1.4: The First 16 Consonants

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    From LibreTexts, under CC BY-SA 4.0, as the source states it; its equations are written in TeX, which the PDF shows typeset. This page at LibreTexts.

    Cambodian has 44 consonants including 33 regular symbols and 11 others modified by diacritics. In this chapter, we are focusing on the first 16 consonants. We will be discussing the other regular symbols and the 11 consonants modified by diacritics in the future chapters, and then we will move onto the vowels symbols.

    The First 16 Consonants

    Screenshot-2021-11-30-105835-2.png

    Use the audio and Table 1 below to learn how to pronounce the consonants.​

    Table 1
    Consonant English Consonant English
    1.ក neck 9. គ mute
    2.ឆ to cheat 10.ច the Year of Dog
    3.ដ dock 11.ស white
    4. ព to carry a baby 12. ឡ baking oven
    5.ភ to lie 13. ង sulky
    6.ល to try something on 14.ឈ(រ) to stand
    7.អ to be happy, glad, joyful. 15.ត to connect
    8.ខ kind of thick stew 16. ទ gutter

    Speaking

    Record yourself reading each consonant out loud and share it with your friends/teacher for further feedback.

    Query \(\PageIndex{1}\)

    Reading

    Read through the consonants in Table 2 and decide whether each consonant corresponds with the translation in English. Then check your answers against the Table 1.

    Table 2
    Consonant English Consonant English
    ក gutter ត to lie
    ឆ white ច dock
    ដ the Year of Dog ស to cheat
    ព to stand ឡ mute
    ភ to connect ង sulky
    ល to try something on ឈ(រ) to carry a baby
    អ to be happy, glad, joyful. គ baking oven
    ខ kind of thick stew ទ neck

    Writing

    Download the worksheet below to practice writing consonants by following the directional arrows.

    Worksheet 1

    Reading

    Read the first 16 consonants​ again. Please read the consonants that are highlighted in blue only, we will discuss the rest of the consonants in the next chapter. (List of highlighted consonants: ក, ខ, គ,ង,ច,ឆ,ឈ,ដ,ត,ទ, ព, ភ, ល,ស,ឡ, អ.)

    Consonants and phonetic transcriptions

    Table 3
    1. Velars ក​ (kɔɔ) ខ (khɔɔ) គ​ (koo) ឃ (khoo) ង (ngoo)
    2. Palatals ច​ (jɔɔ) ឆ (chɔɔ) ឈ (choo) ជ (joo) ញ (nhoo)
    3. Retroflexes ដ​​​​ (dɔɔ) ឋ (tɔɔ) ឌ (doo) ឍ​​ (thoo) ណ (nɔɔ)
    4. Dentals ត (ɔɔ) ថ (tɔɔ) ទ (dtoo) ធ (thoo) ន (noo)
    5. Labials ប (bɔɔ) ផ (pɔɔ) ព (bpoo) ភ (phoo) ម (moo)
    6. Miscellaneous យ (yoo)

    y-/-y

    		 រ (roo)

    r-/-r

    		 ល (loo)

    l-/-l

    		 វ (voo)

    v-/-v

    		 ស (sɔɔ)

    s-/h-
    ហ (hɔɔ)

    h-

    		 ឡ (lɔɔ)

    l-

    		 អ (ɔɔ)

    ɔɔ–

    		    

    Dictation

    Please listen carefully and write what you hear. Note that you need to install Khmer fonts in order to complete this exercise.

    Query \(\PageIndex{2}\)

    This page titled 1.4: The First 16 Consonants was last modified on Thu, 14 Sep 2023 20:14:10 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Vathanak Sok via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.