I’m struck by the surface-phonetic similarity between Bru and Khmer, when in fact they are not even from the same branch of Austroasiatic! I suppose it says a lot about the phonetic uniformity of the core branches of Austroasiatic, or about the areal diffusion properties shared in Mainland Southeast Asia.
Something closely related to (Standard) Khmer.
Agreed. THe only thing that concerns e is that the tones are very muted.
Khmer and its closest relatives (but not Vietnamese, for example) are non-tonal.
The answer is Bru (Bruu), an Austroasiatic language spoken in Laos, Vietnam and Thailand.
The recording comes from the Global Recordings Network.
I’m struck by the surface-phonetic similarity between Bru and Khmer, when in fact they are not even from the same branch of Austroasiatic! I suppose it says a lot about the phonetic uniformity of the core branches of Austroasiatic, or about the areal diffusion properties shared in Mainland Southeast Asia.