An Analysis Study of Khmer Dialect in Buriram Province

Abstract

             The purposes of this research were: 1) to study Khmer dialect in Buriram province, 2) to study the existence of population who speak Khmer dialects in Buriram province and 3) to analyze the difference and similarity of Khmer dialect spoken in each district of Buriram province. This research is qualitative research. The tools of research are document studies and an interview with sampling 30 people, analyzing data and then summarizing the data onwards. The findings were descriptive.
             The research results found that:
             1. Khmer dialect in Buriram province belongs to the Austroasiatic language family. It is an isolating language, classified in the Mon-Khmer family, with 21 consonants and 17 vowels. There are four ways to form words: 1) affixed form, 2) infixed form and 3) reduplicated form, and 4) rhyming form. The Khmer language is similar to the word order in Thai, consisting of subject, verb, and object (S+V+O).
             2. The Thai-Khmer population in Buriram comprises about 50 percent of the total provincial population, most of them living in the southern part of the province, namely Prakhon Chai District, Nang Rong District, Pakham District,  Lahan Sai District, Krasang District, Satuk District, Huay Rat District and Mueang Buriram District.
             3. Khmer dialect compared with Standard Khmer, Khmer in other provinces and Khmer in Buriram province found that there were not the same vowel phonemes and consonant phonemes, the division of functions of the words is the same, the spoken pronunciation is different depending on the terrain.