Khmer
The Khmer script is an abugida (alphasyllabary) script used to write the Khmer language (the official language of Cambodia). It is also used to write Pali in the Buddhist liturgy of Cambodia and Thailand.
Language Facts
Informally known as Cambodian
Circa 16 million native speakers
Belongs to the Austroasiatic language family
Only three languages in this family are now considered official national languages: Khmer, Vietnamese and Mon
Has been influenced a lot by Sanskrit and Pali
The colloquial language has been influenced by Thai, Lao, Vietnamese, and Cham
Is an analytic language
There are no inflections or conjugations
Uses the subject-verb-object order
Is not a tonal language
Words are stressed on the final syllable
Script facts
For more see Khmer Script
Type: Abugida
An abugida is a writing system in which consonant-vowel sequences are written as a unit and vowel notation is secondary
Direction: Left-to-right
Age: circa 611 - present
35 consonant characters (although 2 are obsolete)
Each consonant can belong to one of two series, the a-series or o-series
Approximately 79% of Cambodians are able to read Khmer
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