The Structure of Cambodian

3 points · University catalogue

Like every other language, Cambodian is totally unique in some respects (these are of interest only to the language learner), and a representative human language in others (these are of interest to all students of language). Thus, for example, like every written language, Cambodian will exhibit diglossia: the grammar and the vocabulary of the written language will differ from that of the spoken language. It is also a member of a language family, known as Austroasiatic, whose members are spoken from NE India through Malaysia, Myanmar, and Indochina. In addition, Cambodian is a structural representative of a given type of language spoken throughout mainland Southeast Asia. That is, in many respects, the structure of Cambodian is similar to those of Lao, Thai, Vietnamese, as well as Hmong. In the “Far West” of SE Asia, are spoken other languages, among them Burmese, Mon, and Karen, which are still similar, but less so. All of these languages are isolating, monosyllabic languages. Of the languages just listed, only Vietnamese and Mon are genetically related to Cambodian. Finally, in its orthography and lexicon, Cambodian has borrowed so extensively from Indic languages, that all literate speakers have a considerable background in practical etymology, and recognize borrowings from , say, Pali, as English speakers generally do not recognize borrowings from Norman French or Latin or Greek. Since the Indic languages belong to Indoeuropean, some unexpected words in Cambodian (e.g. niam , smaeu ) will turn out to have English cognates (like name , same ). Your goal in this course is not to acquire a speaking knowledge of Khmer. (For that you would need a pedagogical grammar, a native-speaker instructor, and hours and hours of practice in the lab and in the classroom.) It is rather to understand from a linguist’s point of view what it is that makes this language a typical language of this part of the world. We will be working through a reference grammar of the language together. You are each also going to ‘adopt’ another mainland SE Asian language for purposes of comparison, to experience for yourself what it means for a language to be a member of a linguistic alliance or Sprachbund. You may select your own ‘pet’ language, and your assignment will then be to ‘master’ this language in the same way that you have ‘mastered’ Khmer.