Monic languages

Branch of Austroasiatic languages in Southeast Asia

The Monic /ˈmoʊnɪk/ languages are a branch of the Austroasiatic language family descended from the Old Monic language of the kingdom of Dvaravati 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 after the 11th century Khmer conquest of Dvaravati.

Classification

Paul Sidwell (2009:114) proposes the following tree ("stammbaum") for Monic, synthesizing past classifications from Theraphan L-Thongkum (1984) and Gérard Diffloth (1984).

• Old Mon / Proto-Monic
  • Nyah Kur
    • North
    • Central
    • South
  • Middle Mon
    • Literary Mon
    • Mon Ro: Northernmost dialect, spoken in the Pegu-Paung-Zin Kyaik area
      • West Mon Ro variety: Spoken from north of Martaban to Thaton
      • East Mon Ro variety: Spoken in a small area on the south bank of the Gyaing River
    • Mon Rao: Spoken around Mawlamyine, extending several hundred kilometers south to Tavoy
      • North Mon Rao
      • Kamarwet 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 (Diffloth 1984):^[1]

Mammals

Birds

Other animals

Plants

Lexical innovations

Selected Monic lexical innovations:^[2]

See also

• List of Proto-Monic reconstructions (Wiktionary)
• Mon language
• Nyah Kur language

Footnotes

1. Diffloth, Gérard. 1984. The Dvaravati Old Mon languages and Nyah Kur. Monic Language Studies. Chulalongkorn University Printing House, Bangkok.
2. Sidwell, Paul (2021). "Classification of MSEA Austroasiatic languages". The Languages and Linguistics of Mainland Southeast Asia. De Gruyter. pp. 179–206. doi:10.1515/9783110558142-011.

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

• SEAlang Project: Mon–Khmer languages: The Monic Branch
• "Monic". Archived from the original (lecture) on 2007-09-15. Retrieved 2007-09-21.
• Old Mon inscriptions