Mường

Mường (Tiếng Mường; ISO 639-3: mtq) is a Vietic language of the Austroasiatic family spoken chiefly by Mường communities in northern Vietnam, especially in Hòa Bình, Thanh Hóa, Phú Thọ, and neighboring provinces. It belongs to the Viet–Mường subgroup and is closely related to Vietnamese, with regular sound correspondences and much inherited vocabulary, but it comprises several regional varieties rather than one uniform form. Mường varieties are tonal; their tone inventories and phonetic realizations differ by region, and some preserve consonant distinctions or clusters lost in Vietnamese. The language is largely analytic, generally uses subject–verb–object order, and employs classifiers, particles, and serial verb constructions. Modern writing uses Latin-based orthographies modeled partly on Vietnamese, with regional standardization and literacy efforts supporting education, publishing, broadcasting, and cultural documentation.