Western Khmer, also known as Cardamom Khmer or Chanthaburi Khmer, is the dialect of the

Khmer language Khmer ( ; , Romanization of Khmer#UNGEGN, UNGEGN: ) is an Austroasiatic language spoken natively by the Khmer people. This language is an official language and national language of Cambodia. The language is also widely spoken by Khmer people i ...

spoken by the

Khmer people The Khmer people (, Romanization of Khmer#UNGEGN, UNGEGN: , Romanization of Khmer#ALA-LC Romanization Tables, ALA-LC: ) are an Austroasiatic ethnic group native to Cambodia. They comprise over 95% of Cambodia's population of 17 million.https ...

native to the

Cardamom Mountains The Cardamom Mountains (, ; , ), or the Krâvanh Mountains, is a mountain range in the southwest part of Cambodia and Eastern Thailand. The majority of the range is within Cambodia. The silhouette of the Cardamom Mountains appears in the Sea ...

on both sides of the border between western

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

( Pailin Province) and eastern Central

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

( Chanthaburi Province). Developing in an historically isolated region, Western Khmer is the only dialect of modern Khmer to conserve the Middle Khmer

phonation The term phonation has slightly different meanings depending on the subfield of phonetics. Among some phoneticians, ''phonation'' is the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration. This is the defi ...

contrast of

breathy voice Breathy voice (also called murmured voice, whispery voice, soughing and susurration) is a phonation in which the vocal folds vibrate, as they do in normal (modal) voicing, but are adjusted to let more air escape which produces a sighing-like s ...

versus

modal voice Modal voice is the vocal register used most frequently in speech and singing in most languages. It is also the term used in linguistics for the most common phonation of vowels. The term "modal" refers to the resonant mode of vocal folds; that ...

that has been all but lost in the other dialects.Wayland & Jongman
Chanthaburi Vowels: Phonetic and Phonemic Analyses
''

Mon-Khmer Studies ''Mon-Khmer Studies'' was an academic journal that focused on Mon-Khmer languages. It was established in 1964 and ceased publication in 2016. From 1992 onwards, it was published by Mahidol University and SIL International SIL Global (formerl ...

'' 31:65-82Acoustic correlates of breathy and clear vowels: the case of Khmer
Journal of Phonetics 31 (2003). pp 181-201

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

References