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The Mon language (; (ビルマ語:မွန်ဘာသာ)) is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Mon people, who live in Myanmar and Thailand. Mon, like the related Khmer language but unlike most languages in mainland Southeast Asia, is not tonal. Mon is spoken by more than a million people today. In recent years, usage of Mon has declined rapidly, especially among the younger generation.〔 Many ethnic Mon are monolingual in Burmese. In Myanmar, the majority of speakers live in Mon State, followed by Tanintharyi Region and Kayin State. The Mon script is ultimately derived from the Indic Brahmi script. ==History== Mon is an important language in Burmese history. Up until the 12th century, it was the lingua franca of the Irrawaddy valley—not only in the Mon kingdoms of the lower Irrawaddy but also of the upriver Pagan Kingdom of the Bamar people. Mon, especially written Mon, continued to be the primary language even after the fall of the Mon kingdom of Thaton to Pagan in 1057. Pagan king Kyansittha (r. 1084–1113) admired Mon culture and the Mon language was patronized. The Mon script was adopted for Burmese during his reign. Kyanzittha left many inscriptions in Mon. During this period, the Myazedi inscription, which contains identical inscriptions of a story in Pali, Pyu, Mon and Burmese on the four sides, was carved.〔 However, after Kyansittha's death, usage of the Mon language declined among the Bamar and the Burmese language began to replace Mon and Pyu as a lingua franca. Mon inscriptions from Dvaravati's ruins also litter Thailand. However it is not clear if the inhabitants were Mon, a mix of Mon and Malay or Khmer. Later inscriptions and kingdoms like Lavo were subservient to the Khmer Empire. After the fall of Pagan, the Mon language again became the lingua franca of the Mon Hanthawaddy Kingdom (1287–1539) in present-day Lower Burma. The language long continued to be prevalent in Lower Burma until the mid-19th century because the region was still mainly populated by Mon. This changed after the British captured Lower Burma in 1852, and encouraged immigration to develop Irrawaddy Delta for farming. The ensuing mass migration of peoples into the region from other areas of Burma as well as India and China relegated the Mon language to a tertiary status. The language languished during British colonial rule, and has experienced a rapid decline in the number of speakers since the Burmese independence in 1948. Currently, according to scholars, the number of Mon speakers is relatively very small when compared to the large numbers who identify themselves as Mon people. With little or no support from successive Burmese governments, the Mon language (especially written Mon) continues to be propagated mostly by Mon monks. The Mon language instruction survives in the Thai-Burmese border inside the Mon rebel controlled areas. In 2013, it was announced that the Mawlamyine-based ''Thanlwin Times'' would begin to carry news in the Mon language, becoming Myanmar's first Mon language publication since 1962. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mon language」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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