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The Monic languages are a branch of the
Austroasiatic The Austroasiatic languages , , are a large language family in Mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. These languages are scattered throughout parts of Thailand, Laos, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and southern China and are th ...
language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in h ...
descended from the Old Monic language of the kingdom of
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 ...
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 spelt 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 langua ...
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 notab ...
(2009:114) proposes the following tree ("stammbaum") for Monic, synthesizing past classifications from
Theraphan L-Thongkum Professor Theraphan Luangthongkum (also cited variously as L-Thongkum, L. Thongkum or Thongkum in publications) is a Thai linguist, specializing in phonetics, linguistic fieldwork, lexicography and minority languages of Southeast Asia. She is c ...
(1984) and
Gérard Diffloth Gérard Diffloth (born in Châteauroux, France, 1939) is a French linguist who is known as a leading specialist in the Austroasiatic languages. As a retired linguistics professor, he was former employed at the University of Chicago and Cornell Un ...
(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
Pegu Bago (formerly spelt 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 langua ...
- Paung- Zingyaik area ****West Mon Ro variety: Spoken from north of
Martaban Mottama ( my, မုတ္တမမြို့, ; Muttama mnw, မုဟ်တၟံ, ; 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 sid ...
to
Thaton Thaton (; mnw, သဓီု ) 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 230 km south east of Yangon and 70 k ...
****East Mon Ro variety: Spoken in a small area on the south bank of the Gyaing River ***Mon Rao: Spoken around Moumein, extending several hundred kilometers south to
Tavoy Dawei (, ; mnw, ဓဝဲါ, ; th, ทวาย, 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 northern bank of ...
****North Mon Rao **** Kamawet 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-
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 ...
( Diffloth 1984): Diffloth, Gérard. 1984. ''The
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 ...
Old Mon languages and Nyah Kur''. Monic Language Studies. Chulalongkorn University Printing House, Bangkok.


Mammals

:


Birds

:


Other animals

:


Plants

:


Lexical innovations

Selected Monic lexical innovations:


See also

* List of Proto-Monic reconstructions (Wiktionary) *
Mon language 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 peop ...
* Nyah Kur language


Footnotes


References

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


Further reading

* ''Monic language studies''. (1984). Bangkok, Thailand: Chulalongkorn University Print. House. * Diffloth, Gérard. 1984 ''The Dvaravati Old Mon languages and Nyah Kur''. Monic Language Studies. Chulalongkorn University Printing House, Bangkok. *Eppele, John William, Carey Statezni, and Nathan Statezni. 2008
Monic bibliography
Chiang Mai: Payap University. *Eppele, John William, Carey Statezni, and Nathan Statezni. 2008
Monic bibliography with selected annotations
Chiang Mai: Payap University. *Ferlus, Michel. 1983. Essai de phonétique historique de môn. Mon-Khmer Studies 12: 1–90. *Huffman, Franklin E. 1990. Burmese Mon, Thai Mon, and Nyah Kur: a synchronic comparison. Mon-Khmer Studies 16–17: 31–84.


External links



*
Old Mon inscriptions
{{Austro-Asiatic languages