Cambodian Language - Help Khmer Script

Khmer Script Help

Khmer (or Cambodian) is a member of the Mon-Khmer family of languages which were once spoken over a wide area of mainland South-East Asia. Today, Khmer is the predominant and official language of Cambodia and is also spoken in dialect by minority peoples residing in Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos.

The Khmer Script is an phonetic alphabet and is derived from the Grantha form of the Brahmi Script which originated in India. It consists of

symbols which represent consonants
symbols which represent vowels
symbols which when added to other symbols indicate a form of pronunciation
symbols which represent punctuation

Consonants

Consonants can be categorized into the 'A-Series' and 'O-Series'. A -Series consonants are characterized by the inherent sound "âw" and the O-Series by the sound "oa" as in the consonant , pronounced koa. If you play the names of the consonants on the Khmer Script Consonants page you will hear the differences. All but one of the consonant symbols have two forms:

1) a main form which is used to attach the vowel symbols.
2) a modified form which is used when it is the second consonant of a consonant cluster.

The sound of the consonant may change depending on where in the word it occurs. On this page the symbol '---' is presented if a consonant does not occur in the position indicated. The symbol

is usually silent but is pronounced as " l " in some words. The symbol

represents a glottal stop and serves symbol on which to hang vowels.

Vowels

Vowels are attached to consonants either above, below, in front or following a consonant symbol. The vowels may have a different sound depending on whether the vowel is attached to an A-Series or an O-Series consonant (see above). The different sounds are represented on the Khmer Script Vowel Page and can be heard by selecting and playing the respective phonetic representations.

PLEASE NOTE the representations of the vowels shown on the Khmer Script Vowel Page are shown attached to the consonant

This is to show the position of the vowel on a consonant. Hence the above consonant when it is shown on the Khmer Script Vowel Page can be taken as representing any consonant. The only time a vowel changes the shape of a consonant occurs when the vowel

combines with the consonant

to form the symbol

The phonetic representation of the vowels is only approximate. A better idea as to the differences in the pronunciation of these symbols is gained from listening to the sound files.

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