Khmer Language

Khmer
Cambodian
ភាសាខ្មែរ
Pronunciation	IPA: [pʰiːəsaː kʰmaːe]
Native to	Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand
Ethnicity	Khmer, Northern Khmer
Native speakers	16 million (2007)
Language family	Austroasiatic Khmer
Early forms	Old Khmer Middle Khmer Khmer
Dialects	Battambang Phnom Penh Khmer Surin Khmer Krom (Southern Khmer) Cardamom Khmer (Western Khmer) Khmer Khe
Writing system	Khmer script (abugida) Khmer Braille
Official status
Official language in	Cambodia
Language codes
ISO 639-1	km
ISO 639-2
ISO 639-3	Either: khm – Central Khmer kxm – Northern Khmer
Glottolog	khme1253
Linguasphere	46-FBA-a

Khmer /kmɛər/ or Cambodian (natively ភាសាខ្មែរ [pʰiːəsaː kʰmaːe], or more formally ខេមរភាសា [kʰeɛmaʔraʔ pʰiːəsaː]) is the language of the Khmer people and the official language of Cambodia. With approximately 16 million speakers, it is the second most widely spoken Austroasiatic language (after Vietnamese). Khmer has been influenced considerably by Sanskrit and Pali, especially in the royal and religious registers, through Hinduism and Buddhism. The more colloquial registers have influenced, and have been influenced by, Thai, Lao, Vietnamese, and Cham, all of which, due to geographical proximity and long-term cultural contact, form a sprachbund in peninsular Southeast Asia. It is also the earliest recorded and earliest written language of the Mon–Khmer family, predating Mon and by a significant margin Vietnamese, due to Old Khmer being the language of the historical empires of Chenla, Angkor and, presumably, their earlier predecessor state, Funan.