Wikipedia 10K Redux by Reagle from Starling archive. Bugs abound!!!

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Cambodian_language

Cambodian is somewhat unusual among its neighboring countries' languages of [[Thai language]], [[Laotian language]] and [[Vietnamese language]] in that it's not a [[Tonal language]].

Cambodian is one of the main [[Austroasiatic languages]], and has had considerable influence from Sanskrit, Pali, Thai, and Laotian.  (Help...I just know these connections weren't genetic).

Accents are sometimes quite marked; notable accents are found
in speakers from Phhom Penh (the capital city) and Battambong.

(This analysis comes from my observation as a conversant speaker of Cambodian without any background in linguistics).

A notable characteristic of the Phnom Penh accent is a tendency
toward slang and laziness in pronunciation, much like American urban slang.  For instance, "Phnom Penh" will sometimes be shortened to "m'Penh".  Another characteristic of the Phnom Penh accent is observed in words with an "r" subconsonant in the first syllable (that is, where r is the second consonant, as in the Enlish word "bread").  The r is not pronounced, the first consonant is pronounced harder than usual, and the syllable is spoken with a dipping tone much like the "hoi" tone in the VietnameseLanguage.  For example, I have heard the word "dre" (meaning "fish") pronounced "te"; the "d" becomes a "t", and the vowel (long A) begins low and rises in tone.

''[This seems like a schwa - an unstressed neutral sound, like in "poor" right before the r or at the beginning of "about". Sometimes English r's get weakened to schwas.  Same deal here? No, not as far as I can tell.  The r is rolled normally, and completely omitted in the manifestations of the Phnom Penh accents Ive heard.]''

Cambodian written language is alphabetic like English (and unlike
Chinese).  Its alphabet consists is written in two separate parts; consonants and vowels.  Only pronunciation is given here, because I can't find a good way to display the characters, but the pronunciation is listed in the traditional form.


Consonants

 gaw kaw  go ko  ngo
 jaw chaw jo cho nyo
 daw taw  do to  naw
 Daw taw  Do to  no
 yo  ro   lo vo  saw
 haw law  aw


Vowels

 aa/Ea Ay/EE A/E ew/ew eww/eww
 OO/UU O/U 
 bleh... more some other time.