CONFUSING DIPHTHONGS IN KHMER

Abstract

The pairs of diphthong phonemes in Khmer, /ue/ and /oe/ can be occur with initial consonants of the second series (which were originally voiced consonants) and occur in quite similar environments. However, in Pali and Sanskrit loanwords they seem to occur in the same position, i.e., with initial consonant of series 2,final consonant and no vowel symbol. Based on the Khmer – Khmer Dictionary by the Buddhist institute of Cambodia, the study shows that Khmer language try to distinguish the pronunciation of Pali and Sanskrit loanwords of that of its native words and that the number of the form of final consonant, either one or two, has effect on the vowel pronunciation. Most of the time, when a syllable of Pali and Sanskrit loanwords occur with one form of final consonant, the vowel nucleus is /ue/.If there are two forms of final consonants, it is pronounced with /oe/.