Samre (), is a nearly extinct Pearic language of

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

and, formerly,

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

. The language is evidently extinct in Cambodia, but a 1998 survey found 20–30 speakers in Nonsi Subdistrict, Bo Rai District, Trat Province, Thailand and estimated the total number of people able to speak the language to be 200.Pornsawan Ploykaew. 2001,
The phonology of Samre
, in ''The Mon-Khmer Studies Journal'', vol. 31, pp. 15-27

Phonology

The phonemic inventory is typical of modern Mon-Khmer languages and, along with the other Pearic languages, shows some phonological influences from the late

Middle Khmer Middle Khmer is the historical stage of the Khmer language as it existed between the 14th and 18th centuries, spanning the period between Old Khmer and the modern language. The beginning of the Middle Khmer period roughly coincides with the fall ...

of the 17th century. Samre also shows influence from Thai in that it has a developing tonal system. Like many other

Austroasiatic languages The Austroasiatic languages , , are a large language family in Mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. These languages are scattered throughout parts of Thailand, Laos, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and southern China and are ...

in general, and the Pearic languages in particular, Samre vowels may differ in voice quality, a system known as "register", or "phonation". However, the

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 ...

versus

clear voice Clear may refer to: * Transparency and translucency, the physical property of allowing light to pass through Arts and entertainment Music Groups * Clear (Christian band), an American CCM group from Cambridge, Minnesota * Clear (hardcore band), ...

distinction is no longer contrastive and is secondary to a word's tone.

Consonants

Samre has 21 consonant phonemes with and occurring as allophones of . They are listed in table form below. The Samre recognize as a sound unique to their language in comparison to Thai and other surrounding indigenous languages. This

voiced velar fricative The voiced velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound that is used in various spoken languages. It is not found in Modern English but existed in Old English. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ...

occurs in

free variation In linguistics, free variation is the phenomenon of two (or more) sounds or forms appearing in the same environment without a change in meaning and without being considered incorrect by native speakers. Sociolinguists argue that describing such ...

with the voiced alveolar approximant, , except when following or word-finally, in which case it is pronounced as , the

voiced velar approximant The voiced velar approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is M\. The consonant is not presen ...

. The pronunciation is mostly heard among the older generation who consider it to be the "correct" pronunciation. It can be considered a "harsh" sound and is sometimes used when the speaker wishes to sound "softer" or "soothing". The sound is not often heard among younger or less fluent speakers who use or replace the sound with a tapped or trilled due to influence from Thai.

Vowels

Samre contrasts nine vowel qualities which can be either short or long, yielding a total of 18 vowel phonemes. There are three diphthongs: , , and . The vowels of Samre are:

References

{{Authority control Pearic languages Endangered Austroasiatic languages Languages of Thailand