Draft:Cambodian English

Cambodian English is a variety of English found in Cambodia, used by the media, educated Cambodians, and English language learners in Cambodia. It is not an official language, and it’s unclear how many Cambodians speak it. The language was first identified and refined in the mid-2000s by Cambodian scholars and professors, including Keuk Chan Narith and Kao Sophal. The variety was first considered to be “unintelligible,” but its intelligibility has improved with the emergence of international school education among Cambodia’s younger generations, including millennials, Generation Z, and Generation Alpha. Cambodian scholars Chan Hum and Kimkong Heng have found that during the past decade, more and more children who live in cities or provincial towns whose parents are able to afford to do so are attending international schools.

English was first introduced to Cambodia in the 1990s, when foreign workers from the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia entered the country. Schools were quick to adopt its use, and in 1999, when Cambodia joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, it began to be used within the government. Its growth exploded with globalization and the emergency of technology, as English at first was needed to use devices and social networking sites. A Khmer script for devices does exist, though Cambodians often find it difficult to use and turn to sending audio messages in Khmer rather than typing messages in Khmer.

Scholars Stephen Moore and Suksiri Bounchan provided some phonological features of the language, including (1) the deletion of /s/, (2) the insertion of /s/, (3) dropping of final consonants, (4) dropping of -es or -ed, (5) distortion of non‐Khmer sounds, and (6) non‐standard word stress Moore and Bounchan also identified some morphosyntactic features, including (1) dropping of a preposition, (2) dropping of an article, (3) transfer of Khmer syntax, (4) transfer of Khmer word order, (5) using present tenses for past tenses, and (6) using singular forms for plurals.

Since Moore and Bounchan identified features, English education has improved in Cambodia, and as Hum and Heng state that English can now be found in most domains, including education, business, tourism, technology, and media. They call it a "language of transformation."

American professor Joshua Wilwohl has identified, through empirical research, variations of Cambodian English in university students, including Transitional Cambodian English (TCE) and Everyday Cambodian English, (ECE) or KhmEnglish. Based on the study, TCE is considered a combination of American and British Englishes—with limited local-language borrowing and heard mostly among educated Cambodians, while ECE is the mixing of Khmer and general English words heard among the population. It’s suggested that with these variations, Cambodia may transition to a standard, as seen in other colonized countries in Southeast Asia, and KhmEnglish may remain as a colloquial variation.

Cambodians within the domain of education appear to be accepting of their non-native variety of English, as shown in a language attitudes study by Wilwohl. In the study, students were presented with recordings of native English speakers from England and the U.S., and Cambodians speaking English, all speaking the same prompts within certain settings: educational, service, and social. In all three settings, the majority of respondents selected a Cambodian speaking English. The results suggest a growing positive trend among younger generations valuing non-native English varieties, as shown by scholars Daniel Isbell and Dustin Crowther.

The growing trend of English in Cambodia raises questions around Khmer culture and identity, as first suggested by Hum and Heng, suggesting some Cambodians may experience a loss of proficiency in Khmer language.