Also called:
Talaing, or Peguan

Mon language, Mon-Khmer language spoken by the Mon people of southeastern Myanmar (Lower Burma) and several Mon communities in Thailand. The oldest inscriptions, dating from the 6th century, are found in central Thailand in archaeological sites associated with the Dvaravati kingdom. Numerous Old Mon inscriptions date from the later Mon kingdoms of Thaton and Pegu. The Old Mon inscriptions found at Pagan, central Myanmar, attest to the prestige of the Mon language in medieval Myanmar society. Old Mon is written in a script originating from South India. The Mon writing system evolved gradually into its modern form and served as a basis for the Burmese writing system. The modern Mon language is now spoken primarily in southeastern Myanmar, between the towns of Moulmein and Ye. In northern, central, and western Thailand, there are also numerous Mon communities that migrated from Myanmar over the past four centuries.

Mon-Khmer languages, language family included in the Austroasiatic stock. Mon-Khmer languages constitute the indigenous language family of mainland Southeast Asia. They range north to southern China, south to Malaysia, west to Assam state in India, and east to Vietnam. The most important Mon-Khmer languages, having populations greater than 100,000, are Vietnamese, Khmer, Muong, Mon, Khāsi, Khmu, and Wa.

The family consists of some 130 languages, most of which are not, or very rarely, written. Several languages are spoken by only a few hundred speakers and are in imminent danger of extinction; these include Phalok, Iduh, Thai Then, Mlabri, Aheu, Arem, Chung (Sa-och), Song of Trat, Samrai, Nyah Heuny, Che’ Wong, and Shompe. The family is subclassified into 12 branches: Khasian, Palaungic, Khmuic, Pakanic, Vietic, Katuic, Bahnaric, Khmeric, Pearic, Monic, Aslian, and Nicobarese. There has been reluctance in the past in accepting Vietic, which includes Vietnamese, as a branch of Mon-Khmer, but recent studies make this quite certain. Nicobarese was also thought to form a separate family in the Austroasiatic stock, but recent data from this poorly known branch confirm its inclusion in Mon-Khmer. The Chamic languages of Vietnam and Cambodia, which were included by some scholars in the Mon-Khmer family, have now been reclassified as Austronesian.