| Samre | |
| Ethnicity: | 200 (2000) |
| Speakers: | 20–30 |
| Date: | 1998 |
| Familycolor: | Austro-Asiatic |
| Fam3: | Chong |
| Iso3: | none |
| Glotto: | none |
Samre (pronounced as /samɣeː/), is a nearly extinct Pearic language of Thailand and, formerly, Cambodia. The language is evidently extinct in Cambodia, but a 1998 survey found 20–30 speakers in Nonsi Subdistrict, Bo Rai District, Trat Province, Thailand and estimated the total number of people able to speak the language to be 200.[1]
The phonemic inventory is typical of modern Mon-Khmer languages and, along with the other Pearic languages, shows some phonological influences from the late Middle Khmer of the 17th century.[2] Samre also shows influence from Thai in that it has a developing tonal system. Like many other Austroasiatic languages in general, and the Pearic languages in particular, Samre vowels may differ in voice quality, a system known as "register", or "phonation". However, the breathy voice versus clear voice distinction is no longer contrastive and is secondary to a word's tone.
Samre has 21 consonant phonemes with pronounced as /[ɹ]/ and pronounced as /[ɰ]/ occurring as allophones of pronounced as //ɣ//. They are listed in table form below.
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | Aspirated | pronounced as /pʰ/ | pronounced as /tʰ/ | pronounced as /cʰ/ | pronounced as /kʰ/ | ||
| Voiceless | pronounced as /p/ | pronounced as /t/ | pronounced as /c/ | pronounced as /k/ | pronounced as /ʔ/ | ||
| Voiced | pronounced as /b/ | pronounced as /d/ | |||||
| Nasal | Voiced | pronounced as /m/ | pronounced as /n/ | pronounced as /ɲ/ | pronounced as /ŋ/ | ||
| Fricative | Voiceless | pronounced as /s/ | pronounced as /h/ | ||||
| Voiced | pronounced as /ɣ/ | ||||||
| Approximant | Voiced | pronounced as /w/ | pronounced as /l/ | pronounced as /[ɹ]/ | pronounced as /j/ | pronounced as /[ɰ]/ | |
The Samre recognize pronounced as /[ɣ]/ as a sound unique to their language in comparison to Thai and other surrounding indigenous languages. This voiced velar fricative occurs in free variation with the voiced alveolar approximant, pronounced as /[ɹ]/, except when following pronounced as //a// or pronounced as //aː// word-finally, in which case it is pronounced as pronounced as /[ɰ]/, the voiced velar approximant. The pronunciation pronounced as /[ɣ]/ is mostly heard among the older generation who consider it to be the "correct" pronunciation. It can be considered a "harsh" sound and pronounced as /[ɹ]/ is sometimes used when the speaker wishes to sound "softer" or "soothing". The pronounced as /[ɣ]/ sound is not often heard among younger or less fluent speakers who use pronounced as /[ɹ]/ or replace the sound with a tapped or trilled pronounced as //r// due to influence from Thai.
Samre contrasts nine vowel qualities which can be either short or long, yielding a total of 18 vowel phonemes. There are three diphthongs: pronounced as //iə//, pronounced as //ɨə//, and pronounced as //uə//. The vowels of Samre are:
| Front | Central | Back | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | short | long | short | long | ||
| Close | pronounced as //i// | pronounced as //iː// | pronounced as //ɨ// | pronounced as //ɨː// | pronounced as //u// | pronounced as //uː// | |
| Close-mid | pronounced as //e// | pronounced as //eː// | pronounced as //ə// | pronounced as //əː// | pronounced as //o// | pronounced as //oː// | |
| Open-mid | pronounced as //ɛ// | pronounced as //ɛː// | pronounced as //ɔ// | pronounced as //ɔː// | |||
| Open | pronounced as //a// | pronounced as //aː// | |||||