Khmer are able to read or write it. Demographics Phonology Northern Khmer has the typical Mon-Khmer consonant and syllable structure although there is no phonemic phonation. The primary divergences from Central Khmer phonology are in the realizations of some syllable-final consonants and in the vowel inventory. Northern Khmer is also losing the sesquisyllabic pattern of its sister languages. Many dysllables have lost all but the first consonant of the pre-syllable, creating a great number of consonant clusters. In many dialects of Northern Khmer, however, inserting a generic syllable, , after an initial consonant is still optional, returning some words to their original sesquisyllabic structure. Consonants The consonant inventory of Northern Khmer is identical to that of Central Khmer. It is laid out below as reported by Thomas. Syllable-initial consonants are pronounced as in Central Khmer. When appearing as a syllable-final, however, the , and that would be expected in Central Khmer are often realized as , and , respectively, in Northern Khmer. Additionally, as mentioned above, syllable-final which has become silent in all other dialects is markedly pronounced. Clusters often have anaptyxis, the insertion of slight vowel (shown with ). Vowels The biggest distinction between Northern Khmer of Thailand and Central Khmer of Cambodia is in the inventory of vowel phonemes. Smalley described 14 pure vowels that occur both long and short. Smalley also described three "vowels with offglides" that he treated as monophthongs, namely , and , for a total of 17 vowel phonemes. All 17 vowels can be short or long. With 14 basic vowel positions, and having more back vowels than front, Northern Khmer is atypical. By contrast, standard Central Khmer only has 9 or 10 basic vowel positions, depending on the analysis. Script Northern Khmer is, for the most part, a spoken language as most speakers are unable to read or write their native tongue due to Thaification policies either enacted or supported by the Thai government. However, recent renewed interest and enthusiasm in Khmer language and culture has resulted in a two-fold increase in the use of Northern Khmer since 1958 and the consequential need for a formalized method of writing the language. Since the Thai language is the medium of public education and, until the 21st century, the media, Khmer is taught at home or by monks in the local Khmer temples, often supported by Khmers in Cambodia or Western nations. In Thailand, Northern