The Old Mon language might have been written in at least two scripts. The Old Mon script of
Dvaravati (present-day central Thailand), derived from
Grantha (Pallava), has conjecturally been dated to the 6th to 8th centuries AD. The second Old Mon script was used in what is now
Lower Burma (Lower Myanmar), and is believed to have been derived from
Kadamba or Grantha. According to mainstream colonial period scholarship, the Dvaravati script was the parent of Burma Mon, which in turn was the parent of the Old Burmese script, and the Old Mon script of
Haripunjaya (present-day northern Thailand). However, according to a minority view, the Burma Mon script was derived from the Old Burmese script and has no relation to the Dvaravati Mon script, based on the claim that there is a four century gap between the first appearance of the Burma Mon script and the last appearance of the Dvaravati Mon script. According to the then prevailing mainstream scholarship, Mon inscriptions from the Dvaravati period appeared in present-day northern Thailand and Laos. Such a distribution, in tandem with archaeological evidence of Mon presence and inscriptions in lower Burma, suggests a contiguous Mon cultural space in lower Burma and Thailand. In addition, there are specifically Mon features in Burmese that were carried over from the earliest Mon inscriptions. For instance, the vowel letter ⟨အ⟩ has been used in Mon as a zero-consonant letter to indicate words that begin with a glottal stop. This feature was first attested in Burmese in the 12th century, and after the 15th century, became default practice for writing native words beginning with a glottal stop. In contrast to Burmese, Mon only uses the zero-consonant letter for syllables which cannot be notated by a vowel letter. Although Mon of the Dvaravati inscriptions differ from Mon inscriptions of the early second millennium, orthographical conventions connect it to the Mon of the Dvaravati inscriptions and set it apart from other scripts used in the region. Given that Burmese is first attested during the Pagan era, the continuity of orthographical conventions in Mon inscriptions, and the differences between the
Pyu script and the script used to write Mon and Burmese, scholarly consensus attributes the origin of the Burmese script to Mon. Written Burmese is first attested in an inscription from 1035 CE, (or 984 CE, according to an 18th-century recast inscription). From then on, the Mon–Burmese script further developed in its two forms, while staying common to both languages, and only a few specific symbols differ between the Mon and Burmese variants of the script. The calligraphy of modern Mon script follows that of modern Burmese. Burmese calligraphy originally followed a square format but the cursive format took hold in the 17th century when popular writing led to the wider use of palm leaves and folded paper known as
parabaiks. The script has undergone considerable modification to suit the evolving phonology of the Burmese language, but additional letters and diacritics have been added to adapt it to other languages; the Shan and Karen alphabets, for example, require additional tone markers. The Mon–Burmese script has been borrowed and adapted twice by
Tai peoples. Around the 14th century, a model of the Mon–Burmese script from northern Thailand was adapted for religious purposes, to correctly write
Pali in full etymological spelling. This resulted in the
Tai Tham script, which can also be described as a homogenous group of script variants including the Tham Lao, Tham Lanna, Tham Lü and Tham Khün variants. Around the 15th or 16th centuries, the Mon–Burmese script was borrowed and adapted again to write a Tai language of northern Burma. This adaptation resulted in the
Shan alphabet,
Tai Le script,
Ahom script and
Khamti script. However, it is believed that the Ahom people had already adopted their script before migrating to the
Brahmaputra Valley in the 13th century. Furthermore, The scholar Daniels describes a Lik Tai script featured on a 1407
Ming dynasty scroll, which shows greater similarity to the
Ahom script than to the
Lik Tho Ngok (Tai Le) script. 201704051122b HNM, Lamphun,Wat Saen Khao Ho Inscription, Mon A+L, 12th Cent., Area of HNM, Lamphun.jpg|
Hariphunchai National Museum,
Lamphun, Thailand; Wat Saen Khao Ho Inscription, Mon alphabet and language 201704051123a HNM, Lamphun, Wat Ku Kut Inscription,Mon A+L, 12. Jh., Wat Cham Devi, Lamphun.jpg|Hariphunchai National Museum, Lamphun, Thailand; Wat Ku Kut Inscription, Mon alphabet and language Phra-Pathom1.jpg|The Phra Pathom Mon inscription Shwezigon-bell-inscription.jpg|The
Shwezigon Pagoda Bell Inscription Mon-inscription-from-Takaw-Kamain.jpg|Mon inscription on a Sima stone from Takaw-Kamain (
Bilu Island),
Mon State, Burma. Myittha-inscription-Mon1.jpg|Myittha inscription, Mon side Kaw-Hmu-Mon-inscription.jpg|Kaw-Hmu Mon inscription Kaw-Hmu-Mon-inscription-1.jpg|Kaw-Hmu Mon inscription == Languages ==