The Monic languages are a branch of the

Austroasiatic The Austroasiatic languages ( ) are a large language family spoken throughout Mainland Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Asia. These languages are natively spoken by the majority of the population in Vietnam and Cambodia, and by minority popu ...

language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term ''family'' is a metaphor borrowed from biology, with the tree model used in historical linguistics ...

descended from the Old Monic language of the kingdom of

Dvaravati Dvaravati () was a medieval Mon political principality from the 6th century to the 11th century, located in the region now known as central Thailand, and was speculated to be a succeeding state of Lang-chia or Lang-ya-hsiu (). It was describe ...

in what is now central Thailand. The Nyahkur people continue directly from that kingdom, whereas the Mon are descendants of those who migrated to

Pegu Bago (formerly spelled Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. Etymology The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon lang ...

after the 11th century Khmer conquest of Dvaravati.

Classification

Paul Sidwell Paul James Sidwell is an Australian linguist based in Canberra, Australia, who has held research and lecturing positions at the Australian National University. Sidwell, who is also an expert and consultant in forensic linguistics, is most nota ...

(2009:114) proposes the following tree ("stammbaum") for Monic, synthesizing past classifications from Theraphan L-Thongkum (1984) and

Gérard Diffloth Gérard Diffloth (13 February 1939 – 14 August 2023) was a French linguist known as a leading specialist in the Austroasiatic languages. As a linguistics professor, he was employed at the University of Chicago and Cornell University. He receiv ...

(1984). *Old Mon / Proto-Monic ** Nyah Kur ***North ***Central ***South **Middle

Mon Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to: Places * Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar * Mon, India, a town in Nagaland * Mon district, Nagaland * Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India * Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons * A ...

***Literary Mon ***Mon Ro: Northernmost dialect, spoken in the

Paung Paung (; , ) is a town in the Mon State of south-east Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It i ...

Zin Kyaik Zin Kyaik (; ) is a town located in Paung Township, Thaton District, Mon State of Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in n ...

area ****West Mon Ro variety: Spoken from north of

Martaban Mottama (, ; Muttama , ; formerly Martaban) is a town in the Thaton District of Mon State, Myanmar. Located on the west bank of the Thanlwin river (Salween), on the opposite side of Mawlamyaing, Mottama was the capital of the Martaban Kingdo ...

Thaton Thaton (; ) is a town in Mon State, in southern Myanmar on the Tenasserim plains. Thaton lies along the National Highway 8 and is also connected by the National Road 85. It is southeast of Yangon and north of Mawlamyine. Thaton was the capit ...

****East Mon Ro variety: Spoken in a small area on the south bank of the Gyaing River ***Mon Rao: Spoken around

Mawlamyine Mawlamyine (also spelled Mawlamyaing; , ; ; , ), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), ''World Gazetteer'' southeast of Yangon and south of Thaton, at the mouth of Thanlwin (Salween) River. Mawlamyine was an ancient ...

, extending several hundred kilometers south to

Tavoy Dawei (, ; , ; , RTGS: ''Thawai'', ; formerly known as Tavoy) is a city in south-eastern Myanmar and is the capital of the Tanintharyi Region, formerly known as the Tenasserim Division, on the eastern bank of the Dawei River. The city is about ...

****North Mon Rao **** Kamarwet area Mon ****South Mon Rao ****Ye Mon Rao: This is the southernmost Mon variety. ***Thai Mon (mix of Mon Ro and Mon Rao)

Proto-language

Selected animal and plant names in Proto-Monic, Proto- Nyah Kur, and Proto-

( Diffloth 1984): Diffloth, Gérard. 1984. ''The

Old Mon The Mon language, formerly known as Peguan and Talaing, is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Mon people. Mon, like the related Khmer language, but unlike most languages in mainland Southeast Asia, is not tonal. The Mon language is a recogni ...

languages and Nyah Kur''. Monic Language Studies.

Chulalongkorn University Chulalongkorn University (CU; ; , ) is a public university, public Autonomous university, autonomous research university in Bangkok, Thailand. The university was originally founded during King Chulalongkorn's reign as a school for training ro ...

Printing House, Bangkok.

Mammals

Birds

Other animals

Plants

Lexical innovations

Selected Monic lexical innovations:

Footnotes

References

* Sidwell, Paul (2009).
Classifying the Austroasiatic languages: history and state of the art
'. LINCOM studies in Asian linguistics, 76. Munich: Lincom Europa.

External links

SEAlang Project: Mon–Khmer languages: The Monic Branch
*
Old Mon inscriptions
{{Austro-Asiatic languages