Introduction

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UNESCO Atlas of
the Worlds Languages in Danger
UNESCO

The voice of the loss of Mon Identity

The Mon language now faces the danger of extinction as a viable spoken
language. 1 Today, the Mon language is a significant example of assimilation into the
Burmese and Thai languages. 2 It has generally been assumed that the absorption of
the Talaing race by the Burmese and the consequent disappearance of the Talaing
language were just a matter of timeIn Saim, too, the impression is generally that
the Talaings there are being all the time more and more absorbed by the Siamese. 3
The spoken Mon language situation in Thailand may say to be in the last stage of
extinction. 4 The future of the Mon Language doesnt look good. It will be difficult
for Mon language and literature to survive without official recognition by the
government, he said. A prominent Mon historian, Dr Nai Pan Hla, agrees that I
think Mon will be a dead language within 40 years. 5

The important Roles of Mon Sanghas for National Revival

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(century)

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Dr. SM, The Mon Language: an endangered species

Dr. Thein Lwin, Languages, Identities and Education in relation to Burma/ Myanmar
3
R.Halliday, the Talaings, p.118
4
Kaowao news: paphatsaun Thianpanya, Mon Language in Thailand: The endangered heritage
5
Irrawaddy: Min Zin, Mon Culture: Dying or Reviving?
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Pon Nya Mon, Identity, Image and ethnic conflict in Burma: a case study of Mon People, p.66
2

Issues of Ethnic cleansings in Burma

I find Talaings in
the Amherst District speaking of the Mons of Saim as having been driven over in the
sense that cattle are driven. When the Burmese followed them at all, however, it
was to bring them back or to prevent them from ever going further. Numbers of
them, both monks and people, perished at the hands of the Burmese. 7

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R.Halliday, the Mons in Saim, Vol. viii, pt. ii

 () (UN Secretary
General) At a United Nations conference on
Minorities in New York, in 1970 U Thant, the Burmese UN Secretary-General,
declared that, as the Mons had long ago been absorbed into the Burman majority,
the last Mon is dead. However, in a fine piece of diplomatic theatre, Thailands
ambassador to the UN, the Thai Mon, Anand Panyarachun, publicly refuted U Thants
claim. 8 structural
violence and Silent genocide 9


The Burma Armys policy of erecting Buddhist temples in ethnic minority
areas is seen by some as an attempt to destroy and assimilate ethnic minority
cultures. 10

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Issues within Mon Sangha

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Ashley South, Mon Nationalism and Civil war in Burma: The Golden Sheldrake, p.40

Lowell Dittmer, Burma or Myanmar? The Struggle for National Identity, p. 74

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Suggestions and Conclusion

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Monstudentslk: Ong Sue, The danger of the loss of Mon Identity

(socials)

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Reference:
1. Dittmer, Lowell, Burma or Myanmar? The Struggle for National Identity,
World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., Singapore, 2010, p. 74
2. Halliday, R., The Tlaings, superintendent, government printing press,
Yangoon, Burma, 1917, p.118
3. Mon, Pon Nya, Identity, Image and ethnic conflict in Burma: a case study
of Mon People, Washington State University, 2010, p. 66
4. South, Ashley, (2003). Mon Nationalism and Civil War in Burma: The
Golden Sheldrake, Laserscript Ltd., US,2003, p.40

Websites:
5. Irrawaddy: Zin, Min, Mon Culture: Dying or Reviving? Downloaded on
11/02/2014 from
http://www2.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=3124&page=2
6. Kaowao News Group: Thianpanya, Panphatsaun, Mon Language in
Thailand: The endangered heritage / downloaded on 08/02/2014 from
http://www.kaowao.org/Mon%20language%20in%20Thailand.php
7. Monstudentslk: Sue, Ong, the Danger or the loss of Mon Identity (Mon
version), downloaded on 12/02/2014 from
http://www.monstudentslk.com/2013/06/blog-post_24.html
8. SM, Dr., The Mon Language: an endangered species, downloaded on
07/02/2014 from http://archive.is/ipwC
9. Thinkingclassroom: Thein Lwin, Dr., Languages, Identities and Education
in relation to Burma/Myanmar? Downloaded on 01/02/2014 from
http://www.thinkingclassroom.org/Education%20papers/2.%20Dr.%20Th
ein%20Lwin%20Language%20Article%20(English)%2015thOct11.pdf
10. Unesco, unesco Atlas of the worlds languages in Dangers Atlas /
Downloaded on 12/02/2014 from
http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas