The Socio-culture of Sa’och

By Mr. CHOM Sonnang, Presented in National Conference on Preservation and Development of Language and Culture of Indigenous Minorities in Cambodia, November 24, 2008,

Abstract

This paper is to take part in encouraging and preserving cultures of minorities in Cambodia. It is a follow up of “A Brief Description of the Sa’och Language” presented in the second conference on Research, Unity, and Development of Khmer Language on October 18, 2005, at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. It firstly starts with general situations of the study on indigenous in Cambodia, secondly is on the socio-culture of Sa’och. The data were collected from previous studies and through our fieldwork. The result shows that there is still a vague in categorizing the languages groups and the number of ethnic languages in Cambodia as well as Sa’och language. Regarding to the socio-culture of the Sa’och, the result shows that the Sa’och has a similar living to Cambodian in terms of norms, health care, traditions, and rites. It, therefore, can be implied that both the Sa’och and Cambodians almost have the same culture, which is called Proto-Indochinese Civilization or Austro-Asiatic Civilization by sociologists. A foremost note is ‘taking care of new born babies’. The Sa’och prefers to breastfeed a new born baby right after it is born with first-coming breast-milk, while Cambodians do not. Originally, the Sa’och was led by their chiefs, but this has changed and becomes distinct in the present time.

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