The spread of Burmese language was accompanied by that of the Burmese . The was developed from either the Mon or the Pyu . Mainstream scholarship holds that the Burmese was developed from the Mon in 1058， a year after Anawrahta’s conquest of the Thaton Kingdom. But recent research argues that the Burmese may instead have been derived from the Pyu in the 10th century， and that the Burmese was the parent of the Burma Mon . The Mon found in Burma was sufficiently different from the older Mon found in the Mon homelands of Dvaravati or Haripunjaya （in presentday Thailand） with no archaeological evidence to prove any linkage between the two. On the other hand， the latest archaeological evidence dates the Burmese 58 to 109 years ahead of the Burma Mon . The earliest Burma Mon is dated to 1093 while the earliest Burmese is dated to 1035. Indeed， if a recast 18th century copy of an original stone inion is permissible as evidence， the Burmese had already been in use at least since 984 CE.
语言和文字：骠语、孟语、巴利语和梵语
蒲甘王国统治阶级的主要语言是缅甸语，这是一种与骠国语言和南诏统治阶级语言息息相关的藏缅语族语言。然而，语言传播到群众中的时间比蒲甘帝国成立时间落后了75～150年。早在蒲甘时代，骠人语和孟人语都是伊洛瓦底江流域的通用语，骠人语是上缅甸的主要语言，孟人语言则在蒲甘统治者当中享有盛名，他们用这种语言来题词，也许还用在法庭上。石刻证据表明，缅甸语成为王国的通用语，仅仅在12世纪初期，或许到了12世纪末期，官方的骠语和孟语就开始衰落了。孟语继续在下缅甸蓬勃发展，但骠语作为一种语言，早已在13世纪早期消失殆尽。
缅甸历史和缅甸语言的另一个重要发展表现在巴利语的兴起上，它是小乘佛教的仪式语言。早在骠国领域和蒲甘时代梵语的使用已经普遍盛行，在阿奴律陀皈依小乘佛教之后走向衰落。
缅甸语的传播是与缅甸文字的发展相辅相成的。缅甸文字有的来自骠语文字，有的来自孟语文字。主流学者认为，缅甸文字起源于孟语文字，那是在1058年阿奴律陀征服了萨通王国一年后。但最近的研究认为，缅甸文字可能起源于10世纪的骠国文字，缅甸文字是孟国文字之母。缅甸语中的孟语文字与那些在堕罗钵底王国或诃梨朋阇耶国（如今的泰国）的国土上找到的古老孟语文字有着天壤之别，没有考古证据可以证明两者之间有着任何关系。另一方面，最新的考古证据证明，缅甸文字的起源时间早于缅甸孟语58～109年。最早的缅甸孟语起源于1093年，最早的缅甸语文字则起源于1035年。事实上，如果一本有关石刻文字的18世纪改写本可以作为证据的话，那么缅甸语文字至少在984年就已经付诸于使用了。
Literature and art：Buddhist temples are the best schools
Whatever the origin of the Burmese may be， writing in Burmese was still a novelty in the 11th century. The Burmese became dominant in court only in the 12th century. For much of the Pagan period， written materials needed to produce large numbers of literate monks and students in the villages simply did not exist. Even in the 13th century， "the art of writing was then still in its infancy with the Burmans". Manus were rare and extremely costly. As late as 1273， a complete set of the Tripitake cost 3000 kyats of silver， which could buy over 2000 hectares of paddy fields. Literacy in Burmese， not to mention Pali， was the effective monopoly of the aristocracy and their monastic peers.
At Pagan and at main provincial centers， Buddhist temples supported an increasingly sophisticated Pali scholarship， which specialized in grammar and philosophical-psychological studies， and which reportedly won the admiration of Sinhalese experts. Besides religious texts， Pagan’s monks read works in a variety of languages on prosody， phonology， grammar， astrology， alchemy， and medicine， and developed an independent school of legal studies. Most students， and probably the leading monks and nuns， came from aristocratic families.
文学艺术：佛教寺庙是最好的学堂
无论缅甸语文字的起源如何，缅甸语的书写系统在11世纪依然显得很新颖。12世纪的时候，缅甸语文字在法庭上使用比较普遍。当时，在大部分的蒲甘时代的村庄里，用来培养大量识字的僧侣和学生的书面材料根本不存在，甚至到了13世纪，“缅甸人的写作艺术仍然处在起步阶段”。那时候手稿是罕见的，也是极其昂贵的。直到1273年，一套完整的《三藏经》需要花费3000缅币，这样的价钱可以买到2000多公顷稻田。在缅甸，精通文学已被贵族和他们的僧侣同行们垄断，更不用说在巴利了。
在蒲甘和主要省中心，佛教寺庙支持日益复杂的巴利文学习，他们专攻语法和哲学、心理学研究，并赢得了僧伽罗人专家的赞美。除了宗教经文，蒲甘的僧侣还阅读各种语言的韵律，音韵学、语法、占星术、炼金术、医药等书稿，还发展出一门独立的法律研究学。很多学生，以及牵头的僧尼，都出身于贵族家庭。