Mongolian script

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Mongolian script
Type Alphabet
Languages Mongolian language
Evenk language
Created by Tatar-Tonga
Time period ca.1204 – today
Parent systems Proto-Canaanite alphabet
 → Phoenician alphabet
  → Aramaic alphabet
   → Syriac alphabet
    → Sogdian alphabet
     → Uyghur script
      → Mongolian script
Child systems Manchu script
Clear script
Vaghintara script
Unicode range U+1800 – U+18AF
ISO 15924 Mong
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

The classical Mongolian script (Mongolian: монгол бичиг, mongol bichig) was the first of many writing systems created for the Mongolian language. With only minor modification, it is used in Inner Mongolia in China to this day to write Mongolian and the Evenk language.

The script was created by the Uyghur scribe, Tatar-Tonga. He had been captured by the Mongols during a war against the Naimans around 1204, and Genghis Khan then ordered him to create a writing system for the Mongolian language. He did so by adapting the Uyghur alphabet, a descendant of the Syriac alphabet, via Sogdian. Its most salient feature is its vertical direction. It is one of the few vertical scripts written from left to right. Most other vertical writing systems are written right to left, but the medieval Uyghur alphabet and its descendants—the Mongolian, the Oirat Clear, the Manchu, and the Buryat alphabets—proceed from left to right. This is because the Uyghurs rotated their script 90 degrees counterclockwise to emulate the Chinese writing system.[citation needed]

In 1587, Ayuush Güüsh (Аюуш гүүш) devised a number of extra characters to transcribe the sounds of foreign languages like Tibetan, Chinese, and Sanskrit. This extension is known under the name Ali-Gali (Али-гали).

Contents

The word Monggol in the classic script.
The word Monggol in the classic script.

Characters take different shapes depending on their initial, medial, or final position within a word. In some cases, there are additional graphic variations, which are selected for better visual harmony with the subsequent character.

The alphabet fails to make several vowel (o/u, ö/ü, final a/e) and consonant (t/d, k/g, sometimes ž/y) distinctions of Mongolian that were not required for Uighur{source}. The result is somewhat comparable to the situation of English, which must represent 10 or more vowels with only 5 letters, and uses the digraph th for two distinct sounds. It's relatively rare that this leads to actual ambiguity, because the requirements of vowel harmony and syllable sequence usually determine the right choice.

Characters Transliteration Notes
initial medial final Latin[1] Cyrillic
Image:Mongol a head2.jpg Image:Mongol a middle 2.jpg Image:Mongol a tail 1.jpgImage:Mongol a tail 2.jpg a А Distinction usually by vowel harmony (see also q/γ and k/g below)
Image:Mongol e head.jpg e Э
Image:Mongol i head.jpg Image:Mongol i middle1.jpg[2]

Image:Mongol i middle2.jpg[3]

 Image:Mongol i tail2.jpg i, yi И,Й, Ы, Ь At end of word today often absorbed into preceding syllable
Image:Mongol o head.jpg Image:Mongol o middle.jpg Image:Mongol o tail.jpg o, u О, У Distinction depending on context.
Image:Mongol oe head.jpg Image:Mongol o middle.jpgImage:Mongol oe middle.jpg Image:Mongol o tail.jpgImage:Mongol oe tail.jpg ö, ü Ө, Ү Distinction depending on context.
Image:Mongol n head.jpg Image:Mongol n middle.jpg[4]

Image:Mongol a middle 2.jpg[5]

 Image:Mongol a tail 1.jpg n Н Distinction from medial and final a/e by position in syllable sequence.
Image:Mongol mng middle.jpg Image:Mongol ngt tail.jpg ng Н, НГ Only at end of word (medial for composites).

Transcribes Tibetan ང; Sanskrit ङ.
Image:Mongol b head.jpg Image:Mongol mbm middle.jpg‎ Image:Mongol b tail.jpg b Б, В
Image:Mongol p head.jpg Image:Mongol p middle.jpg‎ p П Only at the beginning of Mongolian words.

Transcribes Tibetan པ;
Image:Mongol q head.jpg Image:Mongol q middle.jpg Image:Mongol ga tail.jpg q Х Only with back vowels
Image:Mongol ga head.jpg Image:Mongol ga middle.jpgImage:Mongol q middle.jpg Image:Mongol ga tail.jpg Image:Mongol ga tail3.jpg γ Г Only with back vowels.

Between vowels today pronounced as long vowel.[6]
Image:Mongol k head.jpg Image:Mongol k middle.jpg Image:Mongol g tail.jpg k Х Only with front vowels.

g between vowels today pronounced as long vowel.[7]
g Г
Image:Mongol m head.jpg Image:Mongol m middle.jpg Image:Mongol m tail.jpg m М
Image:Mongol l head.jpg Image:Mongol l middle.jpg Image:Mongol l tail.jpg l Л
Image:Mongol s head.jpg Image:Mongol s middle.jpg Image:Mongol s tail.jpg s С
Image:Mongol sh head.jpg Image:Mongol sh middle.jpg Image:Mongol sh tail.jpg š Ш Pronunciation of this character hasn't changed.
Image:Mongol t head2.jpg Image:Mongol t middle.jpgImage:Mongol t middle2.jpgImage:Mongol t middle3.jpg Image:Mongol t tail.jpg t, d Т, Д Distinction depending on context.
Image:Mongol ac.jpg Image:Mongol ac.jpg č Ч, Ц Originally no distinction between /tʃ'/ and /ts'/, today by context.
Image:Mongol j1 head.jpg Image:Mongol j1 middle.jpg ǰ Ж, З Distinction by context.

Originally often interchanged with y below.
Image:Mongol y1 head.jpg Image:Mongol y1 middle.jpg Image:Mongol i tail2.jpg y Е, Ё, И, Ю, Я Part of diphthongs, although technically a consonant.
Image:Mongol r1 head.jpg Image:Mongol r1 middle.jpg Image:Mongol r tail2.jpg r Р Not normally at the beginning of words.[8]
Image:Mongol w head.jpg Image:Mongol w middle.jpg v В Transcribes Sanskrit व.
Image:Mongol f head.jpg Image:Mongol f middle.jpg‎ f Ф Medieval Mongolian didn't use this sound.
Image:Mongol kk head.jpg Image:Mongol kk middle.jpg ḳ К Transcribes Russian К.
Image:Mongol ts.jpg Image:Mongol ts.jpg (c) (ц) Transcribes Tibetan /ts'/ ཚ; Sanskrit छ.
Image:Mongol dz.jpg Image:Mongol dz.jpg (z) (з) Transcribes Tibetan /dz/ ཛ; Sanskrit ज.
Image:Mongol h head.jpg Image:Mongol h middle.jpg (h) Transcribes Tibetan /h/ ཧ, ྷ; Sanskrit ह.

Historical shapes Modern print type Transliterating first word:
Image:Mclassical mimic.jpg Image:Wikiclassicalmongol.jpg
 
Image:Mongol w head.jpg v
Image:Mongol i middle1.jpg　 i
Image:Mongol k middle.jpg k
Image:Mongol i middle1.jpg i
Image:Mongol p middle.jpg p
Image:Mongol a middle 2.jpg e
Image:Mongol t middle.jpg d
Image:Mongol i middle1.jpg i
Image:Mongol y1 middle.jpg y
Image:Mongol a tail 1.jpg a
  • transliteration: Vikipediya čilügetü nebterkei toli bičig bolai.
  • Cyrillic: Википедиа Чөлөөт Нэвтэрхий Толь Бичиг Болой.
  • Transcription: Vikipedia chölööt nevterkhii toli bichig boloi.
  • Literally: Wikipedia free omni-profound mirror scripture is.
  • Translation: Wikipedia is the free encyclopedia.

Main article: Clear script

In 1648, the Oirat Buddhist monk Zaya-pandita Namkhaijamco created this variation with the goal of bringing the written language closer to the actual pronunciation, and to make it easier to transcribe Tibetan and Sanskrit. The script was used by Kalmyks of Russia until 1924, when it was replaced by the Cyrillic alphabet. In Xinjiang, China the Oirat people still use it.

Another variant was developed in 1905 by a Buryat monk named Agvan Dorjiev (1854–1938). It was meant to also reduce ambiguity, and to support the Russian language in addition to Mongolian. The most significant change however was the elimination of the positional shape variations. All characters were based on the medial variant of the original Mongol script. After a few years Agvan-Dorjiev ran out of funds to further promote his invention, so that less than a dozen books were printed using it.

The Unicode Mongolian block is U+1800 – U+18AF.[9] It includes letters, digits and various punctuation marks for Mongolian, Todo script, Xibe, and Manchu, as well as extensions for transcribing Sanskrit and Tibetan.

  1. ^ Poppe, Nicolas Grammar of Written Mongolian 3rd ed. University of Washington, 1974.
  2. ^ Following a consonant, latin transliteration is i.
  3. ^ Following a vowel, latin transliteration is yi, with rare exceptions like naim (eight) or Naiman.
  4. ^ Character for front of syllable (n-).
  5. ^ Character for back of syllable (-n).
  6. ^ Examples: qa-γ-an (khan) is shortened to qaan. Some exceptions like tsa-g-aan (white) exist.
  7. ^ Example: de-g-er is shortened to deer. Some exceptions like ügüi (no) exist.
  8. ^ Transcribed foreign words usually get a vowel prepended. Example: Transcribing Русь (Russia) results in Oros.
  9. ^ Unicode block U+1800 – U+18AF; Mongolian.

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