Language Contact and Lexical Changes in Khmer and Teochew in Cambodia and Beyond

Abstract

Chinese people have formed vibrant communities throughout Southeast Asia and around the world, in which their culture and language are still very much alive today. One example of this is the Teochew people, who originated from the Chaoshan (潮汕; Chaozhou-Shantou) region of eastern Guangdong. From the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries, many Teochew people emigrated from China around Southeast Asia, including to Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Teochew (潮州; also called Chaozhou, Chiuchow, Swatow, or Teochiu) is a member of the Sinitic Southern Min cluster and varieties in and out of China have been featured in several studies over the years. This research is explored below. Yet the available literature is still lacking. This is especially true for the Teochew of Cambodia, where the group makes up an abundant majority of the ethnic Chinese there, having resided in the country for several generations. Despite governmental oppression of these peoples during the 1970s and 1980s, many Cambodian Chinese continued speaking their native Sinitic languages and passed them on to the next generations, albeit with some changes. Continued contact with Khmer, the official language of Cambodia, has created an environment conducive to language change. Thus, when comparing Teochew varieties, we should expect Cambodian Teochew to have some differences in its sound system (phonology), grammar (syntax), and vocabulary (lexicon). This chapter