Editing Khmer language (section)

{{Short description|Austroasiatic language of Cambodia}}
{{redirect|Cambodian language|other languages spoken in Cambodia|Demographics of Cambodia#Languages}}
{{good article}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Khmer
| altname          = Cambodian
| nativename       = {{lang|km|ភាសាខ្មែរ}}
 / {{lang|km|ខេមរភាសា}}<br />{{transliteration|km|Phéasa Khmêr}} / {{transliteration|km|Khémôrôphéasa}}
| image            = PhiesaKhmae.svg
| imagecaption     = {{tlit|km|Phéasa Khmêr}} ('Khmer language') written in Khmer script
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|km|pʰiəsaː kʰmae|}}<br />{{IPA|km|kʰeːmarapʰiəsaː|}}
| states           = {{ubl|[[Cambodia]]|[[Thailand]] ([[Eastern Thailand|East]] and [[Isan]])|[[Vietnam]] ([[Mekong Delta]] and [[Southeast (Vietnam)|Southeast]])}}
| ethnicity        = [[Khmer people|Khmer]]
| speakers         = [[First language|L1]]: {{sigfig|19.477730|2}} million
| date             = 2019
| ref              = <ref name="e28|khm">{{e28|khm}}</ref>
| speakers2        = [[Second language|L2]]: {{sigfig|1.041900|1}} million (2024)<ref name="e28|khm">{{e28|khm}}</ref><br/>Total: {{sigfig|20.519630|2}} million (2019–2024)<ref name="e28|khm">{{e28|khm}}</ref>
| speakers_label   = Speakers
| familycolor      = Austroasiatic
| fam1             = [[Austroasiatic languages|Austroasiatic]]
| ancestor         = [[Proto-Khmeric language|Proto-Khmeric]]
| ancestor2        = [[Old Khmer]]
| ancestor3        = [[Middle Khmer]]
| script           = {{ubl|[[Khmer script]]|[[Khmer Braille]]}}
| nation           = {{flag|Cambodia}}
| minority         = {{ubl|{{Flag|Thailand}}|{{Flag|Vietnam}}}}
| iso1             = km 
| iso1comment      = Central Khmer 
| agency           = [[Royal Academy of Cambodia|Royal Academy of Cambodia, National Council of Khmer Language]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Council of Khmer Language |url=https://nckl.rac.gov.kh/ |access-date=12 April 2024 |website=nckl.rac.gov.kh}}</ref>
| iso2             = khm
| iso2comment      = Central Khmer
| lc1              = khm
| ld1              = Khmer
| lc2              = kxm
| ld2              = [[Northern Khmer dialect|Northern Khmer]]
| lingua           = 46-FBA-a
| glotto           = khme1253
| glottoname       = Khmeric
| glotto2          = cent1989
| glottoname2      = Central Khmer
| mapscale         = 1
| map              = Austroasiatic-en.svg
| mapcaption       = {{legend|#61FFBC|Khmer}}
}}
{{Contains special characters|Khmer}}
'''Khmer''' ({{IPAc-en|k|ə|ˈ|m|ɛər}} {{respell|kə|MAIR}};<ref>Laurie Bauer, 2007, ''The Linguistics Student's Handbook'', Edinburgh</ref> {{lang|km|ខ្មែរ}}, [[Romanization of Khmer#UNGEGN|UNGEGN]]: {{transliteration|km|Khmêr}} {{IPA|km|kʰmae|}}) is an [[Austroasiatic language]] spoken natively by the [[Khmer people]]. This language is an [[official language]] and [[national language]] of [[Cambodia]]. The language is also widely spoken by Khmer people in [[Eastern Thailand]] and [[Isan]], [[Thailand]], as well as in the [[Southeast (Vietnam)|Southeastern]] and [[Mekong Delta]] regions of [[Vietnam]].

Khmer has been influenced considerably by [[Sanskrit]] and [[Pali]] especially in the royal and religious [[Register (sociolinguistics)|registers]], through [[Hinduism and Buddhism]],<ref name="cl">{{Cite book |last=Smyth |first=David A |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fRyungEACAAJ |title=Cambodian Linguistics, Literature and History: Collected Articles |last2=Jacob |first2=Judith Margaret |publisher=Routledge |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-728-60218-2}}</ref> due to [[Old Khmer]] being the language of the historical empires of [[Chenla]] and [[Angkorian Empire|Angkor]].

The vast majority of Khmer speakers speak ''Central Khmer'', the dialect of the central plain where the Khmer are most heavily concentrated. Within Cambodia, regional accents exist in remote areas but these are regarded as varieties of Central Khmer. Two exceptions are the speech of the capital, [[Phnom Penh]], and that of the [[Khmer Khe]] in [[Stung Treng province]], both of which differ sufficiently enough from Central Khmer to be considered separate dialects of Khmer.

Outside of Cambodia, three distinct dialects are spoken by ethnic Khmers native to areas that were historically part of the [[Khmer Empire]]. The [[Northern Khmer dialect]] is spoken by over a million Khmers in the southern regions of [[Northeast Thailand]] and is treated by some linguists as a separate language. Khmer Krom, or Southern Khmer, is the first language of the [[Khmer Krom|Khmer of Vietnam]], while the Khmer living in the remote [[Cardamom Mountains]] speak a very conservative dialect that still displays features of the [[Middle Khmer]] language.

Khmer is primarily an [[analytic language|analytic]], [[isolating language]]. There are no [[inflection]]s, [[conjugation (grammar)|conjugations]] or [[grammatical case|case]] endings. Instead, [[Grammatical particle|particles]] and auxiliary words are used to indicate grammatical relationships. General word order is [[subject–verb–object]], and [[modifiers]] follow the word they modify. [[Classifier (linguistics)|Classifiers]] appear after numbers when used to count nouns, though not always so consistently as in languages like [[Chinese language|Chinese]]. In spoken Khmer, [[topic-comment]] structure is common, and the perceived social relation between participants determines which sets of vocabulary, such as pronouns and honorifics, are proper.

Khmer differs from neighboring languages such as [[Burmese language|Burmese]], [[Thai language|Thai]], [[Lao language|Lao]], and [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] in that it is not a [[tonal language]]. Words are [[stress (linguistics)|stressed]] on the final syllable, hence many words conform to the typical Mon–Khmer pattern of a stressed syllable preceded by a [[minor syllable]]. The language has been written in the [[Khmer script]], an [[abugida]] descended from the [[Brahmi script]] via the southern Indian [[Pallava script]], since at least the 7th century. The script's form and use has evolved over the centuries; its modern features include subscripted versions of consonants used to write [[consonant cluster|clusters]] and a division of consonants into two series with different [[inherent vowel]]s.