yeah agree, sometimes best to just keep things simple! lolpreahkaew wrote:I think you're confusing អញ and ឯង. អញ is ONLY a first-person pronoun (ពាក្យសម្រាប់ហៅខ្លួនឯង), never second. Also, និយាយទៅរក doesn't mean "call out for," it means "to address" (in this case, "when addressing children," etc., would be a better translation). in other words, អញ is the word (pronoun) you're using to refer to yourself when addressing children, subordinates, etc. ឯង is the second person pronoun you would use to address those people if you want to emphasize your social superiority (or your anger) over them (in that way, អញ/ឯង are a pair).starkmonster wrote:Because it's supposed to be used for children or people who are much younger (read lower status) than you, or that you are very intimate with, even in that case context is key.
Here's what the dictionary says:
A word used for addressing yourself or word used for young children, calling out for your young children. Or an old person calling for a young child, calling for a girl that they are close/intimate with or a senior person calling a subordinate that they are close/intimate with.អាញ់ ( បុ. ស. ) ខ្ញុំ (ជាអញ្ញត្រសព្ទ) ។ ពាក្យសម្រាប់ហៅខ្លួនឯង ជាសម្ដីកូនក្មេង និយាយទៅរកកូនក្មេងផងគ្នា ឬមនុស្សចាស់និយាយទៅរកកូនក្មេង, និយាយទៅរកមនុស្សស្មើភាពដែលស្និទ្ធស្នាល ឬក៏អ្នកធំនិយាយទៅរកអ្នកតូចដោយស្និទ្ធស្នាល
It's fine as long as you put another pronoun in front of it. e.g. បងអញ. This is where most Khmer learners mess up, they hear it being used, but don't realize that the speaker is addressing themselves, or another pronoun that was added in front when addressing someone else.
The construction បងអញ is ungrammatical (unless of course you're using អញ to show possession, in which case បងអញ would be "my older sister/brother", said to someone you feel socially superior to)...I think what you mean is បងឯង; when a kinship term precedes ឯង, it's a whole 'nother ball game, and instead of being haughty/lording your social superiority over someone, you're indicating a certain "warmth" in your relationship with them (so, យាយឯង or លោកគ្រូឯង are fine, for instance, if you feel close to the person).
At any rate, I always tell my students to never use អញ to refer to themselves, or ឯង alone to address others (unless they're part of a Khmer family and know "the rules" for it that way), no matter how good their Khmer gets (after 30 years, I still will not use either); for foreigners, the power dynamics are just too complex and the potential for serious offense is just too great.
Why is អញ so insulting?
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