Austroasiatic language in the context of Khasi–Palaungic languages

The Vietnamese people (Vietnamese: người Việt, lit. 'Việt people') or the Kinh people (Vietnamese: người Kinh, lit. 'Metropolitan people'), also known as the Viet people or the Viets, are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to modern-day northern Vietnam and southern China who speak Vietnamese, the most widely spoken Austroasiatic language.

Vietnamese Kinh people account for 85.32% of the population of Vietnam in the 2019 census, and are officially designated and recognized as the Kinh people (người Kinh) to distinguish them from the other minority groups residing in the country such as the Hmong, Cham, or Mường. The Vietnamese are one of the four main groups of Vietic speakers in Vietnam, the others being the Mường, Thổ, and Chứt people. Diasporic descendants of the Vietnamese in China, known as the Gin people, are one of 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China, residing in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Khmer (/kəˈmɛər/ kə-MAIR; ខ្មែរ, UNGEGN: Khmêr [kʰmae]) is an Austroasiatic language spoken natively by the Khmer people and is an official language and national language of Cambodia. The language is also widely spoken by Khmer people in Eastern Thailand and Isan, Thailand, as well as in the Southeastern and Mekong Delta regions of Vietnam.

Khmer has been influenced considerably by Sanskrit and Pali especially in the royal and religious registers, through Hinduism and Buddhism, due to Old Khmer being the language of the historical empires of Chenla and Angkor.

The history of the Philippines dates from the earliest hominin activity in the archipelago at least by 709,000 years ago. Homo luzonensis, a species of archaic humans, was present on the island of Luzon at least by 134,000 years ago. The earliest known anatomically modern human was from Tabon Caves in Palawan dating about 47,000 years. Negrito groups were the first inhabitants to settle in the prehistoric Philippines. These were followed by Austroasiatics, Papuans, and Austronesians. By around 3000 BCE, seafaring Austronesians, who form the majority of the current population, migrated southward from Taiwan.

Scholars generally believe that these ethnic and social groups eventually developed into various settlements or polities with varying degrees of economic specialization, social stratification, and political organization. Some of these settlements (mostly those located on major river deltas) achieved such a scale of social complexity that some scholars believe they should be considered early states. This includes the predecessors of modern-day population centers such as Manila, Tondo, Pangasinan, Cebu, Panay, Bohol, Butuan, Cotabato, Lanao, Zamboanga and Sulu as well as some polities, such as Ma-i, whose possible location is either Mindoro or Laguna. These polities were influenced by Islamic, Indian, and Chinese cultures. Islam arrived from Arabia, while Indian Hindu-Buddhist religion, language, culture, literature and philosophy arrived from the Indian subcontinent . Some polities were Sinified tributary states allied to China. These small maritime states flourished from the 1st millennium. These kingdoms traded with what are now called China, India, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The remainder of the settlements were independent barangays allied with one of the larger states. These small states alternated from being part of or being influenced by larger Asian empires like the Ming dynasty, Majapahit and Brunei or rebelling and waging war against them.

The Mon language, formerly known as Peguan and Talaing, is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Mon people. Mon, like the related Khmer language, but unlike most languages in mainland Southeast Asia, is not tonal. The Mon language is a recognised indigenous language in Myanmar as well as an indigenous language of Thailand.

Mon was classified as a "vulnerable" language in UNESCO's 2010 Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger. The Mon language has faced assimilative pressures in both Myanmar and Thailand, where many individuals of Mon descent are now monolingual in Burmese or Thai respectively. In 2007, Mon speakers were estimated to number between 1,800,000 and 2 million. In Myanmar, the majority of Mon speakers live in Southern Myanmar, especially Mon State, followed by Tanintharyi Region and Kayin State.