Khmer Alphabet - Independent Vowels

Independent Vowels

Independent vowels are non-diacritical characters that stand alone (i.e. without being attached to a consonant symbol) used to represent vowel phonemes occurring at the beginning of syllables. In Khmer they are called ស្រៈពេញតួ (/sraʔ peɲtuə/) which means "complete vowels". The independent vowels are used in a small number of words, mostly of Indic origin, and consequently there is some inconsistency in their use and pronunciations. However, a few words in which they occur are used quite frequently: ឥឡូវ (/ʔəjləw/ "now"), ឪពុក (/ʔəwpuk/ "father"), ឬ (/ʔrɨː/ ~ /rɨː/ "or").

Independent
vowels
UN romanization IPA
ĕ ʔe
ei ʔəj
ŏ ʔ
ŭ ʔu
ŏu ʔɨw
rœ̆ ʔrɨ
ʔrɨː
lœ̆ ʔlɨ
ʔlɨː
é ʔae; ʔɛː,ʔeː
ai ʔaj
ឱ, ឲ aô, aôy ʔaːo
âu ʔaw

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