Mon language

The Mon language, formerly known as Peguan and Talaing, is an <a href="/facts/Austroasiatic_language/htRcwIvn">Austroasiatic language</a> spoken by the <a href="/facts/Mon_people/Ssoc6Wj2">Mon people</a>. Mon, like the related <a href="/facts/Khmer_language/RVR7NyzQ">Khmer language</a>, but unlike most languages in <a href="/facts/Mainland_Southeast_Asia/5pknI7yy">mainland Southeast Asia</a>, is not tonal. The Mon language is a recognised indigenous language in Myanmar as well as a recognised indigenous <a href="/facts/Languages_of_Thailand/N0Lz6mwI">language of Thailand</a>.
Mon was classified as a "vulnerable" language in <a href="/facts/UNESCO/QSbkRv3o">UNESCO</a>'s 2010 <a href="/facts/Red_Book_of_Endangered_Languages/5PjLQ2PM">Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger</a>. 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 1,800,000 and 2 million. In Myanmar, the majority of Mon speakers live in Southern Myanmar, especially <a href="/facts/Mon_State/dPtc9xLs">Mon State</a>, followed by <a href="/facts/Tanintharyi_Region/4gsWloFk">Tanintharyi Region</a> and <a href="/facts/Kayin_State/IVg0HySg">Kayin State</a>.

Mon language open-in-new

Mon language