Phonetics of Khmer. The data presented in this assignment are based on my own personal working knowledge of the language with help from my parents.

Transcription

1 Phonetics of Khmer Introduction Khmer is a language belonging to the Austro-Asiatic family of languages and the Mon- Khmer subfamily. According to the Ethnologue, as of 1996, there are about 7,000,000 Khmer speakers in the world, of which 90% are in Cambodia. Khmer is also spoken in Thailand, Vietnam, France, USA, and Laos. The data presented in this assignment are based on my own personal working knowledge of the language with help from my parents. Khmer Consonant Phonemes Khmer contains 23 consonant phonemes, which can be found below according to their manners and places of articulation. Interestingly, Khmer seems to make no apparent distinctions between plain voiced or voiceless stops. Instead, there is a three way contrast between voiceless unaspirated stops, voiceless aspirated stops, and voiced implosives in the bilabial and alveolar series and only a two way contrast between the voiceless unaspirated and voiceless aspirated stops in the velar series. The phonemes in the fricative series are all voiceless, while the phonemes in the nasal, lateral, trills, and glide series are all voiced. The alveopalatal affricate series, like the bilabial and alveolar stops, shows a three way contrast. However, it is between the voiceless unaspirated affricate, a voiceless aspirated affricate, and a voiced affricate. Table 1: Khmer Consonant Phonemes Bilabial Labiodental Alveolar Alveopalatal Palatal Velar Glottal Stops -aspir p t k +aspir p t k implosive Affricate -aspir c +aspir c voiced Fricatives (-vd) f s h Nasals m n Laterals l Flaps R Glides (w) y (w) Stops Khmer has 4 contrastive places of articulation for stops: bilabial, alveolar, velar and glottal. The glottal stop is often times used in conjunction with vowels. There is a three way 1

2 contrast at the bilabial and alveolar place of articulation between the voiceless unaspirated, voiceless aspirated, and voiced implosive. In addition, there is only a two way contrast at the velar place of articulation between the voiceless unaspirated and voiceless aspirated. Aspirated and Unaspirated Stops The following provide examples of the phonemic status of aspiration present in Khmer: Aspirated Unaspirated a. p [p a ] also [p a ] older person b. t [t e ] capture [t e ] kick c. k [k a] wrong [k a] island There are no apparent conditioning factors which could predict the appearance of the aspirated or unaspirated stops. Aspiration in Khmer is contrastive because the stops are not conditioned by a neighboring phoneme or by position in the word. Voiced Implosive Stops There are two voiced implosive stops in Khmer, occurring at the bilabial and alveolar places of articulation. Below are some examples of Khmer in the implosive environment. Implosive Aspirated Unaspirated a. [ a ] pay [p a ] also [p a ] older person b. [ o ] jewel [p o ] egg c. [Ro o w] season [Rot o w] go(ing) d. [ o ] coconut [t o ] vine Both of the implosive stops can occur at the beginning or middle of a word, but never at the end of a word. Glottal Stops Glottal stops in Khmer can appear at the end of a word. It usually appears after vowels, and will be addressed in the vowel section. Affricates Khmer contains three affricates: voiced [j], voiceless unaspirated [c], and voiceless aspirated [c]. Below are some of examples of the affricates Voiced Aspirated Unaspirated a. [k aw] screw [caw] grandchild [caw] thief b. [de] sleep 2

3 c. [a] snail [ca] cross over [ca] tie The voiced affricate has no conditioning environment. But interestingly, the aspirated and unaspirated affricate can only appear in the beginning or middle of a word, never at the end. Fricatives There are three places of articulation for fricatives: labiodental and alveolar and glottal. Both are voiceless. The labiodental fricative is rarely found in Khmer, suggesting perhaps that it was borrowed from other languages. I know of only one word containing this phoneme. Below are examples of the fricatives: Nasals Liquids a. f [fo:] herd b. s [sa:] owe c. s [se:] parrot d. [pi:sæ ] eat (formal) [pi:hæ ] execute e. [sl] spell [hl] spicy f. [sas:] boy/girlfriend [sah:] handsome There are four phonemic nasals [m], [n], [], and []. [æm] eat [mæm] spoiled fish [næm] suggest [om] salad [mom] sturdy [nom] lead [om] calm [op] hurry [op] die [tim] bide [tin] candle Khmer has a lateral approximate [l]. It does not show any allophonic variation. Khmer also contains an alveolar central flap [R]. Below are examples of minimal pairs: [lib] luck [Rib] organize [luy] money [Ruy] fly [tlay] expensive [Ri] shape [li] wash [Ro] search [lo] if 3

4 Glides Khmer contains two phonemic glides; a labiovelar and a palatal. The palatal phonemic glide [y] can not appear in front of front vowels when in the beginning of a word. It can occur in the middle of a word. The labiovelar glide can appear anywhere in a word. [wo] circular [we] long (length) [y] us (plr) [yu] long (time) Khmer Vowel Phonemes Khmer contains basic vowels with a short series and a long series and diphthongs. Interestingly, Khmer also has glottal stops on some of the vowels. I am treating these vowels as vowel-glottal stop sequences instead of as one unique phoneme. Table 2: Khmer First Series Vowel Phoneme Front Central Back High Mid Low æ a The first series is better known as the short vowels, while the second series contains the long vowels found in Khmer. 4

5 Table 3: Khmer Second Series Vowel Phoneme Front Central Back High i: : u: Mid e: : : : o: Low æ: a: Below are examples illustrating the phonemic status of the 8 first series vowels: a. [mi:] noodles [m] body hair b. [te:] no [t] slap [t:] following c. [kt] think [kt] should [k:t] wipe d. [tu:] drawer e. [ro:m] fur [rm] wrap [r:m] swarm f. [kæ] pulp [kæ:] work g.[ka] circular [ka:] neck In addition to these vowels, Khmer contains 8 diphthongs illustrated below: a. [be:y] three b. [ku:] should c. [æ] walk d. [ku:y] shake e. [t i] beg f. [ay] rice g.[ aw] sword h. [no:m] lead Below are examples of glottalized vowels. Khmer places a glottal stop behind its basic vowels. a. [kapi:] spoiled mud fish 5

6 b. [t ] water c. [so:] peaceful d. [klæ] some e. [a] all g.[ku:] engrave h.[:] drag i. [kt ] pan j. [e:] itch Even though I have not given any examples, Khmer also has a tendency to place glottal stops behind its diphthong vowels as well. Bibliography Ethnologue,