#khmer language

[mali-umkin]

Pronunciation lesson - completed!

[rotzaprachim]

Language Moodboard: ភាសាខ្មែរ  / Khmer 

for @shardsoflesbianism 

[kleangroeng]

រឿង សួស្តី Black Jack

សូមអានភាគ ១ ដោយក្តីរីករាយ​

សាយតូ អេអ៊ីជីរ៉ូ គឺជាគ្រូពេទ្យវ័យក្មេងម្នាក់ដែលទើបតែបញ្ចាប់ការសិក្សា និងជាអតីតនិស្សិតដ៏ឆ្នើមក្នុងចំណោម៨០នាក់ទូទាំង។ នៅក្នុងសាច់រឿងនេះ បន្ទាប់ពីបានធ្វើការក្នុងមន្ទីរពេទ្យអស់មួយរយៈពេល លោកគ្រូពេទ្យវ័យក្មេងរបស់យើង នឹងបានយល់ឃើញនូវរឿងរាវជាច្រើនទាក់ទងនឹង ពិភពងងឹតនៃផ្នែកវិជ្ជសាស្ត្រដែលគាត់មិនដែលបានដឹង និងស្គាល់ពីមុនមក។​

[kiragecko]

"I don’t believe that absolute truth is necessary. I only need the power to freely accomplish my dreams. One could say that it’s the power not to have to take orders from those one despises.” -  Reinhard von Lohengramm (Legend of the Galactic Heroes)

@marudny-robot! I did a thing based on the thing you sent me!

This reads, in Angkorian Era Khmer (both language and script):

“Vvaṃ git ʔañ vnyat niṣkala ʔaṃpacc. Paṅ guḥ kanlāṅ noḥ ta svapna paṃbañ jraḥ. Gi neḥ kanlāṅ vvaṃ diḥ ti cap śāsana nai ta ʔavajña ti noḥ ʔnak.”

Under the cut is an explanation and introduction to reading Khmer from the 700-1100s:

These two images show the consonants and vowels of Angkorian Khmer.

The purple form is for the sound that starts a syllable (but see ⁵). Purple vowels are used for syllables that have no starting consonant sound (other then a brief pause like in the middle of ‘uh-oh’ which is shown by the ‘ʔ’ symbol.

Blue consonants are used used as additional parts of consonants. They’re placed below the initial consonant. Up to 2 consonants can be added below, but usually it’s only 1.

All consonants include a following ‘a’ sound. Blue vowels are used in syllables that have different vowels, instead. I’ve shown them on a ‘ka’ character, so you can see how they attach. Note that the first ‘ka’ has no vowel attached.

Vowels with a line above (‘ā’) are long. That means that you make the song for longer before moving to the next syllable. Khmer rarely marks the difference between short and long vowels, other than ‘ā’. ( ‘ū’ is used, but seems to be treated as a variant of its short counterpart, not a separate sound.)

‘kaṃ’ and ‘kaḥ’ are special characters from Sanskrit. In Sanskrit, the ‘aṃ’ character means that the vowel comes from the mouth AND nose (its ‘nasal’). Khmer didn’t mark nasal vowels, so the the symbol is used for ‘m’s that end syllables. Not sure what the ‘aḥ’ marks. 

The ‘k-’ is used for consonants that aren’t followed by a vowel. Consonant sounds that follow a vowel are usually used as the first character of the next syllable, even if they’re pronounced as part of the earlier syllable. If a consonant sound marks the end of a sentence, or the following syllable already starts with a consonant cluster, the consonant will be written with a line over it, instead.

Khmer reads from inside to out. You start with the base consonant, then read down through secondary consonants. All vowels withing a consonant cluster are lost. Then you read the vowel, and finally, any special characters. The above image shows three examples, each slightly more complex than the last. 

Breaking the text into words requires understanding of the language - there are no spaces between words, and they frequently end in the middle of consonant clusters.

Footnotes:

¹only used to write Sanskrit, not native Khmer.

²only found in grammars, not used in actual writing.⁶ 

³appearance of these characters are my best guess based on 1-2 very blurry images and comparisons to related scripts.

⁴ appearance of these characters are my best guess based on comparisons to related scripts, since I couldn’t find any examples

⁵black symbol is a special form of ‘r’ when its the first character of a consonant cluster.

⁶‘ḹ’ is also included in grammars for related scripts. Both ‘ḹ’ and ‘ṝ’ were created by Sanskrit grammarians to make their charts have a pretty, balanced appearance. Given that the only use for ‘ḷ’ in Khmer that I’ve found is as a rare variant of the word ‘li,’ and I’d run out of room, I didn’t bother including including my guess for the imaginary long version of the character.

[chaysinath]

ភាសាខ្មែរព្យញ្ជនៈ៣៣តូ Khmer Consonant 33 characters

[iwritesnortsintragedies]

[Use of the capital letter un French]

So I had a Sudden Doubt about whether or not students were supposed to capitalize letters after a question mark (that tends to happen when you see the same mistake often enough while grading) and decided to use the internet for help.

I feel like even just looking at the page should be enough to drive the point of how uptight we are about grammar and proper punctuation in and of itself tbh.

Also if you feel kind, spare a thought for my poor students whose native language does not have:

Capital letters

Articles

Verb conjugation

And who are forced to learn to deal with ALL OF THAT.

[sarvatri]

One Language, Many Homes

Language Resources for the Khmer Diaspora

Nothing like the fascination of exploring art and language beyond such borders. Likewise, limits do extend to many aspects of our lives such as accessibility to such things that our mind, heart and soul craves for.

Despite having such rigorous exposure to a language that our parents/elders strictly and deeply held onto, the ability to speak Khmer was natural but eventually lost overtime.

Perhaps it was the desire to uncover the stories that our family kept hidden due to their trauma from the war and g-cide that brought me back to the past—either way, the curiosity to trace the intricate tapestry of our ancestral history and unraveling the multifaceted web of cultural influences became a priority.

Regardless of everything, language does pose of importance to embarking on the journey of reconnecting.

In order to truly immerse oneself of mapping what molded our heritage and language, it meant facing my past and prioritizing unlearning and relearning the language that I once knew.

No regrets.

A rough journey in self-studying but the door of resources eventually opened up and slowly the pieces to puzzles of our ancestral history were revealed between the pages.

~~~

For the Khmer Diaspora looking for English resources, please see below for linked recommendations:

Colloquial Cambodian ~ I did check this book out from the library twice and it is a good refresher. The website is also useful as it has audio recordings.

Simple Khmer Vocab ~ This online audio dictionary has over 3,000 audio recordings. It uses a large text corpus and multiple dictionaries, even recordings for each consonant.

Cambodia: Research Information ~ This is general collection of E-Journals and digital archives relating to policy studies, films, and so forth.

SEALang Dictionary ~ A great resource when the Search Engine fails you on resources or providing you with the correct English translations

eLibrary of Cambodia ~ Various Ebooks in Khmer that are available to the public to read. You might need to familiarize yourself with the Khmer Fonts.

Aakanee ~ One of my favorites. IT EXPLAINS DEFINITIONS FURTHER, HAS AUDIO RECORDINGS, AND EVEN DIALOGUES + PARAGRAPH EXAMPLES TO LISTEN TO AND READ!!!

Tovnah Dictionary ~ Also one of my favorites! It has English definitions and whenever I recall a random word, I always look it up to make sure I'm remembering it correctly. There's also other classifications on there too. Audio recordings don't work fyi.

Khmer Learn 101 ~ A good resources for beginners

PDF about the Khmer Language ~ It is an overview about the Khmer language and has some information on consonant clusters and so forth.

Contemporary Cambodian ~ A good read if you want to learn and read about Khmer phonology, syntax, nouns, and so on.

Cambodian System of Writing and Beginning Reader with Drills and Glossary ~ There is a lot of linguistic jargon. I don't recommend this for beginners that are just starting to learn the Khmer script but for those who already have a solid foundation. I do love how detailed and concise it is!! Just google the name, it's copyright free and I believe it's publicly available too!

YouTube Handles I recommend:

PhallaSan ~ I like this channel because I find it to be one of the clearest pronunciations for Khmer dependent vowels, respective to the first series ("AW") and second ("OH") series consonants. Just click on the photo.

CambodianSchool ~ They have videos based on the textbook called "Siev Pheuv Rien An" by Dr. Setharin Penn, PhD. The videos also expand on the text and provide great info.

ManylenB ~ I found this page after I already learned the entire alphabet. Don't struggle too much for Khmer. I watched like 2 videos and I think it's a good resource.

[holycrumpets]

Kinda shouting into the void here, but does anyone out there know where to find resources to learn Khmer? I think Cambodia has a beautiful culture and language, and I would love to study it, but I've had a lot of trouble finding resources.

[តើខ្ញុំរៀនភាសាខ្មែរដោយរបៀបណា?]