Khmer ( ភាសាខ្មែរ, pronounced as [‘pʰiːə’saː ‘kʰmaːe] in Khmer) also known as Cambodian is the second most widely spoken Austroasiatic language (after Vietnamese). Khmer has been considerably influenced by Sanskrit and Pali, especially in the royal and religious registers, through the vehicles of Hinduism and Buddhism. It is also the earliest recorded and earliest written language of the Mon–Khmer family. The Khmer language is written with an abugida (vowel-consonant pairs), from left to right, with multiple levels of character stacking possible Writing system: Khmer script (abugida) Official language in: Cambodia