Khmer is a Mon-Khmer language spoken mainly in Cambodia, and also in Vietnam and Thailand. In 2015 there were about 16 million Khmer speakers in Cambodia, and there were about 1.2 million speakers of the language in Vietnam in 2009. In Thailand a variety of Khmer known as Northern Khmer is spoken by 1.4 million people. This is considered a separate language by some people.
Khmer at a glance
- Native name: ភាសាខ្មែរ (phiəsaa khma) [pʰiə.ˈsaː kʰmae]
- Language family: Austroasiatic, Mon-Khmer
- Number of speakers: c. 18.6 million
- Spoken in: Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand
- First written: 9th century
- Writing system: Khmer script
- Status: official language in Cambodia. Recognised minority language in Vietnam and Thailand
Khmer shares many features and much vocabulary with Thai as a result of centuries of two-way borrowing. There are also borrowings from Sanskrit, Pali, French and Chinese in Khmer.
Khmer is also known as Cambodian. The official name of Cambodia is the Kingdom of Cambodia (ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា [Preah Reachanachâk Kampuchea]). In the past it has been known as the Khmer Republic (1970-1975), Democratic Kapuchea (1975-1979), the People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979-1989) and the State of Cambodia (1989-1993). The name Kampuchea comes from the Sanskrit कम्बोजदेश [Kambujadeśa] - "land of Kambuja") [source]. The name Cambodia is an English version of the French Cambodge, which is a version of Kampuchea [source].
Varieties of Khmer include:
- Standard or Central Khmer, - spoken mainly in central Cambodia, and used as the language of instruction in schools
- Northern Khmer (Khmer Surin / ខ្មែរសុរិន្) - spoken in northeast Thailand
- Western Khmer - spoken in western Cambodia and eastern Thailand
- Phnom Penh Khmer - spoken in Phnom Penh and nearby areas
- Southern Khmer (Khmer Krom / ខ្មែរក្រោម) - spoken in southwest Vietnam
- Khmer khe - spoken in Stung Treng Province in northern Cambodia
Khmer alphabet (អក្សរខ្មែរ)
The Khmer alphabet is descended from the Brahmi script of ancient India by way of the Pallava script, which was used in southern India and South East Asia during the 5th and 6th Centuries AD. The oldest dated inscription in Khmer, found at Angkor Borei in Takev Province south of Phnom Penh, dates from 611 AD.
The Khmer alphabet closely resembles the Thai and Lao alphabets, which developed from it.
Notable features
- Type of writing system: Abugida / Syllabic Alphabet in which each consonant has two forms, one with an inherent /ɑː/ (first series) and one with an inherent /ɔː/ (second series).
- Writing direction: left to right in horizontal lines.
- Vowels are indicated using either separate letters or diacritics, which written above, below, in front of, after or around consonants. The pronunciation of the vowels depends on whether a consonant they are attached to is of the first or second series.
- All consonants have a subscript form which is used to write the second consonant of a cluster.
- In a Khmer text there are no spaces between words, instead spaces indicate the end of a clause or sentence.
- Inspite of efforts to standardise written Khmer, many words have more than one accepted spelling.
There are a number of ways to Romanize Khmer. The transliteration used here is the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) system, a group of experts that deals with the national and international standardization of geographical names.
Khmer script
Sample text
Transliteration
mnoussa teangoasa kaetamk mean seripheap ning pheap smae knea knong setthi ning sechakdeithlaithnaur. mnoussa krobroub sotthote mean vichearonanhnhean ning satesambochonhnh haey trauv br pru td champoh knea towvinhtowmk knong smartei reaban knea chea bangobaaun.
Hear a recording of this text (made with Text To Speech Free)
Translation
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Sample video in Khmer
See more videos like this on Wikitongues
Information about Khmer | Phrases | Numbers | Family words | Tower of Babel | Learning materials
Links
Information about the Khmer language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_language
http://www.khmerlanguage.com
http://www.seasite.niu.edu/khmer/
http://www.wsslanguage.com
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/khm
Online Khmer lessons
http://www.pratyeka.org/csw/
http://polymath.org/khmer.php
Khmer phrases
http://www.bongthom.com/AKOnline/phrasespageek.asp?Chapter=6
http://www.studiomartin.us/learn-khmer-cambodian.cfm
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~hongly/trans-1xl.html
http://www.holiday-in-angkor-wat.com/cambodian-language.html
http://pheakdey2u.wordpress.com/2007/08/09/some-useful-khmer-words-phrases-for-foreigners/
http://www.ximplex.com/dictionary/english/common_phrases.aspx
Online Khmer dictionaries
http://dictionary.tovnah.com/
http://www.english-khmer.com
http://kheng.info
https://www.lexilogos.com/english/cambodian_dictionary.htm
Online Khmer news and radio
http://www.rfa.org/khmer/
Free Khmer fonts
http://www.cambodia.org/fonts
http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Khmer.html
http://www.magma.ca/~sary/fonts.htm
http://scripts.sil.org/Mondulkiri
http://selapa.net/khmerfonts/
Information about Khmer Unicode
http://www.khmeros.info/khmeros_workingsoft.html
Khmer character picker
http://people.w3.org/rishida/scripts/pickers/khmer/
Khmeric languages
Khmer, Northern Khmer
Abugidas / Syllabic alphabets
Ahom, Aima, Arleng, Badagu, Badlit, Basahan, Balinese, Balti-A, Balti-B, Batak, Baybayin, Bengali, Bhaiksuki, Bhujimol, Bilang-bilang, Bima, Blackfoot, Brahmi, Buhid, Burmese, Carrier, Chakma, Cham, Cree, Dehong Dai, Devanagari, Dham Lipi, Dhankari / Sirmauri, Ditema, Dives Akuru, Dogra, Ethiopic, Evēla Akuru, Fox, Fraser, Gond, Goykanadi, Grantha, Gujarati, Gunjala Gondi, Gupta, Gurmukhi, Halbi Lipi, Hanifi, Hanuno'o, Hočąk, Ibalnan, Incung, Inuktitut, Jaunsari Takri, Javanese, Kaithi, Kadamba, Kamarupi, Kannada, Kawi, Kharosthi, Khema, Khe Prih, Khmer, Khojki, Khudabadi, Kirat Rai, Kōchi, Komering, Kulitan, Kurukh Banna, Lampung, Lanna, Lao, Lepcha, Limbu, Lontara/Makasar, Lota Ende, Magar Akkha, Mahajani, Malayalam, Meitei (Modern), Manpuri (Old), Marchen, Meetei Yelhou Mayek, Meroïtic, Masarm Gondi, Modi, Mon, Mongolian Horizontal Square Script, Multani, Nandinagari, Newa, New Tai Lue, Ojibwe, Odia, Ogan, Pahawh Hmong, Pallava, Phags-pa, Purva Licchavi, Qiang / Rma, Ranjana, Rejang (Kaganga), Sasak, Savara, Satera Jontal, Shan, Sharda, Sheek Bakrii Saphaloo, Siddham, Sinhala, Sorang Sompeng, Sourashtra, Soyombo, Sukhothai, Sundanese, Syloti Nagri, Tagbanwa, Takri, Tamil, Tanchangya (Ka-Pat), Tani, Thaana, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Tigalari, Tikamuli, Tocharian, Tolong Siki, Vatteluttu, Warang Citi
Other writing systems
Page last modified: 01.05.24
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