101-562: The Royal Cambodian Air Force ( Khmer : កងទ័ពជើងអាកាស , romanized : Kâng Toăp Cheung Akas [kɑːŋtɔəp cəːŋ ʔaːkaːh] ; lit. ' Air Force ' ) is the branch of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces which is charged with operating all military aircraft in Cambodia . The Royal Cambodian Air Force is commanded by General Soeung Samnang , who has four deputy commanders beneath him. The Air Force itself
202-646: A minor (fully unstressed) syllable. Such words have been described as sesquisyllabic (i.e. as having one-and-a-half syllables). There are also some disyllabic words in which the first syllable does not behave as a minor syllable, but takes secondary stress . Most such words are compounds , but some are single morphemes (generally loanwords). An example is ភាសា ('language'), pronounced [ˌpʰiəˈsaː] . Words with three or more syllables, if they are not compounds, are mostly loanwords, usually derived from Pali, Sanskrit, or more recently, French. They are nonetheless adapted to Khmer stress patterns. Primary stress falls on
303-522: A minor syllable . The language has been written in the Khmer script , an abugida descended from the Brahmi script via the southern Indian Pallava script , since at least the 7th century. The script's form and use has evolved over the centuries; its modern features include subscripted versions of consonants used to write clusters and a division of consonants into two series with different inherent vowels . Khmer
404-469: A dialect. Western Khmer , also called Cardamom Khmer or Chanthaburi Khmer, is spoken by a very small, isolated population in the Cardamom mountain range extending from western Cambodia into eastern Central Thailand . Although little studied, this variety is unique in that it maintains a definite system of vocal register that has all but disappeared in other dialects of modern Khmer. Phnom Penh Khmer
505-494: A family, they often leave their children in the care of relatives, friends, or neighbors. Average wages in Isan were the lowest in the country in 2002 at 3,928 baht per month (the national average was 6,445 baht). A Khon Kaen University study (2014) found that marriages with foreigners by Thai northeastern women boosted the gross domestic product of the northeast by 8.67 billion baht (2014: €211 million or US$ 270 million). According to
606-654: A final consonant. All consonant sounds except /b/, /d/, /r/, /s/ and the aspirates can appear as the coda (although final /r/ is heard in some dialects, most notably in Northern Khmer ). A minor syllable (unstressed syllable preceding the main syllable of a word) has a structure of CV-, CrV-, CVN- or CrVN- (where C is a consonant, V a vowel, and N a nasal consonant). The vowels in such syllables are usually short; in conversation they may be reduced to [ə] , although in careful or formal speech, including on television and radio, they are clearly articulated. An example of such
707-1045: A formation about 10 kilometers (6 mi) long. Siam tulip fields are in Sai Thong National Park and Pa Hin Ngam National Park , both in Chaiyaphum Province. Phu Phan National Park in Sakon Nakhon Province includes the eight meter (26 ft) long Tang Pee Parn natural stone bridge. Among Thailand's best-known national parks are Khao Yai National Park in Nakhon Ratchasima Province and Phu Kradueng National Park in Loei Province. Isan has high biodiversity and many endemic species. Both wildlife and plant species are exploited illegally. Valuable hardwood tree species, in particular Siamese Rosewood , are being extracted for sale, especially in
808-519: A heavy linguistic minority presence, native Isan speakers of Lao descent comprised anywhere from 60 to 74 per cent of the population, although minority language speakers are also bi- or trilingual in Isan, Thai or both. Isan is home to many speakers of Austroasiatic languages , with one and one-half million speakers of the Northern Khmer dialect and one-half million speakers of the Kuy language , both of which are found in Isan's southernmost provinces. Khmer
909-449: A large installation on the outskirts of Nong Khai . Most provinces have a government-run Rajabhat University , formerly known as Rajabhat Institutes, which originated as teacher training colleges. Isan's culture is predominantly Lao , and has much in common with that of neighboring Laos . This affinity is shown in the region's cuisine, dress, temple architecture , festivals, and arts. Isan food has elements most in common with Laos and
1010-582: A lesser extent, rubber. Silk production is an important cottage industry and contributes significantly to the economy. Nong Khai Province , which stretches along the Mekong River, is noted for the production of pineapples , tobacco (which is dried, cured and shredded by the families before collection by cigarette manufacturers), and tomatoes , which are grown on an industrial scale, particularly in Si Chiang Mai District . Despite its dominance of
1111-436: A mini-tractor composed of a small diesel engine mounted on two wheels with long wooden or metal handlebars for steering. It is usually attached to a trailer or a plow. Buffalo are now mainly used for grazing on the stubble in the rice paddy, which they in turn fertilize with their manure. The main animals raised for food are cattle, pigs, chickens, ducks, and fish. Most of Thailand's rural poor live in Isan. The region's poverty
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#17330852629431212-492: A typical Khmer declarative phrase is a steady rise throughout followed by an abrupt drop on the last syllable. Other intonation contours signify a different type of phrase such as the "full doubt" interrogative, similar to yes–no questions in English. Full doubt interrogatives remain fairly even in tone throughout, but rise sharply towards the end. Exclamatory phrases follow the typical steadily rising pattern, but rise sharply on
1313-448: A word is មនុស្ស mɔnuh, mɔnɨh, mĕəʾnuh ('person'), pronounced [mɔˈnuh] , or more casually [məˈnuh] . Stress in Khmer falls on the final syllable of a word. Because of this predictable pattern, stress is non- phonemic in Khmer (it does not distinguish different meanings). Most Khmer words consist of either one or two syllables. In most native disyllabic words, the first syllable is
1414-599: Is de facto standard . The number of Isan speakers has been estimated at between 15–23 million, with the majority living in Isan. Written with the Thai alphabet (instead of the historically used Tai Noi script ), Isan belongs to the Chiang Saeng and Lao–Phutai language groups, which along with Thai are members of the Tai languages of the Kra–Dai language family . Central Thai ( Khorat Thai )
1515-592: Is mut-mee , which is tie-dyed to produce geometric patterns on the thread. The Buddhist temple (or wat ) is the major feature of most villages. These temples are used for not only religious ceremonies but also festivals, particularly mor lam , and as assembly halls. They are mostly built in Lao-style, but with less ornamentation than the more elaborate central Thai temples or the Lao-style temples in central Laos. Lao-style Buddha images are also prevalent. The people of Isan celebrate many traditional festivals, such as
1616-698: Is Thailand's largest region , on the Khorat Plateau , bordered by the Mekong River (along the Laos–Thailand border ) to the north and east, by Cambodia to the southeast and the Sankamphaeng Range south of Nakhon Ratchasima . To the west it is separated from northern and central Thailand by the Phetchabun Mountains . Isan covers 167,718 km (64,756 sq mi), making it about half
1717-429: Is a zero copula language, instead preferring predicative adjectives (and even predicative nouns) unless using a copula for emphasis or to avoid ambiguity in more complex sentences. Basic word order is subject–verb–object (SVO), although subjects are often dropped ; prepositions are used rather than postpositions. Topic-Comment constructions are common and the language is generally head-initial (modifiers follow
1818-632: Is a classification scheme showing the development of the modern Khmer dialects. Standard Khmer , or Central Khmer , the language as taught in Cambodian schools and used by the media, is based on the dialect spoken throughout the Central Plain , a region encompassed by the northwest and central provinces. Northern Khmer (called Khmer Surin in Khmer) refers to the dialects spoken by many in several border provinces of present-day northeast Thailand. After
1919-517: Is a member of the Austroasiatic language family, the autochthonous family in an area that stretches from the Malay Peninsula through Southeast Asia to East India. Austroasiatic, which also includes Mon , Vietnamese and Munda , has been studied since 1856 and was first proposed as a language family in 1907. Despite the amount of research, there is still doubt about the internal relationship of
2020-674: Is also spoken by almost everyone and is the language used in education but natively spoken by one-fourth the population of in Nakhon Ratchasima Province only. The Khorat dialect , spoken by around 10,000 people, occupies a linguistic position somewhere between Lao and standard Thai, and is an archaic Central Thai dialect with heavy Khmer and some Lao influence. Most of the "tribal" Tai languages, so called because of their origins in mountainous areas of Laos or their adherence to animism, are closely related to Isan, and all but Tai Yam are generally mutually intelligible. Even in areas with
2121-549: Is also widely spoken by Khmer people in Eastern Thailand and Isan , Thailand , also in Southeast and Mekong Delta of Vietnam . Khmer has been influenced considerably by Sanskrit and Pali especially in the royal and religious registers , through Hinduism and Buddhism , due to Old Khmer being the language of the historical empires of Chenla and Angkor . The vast majority of Khmer speakers speak Central Khmer ,
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#17330852629432222-416: Is common, and the perceived social relation between participants determines which sets of vocabulary, such as pronouns and honorifics, are proper. Khmer differs from neighboring languages such as Burmese , Thai , Lao , and Vietnamese in that it is not a tonal language . Words are stressed on the final syllable, hence many words conform to the typical Mon–Khmer pattern of a stressed syllable preceded by
2323-412: Is commonly eaten by hand using sticky rice pressed into a ball with the fingers of the right hand. Soups are a frequent element of any meal, and contain vegetables, herbs, noodles, chunks of fish, balls of ground pork, or a mixture of these. They are eaten using a spoon and chopsticks at the same time. The traditional dress of Isan is the sarong . Women's sarongs most often have an embroidered border at
2424-423: Is contrastive before a vowel. However, the aspirated sounds in that position may be analyzed as sequences of two phonemes : /ph/, /th/, /ch/, /kh/ . This analysis is supported by the fact that infixes can be inserted between the stop and the aspiration; for example [tʰom] ('big') becomes [tumhum] ('size') with a nominalizing infix. When one of these plosives occurs initially before another consonant, aspiration
2525-514: Is far less reliable and suffers considerable downtime due to overloading, heavy cloud cover, and rain. Despite, in theory, being "always on", it often lacks adequate stability for streaming and clarity of VOIP. Many Isan people seek higher-paying work outside the region, particularly in Bangkok . Some of these people have settled permanently in the city, while some migrate to and fro. Others have emigrated in search of better wages. Rather than relocate as
2626-586: Is no longer contrastive and can be regarded as mere phonetic detail: slight aspiration is expected when the following consonant is not one of /ʔ/, /b/, /d/, /r/, /s/, /h/ (or /ŋ/ if the initial plosive is /k/ ). The voiced plosives are pronounced as implosives [ɓ, ɗ] by most speakers, but this feature is weak in educated speech, where they become [b, d] . In syllable-final position, /h/ and /ʋ/ approach [ç] and [w] respectively. The stops /p/, /t/, /c/, /k/ are unaspirated and have no audible release when occurring as syllable finals. In addition,
2727-731: Is now being superseded by cellular technology. The region also has the nation's lowest literacy rate. By the beginning of 2008, most amphoe had been provided with ADSL by the TOT , leaving the majority of the rural population dependent on dial-up connections for those few who have landline telephones. This results in slow service that does not adequately meet modern needs. Most rural people rely on smartphones for data services. Internet shops with high-speed connections have for many years provided service to those who cannot afford or do not have access to high-speed Internet. They are heavily patronized by primary and secondary school children who come not only to use
2828-460: Is primarily an analytic , isolating language . There are no inflections , conjugations or case endings. Instead, particles and auxiliary words are used to indicate grammatical relationships. General word order is subject–verb–object , and modifiers follow the word they modify. Classifiers appear after numbers when used to count nouns, though not always so consistently as in languages like Chinese . In spoken Khmer, topic-comment structure
2929-463: Is reflected in its infrastructure: eight of the ten provinces in Thailand with the fewest physicians per capita are in Isan. Sisaket Province has the fewest, with one physician per 14,661 persons in 2001, with the national average being 3,289. It also has eight of the ten provinces with the fewest hospital beds per head. Chaiyaphum Province has the fewest, with one per 1,131 in 2001 (the national average
3030-589: Is somewhat distinct from central Thai cuisine . The most obvious difference is the consumption of sticky rice that accompanies almost every meal rather than non-sticky long-grain rice. French and Vietnamese influences found in Lao cuisine are absent in Isan. Popular Lao dishes that are also staples in Isan include tam mak hung , or in central Thai, som tam ( green papaya salad ), larb (meat salad), and kai yang (grilled chicken). These dishes have spread to other parts of Thailand, but normally in versions that temper
3131-520: Is spoken in the Se San , Srepok and Sekong river valleys of Sesan and Siem Pang districts in Stung Treng Province . Following the decline of Angkor, the Khmer abandoned their northern territories, which the Lao then settled. In the 17th century, Chey Chetha XI led a Khmer force into Stung Treng to retake the area. The Khmer Khe living in this area of Stung Treng in modern times are presumed to be
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3232-421: Is spoken in the capital and surrounding areas. This dialect is characterized by merging or complete elision of syllables, which speakers from other regions consider a "relaxed" pronunciation. For instance, "Phnom Penh" is sometimes shortened to "m'Penh". Another characteristic of Phnom Penh speech is observed in words with an "r" either as an initial consonant or as the second member of a consonant cluster (as in
3333-546: Is supplemented in the larger cities by the private sector (mostly Catholic and international schools). Following the national pattern of education in Thailand , there are primary (elementary) schools in all larger villages and ( tambon ) capitals, with secondary (high) schools to grade 12 (approximately age 18) in the district ( amphoe ) towns. Many other secondary schools provide education only to grade 9, while some combined schools provide education from grade 1 through grade 9. Rural schools are generally less well equipped than
3434-663: Is the Chi, which flows through central Isan before turning south to meet the Mun in Sisaket Province . The smaller Loei and Songkhram rivers are also tributaries of the Mekong, the former flowing north through Loei Province and the latter east through Udon Thani , Sakon Nakhon , Nakhon Phanom , and Nong Khai Provinces. The average temperature range is from 30.2 °C (86.4 °F) to 19.6 °C (67.3 °F). The highest temperature recorded
3535-598: Is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of National Defence . Air Force headquarters are located at Phnom Penh International Airport and is still sign posted Pochentong Air Base. The only operational aircraft at Pochentong Air Base are from the VIP squadron. Maintenance of aircraft and helicopters is also at Pochentong. The airworthy Z-9 and Mi-17 helicopters from the helicopter squadron are based at Phnom Penh International Airport and Siem Reap International Airport . Recently,
3636-482: Is widely spoken in Buriram , Surin , and Sisaket , along the Cambodian border. Several small ethnic groups speak various other Austroasiatic languages, but most are fairly small and restricted to a few villages, or, like Vietnamese , spoken by small groups in cities. Other languages spoken in Isan, mainly by tribal minorities, are: Education is well-provided for by the government in terms of numbers of establishments and
3737-484: The C-League . The rank insignia of commissioned officers . The rank insignia of non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel . Khmer language Khmer ( / k ə ˈ m ɛər / kə- MAIR ; ខ្មែរ , UNGEGN : Khmêr [kʰmae] ) is an Austroasiatic language spoken natively by the Khmer people . This language is an official language and national language of Cambodia . The language
3838-537: The Khmer Empire . The Northern Khmer dialect is spoken by over a million Khmers in the southern regions of Northeast Thailand and is treated by some linguists as a separate language. Khmer Krom, or Southern Khmer, is the first language of the Khmer of Vietnam , while the Khmer living in the remote Cardamom Mountains speak a very conservative dialect that still displays features of the Middle Khmer language. Khmer
3939-494: The Kuy people ("Soui"), who live in the south of Isan, speak Austroasiatic languages and follow customs more similar to those of Cambodia than to those of the Thai and Lao, who are Tai peoples . The main language is Isan , the name by which the Lao language is called in Thailand for political reasons, though most people in the Isan region still call it Lao among themselves and in non-official settings, but dialect from Khon Kaen
4040-619: The Lao Isan are now the main ethnolinguistic group involved in the pro-Thaksin "Red Shirt movement" of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship . Several Thai prime ministers have come from the region. Isan has a number of important Bronze Age sites, with prehistoric art in the form of cliff paintings, artifacts and early evidence of rice cultivation . Iron and bronze tools such as those found at Ban Chiang may predate similar tools from Mesopotamia . The region later came under
4141-692: The Phu Phan Mountains . The soil is mostly sandy, with substantial salt deposits. The Mekong forms most of the border between Thailand and Laos to the north and east of Isan, while the south of the region borders Cambodia . The Mekong's main Thai tributary is the Mun River, which rises in the Khao Yai National Park near Nakhon Ratchasima Province and runs east, joining the Mekong in Ubon Ratchathani Province . Isan's other main river
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4242-470: The [r] is dropped and the vowel begins by dipping much lower in tone than standard speech and then rises, effectively doubling its length. Another example is the word រៀន [riən] ('study'), which is pronounced [ʀiən] , with the uvular "r" and the same intonation described above. Khmer Krom or Southern Khmer is spoken by the indigenous Khmer population of the Mekong Delta , formerly controlled by
4343-421: The elision of /r/ . Intonation often conveys semantic context in Khmer, as in distinguishing declarative statements , questions and exclamations. The available grammatical means of making such distinctions are not always used, or may be ambiguous; for example, the final interrogative particle ទេ /teː/ can also serve as an emphasizing (or in some cases negating) particle. The intonation pattern of
4444-628: The " mandala system ". Accordingly, in 1718 the first Lao mueang in the Chi River valley—and indeed anywhere in the interior of the Khorat Plateau—was founded at Suwannaphum District (in present-day Roi Et Province ) by an official in the service of King Nokasad of the Kingdom of Champasak . The region was increasingly settled by both Lao and Thai emigrants. Thailand held sway from the 17th century, and carried out forced population transfers from
4545-471: The 13th century, Isan was dominated by the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang , which had been established by Fa Ngum . Due to a scarcity of information from the periods known as the Post-Angkor Period , the plateau seems to have been largely depopulated. There were few if any lines of demarcation, because until the 19th-century introduction of modern mapping, the region fell under what 20th-century scholars called
4646-451: The 9th century until the 13th century. The following centuries saw changes in morphology , phonology and lexicon . The language of this transition period, from about the 14th to 18th centuries, is referred to as Middle Khmer and saw borrowings from Thai in the literary register. Modern Khmer is dated from the 19th century to today. The following table shows the conventionally accepted historical stages of Khmer. Just as modern Khmer
4747-733: The Cambodian Ministry of National Defense plans to purchase five L-39NG light fighter jets from the Czech Republic. In the past, the Cambodian Air Force has already purchased Mil Mi-17 and Mil Mi-171 helicopters. In the past some MiG-21 fighters were operational. These aircraft in 2023 could be seen on ground in Phnom Penh International Airport. The force maintains a professional association football team as one of its branches, which formerly played in
4848-500: The Chinese furniture market. These trees are so valuable that poachers, coming across the border from Cambodia, are heavily armed, and both rangers and poachers have been killed over them. In national parks such as Ta Phraya , rangers have been trained since 2015 in military-style counter-poaching measures by the elite ranger squad Hasadin. Isan is home to one-third of Thailand's population of 67 million, but contributes only ten per cent to
4949-507: The English word "bread"). The "r", trilled or flapped in other dialects, is either pronounced as a uvular trill or not pronounced at all. This alters the quality of any preceding consonant, causing a harder, more emphasized pronunciation. Another unique result is that the syllable is spoken with a low-rising or "dipping" tone much like the "hỏi" tone in Vietnamese . For example, some people pronounce ត្រី [trəj] ('fish') as [tʰəj] :
5050-458: The Internet but also to play online games, use VOIP , or just to use the computer and printers. Resident Western expatriates and foreign tourists are also frequent customers. For those outside the district towns who require a serious use of the Internet in their homes, the mobile phone or an iPstar broadband satellite connection is the only alternative, although more expensive than a DSL connection. It
5151-456: The Isan region is ethnically Lao, but distinguish themselves not only from the Lao of Laos but also from the Central Thai by calling themselves khon Isan or Thai Isan in general. But some refer to themselves as simply Lao , and academics have recently been referring to them as Lao Isan or as Thai Lao , with the main issue with self-identification as Lao being stigma associated with
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#17330852629435252-591: The Khmer Empire but part of Vietnam since 1698. Khmers are persecuted by the Vietnamese government for using their native language and, since the 1950s, have been forced to take Vietnamese names. Consequently, very little research has been published regarding this dialect. It has been generally influenced by Vietnamese for three centuries and accordingly displays a pronounced accent, tendency toward monosyllabic words and lexical differences from Standard Khmer. Khmer Khe
5353-488: The Lao identity in Thai society. The Lao Isan people are aware of their Lao ethnic origin, but Isan has been incorporated as a territory into the modern Thai state through over 100 years of administrative and bureaucratic reforms, educational policy, and government media. Despite this, since the election of Thaksin Shinawatra as prime minister in the 2001 Thai general election , the Lao Isan identity has reemerged, and
5454-614: The Standard Khmer system and that of the Battambang dialect on which the standard is based. In addition, some diphthongs and triphthongs are analyzed as a vowel nucleus plus a semivowel ( /j/ or /w/ ) coda because they cannot be followed by a final consonant. These include: (with short monophthongs) /ɨw/ , /əw/ , /aj/ , /aw/ , /uj/ ; (with long monophthongs) /əːj/ , /aːj/ ; (with long diphthongs) /iəj/ , /iəw/ , /ɨəj/ , /aoj/ , /aəj/ and /uəj/ . The independent vowels are
5555-451: The central government introduced the Thai alphabet and language in regional schools, the people of Isan wrote in the Tai Noi script , which is very similar to the one that Thai adopted. Many people speak Isan, a variety of Lao, as their first language. A significant minority in the south also speak Northern Khmer . The Kuy people, an Austroasiatic people concentrated around the core of what
5656-414: The clusters consisting of a plosive followed by /ʔ/, /b/, /d/ , in those beginning /ʔ/, /m/, /l/ , and in the cluster /kŋ-/ . After the initial consonant or consonant cluster comes the syllabic nucleus , which is one of the vowels listed above. This vowel may end the syllable or may be followed by a coda , which is a single consonant. If the syllable is stressed and the vowel is short, there must be
5757-527: The consonants /ɡ/ , /f/ , /ʃ/ and /z/ occur occasionally in recent loan words in the speech of Cambodians familiar with French and other languages. Various authors have proposed slightly different analyses of the Khmer vowel system. This may be in part because of the wide degree of variation in pronunciation between individual speakers, even within a dialectal region. The description below follows Huffman (1970). The number of vowel nuclei and their values vary between dialects; differences exist even between
5858-463: The descendants of this group. Their dialect is thought to resemble that of pre-modern Siem Reap. Linguistic study of the Khmer language divides its history into four periods one of which, the Old Khmer period, is subdivided into pre-Angkorian and Angkorian. Pre-Angkorian Khmer is the Old Khmer language from 600 CE through 800. Angkorian Khmer is the language as it was spoken in the Khmer Empire from
5959-686: The dialect of the central plain where the Khmer are most heavily concentrated. Within Cambodia, regional accents exist in remote areas but these are regarded as varieties of Central Khmer. Two exceptions are the speech of the capital, Phnom Penh , and that of the Khmer Khe in Stung Treng province , both of which differ sufficiently enough from Central Khmer to be considered separate dialects of Khmer. Outside of Cambodia, three distinct dialects are spoken by ethnic Khmers native to areas that were historically part of
6060-503: The district office. Extension of landline telephones to remote areas not previously served has been largely superseded by the use of mobile phones, primarily of GSM format, which now covers the entire region with the exception of a few sparsely populated mountainous areas and large national parks. Many people, even the poorest and frequently also children, have cellular telephones, although they have no fixed-line telephone. In this sense, Isan has led advanced nations where landline service
6161-405: The economy, agriculture in the region is problematic. The climate is prone to drought, while the flat terrain of the plateau often floods in the rainy season. The tendency to flood renders a large proportion of the land unsuitable for cultivation . In addition, the soil is highly acidic , saline , and infertile from overuse. Since the 1970s, agriculture has been declining in importance as trade and
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#17330852629436262-514: The extreme heat and sourness favored in Isan for the more moderate central Thai palate. Conversely, central Thai food has become popular in Isan. The people of Isan, a mixture of Lao, Vietnamese, Khmer, Mon, Cham, and other Tai groups, famously eat a wide variety of creatures, such as lizards, frogs, and fried insects, such as grasshoppers, crickets, silkworms, and dung beetles. Originally forced by poverty to be creative in finding foods, Isan people now savor these creatures as delicacies or snacks. Food
6363-566: The fall of the Khmer Empire in the early 15th century, the Dongrek Mountains served as a natural border leaving the Khmer north of the mountains under the sphere of influence of the Kingdom of Lan Xang . The conquests of Cambodia by Naresuan the Great for Ayutthaya furthered their political and economic isolation from Cambodia proper, leading to a dialect that developed relatively independently from
6464-511: The family. Khmer is spoken by some 13 million people in Cambodia , where it is the official language. It is also a second language for most of the minority groups and indigenous hill tribes there. Additionally there are a million speakers of Khmer native to southern Vietnam (1999 census) and 1.4 million in northeast Thailand (2006). Khmer dialects , although mutually intelligible, are sometimes quite marked. Notable variations are found in speakers from Phnom Penh (Cambodia's capital city),
6565-400: The final syllable, with secondary stress on every second syllable from the end. Thus in a three-syllable word, the first syllable has secondary stress; in a four-syllable word, the second syllable has secondary stress; in a five-syllable word, the first and third syllables have secondary stress, and so on. Long polysyllables are not often used in conversation. Compounds, however, preserve
6666-404: The government sponsored Cultural Committee to define and standardize the modern language, they championed Khmerization, purging of foreign elements, reviving affixation, and the use of Old Khmer roots and historical Pali and Sanskrit to coin new words for modern ideas. Opponents, led by Keng Vannsak , who embraced "total Khmerization" by denouncing the reversion to classical languages and favoring
6767-432: The hem, while men's are in a checkered pattern. Men also wear a pakama , a versatile length of cloth which can be used as a belt, a money and document belt, headwear for protection from the sun, a hammock, or a swimsuit. Isan is a center for the production of Thai silk . The trade received a major boost in the postwar years, when Jim Thompson popularized Thai silk among Westerners. One of the best-known types of Isan silk
6868-529: The influence of the Dvaravati culture, followed by the Khmer Empire . The latter built dozens of prasats (sanctuaries) throughout Isan. The most significant are at Phimai Historical Park and Phanom Rung Historical Park . Preah Vihear Temple was also considered to be in Isan, until the International Court of Justice in 1962 ruled that it belonged to Cambodia. After the Khmer Empire began to decline in
6969-465: The language of higher education and the intellectual class. By 1907, the French had wrested over half of modern-day Cambodia, including the north and northwest where Thai had been the prestige language, back from Thai control and reintegrated it into the country. Many native scholars in the early 20th century, led by a monk named Chuon Nath , resisted the French and Thai influences on their language. Forming
7070-554: The languages of Austroasiatic. Diffloth places Khmer in an eastern branch of the Mon-Khmer languages . In these classification schemes Khmer's closest genetic relatives are the Bahnaric and Pearic languages . More recent classifications doubt the validity of the Mon-Khmer sub-grouping and place the Khmer language as its own branch of Austroasiatic equidistant from the other 12 branches of
7171-511: The last syllable instead of falling. Khmer is primarily an analytic language with no inflection . Syntactic relations are mainly determined by word order. Old and Middle Khmer used particles to mark grammatical categories and many of these have survived in Modern Khmer but are used sparingly, mostly in literary or formal language. Khmer makes extensive use of auxiliary verbs , "directionals" and serial verb construction . Colloquial Khmer
7272-450: The late afternoon or at night, until it ends abruptly at the onset of the cool season. The cool season runs from October to February and the hot season from February to May with the peak of high temperatures in April. Isan has around 26 national parks . Province Khon Kaen has four national parks, of which Phu Pha Man National Park is notable for its large daily exodus of bats at dusk, making
7373-558: The midpoint of the Middle Khmer period. This has resulted in a distinct accent influenced by the surrounding tonal languages Lao and Thai , lexical differences, and phonemic differences in both vowels and distribution of consonants. Syllable-final /r/ , which has become silent in other dialects of Khmer, is still pronounced in Northern Khmer. Some linguists classify Northern Khmer as a separate but closely related language rather than
7474-491: The modern Khmer language dictionary that is still in use today, helping preserve Khmer during the French colonial period. The phonological system described here is the inventory of sounds of the standard spoken language, represented using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The voiceless plosives /p/, /t/, /c/, /k/ may occur with or without aspiration (as [p] vs. [pʰ] , etc.); this difference
7575-448: The modern conception of Thai nationality and de-emphasized the use of ethnic markers, for ethnic Laos and Khmers, as it was deemed uncivilized and to prevent ethnic discrimination among the Thai people. This policy extended to the use of the name "Isan" itself: the name is derived from the Pali word [IAST] Error: {{Lang}}: invalid parameter: |3= ( help ) , meaning "northeast", in turn from
7676-408: The modern private hospitals and clinics in the large cities for non-urgent specialist consultations and care. The region lags in new technology: there was only one Internet connection per 75 households in 2002 (national average: one per 22 households) [update needed], but by 2006 every district town (amphoe) had at least one publicly accessible Internet connection, either in a local computer shop or in
7777-479: The more populous left (east) bank of the Mekong to the right bank in the 18th and 19th centuries. This became more severe following the Lao rebellion (1826–1828) , during which Anouvong , the last of the kings of Vientiane , rebelled against Siamese suzerainty, and lost a war that lasted two years. Khorat was then repopulated by forced migration of Mekong Valley Lao, with a heavy influx of voluntary Chinese migrants. In
7878-434: The name of Iśāna ( Sanskrit : ईशान ), a manifestation of Shiva as deity of the northeast. The name therefore reinforces the area's identity as northeastern Thailand, rather than as a part of the Lao kingdom, which had recently been created by the French colonial discourse, as "race was then an important ideological tool for French colonialists in the attempt to seize the 'Laotian' and 'Cambodian' portions of Siam." Before
7979-437: The national GDP . In terms of regional value-added per capita, Isan is Thailand's poorest region. Bangkok is the richest, followed by central Thailand , southern Thailand , then northern Thailand . This ordering has been unchanged for decades. Thailand's highly centralized fiscal system reinforces the status quo. An example of this Bangkok-centric policy is the allocation of budgets: Bangkok accounts for about 17 percent of
8080-405: The population and 25.8 percent of GDP, but benefits from about 72.2 percent of total expenditures. Isan accounts for about 34 percent of the population and 11.5 percent of GDP, but receives only 5.8 percent of expenditures. Agriculture is the largest sector of the economy, generating around 22 percent of the gross regional product (compared to 8.5 percent for Thailand as a whole). Sticky rice,
8181-507: The region is primarily gently undulating land, most of it varying in elevation from 90–180 m (300–600 feet), tilting from the Phetchabun Mountains in the west down to the Mekong River . The plateau consists of two plains : the southern Khorat plain is drained by the Mun and Chi rivers, while the northern Sakon Nakhon plain is drained by the Loei and Songkhram rivers. The two plains are separated by
8282-484: The region, several specialised training colleges in the private sector, and large colleges of agriculture and nursing in Udon Thani Province. Universities are found in the major cities of Khon Kaen (one of the country's largest), Nakhon Ratchasima, Ubon Ratchathani, and the smaller provincial capital of Maha Sarakham . Some Bangkok-based universities have small campuses in Isan, and Khon Kaen University maintains
8383-514: The rural Battambang area, the areas of Northeast Thailand adjacent to Cambodia such as Surin province , the Cardamom Mountains , and southern Vietnam. The dialects form a continuum running roughly north to south. Standard Cambodian Khmer is mutually intelligible with the others but a Khmer Krom speaker from Vietnam, for instance, may have great difficulty communicating with a Khmer native of Sisaket Province in Thailand. The following
8484-579: The schools in the large towns and cities and the standard of instruction, particularly for the English language, is much lower. Many children of poorer families leave school after grade 6 (age 12) to work on the farms. A number move to areas of dense or tourist populations to work in the service industry. Many primary schools operate their own websites and almost all schoolchildren in Isan, at least from junior high school age, are now (2008) largely computer literate in basic programs. In 2001, there were 43 government vocational and polytechnic colleges throughout
8585-458: The service sector have been increasing. Very few farmers still use water buffalos rather than tractors . Nowadays, water buffalos are mainly kept by almost all rural families as status symbols. The main piece of agricultural equipment in use today is the "rot tai na" ( Thai : รถไถนา , lit. "vehicle plow field"), colloquially called "kwai lek" ( Thai : ควายเหล็ก , or "iron/steel buffalo"), or more generally by its manufacturer's name of "Kobota",
8686-417: The size of Germany and roughly the size of England and Wales . The total forest area is 25,203 km (9,731 sq mi) or 15 percent of Isan's area. Since the beginning of the 20th century, northeastern Thailand has been generally known as Isan , while in official contexts the term phak tawan-ok-chiang-nuea ( ภาคตะวันออกเฉียงเหนือ ; "northeastern region") may be used. The majority population of
8787-406: The staple food of the region, is the main agricultural crop (accounting for about 60 percent of cultivated land). It thrives in poorly drained paddy fields, and where fields can be flooded from nearby streams, rivers, and ponds. Often two harvests are possible each year. Farmers are increasingly diversifying into cash crops such as sugarcane and cassava , which are cultivated on a vast scale, and to
8888-417: The start of a syllable are /str/, /skr/ , and (with aspirated consonants analyzed as two-consonant sequences) /sth/, /lkh/ . There are 85 possible two-consonant clusters (including [pʰ] etc. analyzed as /ph/ etc.). All the clusters are shown in the following table, phonetically, i.e. superscript ʰ can mark either contrastive or non-contrastive aspiration (see above ). Slight vowel epenthesis occurs in
8989-628: The stress patterns of the constituent words. Thus សំបុកចាប , the name of a kind of cookie (literally 'bird's nest'), is pronounced [sɑmˌbok ˈcaːp] , with secondary stress on the second rather than the first syllable, because it is composed of the words [sɑmˈbok] ('nest') and [caːp] ('bird'). Khmer once had a phonation distinction in its vowels, but this now survives only in the most archaic dialect ( Western Khmer ). The distinction arose historically when vowels after Old Khmer voiced consonants became breathy voiced and diphthongized; for example *kaa, *ɡaa became *kaa, *ɡe̤a . When consonant voicing
9090-567: The study, after a northeastern woman married a foreigner, she will send 9,600 baht a month on average to her family to help with its expenses. The activity also created 747,094 jobs, the study found. The 2010 census found that 90 percent of the slightly more than 27,000 foreigners living in the northeastern region were married to women from there. According to the governor of Nakhon Phanom Province , "The entire Northeast [Isan] gained only 2.9 percent of [the] country's tourism income of 2.7 trillion baht [in 2017]." Isan's total population as of 2010
9191-463: The use of contemporary colloquial Khmer for neologisms, and Ieu Koeus , who favored borrowing from Thai, were also influential. Koeus later joined the Cultural Committee and supported Nath. Nath's views and prolific work won out and he is credited with cultivating modern Khmer-language identity and culture, overseeing the translation of the entire Pali Buddhist canon into Khmer. He also created
9292-470: The vowels that can exist without a preceding or trailing consonant. The independent vowels may be used as monosyllabic words, or as the initial syllables in longer words. Khmer words never begin with regular vowels; they can, however, begin with independent vowels. Example: ឰដ៏, ឧទាហរណ៍, ឧត្តម, ឱកាស...។ A Khmer syllable begins with a single consonant, or else with a cluster of two, or rarely three, consonants. The only possible clusters of three consonants at
9393-645: The wake of the Franco-Siamese crisis of 1893 , the resulting treaty with France and the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 made the plateau a border region between Thailand and the Laos of French Indochina . Roi Et was established early in the 20th century to further Siamese control, and to further assimilation of the population into the kingdom. In the mid-20th century, the state-supported assimilation policy called Thaification promoted Isan's ethnic integration into
9494-758: The words they modify). Some grammatical processes are still not fully understood by western scholars. For example, it is not clear if certain features of Khmer grammar, such as actor nominalization , should be treated as a morphological process or a purely syntactic device, and some derivational morphology seems "purely decorative" and performs no known syntactic work. Northeast Thailand Northeastern Thailand or Isan ( Isan / Thai : อีสาน , pronounced [ʔīː.sǎːn] ; Lao : ອີສານ , romanized : Īsān ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pāli 𑀇𑀲𑀸𑀦 isāna or Sanskrit ईशान्य īśānya "northeast") consists of 20 provinces in northeastern Thailand . Isan
9595-443: Was 21,305,000. Forty percent of the population is concentrated in the provinces of Khorat, Ubon Ratchathani, Udon Thani, and Khon Kaen, known as "big four of Isan". These provinces surround the four major cities of the same names. As of 2010, their populations were: Khorat 142,169; Udon Thani 137,979; Khon Kaen 113,828; and Ubon Ratchathani 83,148. As of 2010, 50 percent of the region's population lived in municipal areas. Kalasin
9696-630: Was 43.9 °C (111.0 °F) in Udon Thani, the lowest −1.4 °C (29.5 °F) at Sakhon Nakhon Agro Station. Rainfall is unpredictable, but is concentrated in the rainy season from May to October. Average annual precipitation varies from 2,000 mm (79 in) in some areas to 1,270 mm (50 in) in the southwestern provinces of Nakhon Ratchasima , Buriram , Maha Sarakham , Khon Kaen , and Chaiyaphum . The rainy season begins with occasional short but heavy showers, eventually raining heavily for longer periods almost every day, usually in
9797-438: Was 453). Nevertheless, as in the rest of Thailand, all districts ( amphoe ) have a hospital, and all sub-districts ( tambon ) have clinics providing primary health care. The introduction of the " 30 baht " health card has dramatically changed the numbers of those attending hospitals for treatment, as it has meant that full health care is available to all who register for only 30 baht per visit. The few who can afford it travel to
9898-438: Was emerging from the transitional period represented by Middle Khmer, Cambodia fell under the influence of French colonialism . Thailand, which had for centuries claimed suzerainty over Cambodia and controlled succession to the Cambodian throne, began losing its influence on the language. In 1887 Cambodia was fully integrated into French Indochina , which brought in a French -speaking aristocracy. This led to French becoming
9999-407: Was lost, the distinction was maintained by the vowel ( *kaa, *ke̤a ); later the phonation disappeared as well ( [kaː], [kiə] ). These processes explain the origin of what are now called a-series and o-series consonants in the Khmer script . Although most Cambodian dialects are not tonal , the colloquial Phnom Penh dialect has developed a tonal contrast (level versus peaking tone) as a by-product of
10100-454: Was once called "Chenla" and known as the Khmer Boran ("ancient Khmer"), are a link to the region's pre-Tai history. Isan is roughly coterminous with the Khorat Plateau , which tilts gently from its northwestern corner, where it is about 213 m (700 feet) above sea level, to the southeast, where the elevation is only about 62 metres (200 feet). Except for a few hills in the northeastern corner,
10201-471: Was the most urbanized province (with almost 100 percent in municipal areas), and Roi Et the least (2.8 percent). Thus, the population is still largely rural, but concentrated around the urban centers. There is a substantial Khmer minority, concentrated in the southern provinces of Buriram , Surin , and Sisaket , and some Vietnamese refugees in Mukdahan and Nakhon Phanom . The Khmer -speaking minority and
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