រៀនភាសាខ្មែរ
Photo source: http://pepycambodia.org/education-in-cambodia/
สุภาษิตชาวกัมพูชา
จำเณาะวิชา คือเจียทรบ ด่อเมียนตมไล
(ชำนาญวิชา คือการมีทรัพย์ ยิ่งใหญ่มีราคา)
What we should know about Khmer
Khmer is an Asean language spoken by approximately 12.6 million people in Cambodia where it is the official language. It is also a second language for most of the minority groups and indigenous hill tribes there. Additionally one million Khmer native to southern Vietnam and 1.4 million in northeast Thailand speak dialects of Khmer.
Khmer dialects, although mutually intelligible, are sometimes quite marked. Notable variations are found in speakers from Phnom Penh (which is the capital city), the rural Battambang area, the areas of Northeast Thailand adjacent to Cambodia such as Surin province, the Cardamom Mountains, and in southern Vietnam. The dialects form a continuum running roughly north to south. Standard Cambodian Khmer is mutually intelligible with the others but a Khmer Krom speaker from Vietnam, for instance, may have great difficulty communicating with a Khmer native to Sisaket Province in Thailand.
The following is a classification scheme showing the development of the modern Khmer dialects.
Middle Khmer
Cardamom (Western) Khmer
Central Khmer
Surin (Northern) Khmer
Standard Khmer and related dialects (including Khmer Krom)
Standard Khmer, or Central Khmer, the language as taught in schools and used by the media is based on the Battambang (พระตะบอง) dialect spoken throughout the plains of the northwest and central provinces.
Northern Khmer (called Khmer Surin in Khmer) refers to the dialects spoken by many in several border provinces of present-day Northeast Thailand (สุรินทร์ บุรีรัมย์ ศรีษะเกศ) . After the fall of the Khmer Empire in the early 15th century, the Dongrek Mountains served as a natural border leaving the Khmer north of the mountains under the sphere of influence of the Kingdom of Lan Xang. The conquests of Cambodia by Naresuan the Great for Ayutthaya furthered their political and economic isolation from Cambodia proper, leading to a dialect that developed relatively independently from the midpoint of the Middle Khmer period.
This has resulted in a distinct accent influenced by the surrounding tonal languages, Lao and Thai, lexical differences, and phonemic differences in both vowels and distribution of consonants. Additionally, syllable-final /r/, which has become silent in other dialects of Khmer, is still pronounced in Northern Khmer. Some linguists classify Northern Khmer as a separate, but closely related language rather than a dialect.
Western Khmer, also called Cardamom Khmer or Chanthaburi Khmer, spoken by a very small, isolated population in the Cardamom mountain range extending from western Cambodia into eastern Central Thailand, although little studied, is unique in that it maintains a definite system of vocal register that has all but disappeared in other dialects of modern Khmer.[
Phnom Penh Khmer is spoken in the capital and surrounding areas. This dialect is characterized by merging or complete elision of syllables, considered by speakers from other regions to be a "relaxed" pronunciation. For instance, "Phnom Penh" will sometimes be shortened to "m'Penh". Another characteristic of Phnom Penh speech is observed in words with an "r" either as an initial consonant or as the second member of a consonant cluster (as in the English word "bread"). The "r", trilled or flapped in other dialects, is either pronounced as an uvular trill or not pronounced at all. This alters the quality of any preceding consonant causing a harder, more emphasized pronunciation. Another unique result is that the syllable is spoken with a low-rising or "dipping" tone much like the "hỏi" tone in Vietnamese. For example, some people pronounce /trəj/ (meaning "fish") as /təj/, the "r" is dropped and the vowel begins by dipping much lower in tone than standard speech and then rises, effectively doubling its length. Another example is the word /riən/ ("study, learn"). It is pronounced /ʀiən/, with the "uvular r" and the same intonation described above.
Khmer Krom or Southern Khmer is spoken by the indigenous Khmer population of the Mekong Delta, formerly controlled by the Khmer Empire but part of Vietnam since 1698. Khmers are persecuted by the Vietnamese government for using their native language and, since the 1950s, have been forced to take Vietnamese names.
Consequently very little research has been published regarding this dialect. It generally has been influenced by Vietnamese for three centuries and accordingly displays a pronounced accent, tendency toward monosyllablic words and lexical differences from the standard.
Linguistic study of the Khmer language divides its history into four periods one of which, the Old Khmer period, is subdivided into pre-Angkorian and Angkorian.
Pre-Angkorian Khmer, the language after its divergence from Proto-Mon–Khmer until the ninth century, is only known from words and phrases in Sanskrit texts of the era. Old Khmer (or Angkorian Khmer) is the language as it was spoken in the Khmer Empire from the 9th century until the weakening of the empire sometime in the 13th century.
Old Khmer is attested by many primary sources and has been studied in depth by a few scholars, most notably Saveros Pou, Phillip Jenner and Heinz-Jürgen Pinnow. Following the end of the Khmer Empire the language lost the standardizing influence of being the language of government and accordingly underwent a turbulent period of change in morphology, phonology and lexicon. The language of this transition period, from about the 14th to 18th centuries, is referred to as Middle Khmer and saw borrowing from Thai, Lao and, to a lesser extent, Vietnamese. The changes during this period are so profound that the rules of Modern Khmer can not be applied to correctly understand Old Khmer. The language became recognizable as Modern Khmer, spoken from the 19th century till today.
Source: Wikipedia
Consonant symbols in Khmer are divided into two groups, or series. The first series carries the inherent vowel /ɑː/ while the second series carries the inherent vowel /ɔː/.
The Khmer names of the series, /aʔkʰosaʔ/ ("voiceless") and /kʰosaʔ/ ("voiced"), respectively, indicate that the second series consonants were used to represent the voiced phonemes of Old Khmer.
As the voicing of stops was lost, however, the contrast shifted to the phonation of the attached vowels which, in turn, evolved into a simple difference of vowel quality, oftentimes by diphthongization. This process has resulted in the Khmer alphabet having two symbols for most consonant phonemes and each vowel symbol having two possible readings, depending on the series of the initial consonant.
Khmer Alphabet (អក្ខរក្រម)
Consonants (พยัญชนะ)
Subscript Consonants
Independent Vowels
Contrary to Latin vowels, Khmer vowels cannot be used alone, without being combined with consonants. For us to utter them in their original sound we have to combine with the last Khmer consonant called AW. Here are the 25 vowels :
One must not be discouraged by the number and the strangeness of the vowels. They will be combined with consonants to form real Khmer words. Most of the 25 vowels fit very well with Khmer pronunciation although some of them could be left behind and replaced by the combination of others with proper consonants e.g. :
um = oc + M omm = aw + M' amm = ah + M'
The above 25 items are called srack pinh tour (full-gear vowels) and can be used (written) as-is : aer means "yes", ehh means "to scratch". Another dozen full-gear vowels, called Sanskrit vowels, are still in use often for words which have no link to Sanskrit and this is a pity and an anarchy. Those Sanskrit vowels are :
Source: http://nearovipen.tripod.com/gramm01.html
Lessons By Nathaniel Dick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOxSJcQjxO8
Source: http://www.omniglot.com
A website --- really good, for anyone aiming to learn to read and write Khmere. Here.
ឱក សុគន្ធកញ្ញា Ouk Sokun Kanha (อุ๊ก สุคล กรรญา)
นักร้อง / นักแสดงหญิงนามอุโฆษของกัมพูชา
គេល្អគ្រប់យ៉ាងតែអូនស្រលាញ់បង (His everything is good, but I love you.)
Preap Sovath (เปรียบ สวัสดิ์) นักร้อง / นักแสดงชายยอดนิยมของกัมพูชา
Jumtook
Source: http://youtu.be/lZU3kpWzfig
Another famous singer is called มาส สุขโสภา (Meas Soksophea)
or មាស សុខសោភា
Noy Vanneth นัย วันเณต (ណយ វ៉ាន់ណេត)
រេយ្យាករណ៍ភាសាខ្ខែរ
Khmer is generally a subject–verb–object (SVO) language with prepositions.
Although primarily an isolating language, lexical derivation by means of prefixes and infixes is common but not always productive in the modern language.
Adjectives (គុណនាម) and Adverbs
Adjectives, demonstratives and numerals follow the noun they modify. Adverbs likewise follow the verb. Morphologically, adjectives and adverbs are not distinguished with many words often serving either function. Similar to other languages of the region, intensity can be expressed by reduplication.
ស្រីស្អាតនោះ /srəj sʔaːt nuh/ (girl pretty that) = that pretty girl
ស្រីស្អាតស្អាត /srəj sʔaːt sʔaːt/ (girl pretty pretty) = a very pretty girl
As Khmer sentences rarely use a copula, adjectives are also employed as verbs. Comparatives are formed by the use of ciəng: "A X ciəng B" (A is more X than B). The most common way to express the idea of superlatives is the construction "A X ciəng kee" (A is X-est of all).
Nouns
The noun has no grammatical gender or singular/plural distinction and is uninflected. Technically there are no articles, but indefiniteness is often expressed by the word for "one" following the noun. Plurality can be marked by postnominal particles, numerals, or reduplicating the adjective, which, although similar to intensification, is usually not ambiguous due to context.
ឆ្កែធំ /cʰkae tʰom/ (dog large) = large dog
ឆ្កែធំធំ /cʰkae tʰom tʰom/ (dog large large) = a very large dog or large dogs
ឆ្កែធំណាស់ /cʰkae tʰom nah/ (dog large very) = very large dog
ពីរ ឆ្កែ (two dogs) = two dogs
Classifying particles for use between numerals and nouns exist although are not always obligatory as in, for example, Thai. Pronouns are subject to a complicated system of social register, the choice of pronoun depending on the perceived relationships between speaker, audience and referent (see Social registers below). Kinship terms, nicknames and proper names are often used as pronouns (including for the first person) among intimates. Frequently, subject pronouns are dropped in colloquial conversation.
Verbs
As is typical of most East Asian languages ยกเว้นภาษาญี่ปุ่น, the verb does not inflect at all ; tense and aspect can be shown by particles and adverbs or understood by context. Most commonly, time words such as "yesterday", "earlier", "tomorrow", indicate tense when not inferrable from context. There is no participle form. The gerund is formed by using /kəmpɔːŋ/: "A /kəmpɔːŋ/ V" ภาษาไทยคือ "กำลัง" (A is in the process of V).
Serial verb construction is quite common. Negation is achieved by putting /min/ ไทย คือ "ไม่" before them and /teː/ at the end of the sentence or clause. In normal speech verbs can also be negated without the need for an ending particle by putting /ʔɑt/ before them.
ខ្ញុំជឿ /kʰɲom cɨə = ขะโมมเชียะ/ – I believe ผมเชื่อ
ខ្ញុំមិនជឿទេ /kʰɲom min cɨə teː/ – I don't believe ผมไม่เชื่อหรอกนะ
ខ្ញុំឥតជឿ /kʰɲom ʔɑt cɨə/ – I don't believe ผมไม่เชื่อ
More examples of Negation Sentences/phrases
Text Box
Word order การเรียงคำ (Syntagmatic Organization)
Khmer is generally a subject–verb–object (SVO) language with prepositions. Since it is an isolating language, meaning is highly dependent on word order.
Nouns
The noun has no grammatical gender or singular/plural distinction. Plurality can be marked by post-nominal particles, numerals, or by reduplication, doubling the adjective, which can also serve to intensify the adjective:
ឆ្កែធំ /cʰkae tʰom/ (dog large) = large dog
ឆ្កែធំៗ /cʰkae tʰom tʰom/ จะแก ทม ทม (dog large large) = large dogs or a very large dog
ឆ្កែបី /cʰkae ɓəj/ (dog three) = three dogs
ឆ្កែខ្លះ /cʰkae kʰlah/ (dog some) = some dogs
Classifiers คำบอกปริมาณ / จำนวน
Classifying particles for use between numerals and nouns exist although are not obligatory as in, for example, Thai, except in introductory clauses. They are used for clarity or formality. Number precedes classifiers.
សត្វក្របីពីរ /sat krɑbəy pii/ (animal buffalo two) = two buffaloes
សត្វក្របីពីរក្បាល /sat krɑbəy pii kbaal/ (animal buffalo two + animal classifier) = two heads of buffaloes
Numbers
In Khmer, number that indicates quantity follows the noun.
សៀវភៅបួន /siəw pʰɨw ɓuən/ (book four) = four books
Exceptions include nouns indicating passage of time such as hours or days, units of measurements and currencies, all of which function as noun classifiers without the explicit mention of what is being classified. Reversal of the order can lead to different meanings such as:
បីម៉ោង /ɓəj maoŋ/ (three hour) = three hours
ម៉ោងបី /maoŋ ɓəj/ (hour three) = three o'clock
The following example illustrates the unnecessary mention of what is being classified:
បីរៀល /ɓəj riəl/ (three riel) = three riels
លុយបីរៀល /luj ɓəj riəl/ (money three riel) = three riels of money or simply three riels
Demonstratives
In Khmer, demonstratives follow the nouns they modify. In standard literary Khmer, there are two degrees of distance, though there are other distinctions in colloquial language. Demonstratives can also function as articles, but only after introductory clauses.
Demonstrative Alternative Forms Meaning
នេះ (nih) ហ្នឹង (nəŋ) This ภาษาไทยคือ นี้
Nia jia awei = What's this?
នោះ (nuh) ហ្នុង (noŋ) That ภาษาไทยคือ นั้น
Nun jai tia muy tua. = That is a duck.
Pronouns
The pronominal system is complex, full of honorific variations. There is generally no single pronoun appropriate for all situations, with the choice of pronoun based on age, gender, and relationship. Nouns referring to a specific person like brother or uncle can be used as pronouns when even when directly addressing the person.
Adjectives
Adjectives in Khmer follows the noun, doubling the adjective can serve as a function of plurality or it can intensify the meaning. Adjectives follow verbs when they function as adverbs. Adjectives in Khmer are in actuality stative verbs. They cannot be combined with a copula and can be negated.
Reduplication
In Khmer, nouns and adjectives can be reduplicated. Reduplication can either occur as perfect reduplicates or by altering the rhyme of words. Khmer also uses compound reduplication where two phonologically unrelated words with similar or identical meanings are compounded.
Morphology
Although Modern Khmer shows a highly complex system of prefixes and infixes, there is generally no productive morphology with most affixed words crystallized in the lexicon inherited from Old Khmer. In general, even in Old Khmer, affixes have fluid functions with the same affix functioning as a nominalizer in one word and as a causativizer in another word. One nominal is marked by the symbol 'ៗ' to indicate that the word is to be repeated.
Verbs
Verbs in Khmer do not inflect at all; tense and aspect can be shown by particles and adverbs or understood by context.
Negation
Verbs can be negated in three primary fashions, all of which convey a slightly different connotation or formality. The most common method of negation is a discontinuous construction placing មិន "/mɨn/" (not, not to be) before the verb and ending the verb phrase with ទេ "/teː/", which, as a stand-alone word can be either "no" or a particle contradicting a previous statement. Colloquially, the final "ទេ" may be omitted.
ខ្ញុំជឿ /kʰɲom cɨə/ - I believe
ខ្ញុំមិនជឿទេ /kʰɲom mɨn cɨə teː/ - I don't believe
Another fairly common way of indicating negation uses អត់ (also spelled ឥត) "/ɑt/" instead of មិន. "អត់", as an independent word, means "without" or "lacking" and expresses a similar connotation when used to negate a verb.
ខ្ញុំអត់ឃ្លានទេ /kʰɲom ɑt khliə̯n teː/ - "I am not hungry" or literally, "I (am) without hunger".
A third method is basically identical to the first method except ពុំ "/pum/" is used instead of "/mɨn/". This is used only in literary or very formal contexts.
Aspects
Khmer indicates verbal aspects through preverbal auxiliaries.
Question Words คำที่ใช้ถามคำถาม
ลายสือขอมแบบเก่าและใหม่
Rikitikitavi
http://www.angkor-planet.com/dico/dicoKHUK.html
http://www.lexilogos.com/english/cambodian_dictionary.htm