becomes a "t", and the vowel (similar to "long A" in English) begins low and rises in tone. Another example is the word for ''orange'': it is pronounced ''kroich'' (the older form) by those in the countryside, but simply ''koich'' (without the r) by those in the city.
Grammar
Word order in Khmer is generally
Subject Verb Object. Khmer is primarily an
isolating language, but lexical
Derivation (linguistics) derivation by means of prefixes and infixes is common.
Writing system
Khmer is written with the
Khmer alphabet.
Khmer numerals, which were inherited from Indian numerals, are used more widely than
Hindu-Arabic numerals.
Footnotes
# {{note|1}}
Vietnamese government figure.
# {{note|2}} Non-government estimate of the Khmer Krom living in Vietnam.
References
*Ferlus, Michel. 1992. ''Essai de phonétique historique du khmer'' (Du milieu du premier millénaire de notre ère à l'époque actuelle)", Mon-Khmer Studies XXI: 57-89)
*Headley, Robert et. al. 1977. ''Cambodian-English Dictionary''. Washington, Catholic University Press.
*Huffman, Franklin. 1967. ''An outline of Cambodian Grammar''. PhD thesis, Cornell University.
*Huffman, Franklin. 1970. ''[http://www.pratyeka.org/csw/hlp-csw.pdf Cambodian System of Writing and Beginning Reader]''. Yale University Press. ISBN 0300013140
*Jacob, Judith. 1974. ''A Concise Cambodian-English Dictionary''. London, Oxford University Press.
External links
{{InterWiki|code=km}}
- Ethnologue entry on Khmer
- Khmer language: its historical development
*''[http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=75 Khmer]'' at [http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/ UCLA Language Materials project]
Category:Khmer language
Category:Languages of Cambodia
Category:Languages of Thailand
bg:КхмерÑ?ки език
br:Kmereg
de:Khmer-Sprache
es:Idioma camboyano
eo:Ĥmera lingvo
fa:زبان خمر
fr:Khmer
ko:�메르어
id:Bahasa Khmer
ms:Bahasa Khmer
nl:Khmer (taal)
ja:クメール語
pl:Język khmerski
pt:LÃngua khmer
fi:Khmerin kieli
sv:Khmer (språk)
th:ภาษาเขมร
wa:Xhmer
zh:高棉è¯
{{catmore}}
Category:Languages of Cambodia
Category:Mon-Khmer languages
ko:분류:�메르어
*** Shopping-Tip: Khmer language
