| Cham | |
|---|---|
| ꨌꩌ چم | |
 'Cham' inCham script | |
| Pronunciation | [cam] |
| Native to | Cambodia andVietnam |
| Region | Mainland Southeast Asia |
| Ethnicity | Cham |
Native speakers | 490,000 (2019)[1] |
Early forms | |
| Dialects |
|
| Cham,Jawi (Arabic),Latin | |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:cja – Western Chamcjm – Eastern Cham |
| Glottolog | cham1328 |
| ELP | Eastern Cham |
 | |
Cham (Cham:ꨌꩌ,Jawi: چم, Latin script: Cam) is aMalayo-Polynesian language of theAustronesian family, spoken by theChams ofSoutheast Asia. It is spoken primarily in the territory of the former Kingdom ofChampa, which spanned modernSouthern Vietnam, as well as inCambodia by a significant population which descends from refugees that fled during the decline and fall of Champa. The Western variety is spoken by 220,000 people inCambodia and 25,000 people inVietnam. As for the Eastern variety, there are about 73,000 speakers in Vietnam,[2] for a total of approximately 491,448 speakers.[1]
Cham belongs to theChamic languages, which are spoken in parts ofmainland Southeast Asia, Indonesia'sAceh Province, and on the island ofHainan. Cham is theoldest-attested Austronesian language, with theĐông Yên Châu inscription being verifiably dated to the late 4th century AD. It has several dialects, withEastern Cham (Phan Rang Cham;ꨌꩌ ꨚꨰ,Cam pai) andWestern Cham (ꨌꩌ ꨚꨭꩉ,Cam pur) being the main ones. The Cham script, derived from the ancientIndic script, is still used for ceremonial and religious purposes.
The Cham people are believed to be descendants of the Champa Kingdom, which was a powerful and influential kingdom that flourished in what is now central and southern Vietnam from around the 2nd to the 17th century. The Champa Kingdom had a distinctive culture and language that set the Cham people apart from their neighbors.
The Champa Kingdom played a significant role in regional trade and cultural exchange, interacting with neighboring civilizations such as theKhmer Empire, theDai Viet (Vietnamese), and others. The Cham people developed their own script, known asCham script, which was used for inscriptions and religious texts.
The decline of the Champa Kingdom began in the 15th century, and by the 17th century, it had been absorbed by the expanding Vietnamese state. This period marked significant cultural and linguistic changes for the Cham people as they came under the influence of the dominantVietnamese culture.
As a result of historical events, including wars and the annexation of Champa by Vietnam, the Cham people faced displacement. Some migrated to Cambodia, where they established communities, while others remained in Vietnam. The Cham language underwent changes and adaptations as the Cham people interacted with the cultures of their new environments.
In the contemporary era, the Cham language faces challenges such as assimilation, linguistic shifts, and the influence of dominant languages in the regions where Cham communities reside. Efforts are being made to preserve and revitalize the Cham language, including cultural programs, educational initiatives, and documentation of the language.
The Cham language dialects each have 21 consonants and 9 vowels.[3]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | unaspirated | p | t | c | k | ʔ |
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | cʰ | kʰ | ||
| implosive | ɓ | ɗ | ||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Liquid | l | |||||
| Fricative | s | ɣ | h | |||
| Rhotic | r[a] | |||||
| Approximant | j | w | ||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | ɨ | u |
| Mid-high | e | ə | o |
| Mid-low | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Low | a |
/ia/,/iɯ/ (occurs only before/-ʔ/),/ea/,/ua/,/oa/,/au/ (occurs only before/-ʔ/),/iə/,/ɛə/,/ɔə/,/uə/.
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Last update: uses sources from the 19th century(August 2013) |
There are several prefixes and infixes which can be used for word derivation.[5]
Reduplication is often used:[5]
Cham generally usesSVO word order, without any case marking to distinguish subject from object:[6]
Dahlak
I
atong
beat
nyu.
he
Dahlak atong nyu.
I beat he
"I beat him."
Nyu
he
atong
beat
dahlak.
I
Nyu atong dahlak.
he beat I
"He beats me."
Dummy pronominal subjects are sometimes used, echoing the subject:
Inâ hudiap dahlak
my wife's mother
nyu
she
atong
beat
adei puthang nyu.
her husband's younger sister
{Inâ hudiap dahlak}nyu atong {adei puthang nyu.}
{my wife's mother}she beat {her husband's younger sister}
"My wife's mother beats her husband's younger sister."
Composite verbs will behave as one inseparable verb, having the object come after it:
Bloh
then
nyu
she
ndih di apvei
lie at fire (i.e.: give birth)
anek lakei.
son
Bloh nyu {ndih di apvei} {anek lakei.}
then she {lie at fire (i.e.: give birth)} son
"Then she gave birth to a son."
Sometimes, however, the verb is placed in front of the subject:
Lék
fall
dahlak.
I
Lék dahlak.
fall I
"I fall."
Auxiliary verbs are placed after any objects:
Nyu
he
ba
bring
hudiap nyu
his wife
nao.
go
Nyu ba {hudiap nyu}nao.
he bring {his wife}go
"He brings his wife."
If a sentence contains more than one main verb, one of the two will have an adverbial meaning:
Nyu
he
dep
hide
klaḥ
evade
mâtai.
death
Nyudep klaḥ mâtai.
hehide evade death
"He evaded death by hiding."
Adjectives come after the nouns they modify:[7]
thang
house
praong
big
thang praong
house big
"a big house"
If the order is reversed, the whole will behave like a compound:
urang
person
praong
big
sap
noise
urang praong sap
person big noise
"a noisy person"
Composite sentences can be formed with the particlekrung:[8]
tha drei athau tha drei mâyau
the dog and the cat
krung
which
ai nyu brei ka nyu
his brother gave him
{tha drei athau tha drei mâyau}krung {ai nyu brei ka nyu}
{the dog and the cat}which {his brother gave him}
"the dog and the cat his brother gave him"
nao tapak
to go straight
danao
lake
krung
which
ai that ikan
brother is fishing
{nao tapak} danaokrung {ai that ikan}
{to go straight} lakewhich {brother is fishing}
"to go straight to the lake where his brother was fishing"
It is also possible to leave out this particle, without change in meaning:[6]
Dahlak brei athéh nan
I give this horse
ka wa dahlak
to my uncle
∅
who
dok dii palei Ram.
live in the village of Ram
{Dahlak brei athéh nan} {ka wa dahlak}∅ {dok dii palei Ram.}
{I give this horse} {to my uncle}who {live in the village of Ram}
"I have given this horse to my uncle, who lives in the village of Ram."
Questions are formed with the sentence-final particlerẽi:[9]
Other question words arein situ:
Hau
you
nao
go
hatao?
where
Hau naohatao?
you gowhere
"Where are you going?"
Like many languages in Eastern Asia, Cham usesnumeral classifiers to express amounts.[10] The classifier will always come after the numeral, with the noun coming invariably before or after the classifier-numeral pair.
The above examples show the classifierboḥ, which literally means "egg" and is the most frequently used — particularly for round and voluminous objects. Other classifiers areôrang (person) for people and deities,ḅêk for long objects,blaḥ (leaf) for flat objects, and many others.
The days of the month are counted with a similar system, with two classifiers: one (bangun) used to count days before the full moon, and the other one (ranaṃ) for days after the full moon.[11]
Personal pronouns behave like ordinary nouns and do not show any case distinctions. There are different forms depending on thelevel of politeness. The first person singular, for example, iskău in formal or distant context, while it isdahlak (in Vietnam) orhulun (in Cambodia) in an ordinarily polite context. As is the case with many other languages of the region, kinship terms are often used as personal pronouns.[8]
Comparative andsuperlative are expressed with the locative prepositiondi/dii:[12]
tapa
big
di
at
ai nyu
his brother
tapa di {ai nyu}
big at {his brother}
"bigger than his brother"
There are some particles that can be used to indicatetense/aspect.[13] The future is indicated withsi orthi in Vietnam, withhi orsi in Cambodia. The perfect is expressed with jâ. The first one comes in front of the verb:
The second one is sentence-final:
Sit tra
little more
kau
I
nao
go
jâ.
{Sit tra} kau naojâ.
{little more} I go PRF
"I'll be gone in a moment."
Certain verbs can function as auxiliaries to express other tenses or aspects.[14] The verbdok ("to stay") is used for the continuous,wâk ("to return") for the repetitive aspect, andkieng ("to want") for the future tense.
The negation is formed withoh/o at either or both sides of the verb, or withdi/dii[15] in front.[13]
The imperative is formed with the sentence-final particlebék, and the negative imperative with the preverbaljuai/juei (in Vietnam and Cambodia respectively).[13]
Brunelle observed two phenomena of language use among speakers of Eastern Cham: They are bothdiglossic andbilingual (in Cham and Vietnamese). Diglossia is the situation where two varieties of a language are used in a single language community, and oftentimes one is used on formal occasions (labelledH) and the other is more colloquial (labelledL).[16][17]
Cham is divided into two primary dialects.
The two regions where Cham is spoken are separated both geographically and culturally. The more numerous Western Cham are predominantlyMuslims (although some in Cambodia now practiceTheravāda Buddhism), while the Eastern Cham practice bothHinduism andIslam. Ethnologue states that the Eastern and Western dialects are no longer mutually intelligible. The table below gives some examples of words where the two dialects differed as of the 19th century.[18]
| Cambodia | southern Vietnam | |
|---|---|---|
| vowels | ||
| child | anœk | anẽk |
| take | tuk | tôk |
| not | jvẽi | jvai |
| sibilants | ||
| one | sa | tha |
| save from drowning | srong | throng |
| salt | sara | shara |
| equal | samu | hamu |
| final consonants | ||
| heavy | trap | trak |
| in front | anap | anak |
| lexical differences | ||
| market | pasa | darak |
| hate | amoḥ | limuk |
Lê et al. (2014:175)[19] lists a few Cham subgroups.
Cham script is aBrahmic script.[2] The script has two varieties:Akhar Thrah (Eastern Cham) andAkhar Srak (Western Cham). The Western Cham language is written with theArabic script (Cham Jawi) or the aforementioned Akhar Srak.[20][21]
ꨕꨨꨵꩀ ꨧꨮ ꨍꨯꩆ ꨇꩈ ꨟꨮꨭ ꨕꨮꩃ ꨆꩇ ꨨꩆ ꨨꩈ ꨕꩃ ꨕꨭ ꨟꨁꨁ ꨍꨭꨢꨮꩆ ꨚꩈ ꨔꩃ ꨣꩇ ꨆꨨꨁꨃꨂ ꨝꩆ ꨔꩆ ꨇꨯꩂ ꨍꨮꨭ ꨓꨮ ꨨꩃ ꨍꨮꨭ ꨆꨯ ꨟꨶꩆ ꨕꩈ ꨌꩌ
TheMing dynasty ChineseBureau of Translators produced a Chinese-Cham dictionary.[citation needed]
John Crawfurd's 1822 work "Journal of an Embassy to the Courts of Siam and Cochin-China" contains a wordlist of the Cham language.[22]: 40
