*Last Update Sep 2025

[Case Study] Mường Language:
Urgent need for an official script

Researcher/Author

March - 2023

Introduction:

Indigenous languages, especially unwritten languages, are very vulnerable. Mo Mường, a branch of the unscripted Mường ethnic language, was recognized as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in 2017. This has ring an alarm bell to the race to preserve such a rich, long history language as Mường from “the risk of death and may not leave a trace when it disappears”, according to UNESCO Committee of Experts.

Overview:

The Mường is the third-largest ethnicity in Vietnam (after the majority Kinh, and the highland Tày), with a population of 1.45 million spread out over an area of west, southwest, and south of the Red River (2019 census; Lewis, 2009). The heaviest concentration of the Mường people is in the mountainous slope of north-central Vietnam, the provinces of Hoà Bình, six western districts of Thanh Hoá, and Phú Thọ (Lewis, 2009). The language Mường is a member of the Vietic branch of the Austroasiatic language family. Mường is used in the domestic sphere of communication and media (radio, occasional television programs,...). However, since the language has no written form, few Mường speakers are able to read and write their language (Ngo, Le & Perrin 2021). Being the third-largest ethnicity, the language Mường may not have seen the degradation in quality and quantity of speakers. Yet, with the lack of written sources, the invasion of a dominant majority language - Vietnamese, and the fact that successive generations have become bilingual and then begin to lose the prociency in their language, sooner or later, this beautiful, long-history and rich-literature language will face its demise (ibid).

Analysis:

In the face of the ever-decreasing resources of habitat, the need to interact and trade, as well as scholarly recognition, Mường people are of necessity gradually abandoning their native tongue for that of their lowland neighbor Kinh with whom they must interact. And the fact that the language Mường has no widely used and recognized ocial script or alphabet reveals the scenario of the language decreasing ascendency (Taylor, 2001).

1. The language situation:
Mường people settled in isolated mountainous areas, and agriculture was their main income. After the August Revolution, there were several waves of immigration of the Mường to the lower land, to more productive, prosperous areas that were close to highways and ports for trading and businesses (Phan, 2010). With the inevitable modern social science and the momentum of construction of turning the Hồ Chí Minh trail into a highway running through scattered residential areas of the Việt-Mường group (and a few other ethnic minorities) on both the East and West branches of Trường Sơn (Vietnam National Assembly 2004), the Mường community and its language and culture are now more vulnerable than ever (Duffield, Phan & Trinh 2019).

Through the 2017 research by the People's Committee of Thanh Sơn district - the center of Mường community in Phú Thọ province, 80% of asked people with age 40 and under cannot speak their ethnic language, and Vietnamese (the language of the major Kinh) is their primary language to communicate with each other, even in household context. Families of Mường or Mường married to Kinh mostly decide to teach Vietnamese for their children from an early age with the hope that the children would not be bewildered and could catch up in class (Taylor 2001). Vietnam primary education curricula nowadays are delivered through the standard Vietnamese. The survey of professor Trần Trí Dõi (2003) shows that 99,2% of asked Mường students wish to receive Vietnamese education for “daily communication needs" and for “higher education,” and only 3,49% of interviewed teachers have pedagogical training in ethnic language teaching. All of which makes the young Mường fall for the more dominant major language - Vietnamese in terms of scholarly recognition, the opportunity for good jobs, for a brighter future.

2. The need for the official Mường alphabet:
The Mường people have always been conscious of creating a set of written form, and for a long time, Hán văn (漢文) or classical Chinese script were used, but very few people can translate (Dueld, Phan & Trinh, 2019). After 1945, Vietnam ocially used Chữ Quốc Ngữ or Latin script of the Vietnamese language. Hence, classical Chinese is no longer used, and Mường intellectuals began to adapt Chữ Quốc Ngữ to record their language (ibid). Although Vietnamese and Mường language are close in origin, similar phonology including phonemes and tones, and according to Ethnologue, 70% of Mường are shared with Vietnamese, there are many particular sounds in Mường that do not exist in Vietnamese. For instance, w (wò̒) in Khwắn - cigarette, kwa - we, consonant blends tl (tl̒), kl, hr..., the last “L" syllable such as mâl - cloud, păl - bay, kâl - tree… (Ferlus, 2004; Vuong, 2013). Ferlus also pointed out that the “grave-lowering" tone (thanh huyền) in Mường is less signicant than in Vietnamese. Due to the lack of consensus orthography, each author has his different way of depicting the sound of words, which leads to the reality that only the writer can read and understand what they have written down (Lewis, 2009). Cultural heritages, written documents, etc., may be misread by successive generations (ibid).

The need for a script to record the Mường language has been conceived ever since the 1960s. However, due to the interruption of war and especially controversy among the Mường people themselves, it is unattainable to meet an agreement on which dialect of Mường is considered as standard or at least have the most shared feature among all (Vuong, Nguyen 2013).

In September 2016, the People's Committee of Hoà Bình province adopted resolution 2295/QĐ-UBND, specifying a new Mường alphabet by Professor Nguyễn Văn Khang to be used within the province. Hoa Binh is the region chosen to implement this project since this is the origin of the ethnic Mường (Lebar, Gerald & John, 1964). The construction of the Mường script must be primarily based on the characteristics of the common Mường and pay attention to the specific traits of its dialects (Phan, 2010). This specic Mường script is built on the foundation of Chữ Quốc Ngữ and has taken into account the close-knitting relationship of Mường and Vietnamese to avoid making Mường too alien for learners. The alphabet consists of 28 letters and four tone marks with additional descriptions on orthography (Hoà Bình People's Committee 2016). Nevertheless, the script is facing the recognition of the Mường people and its practicality. All need time to prove.

Apart from the Mường script from Hoà Bình, there is the idea of using Chữ Nôm (Nôm script) to record Mường, published in mid-2020. However, it has encountered much controversy since Chữ Nôm is an ancient hieroglyph, challenging to write and learn, problematic to store on digital platforms (Nguyen, 2020).

Policy Recommendation

The future of reviving Mường is now clearer after the publishing of Hoà Bình Mường alphabet. With the mission to preserve and universalize the culture and language of Mường, Hoà Bình province has promulgated Plan No. 118/KH-UBND for training, teaching and learning the language Mường and the new Mường alphabet in the period of 2018 - 2025, vision to 2035. In 2022, the alphabet will go through perfecting and pilot teaching for students from grades 1 to 6 (Hoà Bình People's Committee 2016). In the near future, the need to learn the mother ethnic language of Mường will be met (Through Trần Trí Dõi research data, 73% of ethnic people wish their mother tongue will be taught at schools). Families of Mường should now prepare their children for the foundation of the Mường language to communicate freely in daily basis. It is also recommended that a set of type keyboard specically for Mường should be developed so that communities of Mường could have Mường as a language option on online newspapers and other media channels, rst is to enrich resources and materials of Mường, second is to popularize the culture and the new alphabet. Furthermore, regions of Mường concentrated residential may require their ocers to acquire a certain level of Mường language. Therefore, by having a shared alphabet, language tests and certicates can be designed to meet the need for recognition.

Conclusion

There is still a tough battle for the preservation and development of the Mường in specic and ethnic indigenous languages in general. However, thanks to the efforts of the government and the attitudes of the Mường community towards their language, this beautiful language can now see a brighter future. Soon, classical works of literature, poems, proverbs, etc. of Mường epic history will revive and remain strong.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Do, Q 2018, ‘Phát triển chữ Mường để hội nhập văn hóa thế giới', [Developing Muong script for world cultural integration], Hòa Bình Newspaper, 3 March, viewed on 20th August 2021.

Dueld, N, Phan, T, & Trinh, T (eds) 2019, Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Vietnamese Linguistics, John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam/Philadelphia. Viewed on 17th August 2021.

Ferlus, M 2004, ‘The origin of tones in Viet-Muong’, In Somsonge Burusphat (ed.), Papers from the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 2001, 297–313. Tempe, Arizona: Arizona State University Programme for Southeast Asian Studies Monograph Series Press. Viewed on 16th August 2021.

John D, Phan 2011, ‘Muong is not a subgroup: Phonological evidence for a paraphyletic taxon in the Viet-Muong sub-family,’ Mon-Khmer Studies: A Journal of Southeast Asian Linguistics and Languages, vol.40, pp. 1-18. Viewed on 15th August 2021.

Lebar, Frank, M, Gerald, C. H & John, K. M 1964, Ethnic Groups Of Mainland Southeast Asia, New Haven: Human Relations Area Files Press.

Le Monde 2003, ‘L'Unesco, dernière tribune d'une langue oubliée’, [UNESCO, the last forum of a forgotten language], Le Monde, 1 April, viewed on 20th August 2021.

Lewis, M. P. 2009. Ethnologue, Ethnologue: Languages of the World, SIL International.

Ngo, H, Le, H & Perrin, Y 2021, The Muong People: proud of their roots, Hoa Binh College of Education. Viewed on 15th August 2021.

Nguyen, P 2020, Trao đổi một số điều về bài Một thể nghiệm chữ Nôm Mường [ An experiment in Nom Muong script, discuss], Hán Nôm journal, vol. 3, pp. 59 - 61. viewed on 20th August 2021.

Taylor, K. W. 2001, On Being Muonged, Asian Ethnicity, Vol. 2, Issue 1, pp. 25-34. Viewed on 15th August 2021.

Tran, D 2003, Status of language education in the mountainous ethnic minority areas of three northern provinces of Vietnam - Recommendations and solutions, Hanoi National University Press. Viewed on 17th August 2021.

Vuong, T, Nguyen, B 2013, Một vài nhận xét về mối quan hệ Mường Việt và quá trình phân hoá giữa tộc Mường và tộc Việt, [Some comments on the relationship between Muong Viet and the process of differentiation between the Muong and the Vietnamese], History Department, Hanoi National University Press. Viewed on 17th August 2021.

‘‘Bộ chữ dân tộc Mường tỉnh Hòa Bình là công cụ để bảo tồn và phát huy bản sắc ngôn ngữ - văn hóa Mường’, [The Muong ethnic script in Hoa Binh province is a tool to preserve and promote the Muong cultural and linguistic identity], Hoà Bình Provincial Committee Press, viewed on 20th August 2021.

“Quyết định về việc phê chuẩn bộ chữ dân tộc Mường tỉnh Hoà Bình”[Resolution adopting an alphabet for the Mường people of Hòa Bình Province (2295/QĐ-UBND)] . Hòa Bình: People's Committee of Hòa Bình Province, 8th September 2016.

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Special Thanks to:

Dr/ Lecturer Cường Nguyễn for the consultation.

Hà Thuý for the enormous help in citing and organizing collected information.