ABSTRACT
This chapter produces a system or systems based as far as possible on the internal evidence of the texts rather than on deductions drawn from a diachronic approach. The two dialects are discussed together because the same system of initial consonants and final consonants and the same type of syllable-structure operated in both. The Sanskrit consonant-system provided sufficient symbols for the Khmer language but the implication in the consonant-symbol of an inherent vowel to be pronounced after it was unsuitable for the writing of Khmer consonant clusters. The vowel-system of Sanskrit was inadequate for Khmer and resulted in a certain amount of confusion. Both the inscriptions and the language are usually classed as either pre-Angkorian or Angkorian. This convenient chronological and historic division is supported linguistically by the marked difference in the vowel-system of the Angkorian dialect as compared with the language of all the pre-Angkorian inscriptions.
