Mal Language (MLF) – L1 & L2 Speakers, Status, Map, Endangered Level & Official Use (original) (raw)

Summary

Mal is a stable indigenous language of Laos and Thailand. It belongs to the Austro-Asiatic language family. Direct evidence is lacking, but the language is thought to be used as a first language by all in the ethnic community. It is not known to be taught in schools.

Dashboard

• Geography

Click and drag globe to rotate.

• Population

Details
This visualization shows the approximate size of this language community, using five general ranges for a quick visual sense of scale. Need exact figures? Upgrade to Essentials or Standard to see detailed population estimates for each language.

• Language Vitality

Indigenous Language Vitality CountBar chart showing vitality levels of indigenous languages in Laos.

1. Institutional
2. Stable
3. Endangered
4. Extinct
   Details
   This graph shows the vitality of Mal.

• Institutional — The language has been developed to the point that it is used and sustained by institutions beyond the home and community.
• Stable — The language is not being sustained by formal institutions, but it is still the norm in the home and community that all children learn and use the language.
• Endangered — It is no longer the norm that children learn and use this language.
• Extinct - The language is no longer used and no one retains a sense of ethnic identity associated with the language.
  These four summary levels have been derived by grouping levels in the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS), which is the more fine-grained scale that Ethnologue uses to assess the status of every language in terms of development versus endangerment; see Language Status for a description of the levels of that scale. See also the pages on Development and Endangerment for more discussion.

• Digital Language Support

Details
This graph shows the level of digital support for this language (as measured by the method described here.

• Still — this language shows no signs of digital support
• Emerging — the language has some content in digital form and/or encoding tools
• Ascending — the language has some spell checking or localized tools or machine translation as well
• Vital — the language is supported by multiple tools in all of the above categories and as well as some speech processing
• Thriving — the language has all of the above plus virtual assistants

Family

It belongs to the Austro-Asiatic language family.

Existing Content

• NT (1994–2015)
• Thanks for your interest in Ethnologue. This information is accessible only on our paid product plans.

Want to Know More?

Ethnologue Subscriptions

Looking for more detailed information about Mal? Upgrade to an Essentials or Standard subscription for unlimited access to Ethnologue’s complete collection of country and language profiles—featuring expert-vetted data, interactive maps, and statistics on over 7,000 languages worldwide.

Perfect for researchers, linguists, and anyone passionate about language diversity

View Subscriptions

Ethnologue Country Digests

Explore Mal and 85 other languages used in Laos with_Ethnologue: Languages of Laos_—a downloadable PDF document that provides detailed analysis presented in formats not available in the online version of Ethnologue. It includes:

• Comprehensive country overview.
• Statistical summaries by language status, size, and family.
• Alphabetical listing of languages in the country, with in-depth descriptions.
• Full-color language map(s) for visual reference.
• Listings by population, status, family, and region.
• Indexes of ISO 639 codes and alternate language names.

Want to explore more countries? Visit our online store for additional Ethnologue Country Digests!

Contributions

This section reports contributions that have been received for the Ethnologue description of this language. Please read the community norms page for more information on contributing.