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Language Lineage

Monic

Mon and Nyahkur, languages of the early Buddhist kingdoms of lower Myanmar and central Thailand, whose script became the model for Burmese writing.

c. 1st millennium BCE – presentLower Myanmar (Mon State) and central Thailand
On this page
  1. Dvaravati and Old Mon
  2. Teacher of Burma
  3. Where it's spoken
  4. Turning points

01

Dvaravati and Old Mon

Mon was the language of some of the earliest Buddhist states of mainland Southeast Asia: the Dvaravati culture of central Thailand (6th–11th centuries) and the kingdoms of lower Burma around Thaton and Pegu. Old Mon inscriptions from the 6th–7th centuries are among the oldest texts in any Austroasiatic language. Nyahkur, spoken by a few thousand people in central Thailand, is thought to be a remnant of Dvaravati Mon.

02

Teacher of Burma

When the Burmese kingdom of Pagan rose in the 11th century, it adopted Theravada Buddhism and the Mon script from its Mon neighbours. The Myazedi inscription (1113) records the same text in Pali, Mon, Burmese and Pyu. Burmese took many Mon words and some grammatical patterns. In later centuries the balance shifted. After the Burmese king Alaungpaya destroyed the Mon capital, Pegu, in 1757, many Mon fled to Thailand, and in Myanmar Mon speakers have been shifting to Burmese ever since.

On the map

Where it’s spoken

Spoken todayShading marks whole countries, not the regions within them.
  1. Thailand60,000–80,000
  2. Myanmar

Figures are rough first-language estimates, rounded, from censuses and Ethnologue. Counts for small or scattered communities are especially uncertain.

Rings along the limb

Turning points

Oldest first.

  1. Writing6th – 7th century CE

    Old Mon inscriptions

    Mon inscriptions in a script of southern Indian origin appear in central Thailand and lower Burma, recording Buddhist donations.

    Sources (1)
    • Jenny, Mathias & Paul Sidwell, eds. 2015. The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages. Leiden: Brill.
  2. Contact11th – 13th century CE

    Mon script and Burmese

    The Burmese of Pagan adopt Theravada Buddhism and the Mon script, and the Myazedi inscription of 1113 sets Mon beside Pali, Burmese and Pyu. Burmese takes Mon vocabulary into religion, administration and daily life.

    Sources (1)
    • Jenny, Mathias & Paul Sidwell, eds. 2015. The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages. Leiden: Brill.
  3. Contact1757 onward

    The fall of Pegu

    Alaungpaya's destruction of the Mon kingdom leads to flight into Thailand and a long shift from Mon to Burmese in Myanmar. Mon survives today in Mon State and in communities in Thailand.

    Sources (1)
    • Jenny, Mathias & Paul Sidwell, eds. 2015. The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages. Leiden: Brill.