The following table summarises the main vowel to character assigments.
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ⓘ represents the inherent vowel. Vowels in the left column show pronunciations after a-class consonants, and the column to its right shows use for o-class consonants. The right-hand column shows standalone vowels.
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ⓘ represents the inherent vowel. Vowels in the left column show pronunciations after ɑ-class consonants, and the column to its right shows use for ɔ-class consonants. The right-hand column shows standalone vowels.
@@ -1163,13 +1163,15 @@
Vowel summary table
Consonant registers
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Cambodian inherited a writing system that has more vowel sounds than ways to write them, but has fewer consonant sounds than consonant symbols. Khmer takes advantage of this by dividing the consonant symbols into 2 classes (or registers): an a-class and an o-class. The class of a consonant then determines the vowel sound in a syllable. For example, compare the pronunciations in the table:
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Cambodian inherited a writing system that has more vowel sounds than ways to write them, but has fewer consonant sounds than consonant symbols. Khmer takes advantage of this by dividing the consonant symbols into 2 classes (or registers): an a-class and an ɔ-class. The class of a consonant then determines the vowel sound in a syllable. For example, compare the pronunciations in the table:
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+
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A-class consonant
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ɑ-class consonant
IPA
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O-class consonant
IPA
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ɔ-class consonant
IPA
1780
kɑː
@@ -1207,7 +1209,7 @@
Vowel harmony
ង␣ញ␣ណ␣ន␣ម␣យ␣ឡ␣ល␣រ␣វ
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For example, in the following word the second syllable starts with an o-class consonant but the class of the preceding syllable turns the vowel to an a-class sound. There are, however, exceptions to this rule.
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For example, in the following word the second syllable starts with an ɔ-class consonant but the class of the preceding syllable turns the vowel to an ɑ-class sound. There are, however, exceptions to this rule.
ប្រយ័ត្ន
@@ -1236,7 +1238,7 @@
Inherent vowels
Khmer has 2 inherent vowels: ɑː and ɔː. Both are commonly transcribed as a.
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The class of the consonant will initially dictate which sound is appropriate, eg. 1780 (an ɑː class consonant) is pronounced kɑː whereas 1782 (an ɔː class consonant) is pronounced kɔː, but see also vowel_harmony.
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The class of the consonant will initially dictate which sound is appropriate, eg. 1780 (an ɑ-class consonant) is pronounced kɑː whereas 1782 (an ɔ-class consonant) is pronounced kɔː, but see also vowel_harmony.
Post-consonant vowels are written using 21 vowel sign or other combining marks and 2 glide consonant letters. Two additional diacritics are used to change the register of a syllable.
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Other vowels that follow consonants are written using 21 vowel sign or other combining marks and 2 glide consonant letters. Two additional diacritics are used to change the register of a syllable.
Khmer has more vowel sounds than ways to write them. Therefore, a written vowel can have different pronunciations, depending on the class of the base consonant. (There is no tone in Khmer, so classes are specially designed for vowel selection.) Additional factors include whether this is an unstressed vowel, vowel harmony, and whether any of the special diacritics have been used to change the sound. For an in-depth treatment of pronunciation see Huffman in the sources section.
There are 3 pre-base glyphs and 5 circumgraphs, 2 of which can decompose into multipart vowels. This page lists 15 multipart vowels (made from 9 vowel signs, and 8 consonants/diacritics), not counting decompositions. Multipart vowels can involve up to 3 glyphs, but only surround the base consonant(s) on 2 sides.
@@ -1282,18 +1284,18 @@
Other vowels following consonants
Plain vowels
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The pronunciation of vowel signs depends on whether they follow an a-class consonant or an o-class consonant. In some cases the alternative may be a diphthong, so compare this also with the items in diphthongsz. Additional variations can arise from context or whether a syllable is open or closed. For more detailed information, click on the characters in the panel, or see vowel_mappings.
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The pronunciation of vowel signs depends on whether they follow an ɑ-class consonant or an ɔ-class consonant. In some cases the alternative may be a diphthong, so compare this also with the items in diphthongsz. Additional variations can arise from context or whether a syllable is open or closed. For more detailed information, click on the characters in the panel, or see vowel_mappings.
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As an example of how the same vowel sign is pronounced differently after an a-class and an o-class consonant, check out the pronunciations for 17B7 in the following word.
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As an example of how the same vowel sign is pronounced differently after an ɑ-class and an ɔ-class consonant, check out the pronunciations for 17B7 in the following word.
កិរិយា
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The following panel lists basic monophthongs following a-class consonants.
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The following panel lists basic monophthongs following ɑ-class consonants.
ិ␣ុ␣ឹ␣័␣ៈ␣ា␣់␣៏
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The next panel shows vowels following o-class consonants. In several cases the same vowel sign is used, but with a different pronunciation.
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The next panel shows vowels following ɔ-class consonants. In several cases the same vowel sign is used, but with a different pronunciation.
ិ␣ី␣ឹ␣ឺ␣ុ␣់␣ូ␣េ␣ោ␣ើ␣ែ
@@ -1316,12 +1318,12 @@
Plain vowels
Diphthongs
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The following panel lists basic diphthongs following a-class consonants. In some cases the alternative may be a diphthong, so compare this also with the items in monophthongs.
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The following panel lists basic diphthongs following ɑ-class consonants. In some cases the alternative may be a diphthong, so compare this also with the items in monophthongs.
ៀ␣ឿ␣េ␣ូ␣ី␣ឺ␣័␣ូវ␣ោ␣ែ␣ើ␣ៃ␣័យ␣ៅ
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The next panel shows vowels following o-class consonants. In several cases the same vowel sign is used, but with a different pronunciation.
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The next panel shows vowels following ɔ-class consonants. In several cases the same vowel sign is used, but with a different pronunciation.
There are not enough individual Khmer consonant letters to be able to assign a unique character for each a-class and o-class register. Khmer extends the number of letters as follows to close this gap.
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There are not enough individual Khmer consonant letters to be able to assign a unique character for each ɑ-class and ɔ-class register. Khmer extends the number of letters as follows to close this gap.
Two diacritics, 17C9 and 17CA, are used to change the class of a consonant. These are particularly useful when a given sound has only one character associated with it, such as the letters ម, យ and ស etc.
@@ -3052,7 +3071,7 @@
Changing consonant registers
Regardless of displayed position, each of these diacritics should be typed and stored immediately after the base character, unless a ZWNJ intervenes.u,647
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A small number of o-class consonants are transformed into a-class consonants by preceding them with 17A0, rather than using the above diacritics. They include the following.
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A small number of ɔ-class consonants are transformed into ɑ-class consonants by preceding them with 17A0, rather than using the above diacritics. They include the following.
ហ្ម␣ហ្ន␣ហ្ល
@@ -3170,7 +3189,7 @@
Stacking
Stacks and registers
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Where the two consonants involved in the cluster are in different classes or registers, the pronunciation of any following vowel is normally determined by the register of the subscript consonant. For the following exceptions, however, the vowel pronunciation is determined by the register of the first consonant (all o-class):
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Where the two consonants involved in the cluster are in different classes or registers, the pronunciation of any following vowel is normally determined by the register of the subscript consonant. For the following exceptions, however, the vowel pronunciation is determined by the register of the first consonant (all ɔ-class):
