Language and Literacy

Montagnard languages can be traced to the Mon-Khmer and the Malayo-Polynesian language groups. The first group includes the Bahnar, Koho, and the Mnong (or Bunong); the second group includes the Jarai and the Rhade. Within each group, the different tribes share some common language characteristics, such as root words and language structure.

Montagnard languages are not tonal like Vietnamese and may sound a little less alien to the ear of the English speaker. Language structure is relatively simple. The written scripts use the Roman alphabet with some diacritic marks.

Language Use

The first language of a Montagnard is that of his or her tribe. In areas with overlapping tribes or tribes with similar language patterns, people may be able to communicate across tribal languages without much difficulty. The government has outlawed the use of tribal languages in schools, and those who have had schooling can also speak some Vietnamese. Because there is now a large mainstream Vietnamese population in the Central Highlands, more Montagnards are learning Vietnamese, which is the language of government as well as commerce. However, many Montagnards have limited schooling and have lived in isolated conditions and, as a result, do not speak Vietnamese. A language preservation movement in the Highlands has also affected Vietnamese language use.

Older people (mainly men) who were involved with the U.S government during the war may speak some English. A few elderly people who were educated in French colonial times speak some French.

Literacy

Although there is evidence of French-educated Montagnards developing a written script for the native language early in the 20th century, major efforts were begun in the 1940s by American evangelical Protestant missionaries to help tribes develop written languages to read the Bible, and before 1975 missionary Bible schools were active in the highlands. Conscientious Montagnard Protestants, in particular, are likely to be literate in their native languages. Montagnards who attended school in Vietnam may have a rudimentary Vietnamese reading ability.

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