Khmer

Khmer 189 Grimes B (ed.) (2000). The Ethnologue (14th edn.). Dallas: SIL. Henderson E J A (1965). ‘Final -k in Khasi: a secondary phonological pattern.’ In Milner G B & Henderson E J A (eds.) Indo-Pacific linguistic studies. Amsterdam: North Holland. 459–466. Henderson E J A (1966). ‘Khasi and the l-clusters in seventeenth century Tonkinese.’ In Ba Shin U, Boisselier J & Griswold A B (eds.) Essays offered to G. B. Luce. (Artibus Asiae, supp. xxiii). Ascona. 139–150. Henderson E J A (1967). ‘Vowel length and vowel quality in Khasi.’ Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 30, 564–588. Henderson E J A (1976a). ‘Khasi Initial Clusters.’ In Jenner et al. (eds.). 523–538. Henderson E J A (1976b). ‘Vestiges of Morphology in Modern Standard Khasi.’ In Jenner et al. (eds.). 477–522. Jenner P N, Thompson L C & Starosta S (eds.) (1976). Austroasiatic studies. Honolulu: University of Hawaii. [Oceanic Linguistics, Special Publication, No. 13.] Nagaraja K S (1979). ‘Contraction of Khasi nouns in compounds.’ Indian Lingusitics 40, 18–23. Nagaraja K S (1984a). ‘Compounding in Khasi.’ Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute 43, 79–90. Nagaraja K S (1984b). ‘Reduplication in Khasi.’ IndoIranian Journal 27(3), 189–200.

Nagaraja K S (1985). Khasi: a descriptive analysis. Pune, Maharashtra, India: Deccan College. Nagaraja K S (1993). ‘Khasi dialects: a typological consideration.’ Mon-Khmer Studies XXIII, 1–10. Nagaraja K S (1996). ‘The status of Lyngngam.’ MonKhmer Studies 26, 37–50. Parkin R (1991). A guide to Austroasiatic speakers and their languages. Honolulu: University of Hawaii. [Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication 23.] Rabel L (1961). Khasi: a language of Assam. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. Roberts H (1891). A grammar of the Khassi language. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Tru¨bner and Co. Schmidt Pater W (1904). ‘Grundzu¨ge einer Lautlehre der Khasi-Sprache.’ Transactions of Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences 22(3), 657–810. Sharma H S (1999). ‘A comparison between Khasi and Manipuri word order.’ Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 22(1), 139–148. Subbarao K V & Temsen G M (2003). ‘Wh-question formation in Khasi.’ In Kansakar T R & Turin M (eds.) Themes in Himalayan languages. Heidelberg: South Asia Institute/ Kathmandu: Tribhuvan University. 197–218. Weidert A K (1975). I tkong Amwi. Deskriptive Analyse eines Wardialekts des Khasi. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

Khmer M Minegishi, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Tokyo, Japan ß 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Khmer (Cambodian) In the Kingdom of Cambodia, most of the population of 10 716 000 (1998 UN) are considered speakers of Khmer. Its dialectal varieties are spoken by around 1.3 million ethnic Khmer people in the northeastern and eastern provinces of Thailand. The former variety is called Northern Khmer, or sometimes Surin Khmer. Another variety is spoken by more than one million people of the Khmer ethnic group, called Lower Khmer, in southern Vietnam. Khmer is one of the major languages of Mon-Khmer subgroup of the Austroasiatic language family. It is a typical Mon-Khmer language in that phonemically its native words are either monosyllabic or disyllabic; it has no tonal distinction and is of the isolating type syntactically.

Script and Written Records Khmer script is one of the oldest scripts in mainland Southeast Asia that originate in South India.

Archeology has shown that the communication between Southeast Asia and India dates back to the beginning of the Christian era. Khmer legend, according to the Chinese document, says the local queen married the prince from India, and they became the founders of the Khmer kingdom, which suggests the existence of local matrimonial authority influenced by the Indian civilization, such as Hinduism. The oldest Khmer inscription in old Khmer dates from 611 C.E., in addition to which there are also undated inscriptions, or presumably older ones written in Sanskrit. The inscriptions spread not only in Cambodia, but also in parts of Thailand and southern Vietnam, which suggests that the ethnic group was formerly more widespread than it is in the present and once exerted a strong cultural influence over the area.

Phonology and Phonetics A Khmer native word is either monosyllabic or disyllabic. In a disyllabic word, a minor syllable precedes a major syllable. In a minor syllable, the inventory of possible vowels is smaller than in a major syllable. A major syllable is pronounced with stress when preceded by a minor syllable. Using the abbreviations

190 Khmer

C for a consonant, V for a vowel, F for a syllable final consonant, ‘r’ for a liquid and parentheses for an optional element, a minor syllable can be either CVF or C(r)V, where only nasals can appear as F. Likewise, a Khmer major syllable can be illustrated as C (C) V F. Vowels are either long or short. The long and short contrast is also found among diphthongs. A short vowel occurs only in a checked syllable: it must be followed by a syllable-final consonant, whereas a long vowel can occur both in an open and checked syllable.

Consonants Consonants in the syllable-initial position are given in Table 1, where the IPA symbols, when necessary, are given in the brackets. Of these consonants, only nasals /m, n, J N/, unreleased stops /p§, t§, c§, k§/, a glottal stop / /, fricatives /v, y, h/ and a liquid /l/ can occur in the word-final position as well. /r/ in the word-final position, once pronounced, is lost except in the Northern Khmer dialect in Thailand. /f/ appears only in loanwords. The distinction between voiceless unaspirated and voiceless aspirated stops can be found only in the syllable initial or intervocalic position. Voiceless aspirated consonants could be further analyzed as consonant clusters /p/ þ /h/, /t/ þ /h/, /c/ þ /h/, /k/ þ /h/, as there are some words that have an infix between the first stop and the second fricative /h/. Characteristic of the Khmer consonants is that Khmer allows a variety of two-consonant combinations in the syllable initial position of a major syllable. Regarding the above aspirated stops as consonant clusters, 84 combinations in total are possible.

Table 2 shows the standard Khmer long vowels and diphthongs in phonetic transcription with the transliteration of orthography of Indic origin. The register contrast, which had been regarded as phonemic, has been lost in the dialects in Cambodian territory, and diphthongization has occurred in compensation. See Minegishi (1985) for details of phonetic values of Khmer dialects. According to Wayland and Jongman (2003), the remnant of phonation contrast is observed in the dialect of eastern Thailand. Note that, ‘‘æ, , e’’ are transliterations for Khmer original scripts, which do not exist in the ordinary Indic script system. A ‘1’ following the transliteration means that the consonant preceding the vowel symbol is of voiceless group; ‘2’ indicates the preceding consonant of the voiced group. In addition, there are diphthongs /Me, Oe, ue/. In total, there are 12 long vowels and eight diphthongs. This complexity is attributable to the loss of voiceless and voiced contrast in the syllable-initial position for stops and successive divergence of vowels. See ‘Historical Phonology’ below for details. Table 3 shows the Khmer short vowels and diphthongs.

Historical Phonology The phonemic reconstruction by Sakamoto based on Khmer inscriptions has established the old Khmer vowel phonemes as */i, e, E, a, aa, (M), e, u, o, O, Q, QQ, ie, ue/. By the above reconstruction and modern orthography, diachronic changes in their phonological systems can be internally reconstructed as follows. Formerly, Khmer had a phonemic contrast, e.g., /*kaa/ and /*gaa/ as its orthography shows, where the

Vowels Table 2 Khmer long vowels and diphthongs

Modern Khmer has a complicated vowel system. Although several dictionaries have been published for Khmer, there is no consensus as to the vowel phonemic system. As a result, almost every dictionary has its own phonemic transcription. The main reason for the discrepancy is that some assume the existence of resister contrast, i.e., contrast between ‘breathy’ and ‘clear’ phonation type, but others do not.

Table 1 Khmer consonants p ph b[K] m (f) v

t th d[F] n rl s y[_]

c [tC] ch [tCh]

k kh

J

N h

Phonemic

Orthography

i: e: e >: E: aE M: >e: e: ae ie a: u: o >u o: o >: O: ao

¯ı-2

e-2 e-1 æ-2 æ-1 -2 @E-2 -1 @E-1 a¯-2 a¯-1 u¯-2 o-2 u¯-1 a-2 a-1 o-1

Khmer 191

difference is between voiceless and voiced consonants. Later, the vowel following the voiced consonant changed its quality; /*kaa/ and /*ge`a/, where phonemic contrast between the consonants still existed and the difference in the vowel register, i.e., ‘clear’ versus ‘breathy’ phonation type respectively, was irrelevant. Later on, the voiceless and voiced distinction in stops was lost and the difference in the voice quality in turn carried the phonemic contrast; /*kaa/ and /*ke`a/. In the present, the voice quality is no longer phonemic; instead vowel articulation is relevant; /ka:/ and /kie/. The divergence of vowels is well preserved in the standard Khmer around Phnom Penh area, but in the rest of the country, vowels have merged again to simplify the vowel system. As a result, most of the dialects have only /i:, e:/ as long front vowels, etc. Northern Khmer, conversely, has retained most of the vowel contrast as monophthongs.

Tonal Contrast As is usual in Mon-Khmer languages, Khmer does not have tones. The only exception, however, is the colloquial style of Phnom Penh dialect, which has acquired a tonal contrast, a level tone versus a raising-falling one: the latter is a compensation for the phonemic change /r/ into /h/, and the successive loss of /h/.

Khmer’s main word classes are as follows, although further classification considering the syntactic distribution is possible: nouns, numerals, classifiers, demonstratives, pronouns, verbs, preverbs, adverbs, expressives, conjunctions, and final particles. Of these, classifiers are few in number and rarely used except for counting persons, animals, or books. There are two demonstratives. Pronouns are a subclass of nouns, most of which are also used as nouns. Along with titles and kinship terms, choice of pronouns shows relative social positions. Verbs can be further classified as active and stative (adjectival) verbs. Preverbs may precede verbs adding modal meaning, such as ‘may, must,’ etc., to them. Adverbs may follow a verb. Expressives are a subclass of adverbs, describing noises, shapes, movements, emotions, etc. Final particles may be in the sentence-final position to denote the intentions and emotions of the speaker, etc. The basic word order is SubjectþVerbþ(Object). A modified noun (head) is followed by a modifier. Nouns and stative verbs can be used as modifiers. Prepositions (or a noun grammaticalized as a preposition) precede a noun. The typical noun phrase can be described as follows where optional elements are in parentheses. Nounþ(Verb)þ(Numerals)þ(Classifier)þ(Demonstrative)

Morphology Khmer, although syntactically of an isolating type, has a large number of derivational prefixes and infixes, which have been fossilized and are no longer productive in word formation. A word may have either a prefix or infix, but not both. Thus, native words are either monosyllabic or disyllabic. Like other Mon-Khmer languages, Khmer has no suffix. It has prefixes and infixes for causativization, specification, nominalization, intransitivization, repetition, etc., and infixes representing instrument, agent, result, object, etc., of an action.

Grammar Khmer is an isolating language with no inflection in verbs, nor case marking in nouns. As a result, classifying word classes must be done by means of their distribution and class meaning. Noun modifiers follow the noun, verb modifiers follow the verb. Table 3 Khmer short vowels and diphthongs i e E Ee

M e a

u o w O O

In case a clause is used for the noun modifier, the word order is as follows. Nounþ(Relative clause markerþClause)þ(Demonstrative)

A verb may be followed by a noun to form a verb phrase. Several verbs, sometimes with a noun inserted in between, form a serial verb construction, or verb serialization without any change in verbal forms, such as V(N)V(N), etc. In a serial verb construction, two or more verbs may be in various semantic relations, such as an action and its direction, an action and its objective, successive actions, an action and its result, an action and its manner, or an action and its means, etc.

Vocabulary As one of the earliest languages in Southeast Asia that has accepted Indianization, earlier Hinduism, and later Theravada Buddhism, Khmer has borrowed Sanskrit and Pali loans, especially for religion, administrative, and other cultural vocabulary. It also has exerted a huge influence over adjacent Thai, which in turn borrowed a large number of Khmer words, such as honorific vocabulary used for the royal family. As a result of long-term contact with Thai, Khmer also borrowed many words from Thai.

192 Khmer See also: Austroasiatic Languages; Cambodia: Language Situation; Mon-Khmer Languages; Thailand: Language Situation.

Bibliography Chantharupanth T & Phromjagarin C (1978). Surin Khmer–English dictionary. Bangkok: Institute of Indigenous Language Rsearch, Chulalongkorn University Press. Diffloth G (2003). ‘Austroasiatic language.’ Encyclopedia Britannica 2003 (DVD edn.). Encyclopedia Britannica. Headley R K Jr, Chhor K, Lim L K, Lim H K & Chun C (1977). Cambodian–English dictionary. Washington DC: The Catholic University of America Press. Henderson E J (1952). ‘The main features of Cambodian pronunciation.’ Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 14(1), 149–174. Huffman F (1977). Cambodian reader and glossary (Yale linguistic series). New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Huffman F & Proum I (1977). English–Khmer dictionary. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Institute bouddhique (1967). Dictionnaire cambodgien. Phnom Penh. Jacob J M (1968). An introduction to Cambodian. London: Oxford University Press. Jacob J M (1974). A concise Cambodian–English dictionary. London: Oxford University Press.

Jenner P N (1974a). ‘The development of the registers in Standard Khmer.’ In Liem N D (ed.) Southeast Asian linguistic studies I. Canberra: Australian National University. 47–60. Jenner P N (1974b). ‘Observations of the Surin dialect of Khmer.’ In Liem N D (ed.) Southeast Asian linguistic studies I. Canberra: Australian National University. 61–73. Martin M A (1975). ‘Le dialect cambodgien parle´ a` Tateˆ y, massif des Cardamomes.’ Asie du Sud-est et Monde Inslindien 6(4), 71–79. Maspe´ ro G (1915). Grammaire de la langue khme`re (cambodgien). Paris: Imprimerie Nationale. Minegishi M (1985). ‘Modern Khmer orthography and its dialects.’ [in Japanese] Gengo Kenkyu 88. Sakamoto Y (1970a). ‘i, I¯, ya, ya¯ de khmer ancien.’ Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 7, 4. 492–503. Sakamoto Y (1970b). ‘e de khmer ancien.’ Journal of Asian and African Studies 3, 28–43. Sakamoto Y (1971). ‘Sur quelques voyelles de khmer ancien.’ Journal of Asian and African Studies 4, 55–73. Sakamoto Y (1974). ‘a et a¯ de khmer ancien.’ Journal of Asian and African Studies 4, 75–100. Sakamoto Y (2001). Cambodian–Japanese dictionary (3 vols). Tokyo: ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Wayland R & Jongman A (2003). ‘Acoustic correlates of breathy and clear vowels: the case of Khmer.’ Journal of Phonetics 31(2), 181–201.

Khoesaan Languages W H G Haacke, University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia ß 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The recognition of Khoisan (Khoesaan) as one of the four language phyla in Africa received initial impetus mainly through the ‘Macro-Khoisan Hypothesis’ of Joseph Greenberg, first published in 1950. This controversial phylum comprises his ‘Click languages,’ which formerly were known as ‘Hottentot’ and ‘Bushman’ languages, respectively. Dorothea Bleek (1929) had paved the way for their integration into one family by challenging the prevalent view that Hottentot as a Hamitic language had been influenced by Bushman, and by suggesting instead that Nama (as representative of Hottentot) was a Bushman language with Hamitic admixture. Bleek divided the Bushman languages into Northern, Central, and Southern groups. In essence, these divisions are still recognized today, although their validity is open to challenges (see Table 1).

The compounded name Khoisan was coined in 1928 by Leonhardt Schultze to signify the somatoracial relatedness of the Hottentots and Bushmen, with khoi (‘human being,’ correctly spelled khoe) representing Hottentot, and san – the Nama designation for the Bushmen, meaning ‘foragers’ (correctly spelt Sa˜n or Saan) – Bushman. Greenberg distinguished South African Khoisan (with the major Northern, Central, and Southern branches) as opposed to the East African isolates Sandawe and Hadza (some 70 000 and 400 speakers, respectively). These views are not unanimously accepted, as genetic relatedness between the major linguistic branches cannot be proved satisfactorily. Although scholars remain divided on the issue of genetic relatedness, the term ‘Khoesan’ or ‘Khoisan’ (more correctly spelled ‘Khoesaan’) is now widely used as a term of convenience to denote all nonBantu and non-Cushitic click languages of Southern and Eastern Africa. Only some 30 Khoesaan languages still exist today, with the great majority of languages being extinct.