Samre language of Pursat

Samre
Samre
Siem Reap
Native to	Thailand, Cambodia
Region	Trat Province; formerly Pursat Province
Ethnicity	200 (2000)
Extinct	20–30 in 1998
Language family	Austroasiatic Pearic Chong languages Samre; ; ;
Writing system	Khmer script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	sxm
Glottolog	samr1245
ELP	Samre

Samre (Samre pronunciation: [samɣeː]), is a nearly extinct Pearic language of Thailand and, formerly, Cambodia. The language is evidently extinct in Cambodia,^[1] 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.^[2]

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 of the 17th century.^[3] Samre also shows influence from Thai in that it has a developing tonal system. Like many other Austroasiatic languages 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 versus clear voice distinction is no longer contrastive and is secondary to a word's tone.^[2]

Consonants

Samre has 21 consonant phonemes with [ɹ] and [ɰ] occurring as allophones of /ɣ/. They are listed in table form below.

		Bilabial		Alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
		plain	aspirated	plain	aspirated	plain	aspirated	plain	aspirated	Glottal
Stop	voiceless	p	pʰ	t	tʰ	c	cʰ	k	kʰ	ʔ
Stop	voiced	b		d
Nasal		m		n		ɲ		ŋ
Fricative				s				ɣ		h
Approximant		w		l		j

The Samre recognize [ɣ] as a sound unique to their language in comparison to Thai and other surrounding indigenous languages. This voiced velar fricative occurs in free variation with the voiced alveolar approximant, [ɹ], except when following /a/ or /aː/ word-finally, in which case it is pronounced as [ɰ], the voiced velar approximant. The pronunciation [ɣ] is mostly heard among the older generation who consider it to be the "correct" pronunciation.^[2] It can be considered a "harsh" sound and [ɹ] is sometimes used when the speaker wishes to sound "softer" or "soothing". The [ɣ] sound is not often heard among younger or less fluent speakers who use [ɹ] or replace the sound with a tapped or trilled /r/ due to influence from Thai.^[2]

Vowels

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

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	/i/	/iː/	/ɨ/	/ɨː/	/u/	/uː/
Close-mid	/e/	/eː/	/ə/	/əː/	/o/	/oː/
Open-mid	/ɛ/	/ɛː/			/ɔ/	/ɔː/
Open			/a/	/aː/

References

^ ^a ^b Samre language of Pursat at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Pornsawan Ploykaew. 2001, "The phonology of Samre", in The Mon-Khmer Studies Journal, vol. 31, pp. 15-27
^ Ferlus, Michel (2011). "Toward Proto Pearic: problems and historical implications". Mon-Khmer Studies Journal. Mon-Khmer Studies Special Issue No. 2: Austroasiatic Studies - papers from ICAAL4. Retrieved 30 November 2015.

[e18-1] Samre language of Pursat at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[Ploykaew-2] Pornsawan Ploykaew. 2001, "The phonology of Samre", in The Mon-Khmer Studies Journal, vol. 31, pp. 15-27

[3] Ferlus, Michel (2011). "Toward Proto Pearic: problems and historical implications". Mon-Khmer Studies Journal. Mon-Khmer Studies Special Issue No. 2: Austroasiatic Studies - papers from ICAAL4. Retrieved 30 November 2015.

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