Cham (Cham: ꨌꩌ) 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 320,000 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. Phonology The Cham language dialects each have 21 consonants and 9 vowels. Consonants in Western Cham is heard as a velar fricative . In Eastern Cham, it is heard as an alveolar flap , glide , or trill . Vowels Monophthongs Diphthongs , (occurs only before ), , , , (occurs only before ), , , , . Grammar Word formation There are several prefixes and infixes which can be used for word derivation. prefix pa-: causative, sometimes giving more force to the word thau (to know) → pathau (to inform) blei (to buy) → pablei (to sell) biér (low) → pabiér (to lower) yao (like, as) → payao (to compare) jâ (finished) → pajâ (well finished) prefix mâ-: sometimes causative, often indicates a state, possession, mutuality, reciprocity jru (poison) → mâjru (to poison) (teacher) → mâgru (to study) tian (belly) → mâtian (pregnancy) boh (egg, fruit) → mâboh (lay an egg, give fruit) daké (horn) → mâdaké (having horns) prefix ta- or da-: frequentative galung (to roll) → tagalung (to roll around) dep (to hide oneself) → dadep (to be to hide oneself) infix -an-: noun formation puec (to speak) → panuec (speech) tiw (row) → taniw (oar) dok (to live) → danok (house, living place) infix -mâ-: no specific meaning payao (to compare) → pamâyao (to compare) Reduplication is often used: palei, pala-palei (country) rambah, rambah-rambâp (misery) Syntax and word order Cham generally uses SVO word order, without any case marking to distinguish subject from object: Dummy pronominal subjects are sometimes used, echoing the subject: Composite verbs will behave as one