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2.6: Conversation- Addressing People in Cambodia

  • Page ID
    187421

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    Title Nouns and Kinship Terms

    Title nouns such as “look” (Sir, Mr., you for male speaker) and “look-srey” (Madam, Mrs., you for female) can be used as pronouns to denote formality and politeness.

    Examples:

    • Look chmuah ey? “What is your name, sir?”
    • Look-srey mook bpii bprɔɔ-dteh naa? “Where are you from, madam?”

    Similarly, when the term “look” is combined with kinship terms, such as Kruu “teacher”; Dtaa “Grandfather”; Bpuu “Uncle”; and Kmuay “Nephew/Niece”, it denotes respect, politeness, and even endearment.

    Examples:

    • Look-dtaa sok-sa-baay dtee? “How are you, grandfather?”
    • Look-bpuu sok-sa-baay dtee? “How are you, uncle?”

    Figure 1:

    Kinship terms:

    Oon “ប្អូន/អូន”= This term is used when speaking to someone younger than yourself, but not young enough to be your own children.

    Bpuu “ពូ”= This means “uncle” and is used to address males who are approximately as old as your father, or who have the same age as your uncle.

    Ming “មីង”​= This means “aunt” and is used to address females who are approximately as old as your father, or who has the same age as your aunt.

    Kmuay“ក្មួយ”​​= This word means “niece” or “nephew” and used to address someone about the same age as your children.

    Yiay “យាយ”= This means “grandmother” and is used to address someone who is the same age as your grandmother.

    Dtaa “តា”= This means “grandfather” and is used to address someone who is the same age as your grandfather.

    Om “អ៊ំ”= This is used to address someone who is older than your parents, regardless of gender.

    Look-kruu “លោកគ្រូ”​= This term is used when speaking to a male teacher.

    Neak-kruu “អ្នកគ្រូ”= This term is used when speaking to a female teacher.

    Listening

    Listen to a conversation between Sokha (A) and a senior teacher (B) at a school in Phnom Penh where Sokha (A) first started teaching.

    After listening, answer the following questions.

    Query \(\PageIndex{1}\)


    This page titled 2.6: Conversation- Addressing People in Cambodia is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Vathanak Sok via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.