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Khmer script is thewriting system used to write theKhmer (Cambodian) language. The script is anabugida.[1] This is a special type of writing system whereconsonants are changed to make a sound. The Khmer writing system came from other writing systems inIndia. It was the writing system thatThai andLao are based on. However, Thai and Lao addedtone markers to better suit their own languages, since Thai and Lao are tonal, while Khmer is not.
Khmer has 35 consonants, but 2 of them are not used anymore. There are two categories of consonants: A-series and O-series. The A-series consonants end with an -aw sound (/ɑː/ inIPA) but the O-series consonants end with an -oh sound (/ɔː/ in IPA). For instance, ក (/kɑː/, "neck") is pronouncedkaw and គ (/kɔː/, "mute") is pronouncedkoh. Both of them have the "k" sound but they end in different sounds because ក is A-series while គ is O-series.
One key feature that Khmer has, while Thai and Lao do not, is thatconsonantletters havesubscript forms. Subscript forms are forms of consonant letters that are written underneath other letters. Similar to how different letters in the Latin alphabet have capital or lowercase forms that look different from each other, consonants in Khmer have standard and subscript forms. These are used to write consonant strings. For example, in the word Khmer (ខ្មែរ), the "kh + m" consonant string is written as ខ្ម. By themselves, the consonants that make up the "kh + m" cluster would be written as ខ and ម, but since the "m" consonant is the second part of a consonant string, it is written differently under the first consonant in the cluster ខ. So ្ម is the subscript form of ម.
Dependentvowels must be combined with a consonant to make a sound. Different sounds are made depending on whether or not a consonant is voiced or voiceless.
For example, the A-series consonant ត is pronouncedtaw by itself. However, when combined with the vowel ា (which makes an -ah sound when added to an A-series consonant), it becomes តា (tah, which means "grandfather").
However, the O-series consonant ទ (pronounced like the Englishtoe) combined with the vowel ា makes the word ទា (tee-ah) and means "duck".
There are independent vowels that do not need to be combined with a consonant. These are usually used to used to write words fromSanskrit andPali. An example is ឧសភា (oo-sa-PEE-ah, "May"), where ឧ makes a sound likeoo in boot.
Khmer has its own way of writingnumbers. The numbers in Khmer are ០១២៣៤៥៦៧៨៩. For instance, 2022 in Khmer would be ២០២២.