The
Mon language is an
Austroasiatic language spoken by the
Mon, who live in
Burma and
Thailand. Mon, unlike most languages in the
Southeast Asian region, is not
tonal. Mon is spoken by less than a million people today.
In recent years, usage of Mon has declined rapidly, especially among the younger generation.
Many ethnic Mon are monolingual in
Burmese. In Burma, the majority of speakers live in
Mon State, followed by
Tanintharyi Division and
Kayin State.
The Mon script is derived from Indian
Brahmi script and is the source of the
Burmese script.
History
Mon is an important language in Burmese history. Up until the 12th century AD, it was the
lingua franca of the
Irrawaddy valley--not only in the Mon kingdoms of the lower Irrawaddy valley but also of upriver
Burman kingdom of
Pagan (Bagan). Mon, especially written Mon, continued to be the primary language even after the fall of the Mon kingdom of
Thaton to Pagan in 1057. Pagan king
Kyanzittha (1084-1112) admired the Mon culture, and the Mon language was patronized. The Mon script was the source of the Burmese script created during his reign. Kyanzittha left many inscriptions in Mon. During this period, the
Myazedi inscription, which contains identical inscriptions of a story in
Pali,
Pyu, Mon, and Burmese on the four sides was carved.
However, after
Kyanzittha's death, usage of the Mon language declined among the Burmans.
Old Burmese began to replace Mon and Pyu as lingua franca
.
Mon inscriptions from the
Dvaravati kingdom's ruins also litter Thailand. However it is not clear if the inhabitants were Mon, a mix of Mon and Malay, or Khmer. Later inscriptions and kingdoms like Lavo were subservient to the
Khmer.
After the fall of Pagan, the Mon language again became the lingua franca of independent Mon kingdom of Hanthawaddy Bago (1287-1539) in the present day
Lower Burma. The language long continued to be prevalent in Lower Burma until the mid-19th century for the region was still mainly populated by the Mon. This changed after the
British captured Lower Burma in 1852, and encouraged immigration to develop
Irrawaddy delta for farming. The ensuing mass migration of peoples into the region from other areas of Burma as well as India and China relegated the Mon language to a tertiary status.
The language languished during British colonial rule, and has experienced a rapid decline in the number of speakers since the Burmese independence in 1948. With little or no support from successive Burmese governments, the Mon language (especially written Mon) continues to be propagated mostly by Mon monks. The Mon language instruction survives in the Thai-Burmese border inside the Mon rebel controlled areas.
Dialects
Mon has three primary dialects in Burma, coming from the various regions the Mon inhabit. They are the Central (areas surrounding
Mottama and
Mawlamyaing),
Bago, and
Ye dialects. All are mutually intelligible. Thai Mon has some differences from the Burmese dialects of Mon, but is almost mutually intelligible.
Script
The Mon script is ancestral to the
Burmese script, but utilises several different letters and
diacritics that represent phonemes that do not exist in Burmese, such as the diacritic of the medial 'l', which is placed underneath the letter.
Phonology
Consonants
1 is only found in Burmese loans.
Vowels
Vocalic register
Unlike the surrounding Burmese and
Thai languages, Mon is not a
tonal language. As in many Mon-Khmer languages, Mon uses a vowel-phonation or vowel-
register 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 creaky
In the examples below, breathy voice is marked with a grave accent.
Nouns and noun phrases
Singular and Plural
Mon nouns do not inflect for number. That is, they do not have separate forms for singular and plural:
'one apple'
'two apples'
Classifiers
Like many other Southeast Asian languages, Mon has
classifiers which are used when a noun appears with a numeral. The choice of classifier depends on the semantics of the noun involved.
'one pen'
'one tree'
Sentences
Affirmative sentences
The ordinary word order for sentences in Mon is Subject-Verb-Object, as in the following examples
'I bought rice.'
'They taught me English.'
Questions
Yes-no questions are shown with a final particle
ha‘Have you eaten rice?’
Wh-questions show a different final particle,
rau. The interrogative word does not undergo
wh-movement. That is, it does not necessarily move to the front of the sentence:
'What did Tala Ong wash?'
