The Mon language (, mnw, ဘာသာမန်, links=no, (Mon-Thai ဘာသာမည်) ; my, မွန်ဘာသာ; th, ภาษามอญ; formerly known as Peguan and Talaing) is an
Austroasiatic language spoken by the
Mon people
The Mon ( mnw, ဂကူမည်; my, မွန်လူမျိုး, ; th, wikt:มอญ, มอญ, ) are an ethnic group who inhabit Lower Myanmar's Mon State, Kayin State, Kayah State, Tanintharyi Region, Bago Region, the Irrawaddy ...
. Mon, like the related
Khmer language
Khmer (; , ) is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Khmer people, and the official and national language of Cambodia. Khmer has been influenced considerably by Sanskrit and Pali, especially in the royal and religious registers, thro ...
, but unlike most languages in
mainland Southeast Asia, is not tonal. The Mon language is a recognised indigenous language in Myanmar as well as a recognised indigenous
language of Thailand.
Mon was classified as a "vulnerable" language in
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...
's 2010 ''
Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger
The UNESCO ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger'' is an online publication containing a comprehensive list of the world's endangered languages. It originally replaced the ''Red Book of Endangered Languages'' as a title in print after ...
''. The Mon language has faced assimilative pressures in both Myanmar and Thailand, where many individuals of Mon descent are now monolingual in Burmese or Thai respectively. In 2007, Mon speakers were estimated to number between 800,000 and 1 million. In Myanmar, the majority of Mon speakers live in Southern Myanmar, especially
Mon State
Mon State ( my, မွန်ပြည်နယ်, ; mnw, တွဵုရးဍုင်မန်, italics=no) is an administrative division of Myanmar. It lies between Kayin State to the east, the Andaman Sea to the west, Bago Region to th ...
, followed by
Tanintharyi Region
Tanintharyi Region ( my, တနင်္သာရီတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; Mon: or ; ms, Tanah Sari; formerly Tenasserim Division and subsequently Tanintharyi Division, th, ตะนาวศรี, RTGS: ''Tanao Si'', ; ...
and
Kayin State.
History
Mon is an important language in Burmese history. Until the 12th century, it was the
lingua franca
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
of the
Irrawaddy valley—not only in the Mon kingdoms of the lower Irrawaddy but also of the upriver
Pagan Kingdom of the
Bamar people. Mon, especially written Mon, continued to be a
prestige language even after the fall of the Mon
kingdom of Thaton to Pagan in 1057. King
Kyansittha of Pagan (r. 1084–1113) admired Mon culture and the Mon language was patronized.
Kyansittha left many inscriptions in Mon. During this period, the
Myazedi inscription
Myazedi inscription ( my, မြစေတီ ကျောက်စာ ; also Yazakumar Inscription or the Gubyaukgyi Inscription), inscribed in 1113, is the oldest surviving stone inscription of the Burmese language. "Myazedi" means "emerald stupa" ...
, which contains identical inscriptions of a story in
Pali
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddh ...
,
Pyu
Pyu, also spelled Phyu or Phyuu, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. is a town in Taungoo District, Bago Region in Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions requ ...
, Mon and Burmese on the four sides, was carved.
However, after Kyansittha's death, usage of the Mon language declined among the Bamar and the
Burmese language
Burmese ( my, မြန်မာဘာသာ, MLCTS: ''mranmabhasa'', IPA: ) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Myanmar (also known as Burma), where it is an official language, lingua franca, and the native language of the Burmans, the coun ...
began to replace Mon and Pyu as a
lingua franca
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
.
Mon inscriptions from
Dvaravati
The Dvaravati ( th, ทวารวดี ; ) was an ancient Mon kingdom from the 7th century to the 11th century that was located in the region now known as central Thailand. It was described by the Chinese pilgrim in the middle of the 7th cen ...
's ruins also litter
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
. However it is not clear if the inhabitants were Mon, a mix of Mon and Malay or Khmer. Later inscriptions and kingdoms like
Lavo
Known as "Lavo" during most of its history, Lopburi Province is one of the most important cities in the history of Thailand. The city has a long history, dating back into the prehistory period since the Bronze Age of more than 3,500 years ago ...
were subservient to the
Khmer Empire.
After the fall of Pagan, Mon again became the lingua franca of the
Hanthawaddy Kingdom
(Mon) ( Burmese)
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Hongsarwatoi (Hanthawaddy) Pegu
, common_name = Hongsarwatoi (Hanthawaddy) Kingdom / Ramannya (Ramam)
, era = Warring states
, status = Kingdom
, event_pre ...
(1287–1539) in present-day
Lower Myanmar, which remained a predominantly Mon-speaking region until the 1800s, by which point, the
Burmese language
Burmese ( my, မြန်မာဘာသာ, MLCTS: ''mranmabhasa'', IPA: ) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Myanmar (also known as Burma), where it is an official language, lingua franca, and the native language of the Burmans, the coun ...
had expanded its reach from its traditional heartland in
Upper Burma into
Lower Burma
Lower Myanmar ( my, အောက်မြန်မာပြည်, also called Lower Burma) is a geographic region of Myanmar and includes the low-lying Irrawaddy Delta ( Ayeyarwady, Bago and Yangon Regions), as well as coastal regions of the c ...
.
The region's language shift from Mon to Burmese has been ascribed to a combination of population displacement, intermarriage, and voluntary changes in self-identification among increasingly Mon–Burmese bilingual populations in throughout Lower Burma. The shift was certainly accelerated by the fall of the Mon-speaking
Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom
The Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom ( my, ဟံသာဝတီ နေပြည်တော်သစ်), also known as the Neo-Ramanic State () was the kingdom that ruled Lower Burma and parts of Upper Burma from 1740 to 1757. The kingdom grew o ...
in 1757. Following the fall of Pegu (now Bago), many Mon-speaking refugees fled and resettled in what is now modern-day Thailand. By 1830, an estimated 90% of the population in the Lower Burma self-identified as Burmese-speaking Bamars; huge swaths of former Mon-speaking areas, from the
Irrawaddy Delta
The Irrawaddy Delta or Ayeyarwady Delta lies in the Irrawaddy Division, the lowest expanse of land in Myanmar that fans out from the limit of tidal influence at Myan Aung to the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, to the south at the mouth of the ...
upriver, spanning Bassein (now Pathein) and Rangoon (now Yangon) to Tharrawaddy, Toungoo, Prome (now Pyay) and Henzada (now Hinthada), were now Burmese-speaking. Great Britain's gradual annexation of Burma throughout the 19th century, in addition to concomitant economic and political instability in Upper Burma (e.g., increased tax burdens to the Burmese crown, British rice production incentives, etc.) also accelerated the migration of Burmese speakers from Upper Burma into Lower Burma.
The Mon language has influenced subtle grammatical differences between the varieties of Burmese spoken in Lower and Upper Burma.
In Lower Burmese varieties, the verb ပေး ("to give") is colloquially used as a permissive causative marker, like in other Southeast Asian languages, but unlike in other Tibeto-Burman languages.
This usage is hardly employed in Upper Burmese varieties, and is considered a sub-standard construct.
In 1972, the
New Mon State Party (NMSP) established a Mon national school system, which uses Mon as a
medium of instruction, in rebel-controlled areas.
The system was expanded throughout Mon State following a ceasefire with the central government in 1995.
Mon State now operates a multi-track education system, with schools either using Mon as the primary medium of instruction (called Mon national schools) offering modules on the Mon language in addition to the government curriculum (called "mixed schools").
In 2015, Mon language courses were launched state-wide at the elementary level. This system has been recognized as a model for
mother-tongue education in the Burmese national education system, because it enables children taught in the Mon language to integrate into the mainstream Burmese education system at higher education levels.
In 2013, it was announced that the
Mawlamyine
Mawlamyine (also spelled Mawlamyaing; , ; th, เมาะลำเลิง ; mnw, မတ်မလီု, ), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), ''World Gazetteer'' south east of Yangon and south of Thaton, at t ...
-based ''Thanlwin Times'' would begin to carry news in the Mon language, becoming Myanmar's first Mon language publication since 1962.
Geographic distribution
Southern Myanmar (comprising
Mon State
Mon State ( my, မွန်ပြည်နယ်, ; mnw, တွဵုရးဍုင်မန်, italics=no) is an administrative division of Myanmar. It lies between Kayin State to the east, the Andaman Sea to the west, Bago Region to th ...
,
Kayin State, and
Tanintharyi Region
Tanintharyi Region ( my, တနင်္သာရီတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; Mon: or ; ms, Tanah Sari; formerly Tenasserim Division and subsequently Tanintharyi Division, th, ตะนาวศรี, RTGS: ''Tanao Si'', ; ...
), from the
Sittaung River in the north to
Myeik (Mergui) and
Kawthaung
Kawthaung ( mnw, ကော့ပိ, , ; th, เกาะสอง; , ; ms, Pulodua, ڤولودوا) is a town located in the southernmost part of Myanmar, in the Tanintharyi Region. During British rule in Burma between 1824 and 1948, it was kn ...
in the south, remains a traditional stronghold of the Mon language.
However, in this region, Burmese is favored in urban areas, such as
Mawlamyine
Mawlamyine (also spelled Mawlamyaing; , ; th, เมาะลำเลิง ; mnw, မတ်မလီု, ), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), ''World Gazetteer'' south east of Yangon and south of Thaton, at t ...
, the capital of Mon State.
In recent years, usage of Mon has declined in Myanmar, especially among the younger generation.
While Thailand is home to a sizable Mon population due to historical waves of migration, only a small proportion (estimated to range between 60,000 to 80,000) speak Mon, due to
Thaification and the assimilation of Mons into mainstream Thai society.
Mon speakers in Thailand are largely concentrated in
Ko Kret.
The remaining contingent of Thai Mon speakers are located in the provinces of
Samut Sakhon,
Samut Songkhram
Samut Songkhram ( th, สมุทรสงครามPronunciation) is the capital of Samut Songkhram Province.
Etymology
The word "samut" originates from the Sanskrit word "samudra" meaning "ocean", and the word "songkhram" from the Sanskrit ...
,
Nakhon Pathom, as well the western provinces bordering Myanmar (
Kanchanaburi,
Phetchaburi
Phetchaburi ( th, เพชรบุรี, ) or Phet Buri () is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in southern Thailand, capital of Phetchaburi Province. In Thai, Phetchaburi means "city of diamonds" (''buri'' meaning "city" in Sanskrit). It is approx ...
,
Prachuap Khiri Khan, and
Ratchaburi).
A small ethnic group in Thailand speak a language closely related to Mon, called
Nyah Kur. They are descendants of the Mon-speaking
Dvaravati
The Dvaravati ( th, ทวารวดี ; ) was an ancient Mon kingdom from the 7th century to the 11th century that was located in the region now known as central Thailand. It was described by the Chinese pilgrim in the middle of the 7th cen ...
kingdom.
Dialects
Mon has three primary dialects in Burma, coming from the various regions the Mon inhabit. They are the Central (areas surrounding
Mottama and
Mawlamyine
Mawlamyine (also spelled Mawlamyaing; , ; th, เมาะลำเลิง ; mnw, မတ်မလီု, ), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), ''World Gazetteer'' south east of Yangon and south of Thaton, at t ...
),
Bago, and
Ye dialects.
All are mutually intelligible. ''Ethnologue'' lists Mon dialects as Martaban-Moulmein (Central Mon, Mon Te), Pegu (Mon Tang, Northern Mon), and Ye (Mon Nya, Southern Mon), with high mutual intelligibility among them.
Thai Mon has some differences from the Burmese dialects of Mon, but they are mutually intelligible. The Thai varieties of Mon are considered "severely endangered."
Phonology
Consonants
# is only found in Burmese loans.
# Implosives are lost in many dialects and become explosives instead.
Vowels
Vocalic register
Unlike the surrounding Burmese and
Thai languages, Mon is not a
tonal language
Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning – that is, to distinguish or to inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information and to convey emph ...
. As in many Mon–Khmer languages, Mon uses a vowel-phonation or vowel-
register
Register or registration may refer to:
Arts entertainment, and media Music
* Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc.
* ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller
* Registration (organ), th ...
system in which the quality of voice in pronouncing the vowel is phonemic. There are two registers in Mon:
# Clear (modal) voice, analyzed by various linguists as ranging from ordinary to