Khmer script

Khmer script ( , ) is an abugida (alphasyllabary) script used to write the Khmer language, the official language of Cambodia. It is also used to write Pali in the Buddhist liturgy of Cambodia and Thailand. Khmer is written from left to right. Words within the same sentence or phrase are generally run together with no spaces between them. Consonant clusters within a word are "stacked", with the second (and occasionally third) consonant being written in reduced form under the main consonant. Originally there were 35 consonant characters, but modern Khmer uses only 33. Each character represents a consonant sound together with an inherent vowel, either â or ô; in many cases, in the absence of another vowel mark, the inherent vowel is to be pronounced after the consonant. There are some independent vowel characters, but vowel sounds are more commonly represented as dependent vowels, additional marks accompanying a consonant character, and indicating what vowel sound is to be pronounced after that consonant (or consonant cluster). Most dependent vowels have two different pronunciations, depending in most cases on the inherent vowel of the consonant to which they are added. There are also a number of diacritics used to indicate further modifications in pronunciation. The script also includes its own numerals and punctuation marks.

Khmer script ( , ) is an abugida (alphasyllabary) script used to write the Khmer language, the official language of Cambodia. It is also used to write Pali in the Buddhist liturgy of Cambodia and Thailand. Khmer is written from left to right. Words within the same sentence or phrase are generally run together with no spaces between them. Consonant clusters within a word are "stacked", with the second (and occasionally third) consonant being written in reduced form under the main consonant. Originally there were 35 consonant characters, but modern Khmer uses only 33. Each character represents a consonant sound together with an inherent vowel, either â or ô; in many cases, in the absence of another vowel mark, the inherent vowel is to be pronounced after the consonant. There are some independent vowel characters, but vowel sounds are more commonly represented as dependent vowels, additional marks accompanying a consonant character, and indicating what vowel sound is to be pronounced after that consonant (or consonant cluster). Most dependent vowels have two different pronunciations, depending in most cases on the inherent vowel of the consonant to which they are added. There are also a number of diacritics used to indicate further modifications in pronunciation. The script also includes its own numerals and punctuation marks. ==Origin== The Khmer script was adapted from the Pallava script, used in southern India and Southeast Asia during the 5th and 6th centuries AD, which ultimately descended from the Tamil-Brahmi script. The oldest dated Khmer inscription was found at Angkor Borei District in Takéo Province south of Phnom Penh and dates from 611. Stelae of the Pre-Angkorean and Angkorean periods, featuring the Khmer script, have been found throughout the former Khmer Empire, from the Mekong Delta to what is now southern Laos, Northeast Thailand, and Central Thailand. Slight differences can be seen between ancient Khmer inscriptions written in Sanskrit and those written in Khmer. These two different systems have evolved into the modern and styles of Khmer script. The former is used for sacred inscriptions while the latter is used for general use. The style is a cursive form of , adapted to fit the Khmer language. The oldest known record of the name “Khmer Script” (អក្សរខ្មែរ) is found in inscription K.362, dating to the late 9th century during the reign of King Yasovarman I. The inscription contains the Sanskrit term “Kāmvujākṣara”, written in Old Khmer “កម្វុជាក្សរ”. This serves as evidence that the Khmer people had a specific name for their script as early as the 9th century. The modern Khmer script differs somewhat from precedent forms seen on the inscriptions of the ruins of Angkor. The Thai and Lao scripts are descendants of an older cursive form of the Khmer script, through the Sukhothai script. ===Modification by diacritics=== The addition of some of the Khmer diacritics can modify the length and value of inherent or dependent vowels. The following table shows combinations with the and diacritics, representing final and . They are shown with the a-series consonant ’â. The first four configurations listed here are treated as dependent vowels in their own right, and have names constructed in the same way as for the other dependent vowels (described in the previous section). Other rarer configurations with the are (or ), pronounced , and , pronounced . The word "yes" (used by women) is pronounced [caː] and rarely . The bânták (a small vertical line written over the final consonant of a syllable) has the following effects: in a syllable with inherent â, the vowel is shortened to , UN transcription á in a syllable with inherent ô, the vowel is modified to before a final labial, otherwise usually to ; UN transcription ó in a syllable with the a dependent vowel symbol (ា) in the a-series, the vowel is shortened to , UN transcription ă in a syllable with that vowel symbol in the o-series, the vowel is modified to , UN transcription oă, or to eă before k, ng, h (ក,គ,ង,ហ) The is equivalent to the a dependent vowel with the . However, its o-series pronunciation becomes before final y, and before final (silent) r. The yŭkôlpĭntŭ (pair of dots) represents (a-series) or (o-series), followed by a glottal stop. ===Consonants with no dependent vowel=== There are three environments where a consonant may appear without a dependent vowel. The rules governing the inherent vowel differ for all three environments. Consonants may be written with no dependent vowel as an initial consonant of a weak syllable, an initial consonant of a strong syllable or as the final letter of a written word. In careful speech, initial consonants without a dependent vowel in weak initial syllables are pronounced with their inherent vowel shortened as if modified by the bânták diacritic (see previous section). For example the first-series letter " " in " " ("torch") is pronounced with the short vowel . The second-series letter " " in " " ("light") is pronounced with the short diphthong . In casual speech, these are most often reduced to for both series. Initial consonants in strong syllables without written vowels are pronounced with their inherent vowels. The word ("to tie") is pronounced , ("weak", "to sink") is pronounced . In some words, however, the inherent vowel is pronounced in its reduced form, as if modified by a bântăk diacritic, even though the diacritic is not written (e.g. "corpse"). Such reduction regularly takes place in words ending with a consonant with a silent subscript (such as "every"), although in most such words it is the bânták-reduced form of the vowel a that is heard, as in "noise". The word "you, person" has the highly irregular pronunciation . Consonants written as the final letter of a word usually represent a word-final sound and are pronounced without any following vowel and, in the case of stops, with no audible release as in the examples above. However, in some words adopted from Pali and Sanskrit, what would appear to be a final consonant under normal rules can actually be the initial consonant of a following syllable and pronounced with a short vowel as if followed by . For example, according to rules for native Khmer words, ("good", "clean", "beautiful") would appear to be a single syllable, but, being derived from Pali subha, it is pronounced . ===Ligatures=== Most consonants, including a few of the subscripts, form ligatures with the vowel (ា) and with all other dependent vowels that contain the same cane-like symbol. Most of these ligatures are easily recognizable, but a few may not be, particularly those involving the letter . This combines with the a vowel in the form , created to differentiate it from the consonant symbol and also from the ligature for with ( ). Some more examples of ligatured symbols follow: Another example with , forming a similar ligature to that described above. Here the vowel is not a itself, but another vowel (au) which contains the cane-like stroke of that vowel as a graphical element. An example of the vowel a forming a connection with the serif of a consonant. Subscript consonants with ascending strokes above the baseline also form ligatures with the vowel symbol. Another example of a subscript consonant forming a ligature, this time with the vowel . The subscript for is written to the left of the main consonant, in this case , which here forms a ligature with . ==Independent vowels== Independent vowels are non-diacritical vowel characters that stand alone (i.e. without being attached to a consonant symbol). In Khmer they are called sră pénh tuŏ, which means "complete vowels". They are used in some words to represent certain combinations of a vowel with an initial glottal stop or liquid. The independent vowels are used in a small number of words, mostly of Indic origin, and consequently there is some inconsistency in their use and pronunciations. However, a few words in which they occur are used quite frequently; these include: "now", "father", "or", "hear", "give, let", "oneself, I, you", "where". Independent vowel letters are named similarly to the dependent vowels, with the word sră ("vowel") followed by the principal sound of the letter (the pronunciation or first of the pronunciations listed above), followed by an additional glottal stop after a short vowel. However the letter ឥ is called sră ĕ . ==Diacritics== The Khmer writing system contains several diacritics ( , , ), used to indicate further modifications in pronunciation. File:Khmer script-oblique.svg|âksâr chriĕng File:Khmer sample script.svg|âksâr chhôr File:Khmerscript-khom.png|âksâr khâm File:Khmerscript-round.png|âksâr mul ==Notes== Dictionnaire Cambodgien, Vol I & II, 1967, L'institut Bouddhique (Khmer Language) Jacob, Judith. 1974. A Concise Cambodian-English Dictionary. London, Oxford University Press.

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