Cham
Sign in to saveAlso known as Cham language
Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in Vietnam and Cambodia
Key facts
- Pronunciation
- [ cam ]
- Native to
- Cambodia and Vietnam
- Region
- Mainland Southeast Asia
- Ethnicity
- Cham
- Native speakers
- 490,000 (2019)
- Language family
- Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Chamic Coastal Cham
- Early forms
- Proto-Chamic Old Cham
- Dialects
- Western Cham Eastern Cham
- Writing system
- Cham , Jawi (Arabic) , Latin
- Recognised minority language in
- Vietnam , Cambodia
- Iso 639 3
- Either:, cja – Western Cham, cjm – Eastern Cham
- Glottolog
- cham1328
- Elp
- Eastern Cham
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Cham language.jpg
Show 2 more facts
- number of speakers, writers, or signers
- 400000
- native label
- ꨌꩌ
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~16 min read
Article
Cham (Cham: ꨌꩌ, Jawi: چم, Latin script: Cam) is a Malayo-Polynesian language of the Austronesian family, spoken by the Chams of Southeast Asia. It is spoken primarily in the territory of the former Kingdom of Champa, which spanned modern Southern Vietnam, as well as in Cambodia by a significant population which descends from refugees that fled during the decline and fall of Champa. The Western variety is spoken by 220,000 people in Cambodia and 25,000 people in Vietnam. As for the Eastern variety, there are about 73,000 speakers in Vietnam, for a total of approximately 491,448 speakers.
Cham belongs to the Chamic languages, which are spoken in parts of mainland Southeast Asia, Indonesia's Aceh Province, and on the island of Hainan. Cham is the oldest-attested Austronesian language, with the Đông Yên Châu inscription being verifiably dated to the late 4th century AD. It has several dialects, with Eastern Cham (Phan Rang Cham; ꨌꩌ ꨚꨰ, Cam pai) and Western Cham (ꨌꩌ ꨚꨭꩉ, Cam pur) being the main ones. The Cham script, derived from the ancient Indic script, is still used for ceremonial and religious purposes.