A reflection view (only her phonetic part) of Khmerology by Dr.

Pou Saveros
With Condolence
Khmer (ISO 639-3 codes: khm1) is the official language of the Kingdom of Cambodia
and a member of the Mon-Khmer subgroup of the Austroasiatic Language Family. It has
over 16 million speakers in Cambodia, where it is the mother tongue, and there are over 3
million speakers overseas, mainly in Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, Germany, France, and
the United States. Within Cambodia there are three main dialect areas: Phnom Penh (PP),
Battambang-SiemReap (BS) and Takeo-Kampot (TK) dialects (not including the
continuum of rural speech varieties, and the changes caused by massive population
movements in the 1975s) [see Kuhn 1889, Martini 1946, Gorgoniyev 1966, Noss 1968,
Huffman 1970a-70b, Sakamoto 1977, Minegishi 1986, Ratree 1995.] Along with Khmer,
there are about 18 other indigenous languages spoken in the territory of Cambodia2.
Furthermore, there are other, mutually intelligible, Khmer dialects spoken in north-
eastern Thailand and the region of Mekong Delta in South Vietnam. Khmer dialect,
spoken in North-eastern Thailand, which are characterized by certain archaic features
such as the retention of final /r/. The dialect of Khmer spoken in north-eastern Thailand
has been described by Smalley (1964), Jenner (1974), Thongkhamwan (1977),
Chantrupanth & Chartchai (1978), Bandhumedha et al (1974-80), Nacaskul (1981),
Weeraprajak (1982), Katanyu (1982), Dorothy & David Thomas (1982), Wanna & David
(1983), Rungsaengchan & Luesak (1983), Punsap (1984), David (1984), Yodmongkhon
(1986), Bernon (1988), Pornpen (1989), Wichitkhachee (1996), Suwilai (1997),
Pisitpanporn (1998), Prakorb (1999), and Ratree & Jongman (2001). The Khmer dialect
spoken in the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam is characterized strong
diphthongization3 and monosyllabalization4 It has been described by Tran Van (1974),
Hoang Thi (1978), Hoang (1979), Thach (1999), Kirby (2013), Nguyen 2010, Đinh 1978,
and Bisang (2015).

1 https://www.ethnologue.com/language/khm
2 Those languages include (with 2013 populations in brackets): 1) Brao (5,286), 2) Cham (253,100), 3)
Chong (5,000), 4) Jarai (15,000), 5) Kaco’/Kachah’ (2,000), 6) Kroal (2,600), 7) Kravet /Kavet (3,012), 8)
Kru’ng/Krueng (9,368), 9) Kuy (15,495), 10) Lamam (1,000), 11) Mnong/Bunong (20,000), 12) Pear
(1,300), 13) Samre (200), 14) Sa’och (500), 15) Somray (2,000), 16) Stieng (6,059), 17) Suoy (200) and
18) Tampuan/Tampuon (25,000). See also Filippi (2009) and Sun (2010).
3 See F.Martini (1946), p.114 and Gorgoniyev (1966), p.13-15
4
See Thach Ngoc Minh (1999): Monosyllabalization of Kiengiang Khmer.
The Central Khmer in Cambodia is a comparatively well-described language. Since the
last century, several grammatical descriptions have been published: Maspero (1915),
Martini (1946), Henderson (1952), Gorgoniyev (1963, 1966), Huffman (1967), Jacob
(1968), Jenner (1969), Ehrman (1972), Khin (1999), and Haiman (2011). There are also
several dictionaries including the monolingual Khmer dictionary of Ven. Chuon Nath
(1967), and French and English dictionaries: Aymonier (1874-75-77), Bernard (1902),
Guesdon (1930), Tandart (1935), Cambefort (1950), Jacob (1974), Headley et al (1977),
Huffman & Proum (1978), Daniel (1985), Keesee (1996-20012) & Filippi & Hiep (2009-
17) as well as Old Khmer dictionaries: Jenner (1987), Saveros (1992) and Seam (2000).
Several course books and readers based on Central Khmer are also available: Huffman
(1970a, b), Noss et al. (1974), Sacher & Ngoun (1985), Smyth (1995), Gilbert & Sovandy
(2004), Filippi (2013), and Chhany Sak-Humphry (2015).
As far as we know, Central Khmer dialect has also been the subject of many particular
researches. The first account of Central Khmer was by Ernst Kuhn (1889), who described
Khmer in his works describing visits in Cambodia. Kuhn described Central Khmer as
very uniform in all parts of the country but he divided Central Khmer into two main
dialect groups, south-eastern and north-western5. Minegishi (1986) provided insightful
information on the absence of vowel splits in the Takeo dialects of Khmer, which is
conditioned by the loss of the register contrast. Moreover, Noss (1961), Huffman (1967),
Sakamoto (1968), Minegishi (1986)6, and Pisitpanporn (1995), indicated that the
characteristic sound changes in colloquial PP Khmer where initial /r/, undergoes a shift to
/h/ accompanied by a low rising pitch contour. Another notable sound change was a new
tonogenetic mechanism of the loss of /r/ in Central Khmer by Ratree & Susan (2005).
Kirby (2014) described PP dialects as an incipient tonogenesis by the loss of /r/ of the
onset or onset cluster. Filippi & Hiep (2016) also described the PP dialect and the
standard dialect by pointing out the variation of clear voice versus the breathy voice.

5
E. Kuhn (1889) described Khmer dialects by divided into two main groups, South-Eastern and North-
Western dialects: characteristic of the north-western dialects, with Battambang and Siem Reap province as
their centers, is greater conservatism in phonetics; these dialects contain a considerable number of
borrowings from Thai, which do not occur in the South-eastern dialect. Typical of the south-western
dialects, with Phnom Penh as one of their centers, are some phonetics peculiarities (the merger of the
diphthongs iɜ and iə, ɔ:-like pronunciation in most areas of the inherent vowel of the first series, etc). Also
see: Gorgoniyev (1966), p.13-14
6
Minegishi (1986) describes the r>h shift in the Takeo dialect.
Phonologically, Central Khmer is known for its rich vowel inventory of between 28 and
36 of vowels nuclei (Aymonier 1878, Finot 1902, Bernard 1902, Schmidt 1905, Maspero
1915, Guesdon 1930, Martini 1946, Cambefort 1950, Sokhampou 1967, Lewitz 1969,
Sakamoto 1977, Pinnow 1980, Jenner 1987, Vickery 1991, Ferlus 1992, Saveros 1992,
Jacob 1992, Prakorb 1993, Pisitpanporn 1994, Ratree & Susan 1995-2005, Long Seam
2000, Antelme 2002, Sun 2013 and Filippi & Hiep 2009) as well as the iambic or
sesquisyllabic structure of its words (Henderson 1952, Gorgoniyev 1966, Huffman 1967-
70a-70b, Headley 1977, Thomas 1992, Bisag 2015). The number of consonant phonemes
is relatively small. Khmer is notable for being a non-tonal language in what may be the
most tone-prone area of the world (Matisoff 1973). Compared to other eastern
Austroasiatic Languages, Khmer morphology is very rich in prefixes and infixes.
Syntactically, Khmer is a head-initial and a verb-medial language (Bisang, 2015, p.677-
80).
The earliest systematic account of Khmer phonology was by Martini (1946) 7 who
described the Khmer phonemic structure based on the PP and BS dialects, which may not
be considered as the normative Khmer dialects. Henderson (1952)8, whose analysis
reflects the middle Khmer orthography and pronunciation, provides another
comprehensive overview of Khmer phonology. Indeed, historical phonology of vowel
classifications, vowel registers or series, has played a critical role in reconstructing of
Khmer phonation, especially in Mon-Khmer family (Schmidt 1906, Maspero 1915,
Gorgoniyev 1966, Huffman 1967-70a-70b, Haudricourt 1965-72, Shorto 1973, Headley
1977, Nacaskul 1978, Vickery 1991, Ferlus 1992, Jacob 1992, Spatar 1997, Diffloth
1976-82, Vickery 1991, Orawan 1993, Suwilai 1994, and Sidwell 2013). The vowel splits
have proven central to our understanding of the process of registrogenesis and
tonogenenesis (Jenner 1974, Smalley 1976, Sey 1976, Headley 1977, Sakamoto 1977,
Pinnow 1980, Ferlus 1992, Jacob 1992, Ratree 2002-2005, Kirby 2014). Other significant
descriptions of Khmer include those of Finot (1902), Martini (1946), Saveros (1992),
Prakorb (1993), Pisitpanporn (1994), Ratree & Guion (1995: 2005), Sidwell (2013), and

7
Also see Martini (1946), Aperçu phonologique du cambodgien, Bulletin de la Société de linguistique de
Paris 42, p. 113-131.
8
Henderson, E. J. A. (1952). The Main Features of Cambodian Pronunciation. Bulletin of the School of
Oriental and African Studies, 14(1), 149–174. Cambridge University Press.
Filippi & Hiep (2009). Other aspects of Khmer Phonology and Phonetics have been
addressed by the Khmer Linguists: Keng Vansak (1966), Ièu Kœus (1967), Sokhampou
(1968), Seam (1997), Sok 2004, Sun (2010-2013), Somnable (2012).
It is necessary to add that we consider the concept of “Standard Khmer” in the previous
meaning, namely as a set of normative rules of Khmer pronunciation. The dialect spoken
in Phnom Penh is called, “Standard Khmer”, which refers to the standard pronunciation
energetically cultivated through universities, schools, govenment, and the media. It is the
way Khmer is or should be spoken in a formal environment. (Kuhn, 1889, Martini, 1946,
Henderson, 1952, Gorgoniyev, 1966, Sakamoto 1977, Minegishi 1986, Filippi & Hiep,
2009).