Chhom Kunthea 2016
http://www.iias.asia/event/consonant-do ... -aphorisms

A first for Cambodia, and she will probably open the doors for more Khmer scholars to study their heritage. Impressive language skills - her studies were conducted in French and in English, as well as Sanskrit and Khmer.

Cambodian Scholar Becomes Country’s First ‘Sanskritist’
by Hannah Hawkins | December 19, 2016

Chhom Kunthea became Cambodia’s first “Sanskritist” on Friday after receiving a doctorate for her research on the impact the ancient Indian language—now used almost exclusively by Hindu priests during religious ceremonies—on the Khmer language.

It is widely accepted that the country’s primary language could not have developed effectively without interacting with Sanskrit, which is believed to have arrived on Cambodia’s shores with Indian merchants sometime around year zero on the Gregorian calendar. The language was used for written records during the Khmer Empire for more than 1,000 years, researchers believe.

With her doctorate in the language, Ms. Kunthea could become one of the country’s only native historians of ancient Cambodia, an area normally occupied by foreigners, said Chhem Rethy, the executive director of the Cambodia Development Research Institute...
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/second2/c ... st-122167/