Learn Khmer Script the Lazy-Ass Way: Part Two: The Vowels

 

Photo by Holger Wirth

After long delay (sorry) here is Part 2 of my system for learning the Khmer script. Part 1 was the consonants. Part 2 is vowels. 

Disclaimer. You should be using other materials and methods to study Khmer if you want to make use of this system. The system itself is only a memorization aid. I am assuming you have some basic familiarity with the script.

One of the issues noted with Khmer consonants is that they come in two families. The "A"-series has an inherent "A" vowel; whereas the "O" series has an inherent "O" vowel. This means that if you write just a consonant by itself--no vowel--it will be pronounced with either an "A" sound or an "O" sound, depending on which series it belongs to.

However... the Khmer script also has plenty of vowel symbols as well. Depending how you count them, individual symbols can be combined to make new compound symbols with new pronunciations. In English, for example, we could consider "ea" to be a new vowel formed by combining "e" and "a", so that beat is pronounced differently from both bet and bat.

And moreover, each vowel symbol, whether individual or combined, has two pronunciations, depending on whether the attached consonant is "A" series or "O" series.

Interesting fact about Khmer script: the vowel sound following the consonant might be written to the left, right, above, or below the consonant. Sometimes on several sides at once. Examples;

ជា is the consonant ជ followed by the vowel ា. The dotted circle is something you never see in actual Khmer, and you never see this vowel standing alone either. The circle indicates that the vowel needs a consonant to the left of it.

ពី is the consonant ព followed by the vowel ី. This time the circle shows that the consonant goes under the vowel.

នៅ is the consonant ន followed by the vowel ៅ. The circle shows that the vowel is written on both sides of the consonant.

So to help me remember the pronunciations of the vowels, I needed names which would represent both the "A"-series pronunciation and the "B"-series pronunciation. (Some exceptions are noted below.) 

Each name encodes the pronunciation using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). I can't give a complete breakdown of every IPA symbol, especially as it applies to Khmer pronunciation, but I'll try to provide a few pointers. 

The important letters of each vowel name are capitalized. To find an appropriate English word containing a given combination of letters required me to reach for some pretty exotic vocabulary. Look them up.

So we start. All in all, there are thirty-seven different vowel symbols in Khmer (most of which have two different pronunciations). Our list of vowels runs as follows:

1 ា AdAmantine IRis. The name has two words, which is typical. The first word AdAmantine encodes the A-series pronunciation, which is æː. In the IPA, æ is a wide "a" sound like "cat" and ː shows that the vowel is stretched out in time. I use A to represent æ and I use two of them AA to indicate the prolongation. This is a general rule of the system: where the IPA uses : to show that a vowel sound is stretched out, my system doubles the letter that encodes the IPA symbol.) The second word IRis encodes the O-series pronunciation, which is iːə. I represents the IPA i, which actually sounds like the "i" in "pizza" and R represents the schwa ə, which is a neutral vowel . I skipped the prolongation symbol for this one.

2 ិ Ebon Ink. The letter E of the first word Ebon encodes the A-series pronunciation e. The letter I of the second word Ink encodes the O-series pronunciation i.

3 ី RIch megatherIId. The letters RI of RIch encode the A-series pronunciation əj. (This is a diphthong, a combination of one vowel sliding into another. English has a lot of these, for example the "oi" in "coin".) Once again the letter R represents the IPA symbol ə. In the IPA the symbol j represents the sound "y" as in English "yes"; notice that this is very close to the IPA i, so I use the letter I to represent IPA j as well as IPA i. The double II in megatherIId represents the O-series pronunciation iː (prolonged i).

4 ឹ     RYe. I used a single word for this one because both pronunciations are simple vowel sounds. Once again the letter R represents the IPA letter ə. The letter Y, used here for the first but by no means the last time, represents the IPA letter ɨ, which can be described as a back unrounded vowel, and sorry, no, I won't explain what that means.

5 ឺ RYpophagous flYbY. The A-series pronunciation is encoded by the letters RY, representing a diphthong composed of the two vowels əɨ (compare to the two separate pronunciations of the previous vowel. The O-series pronunciation is represented by YY, encoding a long version ɨː of the vowel ɨ 

6 ូ OUtsized UkUlele. The A-series pronunciation is encoded by the letters OU, a diphthong rather similar to the "ow" in English "low." The O-series pronunciation is encoded by the letters UU, a long version uː of the vowel u, rather similar to the "u" in English "rule."

7 ួ URethane. I used a single word for this one because the A-series and O-series pronunciations are identical. Both are encoded by the letters UR, a diphthong uːə, prolonged u followed by ə.

8 ើ ARmored oRRery. The A-series pronunciation æːə is encoded by the letters AR. The O-series pronunciation əː is encoded by the letters RR.

9 ឿ hYRax. Once again, I used a single word for this one because the A-series and O-series pronunciations are identical. Both are encoded by the letters YR, a diphthong ɨːə, prolonged ɨː followed by ə.

10 ៀ IRon. Once again, I used a single word for this one because the A-series and O-series pronunciations are identical. Both encoded by the letters IR, a diphthong iːə, prolonged i: followed by ə.

11 េ EIghtfold EEl. The A-series pronunciation is encoded by the letters EI, a diphthong eːi of prolonged e: followed by i. The O-series pronunciation is encoded by the letters EE, a prolonged eː.

12 ែ AErosol Egg. The A-series pronunciation is encoded by the letters AE, a diphthong æːe. The O-series pronunciation is encoded by the letter E , a prolonged ɛː (more like the "e" in English "bed").

13 ៃ AIry YIeld. The A-series pronunciation is encoded by the letters AI, a diphthong aj. The O-series pronunciation is encoded by the letters YI, a diphthong ɨj.

14 ោ AOrtal OOze. The A-series pronunciation is encoded by the letters AO, a diphthong æːo. The O-series pronunciation is encoded by the letters OO, a prolonged oː.

15 ៅ AWned YUrt. The A-series pronunciation is encoded by the letters AW, a diphthong æw. The O-series pronunciation is encoded by the letters YU, a diphthong ɨw.

16 ុ OUtrigger. Once again, I used a single word for this one because both pronunciations are simple vowel sounds. The A-series pronunciation o is encoded by the letter O. The O-series pronunciation u is encoded by the letter U.

17 ំ ALUminum. This letter starts a new series of special nasalized vowels. All are distinguished by the little bubble mark above the consonant (this letter indeed consists of nothing but this bubble). and all are pronounced with "nasalization" like you find in French, for example; i.e., some of the breath is directed through the nose rather than the mouth. For this first one, I used a single word for both A-series and O-series pronunciations. The letters AL encode the A-series pronunciation ɑm. As a rule the system uses the letters AL for this variant of the ɑ-sound. The new combination AL shows the vowel sound ɑ, which is rather like the "a" in English "father." The m here does not indicate a sound like "mama" but marks the nasalization of the vowel. The letter U encodes the O-series pronunciation um, which is a nasalized version of the vowel u.

18 ុំ Marble OUtrigger. Here the word Marble shows that this is a nasalized vowel. The letter O encodes the A-series pronunciation om (nasalized o). The letter U encodes the O-series pronunciation um (nasalized u).

19 ាំ Marble Ashen ORange. Again the word Marble shows that this is a nasalized vowel. The letter A encodes the A-series pronunciation am (nasalized a). The letters OR encode the O-series pronunciation  oəm (nasalized oə).

20 ះ  Hairy Ashen ERaser. This letter starts a second series of special aspirated vowels, each marked by the two bubbles on the right. This indicates that the vowel is pronounced with sort of an "h" sound at the end of the syllable (which is the opposite of where it always comes in English). For all of these vowel names the word Hairy indicates this "h"-sound. Here the letter A encodes the A-series pronunciation aʰ (the small "h" coming at the end of the syllable). The letters ER encode the O-series pronunciation eəʰ.

21 ិះ  Hairy EpIcycle. Again the word Hairy indicates the "h" at the end of the syllable. The letter E encodes the A-series pronunciation eʰ. The letter I encodes the O-series pronunciation iʰ.

22 េះ  Hairy EIghtfold Éclair. Again the word Hairy indicates the "h" at the end of the syllable. The letters EI encode the A-series pronunciation eiʰ. The letter É encodes the O-series pronunciation eʰ.

23 ោះ Hairy ALbino URchin. Again the word Hairy indicates the "h" at the end of the syllable. The letters AL encode  the A-series pronunciation ɑʰ. The letters UR encode the O-series pronunciation ʊəʰ.

24 ុះ  Hairy OUtrigger. Again the word Hairy indicates the "h" at the end of the syllable.  The letter O encodes the A-series pronunciation oʰ. The letter U encodes the O-series pronunciation uʰ.

We come now to the final series of vowel symbols. These differ from all the others in that they are written as independent symbols rather than attached to a previous consonant sound. So far as I can tell they are used only when a vowel sound comes at the beginning of a word (although you can imagine having a word consisting solely of several vowel sounds).

Actually it is technically incorrect to say the vowel does not follow a consonant sound, because in fact it is preceded by a glottal stop--a catch-in-the-throat sound which you do hear in English but is not meaningful. In some other languages (like Arabic, for example) it works as a consonant sound on an equal basis with the others. This glottal stop is represented in the IPA by the symbol ʔ (like a question mark with no dot). This glottal stop is not represented in my names for the symbols.

Since these letters come only at the start of the word, and are not attached to any consonant, they do not have separate A-series and O-series pronunciations; each has a single pronunciation encoded by a single word.

25 ឥ Elephant. The letter E encodes the pronunciation ʔe.

26 ឦ RIxshaw. The letters RI encode the pronunciation ʔəj.

27 ឧ Ocean. The letter O encodes the pronunciation ʔo.

28 ឪ YUppie. The letters YU encode the pronunciation ʔɨw.

29 ឫ RYa. The letters RY encode the pronunciation ʔrɨ. Notice that here the R represents an actual r sound rather than the shwa as hitherto.

30 ឬ RYdberg. The letters  RY encode the pronunciation ʔrɨː. This is like the preceding, except prolonged, and so this one has the longer name. Once again the R represents an actual r sound rather than the shwa as hitherto.

31 ឭ LYceum. The letters LY encode the pronunciation ʔlɨ.

32 ឮ LYme grass. The letters LY encode the pronunciation ʔlɨː. This is like the preceding, except prolonged, and so it gets the longer name. 

33 ឯ AEpyornis. The letters AE encode the pronunciation, which I found described variously as ʔæe; or ʔɛː or ʔeː.

34 ឰ AIrship. The letters AI encode the pronunciation ʔaj. 

35 ឳ AUnt. The letters AU encode the pronunciation ʔaw. 

36 ឱ AOudad. The letters AO encode the pronunciation ʔaːo. 

37 ឩ Udder. The letter U encodes the pronunciation ʔu.

And that's it. This system helped me, taking the problem of learning Khmer script from impossible to merely difficult.