Muong

The Mường are a Ethnicity Vietnam and largest of the 53 officially recognized minorities, with a population estimated at 1,2 million people. They live the mountainous regions of the north of the country, in the province of Hoa Binh and the mountainous districts of the province of Thanh Hoa.

An etymology suggested for the name of " muong" muang is the Thai word which indicates a territorial division.

Muong are narrowly appatentés with the Viêt or Kinh. Certain ethnologists think that they remained in the mountains and evolved/moved independently of the Vietnamese soldier, whereas those migrated towards the lowlands of the north of current Vietnam and were subject to the influence of the Chinese following the Chinese invasion of the area into 111 before J. - C., under the emperor Wu Ti.

Mountain Muong and their neighbors Tày mutually influenced themselves on the cultural level. One can thus say that they are ethniquement and linguistically close to the Vietnamese soldier, but culturally and socially close to the Tày.

The language mường is close to the Vietnamese , with lequelle it belongs to the group known as of the Langues Vietnamese soldier-muong of the family of the austroasiatic Langues. The two languages have some 75% of their common basic vocabulary. The muong has a system of 5 or 6 let us tons homologous with that with Vietnamese. The muong in addition made many loans with the Chinese and the Langues tai. This seems to indicate that the two languages separated from the other Langues my-Khmer during the 1st millenium after J. - C., while the area was under Chinese domination.

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