The Moklenic or Moken–Moklen languages consist of a pair of two closely related but distinct languages, namely

Moken The Moken (also ''Mawken or'' ''Morgan''; ; th, ชาวเล, lit=sea people, translit=chao le) are an Austronesian people of the Mergui Archipelago, a group of approximately 800 islands claimed by both Myanmar and Thailand. Most of the 2, ...

and Moklen. Larish (1999) establishes the two languages as forming two distinct subgroups of a larger Moken–Moklen branch. Larish (2005)Larish, Michael. 2005. "Moken and Moklen." in Alexander Adelaar and Nikolaus P. Himmelmann (eds.), ''The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar'', 513-533. London: Routledge. . suggests ''Moklenic'' as an alternative name for ''Moken–Moklen'', the latter term which was originally used by Larish (1999).

Languages

There are two Moklenic languages. *

, spoken by about 2,500-3,000

Moken people The Moken (also ''Mawken or'' ''Morgan''; ; th, ชาวเล, lit=sea people, translit=chao le) are an Austronesian people of the Mergui Archipelago, a group of approximately 800 islands claimed by both Myanmar and Thailand. Most of the 2,0 ...

or "Sea Gypsies" of Thailand and Myanmar. * Moklen, spoken by 2,500-3,000 Moklen people of southern Thailand. Moken and Moklen are linguistically and culturally related but distinct from each other, with Moken speakers primarily being sea-based hunter-gatherers, while Moklen speakers are land-based people living in villages and towns of southern Thailand (Larish 2005). Comparative studies of Moken and Moklen include those of Leerabhandh (1984), Makboon (1981),Makboon, S. (1981) Survey of Sea People’s dialects along the West Coast of Thailand, MA Thesis at Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom: Institute of Language and Culture for Rural Development. and Larish (1999). The Moklenic languages are spoken along a 650-kilometer stretch of the west coast of southern Myanmar and southern Thailand, from

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 ...

Island, Burma to Phi Phi Island, Thailand (Larish 2005). Moken has a very wide distribution, while Moklen is exclusively spoken on the western coast of southern Thailand. Moklen displays heavy

Southern Thai Southern Thailand, Southern Siam or Tambralinga is a southernmost cultural region of Thailand, separated from Central Thailand region by the Kra Isthmus. Geography Southern Thailand is on the Malay Peninsula, with an area of around , bounded t ...

influence and is more endangered than Moken. Urak Lawoi’ is spoken by another group of Sea Gypsies in southern Thailand. It is one of the Malayic languages, and is not a Moklenic language. On

Phuket Island Phuket (; th, ภูเก็ต, , ms, Bukit or ''Tongkah''; Hokkien:普吉; ) is one of the southern provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, the country's largest island, and another 32 smaller islands of ...

, Urak Lawoi’ is in contact with

External relationships

Larish (1999, 2005)

Larish (1999, 2005) considers Moklenic to be a

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

of the Chamic and

Malayic The Malayic languages are a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian language family. The most prominent member is Malay, which is the national language of Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia; it further serves as basis for Ind ...

languages rather than as part of them. Moklenic languages have also been strongly influenced by

Austroasiatic languages 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 t ...

, with many of those Austroasiatic loanwords, such as 'bird', also found in Chamic.Larish, Michael David. 1999. ''The Position of Moken and Moklen Within the Austronesian Language Family''. Doctoral dissertation, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. Larish (1999) classifies the two languages

and Moklen as part of a larger Moklenic–Acehnese-Chamic-Malayic ("MACM") subgroup. ;Moklenic–Acehnese-Chamic-Malayic *"

Funan Funan (; km, ហ៊្វូណន, ; vi, Phù Nam, Chữ Hán: ) was the name given by Chinese cartographers, geographers and writers to an ancient Indianized state—or, rather a loose network of states ''(Mandala)''—located in mainla ...

"? *Moklenic (displays *q > *k sound change) **

** Moklen *Acehnese-Chamic-Malayic (displays *q > *h sound change) ** Acehnese- Chamic **

While the Acehnese-Chamic-Malayic languages display a

Proto-Malayo-Polynesian Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (PMP) is the reconstructed ancestor of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, which is by far the largest branch (by current speakers) of the Austronesian language family. Proto-Malayo-Polynesian is ancestral to all Austronesi ...

*q > *h sound change, Moklenic languages instead display a

*q > *k sound change. Larish (1999) also speculates that the unknown extinct language (or languages) of the

Empire in southern Vietnam may have been an early split from Proto-Moklenic–Acehnese-Chamic-Malayic.

Smith (2017)

In a recent classification of the western

Malayo-Polynesian languages The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeas ...

, Smith (2017: 459) argues based on phonological evidence that Moklenic is a primary branch from

Reconstruction

Proto-Moken-Moklen has been reconstructed by Larish (1999).

Languages

External relationships

Larish (1999, 2005)

Smith (2017)

Reconstruction

References

Further reading