Editing Khmer language (section)

===Consonants===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}<br />ម, ម៉
| {{IPA link|n}}<br />ន, ណ
| {{IPA link|ɲ}}<br />ញ, ញ៉
| {{IPA link|ŋ}}<br />ង, ង៉
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Plosive]]
! {{small|voiceless}}
| {{IPA link|p}} ({{IPA link|pʰ}})<br />ផ, ភ, ព
| {{IPA link|t}} ({{IPA link|tʰ}})<br />ថ, ឋ, ឍ, ធ
| {{IPA link|c}} ({{IPA link|cʰ}})<br />ច, ជ, ឆ, ឈ 
| {{IPA link|k}} ({{IPA link|kʰ}})<br />ក, គ, ខ, ឃ
| rowspan="2"| {{IPA link|ʔ}}<br />អ, អ៊
|-
! {{small|voiced}}
| {{IPA link|ɓ}} ~ {{IPA link|b}}<br />ប, ប៊
| {{IPA link|ɗ}} ~ {{IPA link|d}}<br />ដ, ឌ
|
| 
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Fricative]]
|
| {{IPA link|s}}<br />ស, ស៊
| ({{IPA link|ç}})<br />ស, ស៊
|
| {{IPA link|h}}<br />ហ, ហ៊
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Liquid consonant|Liquid]]
! {{small|[[Rhotic consonant|rhotic]]}}
|
| {{IPA link|r}}<br />រ៉, រ
|
|
|
|-
! {{small|[[Lateral consonant|lateral]]}}
|
| {{IPA link|l}}<br />ឡ, ល
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Approximant]]
| {{IPA link|ʋ}} ~ {{IPA link|w}}<br />វ៉, វ
|
| {{IPA link|j}}<br />យ៉, យ
|
|
|}

The voiceless plosives {{IPA|/p/, /t/, /c/, /k/}} may occur with or without [[aspiration (phonetics)|aspiration]] (as {{IPA|[p]}} vs. {{IPA|[pʰ]}}, etc.); this difference is contrastive before a vowel. However, the aspirated sounds in that position may be analyzed as sequences of two [[phoneme]]s: {{IPA|/ph/, /th/, /ch/, /kh/}}. This analysis is supported by the fact that [[infix]]es can be inserted between the stop and the aspiration; for example {{IPA|[tʰom]}} ('big') becomes {{IPA|[tumhum]}} ('size') with a nominalizing infix. When one of these plosives occurs initially before another consonant, aspiration is no longer contrastive and can be regarded as mere phonetic detail:<ref name="ELL">{{cite book|last=Minegishi|first=M|title=Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics|editor=Keith Brown|publisher=Elsevier|year=2006|edition=2|pages=4981–4984|chapter=Khmer}}</ref><ref name=SOAS>{{cite book|last=Jacob|first=JM|title=Classical Civilizations of South-East Asia: Key Papers from SOAS|editor=VI Braginskiĭ|publisher=Routledge|year=2002|chapter=The Structure of the Word in Old Khmer}}</ref> slight aspiration is expected when the following consonant is not one of {{IPA|/ʔ/, /b/, /d/, /r/, /s/, /h/}} (or {{IPA|/ŋ/}} if the initial plosive is {{IPA|/k/}}).

The voiced plosives are pronounced as [[implosive consonant|implosives]] {{IPA|[ɓ, ɗ]}} by most speakers, but this feature is weak in educated speech, where they become {{IPA|[b, d]}}.<ref>''International Encyclopedia of Linguistics'', OUP 2003, p. 356.</ref>

In syllable-final position, {{IPA|/h/}} and {{IPA|/ʋ/}} approach {{IPA|[ç]}} and {{IPA|[w]}} respectively. The stops {{IPA|/p/, /t/, /c/, /k/}} are unaspirated and have [[no audible release]] when occurring as syllable finals.<ref name="HUFF" />

In addition, the consonants {{IPA|/ɡ/}}, {{IPA|/f/}}, {{IPA|/ʃ/}} and {{IPA|/z/}} occur occasionally in recent [[loan word]]s in the speech of Cambodians familiar with French and other languages.