[1] Cham belongs to the Chamic languages, which are spoken in parts of mainland Southeast Asia, Indonesia's Aceh Province, and on the island of Hainan.

Cham is the oldest-attested Austronesian language, with the Đông Yên Châu inscription being verifiably dated to the late 4th century AD.

The Champa Kingdom had a distinctive culture and language that set the Cham people apart from their neighbors.

The Champa Kingdom played a significant role in regional trade and cultural exchange, interacting with neighboring civilizations such as the Khmer Empire, the Dai Viet (Vietnamese), and others.

As a result of historical events, including wars and the annexation of Champa by Vietnam, the Cham people faced displacement.

"Dummy pronominal subjects are sometimes used, echoing the subject: Inâ hudiap dahlakmy wife's mothernyusheatongbeatadei puthang nyu.her husband's younger sister{Inâ hudiap dahlak} nyu atong {adei puthang nyu.

"Adjectives come after the nouns they modify:[7] thanghousepraongbigthang praonghouse big"a big house"If the order is reversed, the whole will behave like a compound: urangpersonpraongbigsapnoiseurang praong sapperson big noise"a noisy person"Composite sentences can be formed with the particle krung:[8] tha drei athau tha drei mâyauthe dog and the catkrungwhichai nyu brei ka nyuhis brother gave him{tha drei athau tha drei mâyau} krung {ai nyu brei ka nyu}{the dog and the cat} which {his brother gave him}"the dog and the cat his brother gave him"nao tapakto go straightdanaolakekrungwhichai that ikanbrother is fishing{nao tapak} danao krung {ai that ikan}{to go straight} lake which {brother is fishing}"to go straight to the lake where his brother was fishing"It is also possible to leave out this particle, without change in meaning:[6] Dahlak brei athéh nanI give this horseka wa dahlakto my uncle∅whodok dii palei Ram.live in the village of Ram{Dahlak brei athéh nan} {ka wa dahlak} ∅ {dok dii palei Ram.

limâfiveboḥCLFchâkmountainlimâ boḥ châkfive CLF mountain"five mountains"paleivillagenaṃsixboḥCLFpalei naṃ boḥvillage six CLF"six villages"The above examples show the classifier boḥ, which literally means "egg" and is the most frequently used — particularly for round and voluminous objects.

[11] hareidaythaonebangunCLFharei tha bangunday one CLF"first day after new moon"hareidayduatwoklaṃCLFharei dua klaṃday two CLF"second day after full moon"Personal pronouns behave like ordinary nouns and do not show any case distinctions.

[14] The verb dok ("to stay") is used for the continuous, wâk ("to return") for the repetitive aspect, and kieng ("to want") for the future tense.

The Western Cham language is written with the Arabic script or the aforementioned Akhar Srak.

[20][21] ꨕꨨꨵꩀ ꨧꨮ ꨍꨯꩆ ꨇꩈ ꨟꨮꨭ ꨕꨮꩃ ꨆꩇ ꨨꩆ ꨨꩈ ꨕꩃ ꨕꨭ ꨟꨁꨁ ꨍꨭꨢꨮꩆ ꨚꩈ ꨔꩃ ꨣꩇ ꨆꨨꨁꨃꨂ ꨝꩆ ꨔꩆ ꨇꨯꩂ ꨍꨮꨭ ꨓꨮ ꨨꩃ ꨍꨮꨭ ꨆꨯ ꨟꨶꩆ ꨕꩈ ꨌꩌ The Ming dynasty Chinese Bureau of Translators produced a Chinese-Cham dictionary.

[citation needed] John Crawfurd's 1822 work "Journal of an Embassy to the Courts of Siam and Cochin-China" contains a wordlist of the Cham language.