Cham language

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. The Cham language dialects each have 21 consonants and 9 vowels. /r/ in Western Cham is heard as a velar fricative [ɣ]. In Eastern Cham, it is heard as an alveolar flap [ɾ], glide [ɹ], or trill [r]. /ia/, /iɯ/ (occurs only before /-ʔ/), /ea/, /ua/, /oa/, /au/ (occurs only before /-ʔ/), /iə/, /ɛə/, /ɔə/, /uə/. There are several prefixes and infixes which can be used for word derivation.