Letter names and dictionary order edit

The spoken name of each consonant letter is its sound together with its inherent vowel: [kɑː], [kʰɑː], [kɔː], etc.

The name of each dependent vowel is the word ស្រៈ srăk ("vowel") followed by the vowel's a-series value preceded by a glottal stop (and also followed by a glottal stop in the case of short vowels). The four configurations with diacritics exemplified in the syllables អុំ អំ អាំ អះ are treated as dependent vowels in their own right, and are named by the same method.

Independent vowel letters are named similarly, with the word ស្រៈ srăk followed by the principal sound of the letter (which may begin with a glottal stop or with [r] or [l]), followed by a glottal stop in the case of a short vowel sound.

The dictionary order of the consonants is the order in which they are listed in the above table.

The dictionary order of the dependent vowels is the order in which they are listed in the above table. The four configurations with diacritics exemplified in the syllables អុំ អំ អាំ អះ are treated as dependent vowels in their own right, coming in that order after the other dependent vowels.

Words spelled with an independent vowel follow after words spelled with the equivalent combination of consonant plus dependent vowel.

Words spelled with a consonant with a diacritic follow words spelled with the same consonant and dependent vowel symbol but without the diacritic. However, words spelled with ប៉ ( converted to a p sound by a diacritic) follow all words with unmodified ប (without subscript). Sometimes words in which ប is pronounced p are ordered as if the letter were written ប៉.