The classical or traditional Mongolian script,[a] also known as the Qudum Mongγol bičig,[b][citation needed] was the first writing system created specifically for the Mongolian language, and was the most widespread until the introduction of Cyrillic in 1946. It is traditionally written in vertical lines Top-Down, right across the page. Derived from the Old Uyghur alphabet, Mongolian is a true alphabet, with separate letters for consonants and vowels. The Mongolian script has been adapted to write languages such as Oirat and Manchu. Alphabets based on this classical vertical script are used in Inner Mongolia and other parts of China to this day to write Mongolian, Xibe and experimentally, Evenki.
Computer operating systems have been slow to adopt support for the Mongolian script, and almost all have incomplete support or other text rendering difficulties.
Contents
1 History
2 Names
3 Overview
3.1 Sort orders
3.2 Vowel harmony
3.3 Separated final vowels
3.4 Separated suffixes
3.5 Compound names
3.6 Isolate citation forms
3.7 Notes on letter tables
4 Components
5 Vowels
5.1 ᠠ
5.2 ᠡ
5.3 ᠢ
5.4 ᠣ
5.5 ᠤ
5.6 ᠥ
5.7 ᠦ
5.8 ᠧ
5.9 Consecutive vowels
6 Native consonants
6.1 ᠨ
6.2 ᠩ
6.3 ᠪ
6.4 ᠫ
6.5 ᠬ (1/2)
6.6 ᠬ (2/2)
6.7 ᠭ (1/2)
6.8 ᠭ (2/2)
6.9 ᠮ
6.10 ᠯ
6.11 ᠰ
6.12 ᠱ
6.13 ᠲ
6.14 ᠳ
6.15 ᠴ
6.16 ᠵ
6.17 ᠶ
6.18 ᠷ
7 Foreign consonants
7.1 ᠸ
7.2 ᠹ
7.3 ᠺ
7.4 ᠻ
7.5 ᠼ
7.6 ᠽ
7.7 ᠾ
7.8 ᠿ
7.9 ᡀ
7.10 ᡁ
7.11 ᡂ
8 Punctuation
9 Numerals
10 Examples
10.1 Writing styles
10.2 Gallery
11 Child systems
11.1 Clear script (Oirat alphabet)
11.2 Manchu alphabet
11.3 Vagindra alphabet
11.4 Evenki alphabet
12 Additional characters
12.1 Galik characters
13 Unicode
13.1 Blocks
13.2 Font issues
13.2.1 Samples
14 See also
15 Notes
16 References
17 External links
History[edit]
The Stele of Yisüngge [ru], with the earliest known inscription in the Mongolian script.[1]:33
The Mongolian vertical script developed as an adaptation of the Old Uyghur alphabet for the Mongolian language.[2]:545 From the seventh and eighth to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Mongolian language separated into southern, eastern and western dialects. The principal documents from the period of the Middle Mongol language are: in the eastern dialect, the famous text The Secret History of the Mongols, monuments in the Square script, materials of the Chinese–Mongolian glossary of the fourteenth century, and materials of the Mongolian language of the middle period in Chinese transcription, etc.; in the western dialect, materials of the Arab–Mongolian and Persian–Mongolian dictionaries, Mongolian texts in Arabic transcription, etc.[3]:1–2 The main features of the period are that the vowels ï and i had lost their phonemic significance, creating the i phoneme (in the Chakhar dialect, the Standard Mongolian in Inner Mongolia, these vowels are still distinct); inter-vocal consonants γ/g, b/w had disappeared and the preliminary process of the formation of Mongolian long vowels had begun; the initial h was preserved in many words; grammatical categories were partially absent, etc. The development over this period explains why the Mongolian script looks like a vertical Arabic script (in particular the presence of the dot system).[3]:1–2
Eventually, minor concessions were made to the differences between the Uyghur and Mongol languages: In the 17th and 18th centuries, smoother and more angular versions of the letter tsadi became associated with [dʒ] and [tʃ] respectively, and in the 19th century, the Manchu hooked yodh was adopted for initial [j]. Zain was dropped as it was redundant for [s]. Various schools of orthography, some using diacritics, were developed to avoid ambiguity.[2]:545
Traditional Mongolian is written vertically from top to bottom, flowing in lines from left to right. The Old Uyghur script and its descendants, of which traditional Mongolian is one among Oirat Clear, Manchu, and Buryat are the only known vertical scripts written from left to right. This developed because the Uyghurs rotated their Sogdian-derived script, originally written right to left, 90 degrees counterclockwise to emulate Chinese writing, but without changing the relative orientation of the letters.[4][1]:36
The reed pen was the writing instrument of choice until the 18th century, when the brush took its place under Chinese influence.[5]:422 Pens were also historically made of wood, reed, bamboo, bone, bronze, or iron. Ink used was black or cinnabar red, and written with on birch bark, paper, cloths made of silk or cotton, and wooden or silver plates.[6]:80–81
Reed pens
Ink brushes
Writing implements of the Bogd Khan
Mongols learned their script as a syllabary, dividing the syllables into twelve different classes, based on the final phonemes of the syllables, all of which ended in vowels.[7]
The script remained in continuous use by Mongolian speakers in Inner Mongolia in People's Republic of China. In the Mongolian People's Republic, it was largely replaced by the Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet, although the vertical script remained in limited use. In March 2020, the Mongolian government announced plans to increase the use of the traditional Mongolian script and to use both Cyrillic and Mongolian script in official documents by 2025.[8][9][10]
Names[edit]
The traditional Mongolian script is known by a wide variety of names. Because of its similarity to the Old Uyghur alphabet, it became known as the Uigurjin Mongol script.[c] During the communist era, when Cyrillic became the official script for the Mongolian language, the traditional script became known as the Old Mongol script,[d] in contrast to the New script,[e] referring to Cyrillic. The name Old Mongol script stuck, and it is still known as such among the older generation, who didn't receive education in the new script.[citation needed]
Overview[edit]
The traditional or classical Mongolian alphabet, sometimes called Hudum 'traditional' in Oirat in contrast to the Clear script (Todo 'exact'), is the original form of the Mongolian script used to write the Mongolian language. It does not distinguish several vowels (o/u, ö/ü, final a/e) and consonants (syllable-initial t/d and k/g, sometimes ǰ/y) that were not required for Uyghur, which was the source of the Mongol (or Uyghur-Mongol) script.[4] The result is somewhat comparable to the situation of English, which must represent ten or more vowels with only five letters and uses the digraph th for two distinct sounds. Ambiguity is sometimes prevented by context, as the requirements of vowel harmony and syllable sequence usually indicate the correct sound. Moreover, as there are few words with an exactly identical spelling, actual ambiguities are rare for a reader who knows the orthography.
Letters have different forms depending on their position in a word: initial, medial, or final. In some cases, additional graphic variants are selected for visual harmony with the subsequent character.
The rules for writing below apply specifically for the Mongolian language, unless stated otherwise.
Sort orders[edit]
Traditional: n, q/k, γ/g, b, p, s, š, t, d, l, m, č...[11][12]:7
Modern: n, b, p, q/k, γ/g, m, l, s, š, t, d, č...[11][12]:7
Other modern orderings that apply to specific dictionaries also exist.[13]
Vowel harmony[edit]
Mongolian vowel harmony separates the vowels of words into three groups – two mutually exclusive and one neutral:
The back, male, masculine,[14]hard, or yang[15] vowels a, o, and u.
The front, female, feminine,[14]soft, or yin[15] vowels e, ö, and ü.
The neutral vowel i, able to appear in all words.
Any Mongolian word can contain the neutral vowel i, but only vowels from either of the other two groups. The vowel qualities of visually separated vowels and suffixes must likewise harmonize with those of the preceding word stem. Such suffixes are written with front or neutral vowels when preceded by a word stem containing only neutal vowels. Any of these rules might not apply for foreign words however.[3]:11, 35, 39[16]:10[17]:4[13]
Separated final vowels[edit]
Two examples of the two kinds of letter separation: with the suffix ‑un( ) and the final vowel ‑a( )
A separated final form of vowels a or e is common, and can appear at the end of a word, word stem, or suffix. This form requires a final-shaped preceding consonant and an inter-word gap in between. This gap can be transliterated with a hyphen. In digital typesetting, these forms are triggered by inserting a U+180EMONGOLIAN VOWEL SEPARATOR (HTML ᠎·MVS) between the consonant and vowel.[3]:30, 77[18]:42[1]:38–39[17]:27[19]:534–535
The presence or lack of a separated a or e can also indicate differences in meaning between different words (compare ᠬᠠᠷᠠ⟨?⟩qar‑a 'black' with ᠬᠠᠷᠠqara 'to look').[20]:3[19]:535
Its form could be confused with that of the identically shaped traditional dative-locative suffix ‑a/‑e exemplified further down. That form however, is more commonly found in older texts, and more commonly takes the forms of ⟨ᠲ᠋ᠤᠷ⟩tur/tür or ⟨ᠳ᠋ᠤᠷ⟩dur/dür instead.[16]:15[21][1]:46
Separated suffixes[edit]
1925 logo of Buryat–Mongolian newspaper ᠪᠤᠷᠢᠶᠠᠳ ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠤᠨ ᠦᠨᠡᠨ᠃Buriyad Mongγol‑un ünen 'Buryat-Mongol truth' with the suffix ᠤᠨ⟨?⟩‑un.
All case suffixes, as well as any plural suffixes consisting of one or two syllables are likewise separated by a preceding and hyphen-transliterated gap. In digital typesetting, this gap is represented by a U+202F NARROW NO-BREAK SPACE (HTML  ·NNBSP). A maximum of two case suffixes can be added to a stem.[3]:30, 73[16]:12[21][22][17]:28[19]:534
Single-letter vowel suffixes appear with the final-shaped forms of a/e, i, or u/ü,[3]:30 as in ᠭᠠᠵᠠᠷ ᠠ⟨?⟩γaǰar‑a 'to the country' and ᠡᠳᠦᠷ ᠡ⟨?⟩edür‑e 'on the day',[3]:39 or ᠤᠯᠤᠰ ᠢ⟨?⟩ulus‑i 'the state' etc.[3]:23 Multi-letter suffixes most often start with an initial- (consonants), medial- (vowels), or variant-shaped form (medial/variant-shaped u in the two-letter suffix ᠤᠨ⟨?⟩⟨⟩‑un/‑ün being exemplified in the adjacent newspaper logo).[3]:30[19]:27
Compound names[edit]
In the modern language, proper names (but not words) usually forms graphic compounds (such as those of ᠬᠠᠰᠡᠷᠳᠡᠨᠢQas'erdeni 'Jasper-jewel' or ᠬᠥᠬᠡᠬᠣᠲᠠKökeqota – the city of Hohhot). These also allow components of different harmonic classes to be joined together, and where the vowels of an added suffix will harmonize with those of the latter part of the compound. Ortographic peculiarities are most often retained, as with a preceding tooth or following shin of initial vowels: ᠮᠤᠤᠥ᠌ᠬᠢᠨMuu'ökin 'Bad Girl' (protective name). Medial t/d, in contrast, is not affected in this way.[3]:30[23]:92[1]:44[24]:88
Isolate citation forms[edit]
Isolate citation forms for syllables containing o, u, ö, and ü may in dictionaries appear without a final tail as in ⟨ᠪᠣ⟩bo/bu or ⟨ᠮᠣ᠋⟩mo/mu, and with a vertical tail as in ⟨ᠪᠥ᠋⟩bö/bü or ⟨ᠮᠥ᠋⟩mö/mü (as well as in transcriptions of Chinese syllables).[13][1]:39
Notes on letter tables[edit]
A dash indicates a non-applicable position for that letter.
Parentheses enclose glyphs or positions whose corresponding sounds are not found in native Mongolian words.
Palatalized phonemes have been excluded. These are conditioned by a following i.[18]:178
Components[edit]
Listed in the table below are script components (graphemes) that are recurring, contrasting, or both. The actual use and appearance of these may differ greatly between letterforms of different writing styles, however. For examples to compare between, see § Writing styles further down.
Transcribes Chakhar 6/ɑ/;[13][38] Khalkha /a/, /ə/, and /∅/.[18]:40–42
Medial and final forms may be distinguished from those of other tooth-shaped letters through: vowel harmony (e), the shape of adjacent consonants (see QA-q/k and GA-γ/g below), and position in syllable sequence (n, ng, q, γ, d).[21]
The final tail extends to the left after bow-shaped consonants (such as b, p, f, KA-g, and KHA-k), and to the right in all other cases.
ᠠ᠋ = medial form used after the junction in a proper name compound.[1]:44
Derived from Old Uyghur aleph, written twice for isolate and initial forms.[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 113[1]:35
Produced with A using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᠡ[edit]
Letter[3]:17, 18–19[2]:546
‑e
e
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
‑э
э
Cyrillic transliteration
—
ᠡ[g]
Isolate
ᠡ
Word-initial
ᠡ
Medial
ᠡ
Connected final
ᠡ⟨?⟩⟨⟩
—
Separated final
Ligatures[3]:22–23, 24–25[2]:546
be
pe
ke
ge
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
бэ
пэ
хэ
гэ
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠪᠡ[h]
ᠫᠡ
ᠬᠡ[i]
Isolate
ᠪᠡ
ᠫᠡ
ᠬᠡ
Word-initial
ᠪᠡ
ᠫᠡ
ᠬᠡ
Medial
ᠪᠡ
ᠫᠡ
ᠬᠡ
Final
Separated suffixes[note 2]
‑e
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
‑э
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠡ
Separated suffix-initial
ᠡ⟨?⟩⟨⟩
Separated suffix
Transcribes Chakhar /ə/;[13][38] Khalkha /i/, /e/, /ə/, and /∅/.[18]:40–42
Medial and final forms may be distinguished from those of other tooth-shaped letters through: vowel harmony (a) and its effect on the shape of a words consonants (see QA-q/k and GA-γ/g below), or position in syllable sequence (n, ng, d).[21]
The final tail extends to the left after bow-shaped consonants (such as b, p, QA-k, and GA-g), and to the right in all other cases.
ᠡ᠋ = a traditional initial form.[41]:6
Derived from Old Uyghur aleph.[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 113[1]:35
Produced with E using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᠢ[edit]
Letter[3]:17, 19[2]:546
i
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
и
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠢ
Isolate
ᠢ
Word-initial
ᠢ
Medial (syllable-initial)
[j]
Medial (syllable-final)
ᠢ
Final
Ligatures[3]:22–23, 24–25[2]:546
bi
pi
ki
gi
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
би
пи
хи
ги
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠪᠢ[k]
ᠫᠢ
ᠬᠢ[l]
Isolate
ᠪᠢ
ᠫᠢ
ᠬᠢ
Word-initial
ᠪᠢ
ᠫᠢ
ᠬᠢ
Medial
ᠪᠢ
ᠫᠢ
ᠬᠢ
Final
Separated suffixes[note 3]
‑i
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
‑и
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠢ⟨?⟩⟨⟩
Separated suffix-initial
ᠢ⟨?⟩⟨⟩
Separated suffix
Transcribes Chakhar /i/ or /ɪ/;[13][38] Khalkha /i/, /ə/, and /∅/.[18]:40–42
Today often absorbed into a preceding syllable when at the end of a word.[citation needed]
Written medially with the single stroke after a consonant, and with two after a vowel (with rare exceptions like ᠨᠠᠢᠮᠠnaima 'eight' or ᠨᠠᠢᠮᠠᠨnaiman 'eight'/tribal name).[3]:31[16]:9, 39[1]:38
ᠢ᠋ = a handwritten Inner Mongolian variant on the sequence yi (as in ᠰᠠᠶ᠋ᠢᠨ / ᠰᠠᠶᠢᠨsayin 'good' being written ᠰᠠᠢ᠋ᠨsain).[16]:58[1]:38[42]:346
Also the medial form used after the junction in a proper name compound.[1]:44
Derived from Old Uyghur yodh, preceded by an aleph for isolate and initial forms.[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 113[1]:35
Produced with I using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᠣ[edit]
Letter[3]:17, 19–20[2]:546
o
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
о
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠣ[m]
Isolate
ᠣ
Word-initial
ᠣ
Medial
ᠣ
Final
Ligatures[3]:22–23[2]:546
bo
po
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
бо
по
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠪᠣ
ᠫᠣ
Isolate
ᠪᠣ
ᠫᠣ
Word-initial
ᠪᠣ
ᠫᠣ
Medial
ᠪᠣ
ᠫᠣ
Final
Transcribes Chakhar /ɔ/;[13][38] Khalkha /ɔ/, /ə/, and /∅/.[18]:40–42
Undistinguishable from u in native words, except when inferred by its placement.[3]:19[16]:9–10
ᠣ᠋ = the final form used in loanwords, as in ᠷᠠᠳᠢᠣ᠋radio (радиоradio).[27]:48[1]:36[36]
ᠣ᠋ = medial form used after the junction in a proper name compound.[1]:44
Derived from Old Uyghur waw, preceded by an aleph for isolate and initial forms.[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 113[1]:35
Produced with W using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᠤ[edit]
Letter[3]:17, 19–20[2]:546
u
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
у
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠤ
Isolate
ᠤ
Word-initial
ᠤ
Medial
ᠤ
Final
Ligatures[3]:22–23[2]:546
bu
pu
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
бу
пу
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠪᠤ
ᠫᠤ
Isolate
ᠪᠤ
ᠫᠤ
Word-initial
ᠪᠤ
ᠫᠤ
Medial
ᠪᠤ
ᠫᠤ
Final
Separated suffixes[note 4]
‑u
‑u
‑un
‑ud
‑uruγu
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
‑у
‑у
‑ун
‑уд
‑уругу
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠤ⟨?⟩
—
—
—
Suffix
—
ᠤᠨ⟨?⟩
ᠤᠳ⟨?⟩
—
—
ᠤᠷᠤᠭᠤ⟨?⟩
Transcribes Chakhar /ʊ/;[13][38] Khalkha /ʊ/, /ə/, and /∅/.[18]:40–42
Undistinguishable from o in native words, except when inferred by its placement.[3]:19[16]:9–10
ᠤ᠋ = medial form used after the junction in a proper name compound.[1]:44
Derived from Old Uyghur waw, preceded by an aleph for isolate and initial forms.[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 113[1]:35
Produced with V using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᠥ[edit]
Letter[3]:17, 20[2]:546
ö
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
ө
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠥ[n]
Isolate
ᠥ
Word-initial
ᠥ᠋
Medial (word-initial syllable)
ᠥ
Medial (subsequent syllables)
ᠥ
Final
Ligatures[3]:22–23, 24–25[2]:546
bö
pö
kö
gö
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
бө
пө
хө
гө
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠪᠥ
ᠫᠥ
ᠭᠥ⟨?⟩(w/otail)[o]
Isolate
ᠭᠥ᠋⟨?⟩(w/tail)
ᠪᠥ
ᠫᠥ
ᠭᠥ
Word-initial
ᠪᠥ
ᠫᠥ
ᠭᠥ
Medial
ᠪᠥ
ᠫᠥ
ᠭᠥ
Final
Transcribes Chakhar /o/;[13][38] Khalkha /o/[ɵ], /ə/, and /∅/.[18]:40–42
Undistinguishable from ü in native words, except when inferred by its placement.[3]:20[16]:9–10
ᠥ᠋ = an alternative final form; also used in loanwords.[1]:39
The syllable-initial medial form ᠥ᠋ is also used in non-initial syllables in proper name compounds,[1]:44 as well as in loanwords[citation needed]
ᠥ᠌ = medial form used after the junction in a proper name compound.[1]:44
Derived from Old Uyghur waw, followed by a yodh in word-initial syllables, and preceded by an aleph for isolate and initial forms.[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 113[1]:35
Produced with O using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᠦ[edit]
Letter[3]:17, 20[2]:546
ü
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
ү
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠦ[p]
Isolate
ᠦ
Word-initial
ᠦ᠋
Medial (word-initial syllable)
ᠦ
Medial (subsequent syllables)
ᠦ
Final
Ligatures[3]:22–23, 24–25[2]:546
bü
pü
kü
gü
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
бү
пү
хү
гү
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠪᠦ
ᠫᠦ
ᠭᠦ⟨?⟩(w/otail)[o]
Isolate
ᠭᠦ᠋⟨?⟩(w/tail)
ᠪᠦ
ᠫᠦ
ᠭᠦ
Word-initial
ᠪᠦ
ᠫᠦ
ᠭᠦ
Medial
ᠪᠦ
ᠫᠦ
ᠭᠦ
Final
Separated suffixes[note 5]
‑ü
‑ü
‑ün
‑ügei
‑üd
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
‑ү
‑ү
‑үн
‑үгэи
‑үд
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠦ⟨?⟩
—
—
—
Suffix
—
ᠦᠨ⟨?⟩
ᠦᠳ⟨?⟩
—
ᠦᠭᠡᠢ⟨?⟩
—
Transcribes Chakhar /u/;[13][38] Khalkha /u/, /ə/, and /∅/.[18]:40–42
Undistinguishable from ö in native words, except when inferred by its placement.[3]:20[16]:9–10
ᠦ᠋ = an alternative final form; also used in loanwords.[1]:39 Additionally used in native and modern Mongolian ᠰᠦ᠋⟨?⟩sü 'milk' (Classical Mongolian ᠰᠦ⟨?⟩⟨⟩sü or ᠰᠦᠨsün).[26]:741, 744[1]:39
The syllable-initial medial form ᠦ᠋ is also used in non-initial syllables in proper name compounds,[1]:44 as well as in loanwords[citation needed]
ᠦ᠌ = medial form used after the junction in a proper name compound.[1]:44
Derived from Old Uyghur waw, followed by a yodh in word-initial syllables, and preceded by an aleph for isolate and initial forms.[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 113[1]:35
Produced with U using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᠧ[edit]
Letter[1]:38–39
ē
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration[q]
е
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠧ
Isolate
ᠧ
Word-initial
ᠧ
Medial
ᠧ
Final
Example ligatures
fē
gē
kē
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
фе
ке
ке
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠹᠧ
ᠺᠧ
ᠻᠧ
Isolate
ᠹᠧ
ᠺᠧ
ᠻᠧ
Word-initial
ᠹᠧ
ᠺᠧ
ᠻᠧ
Medial
ᠹᠧ
ᠺᠧ
ᠻᠧ
Final
Stands in for e in loanwords,[1]:38[38] as in ᠧᠦ᠋ᠷᠣᠫᠠēüropa (ЕвропYevrop).[27]:48[36]
Produced with ⇧ Shift+E using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
Consecutive vowels[edit]
Doubled vowels[3]:10, 30[16]:59[note 6]
ii
oo
uu
üü
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
ии
оо
уу
үү
Cyrillic transliteration
—
—
ᠤᠤ⟨?⟩⟨⟩[r]
Isolate
ᠣᠣ[s]
—
ᠤᠤ
Word-initial
ᠢᠢ
ᠣᠣ
Medial
—
—
ᠤᠤ[t]
Final
The doubled vowels ii, uu, and üü mark these as long. Medial oo is instead both used in a few words to mark the vowel as short, and to distinguish it from u.[3]:30
Diphthongs[3]:31–32[16]:58[18]:111[1]:41–42
[...]i
ai
ei
ii
oi
ui
—
üi
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
[...]и
аи
эи
ии
ои
уи
—
үи
Cyrillic transliteration
[u]
ᠠᡳ᠌
ᠡᡳ᠌
—
ᠣᡳ᠌
Word-initial
ᠠᡳ᠌
—
ᠣᡳ᠌
Medial
ᠠᠢ
—
ᠣᠢ
Final
Diphthongs, continued[3]:31–32
au
eü
u‑a
uu‑a
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
ау
эү
у‑а
уу‑а
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠠᠤ
—
—
—
Word-initial
ᠠᠤ
Medial
—
ᠤᠠ⟨?⟩⟨⟩[v]
ᠤᠤᠠ⟨?⟩
Final
Native consonants[edit]
ᠨ[edit]
Letter[3]:17, 20–21[2]:546[32]:212–213
n
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
н
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠨ
Word-initial
ᠨ᠋⟨?⟩⟨⟩
Medial (syllable-initial)
ᠨ⟨?⟩⟨⟩
Medial (syllable-final)
ᠨ
Final
C-V syllables[27]:8
n‑a
n‑e
na
ne
ni
no
nu
nö
nü
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
н‑а
н‑э
на
нэ
ни
но
ну
нө
нү
Cyrillic transliteration
—
ᠨᠠ
ᠨᠢ[w]
ᠨᠣ᠋
ᠨᠥ᠋
Isolate
ᠨᠠ
ᠨᠢ
ᠨᠣ
ᠨᠥ
Word-initial
ᠨᠠ
ᠨᠢ
ᠨᠣ
Medial
ᠨᠠ⟨?⟩⟨⟩
ᠨᠠ
ᠨᠢ
ᠨᠣ
Final
Separated suffixes[note 7]
‑na
‑ne
‑nu
‑nü
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
‑на
‑нэ
‑ну
‑нү
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠨᠠ
ᠨᠤ
Suffix-initial
Transcribes Chakhar /n/;[13][38] Khalkha /n/, and /ŋ/.[18]:40–42
Distinction from other tooth-shaped letters by position in syllable sequence.[citation needed]
Dotted before a vowel (attached or separated); undotted before a consonant (syllable-final) or a whitespace.[3]:20[2]:546[17]:6[13] Final dotted n is also found in modern Mongolian words.[1]:37
Derived from Old Uyghur nun.[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 114[1]:35
Produced with N using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
Derived from Old Uyghur nun-kaph digraph.[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 115[1]:35
Produced with ⇧ Shift+N using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᠪ[edit]
Letter[3]:(12), 17, 22[2]:546[32]:212–213
b
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
б
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠪ
Word-initial
ᠪ
Medial (syllable-initial)
Medial (syllable-final)
ᠪ
Final
C-V syllables[27]:16
ba
be
bi
bo
bu
bö
bü
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
ба
бэ
би
бо
бу
бө
бү
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠪᠠ[h]
ᠪᠢ[k]
ᠪᠣ
ᠪᠥ᠋
Isolate
ᠪᠠ
ᠪᠢ
ᠪᠣ
ᠪᠥ
Word-initial
ᠪᠠ
ᠪᠢ
ᠪᠣ
Medial
ᠪᠠ
ᠪᠢ
ᠪᠣ
Final
Separated suffixes[note 8]
‑ban
‑ben
‑bar
‑ber
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
‑бан
‑бэн
‑бар
‑бэр
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠪᠠᠨ
ᠪᠠᠷ
Suffixes
Transcribes Chakhar /b/;[13][38] Khalkha /p/, /w/, and /∅/.[18]:40–42
For Classical Mongolian, Latin v is used only for transcribing foreign words, so most в (v) in Mongolian Cyrillic correspond to б (b) in Classical Mongolian.[citation needed]
Derived from Old Uyghur pe.[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 115[1]:35
Produced with B using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
Syllable-initially undistinguishable from g.[3]:15, 24[16]:9
Derived from Old Uyghur kaph.[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 113, 115[1]:35
Produced with H using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᠭ (1/2)[edit]
Letter[3]:14, 17, 21–22[2]:546[32]:212–213
γ
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration[q]
г
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠭ
Word-initial
ᠭ᠋⟨?⟩⟨⟩
Medial (syllable-initial)
ᠭ⟨?⟩⟨⟩
Medial (syllable-final)
ᠭ
Final
C-V syllables[3]:15[27]:21
γ‑a
γ‑e
γa
γe
γi
γo
γu
γö
γü
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
г‑а
г‑э
га
гэ
ги
го
гу
гө
гү
Cyrillic transliteration
—
ᠭᠠ
—
ᠭᠣ᠋
—
Isolate
—
ᠭᠠ
—
ᠭᠣ
—
Word-initial
—
ᠭᠠ
—
ᠭᠣ
—
Medial
ᠭᠠ⟨?⟩⟨⟩
—
ᠭᠣ
—
Final
Transcribes Chakhar /ɣ/;[13] Khalkha /ɢ/, and /∅/.[18]:40–42
Dotted before a vowel (attached or separated); undotted before a consonant (syllable-final) or a whitespace.[3]:21[2]:546[17]:5[13]
May turn silent between two adjacent vowels, and merge these into a long vowel or diphthong.[3]:36–37[1]:7Qaγan (ᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ) 'Khagan' for instance, is read as Qaan unless reading classical literary Mongolian. Some exceptions like tsa-g-aan 'white' exist.[citation needed]
Derived from Old Uyghur merged gimel and heth.[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 113–115[1]:35
Produced with G using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
Syllable-initially undistinguishable from k.[3]:15, 24[16]:9 When it must be distinguished from k medially, it can be written twice (as in ᠥᠭᠭᠦᠭᠰᠡᠨöggügsen 'given', compared with ᠦᠬᠦᠭᠰᠡᠨükügsen 'dead').[16]:59[36]
Occurs word-initially with a consonant following it in loanwords, such as ᠭᠱᠠᠨ⟨?⟩gšan 'moment' (dotless š example), or ᠭᠷᠠᠮᠮ⟨?⟩gramm 'gram'.[3]:15, 32, 34[36] The final form is also found written like the bow-shaped Manchu final ᡴ᠋k.[1]:39
Emblem of the Inner Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party using bow-shaped final g in bičig
May turn silent between two adjacent vowels, and merge these into a long vowel or diphthong.[3]:36–37[1]:7Deger for instance, is read as deer. Some exceptions like ügüi 'no' exist.[citation needed]
Derived from Old Uyghur kaph.[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 113, 115[1]:35
Produced with G using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
Not occurring word-initially in native words.[16]:10
Forms a ligature with a preceding "bow"-shaped consonant in loanwords such as ᠪᠯᠠᠮᠠ⟨?⟩ blam-a 'lama' from Tibetan བླ་མ་ Wylie: bla-ma.[3]:15, 32[1]:36
Derived from Old Uyghur hooked resh.[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 113[1]:35
Produced with L using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᠰ[edit]
Letter[3]:13, 17, 23[2]:546[32]:212, 214
s
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
с
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠰ
Word-initial
ᠰ
Medial (syllable-initial)
Medial (syllable-final)
ᠰ
Final
C-V syllables[27]:41
s‑a
s‑e[44]
sa
se
si
so
su
sö
sü
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
с‑а
с‑э
са
сэ
си
со
су
сө
сү
Cyrillic transliteration
—
ᠰᠠ[ab]
ᠰᠢ
ᠰᠣ᠋
ᠰᠥ᠋
Isolate
ᠰᠠ
ᠰᠢ
ᠰᠣ
ᠰᠥ
Word-initial
ᠰᠠ
ᠰᠢ
ᠰᠣ
Medial
ᠰᠠ⟨?⟩⟨⟩
ᠰᠠ
ᠰᠢ
ᠰᠣ
Final
Transcribes Chakhar /s/, or /ʃ/ before i;[16]:58[13] Khalkha /s/, or /ʃ/ before i. Before a morpheme boundary however, there is no change of s to /ʃ/ before an i.[16]:84
Derived from Old Uyghur merged samekh and shin.[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 113[1]:35
Produced with S using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
Syllable-initially undistinguishable from d in native words.[3]:23[16]:9[13]
Derived from Old Uyghur taw (initial) and lamedh (medial).[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 113[1]:35
Positional variants on taw ⟨ᠲ/ᠲ᠋/ᠲ⟩ are used consistently for t in foreign words.[3]:23[1]:37
Produced with T using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᠳ[edit]
Letter[3]:13, 17, 23[2]:546[32]:212, 214
d
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
д
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠳ
Word-initial
ᠳ᠋⟨?⟩⟨⟩
Medial (syllable-initial)
ᠳ⟨?⟩⟨⟩
Medial (syllable-final)
ᠳ
Final
C-V syllables[27]:31
da
de
di
do
du
dö
dü
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
да
дэ
ди
до
ду
дө
дү
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠳᠠ[ae]
ᠳᠢ
ᠳᠣ᠋
ᠳᠥ᠋
Isolate
ᠳ᠋ᠣ᠋
ᠳ᠋ᠥ᠋
—
ᠳ᠋ᠤ[af]
—
ᠳ᠋ᠦ[af]
ᠳᠠ
ᠳᠢ
ᠳᠣ
ᠳᠥ
Word-initial
ᠳᠠ
ᠳᠢ
ᠳᠣ
Medial
ᠳᠠ
ᠳᠢ
ᠳᠣ
Final
Separated suffixes[note 12]
‑d
‑da
‑de
‑du
‑dü
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
‑д
‑да
‑дэ
‑ду
‑дү
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠳᠠ⟨?⟩
ᠳᠤ⟨?⟩
Suffix-initial
Transcribes Chakhar /d/;[13][38] Khalkha /t/, and /tʰ/.[18]:40–42
Syllable-initially undistinguishable from t in native words.[3]:23[16]:9[13] When it must be distinguished from t medially, it can be written twice, and with both medial forms (as in ᠬᠤᠳᠳᠤᠭqudduγ 'well', compared with ᠬᠤᠲᠤᠭqutuγ 'holy').[16]:59[36] Alternatively, a dot is sometimes used to the right of the letter in 19th and 20th century manuscripts.[3]:26
The belly-tooth-shaped form is used before consonants (syllable-final), the other before vowels.[16]:58[17]:5
Derived from Old Uyghur taw (initial, belly-tooth-shaped medial, and final) and lamedh (other medial form).[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 113[1]:35
Positional variants on lamedh ⟨ᠳ᠋/ᠲ/ᠳ᠋⟩ are used consistently for d in foreign words.[3]:23 (As in ᠳ᠋ᠧᠩdēng / дэнden, ᠳᠡᠳ᠋ded / дэдded, or ᠡᠳ᠋ed / эдed).[36]
Produced with D using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᠴ[edit]
Letter[3]:13, 17[2]:546[32]:212, 214
č
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
ч
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠴ
Word-initial
ᠴ
Medial (syllable-initial)
—
Medial (syllable-final)
(ᠴ)
Final
C-V syllables[27]:38
ča
če
či
čo
ču
čö
čü
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
ча
чэ
чи
чо
чу
чө
чү
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠴᠠ
ᠴᠢ[ag]
ᠴᠣ᠋
ᠴᠤ[ah]
ᠴᠥ᠋
Isolate
ᠴᠣ[ah]
—
ᠴᠦ[ah]
ᠴᠠ
ᠴᠢ
ᠴᠣ
ᠴᠥ
Word-initial
ᠴᠠ
ᠴᠢ
ᠴᠣ
Medial
ᠴᠠ
ᠴᠢ
ᠴᠣ
Final
Transcribes Chakhar /t͡ʃ/;[13][38] Khalkha /t͡ʃʰ/, and /t͡sʰ/ (Mongolian Cyrillic ч, and ц, respectively).[13]:§ 1.2[20]:2
In Buryat, a derived letter with two dots on the right ⟨ᡸ; ⟩ is used in places where č is pronounced as š.[45]
Derived from Old Uyghur (through early Mongolian) tsade.[16]:59[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 113[1]:35
Produced with Q using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᠵ[edit]
Letter[3]:13, 17, 24[2]:546[32]:212, 214
ǰ
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration[q]
ж
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠵ
Word-initial
ᠵ
Medial (syllable-initial)
—
Medial (syllable-final)
(ᠵ)
Final
C-V syllables[27]:28
ǰ‑a
ǰ‑e
ǰa
ǰe
ǰi
ǰo
ǰu
ǰö
ǰü
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
ж‑а
ж‑э
жа
жэ
жи
жо
жу
жө
жү
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠵᠠ⟨?⟩⟨⟩[ai]
ᠵᠠ[aj]
ᠵᠢ[ak]
ᠵᠣ᠋
ᠵᠥ᠋
Isolate
ᠵᠣ[al]
—
—
ᠵᠠ
ᠵᠢ
ᠵᠣ
ᠵᠥ
Word-initial
ᠵᠠ
ᠵᠢ
ᠵᠣ
Medial
ᠵᠠ
ᠵᠢ
ᠵᠣ
Final
Transcribes Chakhar /d͡ʒ/;[13][38] Khalkha /d͡ʒ/, and d͡z (Mongolian Cyrillic ж, and з, respectively).[13]:§ 1.2[20]:2
Derived from Old Uyghur yodh (initial), and Old Uyghur (through early Mongolian) tsade (medial).[16]:59[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 113[1]:35
Produced with J using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
Not occurring word-initially except in loanwords.[3]:14 Transcribed foreign words usually get a vowel prepended; transcribing Русь (Russia) results in ᠣᠷᠤᠰOros.[citation needed]
Derived from Old Uyghur resh.[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 113[1]:35
Produced with R using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
Foreign consonants[edit]
A KFC in Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia, China, with a trilingual sign in Chinese, Mongolian and English
From left to right : Phagspa, Lantsa, Tibetan, Mongolian, Chinese and Cyrillic
ᠸ[edit]
Letter[1]:38[27]:44–45
w
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration[q]
в
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠸ[am]
Word-initial
ᠸ[an]
Medial (syllable-initial)
Medial (syllable-final)
ᠸ⟨?⟩⟨ᠧ⟩[ao]
Final
C-V syllables[27]:45
w‑a
w‑e[ap]
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
в‑а
в‑э
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠸᠠ⟨?⟩⟨⟩[aq]
Final
Transcribes Chakhar /w/;[13][38]
Used to transcribe foreign words (originally for v in Sanskrit व /va/). Transcribes /w/ in Tibetan ཝ /wa/;[47]:254[3]:28[39]:113 Old Uyghur and Chinese loanwords.[1]:34–35
Derived from Old Uyghur bet,[2]:539–540, 545–546[39]:111, 113 and "waw" (before a separated vowel).[citation needed]
Produced with ⇧ Shift+W using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᠹ[edit]
Letter[27]:45
f
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
ф
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠹ[ar]
Word-initial
ᠹ
Medial
ᠹ
Final
Ligatures[27]:45
fa
fē
fi
fo
fü
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
фа
фе
фи
фо
фү
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠹᠠ
ᠹᠧ
ᠹᠢ
ᠹᠣ
ᠹᠦ᠋
Isolate
ᠹᠠ
ᠹᠧ
ᠹᠢ
ᠹᠣ
ᠹᠦ
Word-initial
ᠹᠠ
ᠹᠧ
ᠹᠢ
ᠹᠣ
ᠹᠦ᠋
Medial
ᠹᠠ
ᠹᠧ
ᠹᠢ
ᠹᠣ
ᠹᠦ᠋
Final
Transcribes Chakhar /f/;[13][38]
Used to transcribe foreign words.
Transcribes /pʰ/ in Tibetan ཕ /pʰa/.[47]:96, 247[3]:28
Galik letter, derived from Mongolian b.[1]:35
Produced with F using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᠺ[edit]
Letter
g
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration[q]
к
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠺ
Word-initial
ᠺ
Medial
ᠺ
Final
Ligatures
ga
gē
gi
go
gü
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
ка
ке
ки
ко
кү
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠺᠠ
ᠺᠧ
ᠺᠢ
ᠺᠣ
ᠺᠦ᠋⟨?⟩(w/tail)[as]
Isolate
ᠺᠠ
ᠺᠧ
ᠺᠢ
ᠺᠣ
ᠺᠦ
Word-initial
ᠺᠠ
ᠺᠧ
ᠺᠢ
ᠺᠣ
ᠺᠦ᠋⟨?⟩(w/yodh)[at]
Medial
ᠺᠠ
ᠺᠧ
ᠺᠢ
ᠺᠣ
ᠺᠦ᠋⟨?⟩(w/tail)[au]
Final
Transcribes Chakhar /k/;[13][38]
Used to transcribe foreign words (originally for g in Tibetan ག /ga/; Sanskrit ग /ga/).[47]:87, 244, 251[3]:28
Galik letter.[16]:59–60
Produced with K using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᠻ[edit]
Letter[27]:46
k
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration[q]
к
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠻ
Word-initial
ᠻ
Medial
ᠻ
Final
Ligatures[27]:46
ka
kē
ki
ko
kü
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
ка
ке
ки
ко
кү
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠻᠠ
ᠻᠧ
ᠻᠢ
ᠻᠣ
ᠻᠦ᠋
Isolate
ᠻᠠ
ᠻᠧ
ᠻᠢ
ᠻᠣ
ᠻᠦ
Word-initial
ᠻᠠ
ᠻᠧ
ᠻᠢ
ᠻᠣ
ᠻᠦ᠋
Medial
ᠻᠠ
ᠻᠧ
ᠻᠢ
ᠻᠣ
ᠻᠦ᠋
Final
Used to transcribe foreign words (originally for kʰ in Tibetan ཁ /kʰa/; Sanskrit ख /kha/).[47]:86, 244, 251[3]:28
Produced with ⇧ Shift+K using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᠼ[edit]
Letter[27]:46
c
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
ц
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠼ[av]
Word-initial
ᠼ[aw]
Medial
ᠼ[ax]
Final
Transcribes Chakhar /t͡s/;[13][38]
Used to transcribe foreign words (originally for tsʰ in Tibetan ཚ /tsʰa/; Sanskrit छ /cha/).[47]:89, 144, 245, 254[3]:28
Galik letter, derived from Preclassical Mongolian tsadeč/ǰ ⟨ᠴ~ᠵ⟩.[1]:35
Produced with C using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᠽ[edit]
Letter[27]:46
z
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
з
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠽ[ay]
Word-initial
ᠽ[az]
Medial
ᠽ[ba]
Final
Transcribes Chakhar /d͡z/;[13][38]
Used to transcribe foreign words (originally for dz in Tibetan ཛ /dza/; Sanskrit ज /ja/).[47]:89, 144, 245, 254[3]:28
Galik letter, derived from Preclassical Mongolian tsadeč/ǰ ⟨ᠴ~ᠵ⟩.[1]:35
Produced with Z using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᠾ[edit]
Letter[27]:47
h
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
х
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠾ[bb]
Word-initial
ᠾ
Medial
ᠾ
Final
Transcribes Chakhar /h/[x];[13][38]
Used to transcribe foreign words (originally for h in Tibetan ཧ /ha/, ྷ /-ha/; Sanskrit ह /ha/).[47]:69, 102, 194, 244–249, 255[3]:27–28[16]:59
Galik letter, borrowed from the Tibetan alphabet, and preceded by an aleph for initial form.[16]:59–60[2]:545–546[1]:35
Produced with ⇧ Shift+H using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᠿ[edit]
Letter[27]:47
ž
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
ж
Cyrillic transliteration
ᠿ[bc]
Word-initial
—
Medial
—
Final
Transcribes Chakhar /ʐ/;[13][38]
Transcribes Chinese r/ɻ/ ([ɻ ~ ʐ];[bd] as in 日 Ri), and used in Inner Mongolia. Always followed by an i.[38]
Transliterates /ʒ/ in Tibetan ཞ /ʒa/.[47]:254 (紗)
Produced with ⇧ Shift+R using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᡀ[edit]
Letter[27]:47
lh
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
лх
Cyrillic transliteration
ᡀ
Word-initial
ᡀ
Medial
—
Final
Transcribes Tibetan lh (as in ᡀᠠᠰᠠLhasa).[27]:48[38][49]
Digraph composed of ᠯl and ᠾh.[24]:30 Transcribes /lh/ in Tibetan ལྷ /lha/.[47]:220[3]:27
Produced with ⇧ Shift+L using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᡁ[edit]
Letter
zh
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
з
Cyrillic transliteration
ᡁ
Word-initial
—
Medial
—
Final
Transcribes zh in the Chinese syllable zhi only, and used in Inner Mongolia.[1]:39[38]
Galik letter, borrowed from the Tibetan alphabet.[1]:35
Produced with ⇧ Shift+Z using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
ᡂ[edit]
Letter
ch
Scholarly/Scientific transliteration
ч
Cyrillic transliteration
ᡂ
Word-initial
—
Medial
—
Final
Transcribes ch in the Chinese syllable chi (as in 蚩Chī), and used in Inner Mongolia.[47]:91, 145, 153, 246[3]:28[38]
Produced with ⇧ Shift+C using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[40]
Punctuation[edit]
Further information: Mongolian Supplement (Unicode block)
Example of word-breaking the name Oyirad 'Oirat', 1604 manuscript
When written between words, punctuation marks use space on both sides of them. They can also appear at the very end of a line, regardless of where the preceding word ends.[23]:99 Red (cinnabar) ink is used in many manuscripts, either to symbolize emphasis or respect.[23]:241 Modern puncuation incorporates Western marks: parentheses; quotation, question, and exclamation marks; as well as precomposed ⁈ and ⁉.[19]:535–536
Examples of numbers 10 and 89: written horizontally on a stamp and vertically on a hillside, respectively
Mongolian numerals are either written from left to right, or from top to bottom.[3]:54[27]:9
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
᠐
᠑
᠒
᠓
᠔
᠕
᠖
᠗
᠘
᠙
Examples[edit]
Writing styles[edit]
As exemplified in this section, the shapes of glyphs may vary widely between different styles of writing and choice of medium with which to produce them. The development of written Mongolian can be divided into the three periods of pre-classical (beginning – 17th century), classical (16/17th century – 20th century), and modern (20th century onward):[26][3]:2–3, 17, 23, 25–26[16]:58–59[2]:539–540, 545–546[27]:62–63[39]:111, 113–114[18]:40–42, 100–101, 117[1]:34–37[50]:8–11[32]:211–215
Rounded letterforms tend to be more prevalent with handwritten styles (compare printed and handwritten arban 'ten').
Block‑printed
Pen-written form
Modern brush‑written form
Transliteration(s) & 'translation'
Uyghur Mong. form
semi-modern forms
arban 'ten'
Final letterforms with a right-pointing tail (such as those of a, e, n, q, γ, m, l, s, š, and d) may have the notch preceding it in printed form, written in a span between two extremes: from as a more or less tapered point, to a fully rounded curve in handwriting.
The long final tails of a, e, n, and d in the texts of pre-classical Mongolian can become elongated vertically to fill up the remainder of a line. Such tails are used consistently for these letters in the earliest 13th to 15th century Uyghur Mongolian style of texts.
Block‑printed
Pen-written forms
Modern brush‑written forms
Transliteration(s) & 'translation'
Uyghur Mong. forms
semi-modern forms
‑ača/‑eče
‑un/‑ün
‑ud/‑üd
ba 'and'
A hooked form of yodh was borrowed from the Manchu alphabet in the 19th century to distinguish initial y from ǰ. The handwritten form of final-shaped yodh (i, ǰ, y), can be greatly shortened in comparison with its initial and medial forms.
Block‑printed
Pen-written forms
Modern brush‑written forms
Transliteration(s) & 'translation'
Uyghur Mong. forms
semi-modern forms
‑i
‑yi
‑yin
sain/sayin 'good'
yeke 'great'
The definite status or function of diacritics were not established prior to classical Mongolian. As such, the dotted letters n, γ, and š, can be found sporadically dotted or altogether lacking them. Additionally, both q and γ could be (double-)dotted to identify them regardless of their sound values. Final dotted n is also found in modern Mongolian words. Any diacritical dots of γ and n can be offset downward from their respective letters (as in ᠭᠣᠣᠯγool and ᠭᠦᠨ ᠢ⟨?⟩ gün‑i).
When a bow-shaped consonant is followed by a vowel in Uyghur style text, said bow can be found to notably overlap it (see bi). A final b has, in its final pre-modern form, a bow-less final form as opposed to the common modern one:[1]:39
Block‑printed
Pen-written forms
Modern brush‑written forms
Transliteration(s) & 'translation'
Uyghur Mong. forms
semi-modern forms
‑u/‑ü
bi 'I'
ab (intensifying particle)
As in /kü, köke, ǰüg and separated a/e, two teeth can also make up the top-left part of an kaph (k/g) or aleph (a/e) in pre-classical texts. In back-vocalic words of Uyghur Mongolian, qi was used in place of ki, and can therefore be used to identify this stage of the written language. An example of this appears in the suffix ‑taqi/‑daqi.[18]:100, 117
Block‑printed
Pen-written forms
Modern brush‑written forms
Transliteration(s) & 'translation'
Uyghur Mong. forms
semi-modern forms
‑a/‑e
‑luγ‑a
köke 'blue'
ǰüg 'direction'
In pre-modern Mongolian, medial ml (ᠮᠯ) forms a ligature: .
A pre-modern variant form for final s consisted of a single tail (ᠰ᠋), derived from Old Uyghur zayin. It tended to be replaced by the mouth-shaped form and is no longer used. An early example of it is found in the name of Gengis Khan on the Stele of Yisüngge [ru]: ᠴᠢᠩᠭᠢᠰ᠋Činggis.
Block‑printed
Pen-written forms
Transliteration(s) & 'translation'
Uyghur Mong. forms
semi-modern forms
es(‑)e 'not, no', (negation)
ulus 'nation'
The lamedh (t or d) may appear simply as an oval loop or looped shin, or as more angular, with an either closed or open counter (as in ‑daki/‑deki or ‑dur/‑dür). As in metü, a Uyghur style word-medial t can sometimes be written with the pre-consonantal form otherwise used for d. Taw was applied to both initial t and d from the outset of the script's adoption. This was done in imitation of Old Uyghur which, however, had lacked the phoneme d in this position.
Block‑printed
Pen-written forms
Modern brush‑written forms
Transliteration(s) & 'translation'
Uyghur Mong. forms
semi-modern forms
[...]
toli 'mirror'
[...]
‑daki/‑deki
[...]
‑tur/‑tür
‑dur/‑dür
[...]
metü 'as'
The word čiγšabd in an Uyghur Mongolian style: exemplifying a dotted syllable-final γ, and a final bd ligature
Initial taw (t/d) and final mem (m) can likewise be found written quite explicitly loopy (as in nom 'book' and toli 'mirror'):
Block‑printed
Pen-written form
Transliteration(s) & 'translation'
Uyghur Mong. form
semi-modern forms
nom 'book'
Following the late classical Mongolian orthography of the 17th and 18th centuries, a smooth and angular tsade (ᠵ and ᠴ) has come to represent ǰ and č respectively. The tsade before this was used for both these phonemes, regardless of graphical variants, as no ǰ had existed in Old Uyghur:
Block-printed semi-modern form
Pen-written form
Transliteration(s) & 'translation'
qačar/γaǰar 'cheek/place'
As in sara and ‑dur/‑dür, a resh (of r, and sometimes of l) can appear as two teeth or crossed shins; adjacent, angled, attached to a shin and/or overlapping.
Block‑printed
Pen-written form
Modern brush‑written form
Transliteration(s) & 'translation'
Uyghur Mong. form
semi-modern forms
sara 'moon'
Wikipedia slogan
Manuscript
Type
Unicode
Transliteration (first word)
ᠸᠢᠺᠢᠫᠧᠳᠢᠶᠠ᠂ ᠴᠢᠯᠦᠭᠡᠲᠦ ᠨᠡᠪᠲᠡᠷᠬᠡᠢ ᠲᠣᠯᠢ ᠪᠢᠴᠢᠭ ᠪᠣᠯᠠᠢ᠃
ᠸᠢwi/vi
ᠺᠢgi/ki
ᠫᠧpē/pé
ᠲᠢdi
ᠶᠠya
Transliteration: Wikipēdiya čilügetü nebterkei toli bičig bolai.
Transcription: Vikipedia chölööt nevterkhii toli bichig boloi.
Gloss: Wikipedia free omni-profound mirror scripture is.
Translation: Wikipedia is the free encyclopedia.
Gallery[edit]
Folded script style on the coat of arms of Govisümber Province[5]:427
Mongolian calligraphy of the 13th century work Оюун Түлхүүр (Key of Intelligence)
''Mandukhai setsen khatan'' (film) [mn] title screen, 1988
Stele for Queen Mandukhai the Wise. See also: Mongolian inscriptions (Wikimedia Commons)
Cover page with printed hand-lettering in red, early 20th century
Postage stamp with words augmented with letters from the Manchu alphabet, 1932. See also: Stamps of Mongolia (Commons)
1 Mongolian tögrög, 1925. See also: Coins with Mongolian script (Commons)
Mongolian dollar with a long body of printed text, 1921
Imperial seal of the Bogd Khan, ca 1911. See also: Seals with Mongolian script (Commons)
Mixed Manchu–Mongolian text on a Paiza.
Poem composed and brush-written by Injinash, 19th century. See also: Mongolian calligraphy (Commons)
Mongolian Diamond Sutra manuscript, 19th century. See also: Manuscripts in Mongolian script (Commons)
Nogeoldae textbook in Korean and Mongolian, 18th century. See also: Documents in Mongolian (Commons)
Mongolian on the far left of a Yonghe Temple board in Beijing, 1722. See also: Signs in Mongolian script (Commons)
Letter from the Il-Khan Öljaitü to King Philip IV of France, 1305
Silver dirham from the reign of the Il-Khan Arghun, 1297
Imperial seal of Güyük Khan in letter to Pope Innocent IV, 1246
Child systems[edit]
The Mongol script has been the basis of alphabets for several languages. First, after overcoming the Uyghur script ductus, it was used for Mongolian itself.
Clear script (Oirat alphabet)[edit]
Main article: Clear script
In 1648, the Oirat Buddhist monk Zaya-pandita Namkhaijamco created this variation with the goals of bringing the written language closer to the actual pronunciation of Oirat and making it easier to transcribe Tibetan and Sanskrit. The script was used by the Kalmyks of Russia until 1924, when it was replaced by the Cyrillic alphabet. In Xinjiang, China, the Oirat people still use it.
Manchu alphabet[edit]
Main article: Manchu alphabet
The Manchu alphabet was developed from the Mongolian script in the early 17th century to write the Manchu language. A variant is still used to write Xibe. It is also used for Daur. Its folded variant may for example be found on Chinese Qing seals.
Vagindra alphabet[edit]
Main article: Vagindra script
Another alphabet, sometimes called Vagindra or Vaghintara, was created in 1905 by the Buryat monk Agvan Dorjiev (1854–1938). It was also meant to 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 letters were based on the medial variant of the original Mongol alphabet. Fewer than a dozen books were printed using it.[citation needed]
Evenki alphabet[edit]
Main article: Evenki alphabet
The Qing dynasty Qianlong Emperor erroneously identified the Khitan people and their language with the Solons, leading him to use the Solon language (Evenki) to "correct" Chinese character transcriptions of Khitan names in the History of Liao in his "Imperial Liao Jin Yuan Three Histories National Language Explanation" (欽定遼金元三史國語解/钦定辽金元三史国语解 Qīndìng Liáo Jīn Yuán Sānshǐ Guóyǔjiě) project. The Evenki words were written in the Manchu script in this work.
In the 1980s, an experimental alphabet for Evenki was created.
Additional characters[edit]
Galik characters[edit]
Main article: Galik alphabet
In 1587, the translator and scholar Ayuush Güüsh (Аюуш гүүш) created the Galik alphabet (Али-гали), inspired by the third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso. It primarily added extra characters for transcribing Tibetan and Sanskrit terms when translating religious texts, and later also from Chinese. Some of those characters are still in use today for writing foreign names (compare table above).[51]
Unicode[edit]
Mongolian script was added to the Unicode standard in September 1999 with the release of version 3.0. However, there are multiple design issues in Mongolian Unicode that have not been fixed until now.[when?][52] The model is extremely unstable[53] and the user group dislike the 1999 design.
The 1999 Mongolian script Unicode codes are duplicated and not searchable.
The 1999 Mongolian script Unicode model has multiple layers of FVS (free variation selectors), MVS, ZWJ, NNBSP, and those variation selections conflict with each other, which create incorrect results.[54] Furthermore, different vendors understood the definition of each FVS differently, and developed multiple applications in different standards.[55]
The Mongolian User Group is in a panic, and over 10,000 users signed up in 10 days in 2019 April to request local authority to fundamentally review the 1999 Unicode model.
Blocks[edit]
Main articles: Mongolian (Unicode block) and Mongolian Supplement (Unicode block)
The Unicode block for Mongolian is U+1800–U+18AF. It includes letters, digits and various punctuation marks for Hudum Mongolian, Todo Mongolian, Xibe (Manchu), Manchu proper, and Ali Gali, as well as extensions for transcribing Sanskrit and Tibetan.
Mongolian[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
A
B
C
D
E
F
U+180x
᠀
᠁
᠂
᠃
᠄
᠅
᠆
᠇
᠈
᠉
᠊
FV S1
FV S2
FV S3
MV S
U+181x
᠐
᠑
᠒
᠓
᠔
᠕
᠖
᠗
᠘
᠙
U+182x
ᠠ
ᠡ
ᠢ
ᠣ
ᠤ
ᠥ
ᠦ
ᠧ
ᠨ
ᠩ
ᠪ
ᠫ
ᠬ
ᠭ
ᠮ
ᠯ
U+183x
ᠰ
ᠱ
ᠲ
ᠳ
ᠴ
ᠵ
ᠶ
ᠷ
ᠸ
ᠹ
ᠺ
ᠻ
ᠼ
ᠽ
ᠾ
ᠿ
U+184x
ᡀ
ᡁ
ᡂ
ᡃ
ᡄ
ᡅ
ᡆ
ᡇ
ᡈ
ᡉ
ᡊ
ᡋ
ᡌ
ᡍ
ᡎ
ᡏ
U+185x
ᡐ
ᡑ
ᡒ
ᡓ
ᡔ
ᡕ
ᡖ
ᡗ
ᡘ
ᡙ
ᡚ
ᡛ
ᡜ
ᡝ
ᡞ
ᡟ
U+186x
ᡠ
ᡡ
ᡢ
ᡣ
ᡤ
ᡥ
ᡦ
ᡧ
ᡨ
ᡩ
ᡪ
ᡫ
ᡬ
ᡭ
ᡮ
ᡯ
U+187x
ᡰ
ᡱ
ᡲ
ᡳ
ᡴ
ᡵ
ᡶ
ᡷ
ᡸ
U+188x
ᢀ
ᢁ
ᢂ
ᢃ
ᢄ
ᢅ
ᢆ
ᢇ
ᢈ
ᢉ
ᢊ
ᢋ
ᢌ
ᢍ
ᢎ
ᢏ
U+189x
ᢐ
ᢑ
ᢒ
ᢓ
ᢔ
ᢕ
ᢖ
ᢗ
ᢘ
ᢙ
ᢚ
ᢛ
ᢜ
ᢝ
ᢞ
ᢟ
U+18Ax
ᢠ
ᢡ
ᢢ
ᢣ
ᢤ
ᢥ
ᢦ
ᢧ
ᢨ
ᢩ
ᢪ
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 13.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points
The Mongolian Supplement block (U+11660–U+1167F) was added to the Unicode Standard in June, 2016 with the release of version 9.0:
Mongolian Supplement[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
A
B
C
D
E
F
U+1166x
𑙠
𑙡
𑙢
𑙣
𑙤
𑙥
𑙦
𑙧
𑙨
𑙩
𑙪
𑙫
𑙬
U+1167x
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 13.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points
Font issues[edit]
Mongolian Wikipedia preview. A representation of what mn.wiki would look like if Mongolian script support was properly implemented. Mn.wiki already exists, but support has not been implemented. Not all text is "real Mongolian" — only the text and name of the article are, the rest of the text being English written in Mongolian script.
Although the Mongolian script has been defined in Unicode since 1999, there was no native support for Unicode Mongolian from the major vendors until the release of the Windows Vista operating system in 2007 and fonts need to be installed in Windows XP and Windows 2000 to show properly, and so Unicode Mongolian is not yet widely used. In China, legacy encodings such as the Private Use Areas (PUA) Unicode mappings and GB18030 mappings of the Menksoft IMEs (espc. Menksoft Mongolian IME) are more commonly used than Unicode for writing web pages and electronic documents in Mongolian. In addition, unlike the usual vertical format, computers tend to show the script in right-to-left lines by default.
The inclusion of a Unicode Mongolian font and keyboard layout in Windows Vista has meant that Unicode Mongolian is now gradually becoming more popular,[citation needed] but the complexity of the Unicode Mongolian encoding model and the lack of a clear definition for the use variation selectors are still barriers to its widespread adoption, as is the lack of support for inline vertical display. As of 2015 there are no fonts that successfully display all of Mongolian correctly when written in Unicode. A report published in 2011 revealed many shortcomings with automatic rendering in all three Unicode Mongolian fonts the authors surveyed, including Microsoft's Mongolian Baiti.[56]
Furthermore, Mongolian language support has suffered from buggy implementations: the initial version of Microsoft's Mongolian Baiti font (version 5.00) was, in the supplier's own words, "almost unusable",[57] and as of 2011 there remain some minor bugs with the rendering of suffixes in Firefox.[58] Other fonts, such as Monotype's Mongol Usug and Myatav Erdenechimeg's MongolianScript, suffer even more serious bugs.[56]
bičig as it should appear (without FVS; ᠪᠢᠴᠢᠭ)
In January 2013, Menksoft released several OpenType Mongolian fonts, delivered with its Menksoft Mongolian IME 2012. These fonts strictly follow Unicode standard, i.e. bichig is no longer realized as "B+I+CH+I+G+FVS2" (incorrect) but "B+I+CH+I+G" (correct), which is not done by Microsoft and Founder's Mongolian Baiti, Monotype's Mongol Usug, or Myatav Erdenechimeg's MongolianScript.[59] However, due to the impact of Mongolian Baiti, many still use the Microsoft defined incorrect realization "B+I+CH+I+G+FVS2", which results in an incorrect rendering in correctly-designed fonts like Menk Qagan Tig.
Mongolian script can be represented in LaTeX with the MonTeX package.[60]
Sometimes even if a font is installed the script may display as horizontal rather than vertical depending on the operating system or font.
Samples[edit]
The text samples below should match their image counterparts. This ensures that a text in Mongolian script is being rendered somewhat properly. The specific example letters given here are:
The separated final vowel ‑a or ‑e.
The initial consonant and vowel of separated suffixes ‑yin and ‑lüge, respectively.
The first vowel of the particle buu/büü.
The vowel harmony dependent letter pairs q/k and γ/g: see bilig.
The initial letter of the interrogative particle uu/üü.
The particle ǰ‑a.
Note that in some browsers, letters are rotated 90° counterclockwise. If an isolate letter a (ᠠ) resembles a 'W' and not a 'Σ', rotate the letters 90° clockwise.
Image
Text
Transliteration(s)
ᠠ
‑a/‑e
ᠶᠢᠨ
‑yin
ᠯᠦᠭᠡ
‑lüge
ᠪᠦᠦ
buu/büü
ᠪᠢᠯᠢᠭ
bilig
ᠦᠦ
uu/üü
ᠵᠠ
ǰ‑a
See also[edit]
Language portal
Mongolian writing systems
Mongolian script
Galik alphabet
Todo alphabet
ʼPhags-pa script
Horizontal square script
Soyombo script
Mongolian Latin alphabet
SASM/GNC romanization § Mongolian
Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet
Mongolian transliteration of Chinese characters
Sino–Mongolian Transliterations [zh]
Mongolian Braille
Mongolian Sign Language
Mongolian name
Notes[edit]
^In Mongolian script: ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯᠪᠢᠴᠢᠭ ⟨ ⟩ Mongγol bičig; in Mongolian Cyrillic: Монгол бичигMongol bichig
^In Mongolian script: ᠬᠤᠳᠤᠮᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯᠪᠢᠴᠢᠭ; Mongolian Cyrillic: Khalkha: Худам Монгол бичиг, Khudam Mongol bichig, Buryat: Худам Монгол бэшэг, Khudam Mongol besheg, Kalmyk: Хуудм Моңһл бичг, Xuudm Moñhl biçg
^Mongolian: Уйгуржин монгол бичигUigurjin mongol bichig
^Mongolian: Хуучин монгол бичигKhuuchin mongol bichig
^Mongolian: Шинэ үсэгShine üseg
^As in the interjection ᠠa (ааaa) 'a!, oh!, well!'.[26]:1
^ a bAs in the exclamation ⟨ᠠ᠋⟩a/e (аа/ээ/оо/өөaa/ee/oo/öö), or interjection ᠡe (ээee) 'oh!'.[26]:1, 284
^ a b cAs in ᠪᠠba (баba) 'and'.[26]:64[3]:22
^ a b cAs in ᠬᠡ/ᠬᠡᠭᠡ/ᠬᠡᠭᠡᠨke/kege/kegen (хээkhee) 'pattern, piping, design, stamp'.[26]:438, 442
^Stand-in for the correct (context-sensitive only) glyph.
^ a bAs in ᠪᠢbi (биbi) 'I'.[26]:101[3]:22
^ a b cSee the ᠬᠢ‑ki suffix.[26]:462
^As in ᠣо (ооoo) 'powder' in general; 'face powder'.[26]:598, 625
^As in ᠥ/ᠥᠭᠡö/öge (өөöö) 'fault; roughness, unevenness'.[26]:627, 630
^ a b c dAs in the strengthening (emphatic) ᠭᠦ⟨?⟩kü (хүүkhüü) particle,[26]:494[16]:46 or ᠬᠥ⟨?⟩/ᠬᠥᠭᠡkö/köge (хөөkhöö) 'soot; obstacle, hindrance; trouble', or 'ring of mail'.[26]:475, 478
^As in ᠡᠭᠦᠦ/ᠦegüü/ü (үүüü) 'wart; excrescence'.[26]:303, 995
^ a b c d e f gAlternative scholarly transliterations include those of native ng (ŋ), γ (ɣ), ǰ (j), and those of galik ē (é), w (v), g (k), and k (kh).[37]
^Interrogative uu/üü particle (subject to vowel harmony; уу/үү/юу/юүuu/üü/yuu/yuü) used after the predicate.[26]:437, 889, 1014[3]:172[16]:38[1]:53[24]:183 The positional variant ⟨ᠶᠤᠤ⟩yuu/yüü (юу/юүyuu/yuü) is only used in the modern language.[26]:0437[1]:53
^As in ᠣᠣ/ᠠᠭᠤᠤuu/aγuu (—/агуу —/aguu) 'vast, great[ly]' etc.[26]:18,889
^As in the prohibitive particle ᠪᠤᠤ()buu/büü (бүүbüü) 'don't'.[26]:141, 153[3]:166[16]:38 Compare with the conjunction ᠪᠤᠶᠤ():xiiibuyu (буюуbuyuu) 'or',[26]:132[16]:44 and ᠬᠦᠦküü (хүүkhüü) 'son, young boy'.[26]:509[27]:37
^Stand-in for the correct (context-sensitive only) glyph.
^As in the final diphthongs u-a and uu-a.[3]:31
^As in ᠨᠢni (ньni), a modern form used in place of ᠠᠨᠤanu and ᠢᠨᠤinu.[26]:46–47, 412, 577
^As in ᠬᠠ/ᠬᠠᠮᠢᠭᠠ⟨?⟩qa/qamiγ‑a (хааkhaa) 'where'.[26]:895, 923
^As in kö/хөө.[36]
^As in the exclamation ᠮᠠ/ᠮᠠᠢma/mai (ма(й)ma(i)) 'here, take it'.[26]:519, 522
^As in the intensifying ⟨ᠯᠠ⟩ / ᠡᠯᠡla/le / ele (лl) particle, or ᠯᠠla (лаа(н)laa(n)) 'candle'.[26]:308, 513
^As in ᠰᠠsa (сааsaa) 'paralysis, palsy'.[26]:653
^As in ᠱᠠša (шааshaa) 'crape, netting'.[26]:747
^As in ᠱᠣšo (шооshoo) 'dice, oracle bones'.[26]:754
^ a bAs in the second person singular/plural pronoun ᠲᠠta 'you',[26]:760[3]:85–86 or the intensifying ⟨ᠳᠠ⟩da/de (даа/дээdaa/dee) particle used after the predicate.[26]:211
^ a bSee the ⟨ ᠳᠦ⟩⟨?⟩‑du/‑dü suffix.[26]:270
^As in the second person singular pronoun ᠴᠢči (чиchi) 'thou, you'.[26]:174[3]:85–86
^ a b cAs in the strengthening/intensifying (emphatic) and concessive ⟨ᠴᠤ⟩ču/čü (чch) 'even, as for' particle,[26]:203[16]:46ᠴᠣ/ᠴᠣᠭᠤčo/čoγu (цооtsoo) 'through and through, completely',[26]:193, 195 or ᠴᠦčü (цүүtsüü) 'spike, bolt'.[26]:209
^[2]:546 As in ǰ‑a (за(а)za(a)) 'well', 'allright';[3]:24[32]:345[36] emphatic final;[16]:46, 59ǰ‑a particle expressing presumption, probability, or hope;[26]:1018 doubt-expressing ǰ‑a and corroborative ǰ‑e particle.[46]
^As in the interjection ᠵᠠǰa (зааzaa) 'all right, yes, very good, well!, now then'.[26]:1018
^See the ᠶᠢ⟨?⟩‑yi suffix.
^As in ᠵᠣǰo (зооzoo) 'vertebrae'.[26]:1065
^As in ᠸᠴᠢᠷwčir (очирochir),[27]:44 or ᠸᠢᠸᠠᠩᠭᠢᠷᠢᠳwiwanggirid (вивангиридvivangirid).[3]:12[36]
^As in ᠳᠠᠸᠠdawa (давааdavaa), or ᠫᠠᠸᠯᠣᠸ⟨?⟩pawlow.[27]:44–45
^As in ᠫᠠᠸᠯᠣᠸ⟨?⟩pawlow.[27]:45[36]
^[44][13]
^As in ᠪᠣᠳᠢᠰᠠᠳ᠋ᠸᠠ⟨?⟩bodisadw‑a (бодисадваbodisadva).[27]:45[36]
^As in ᠹᠣᠲ᠋ᠣ᠋foto (фотоfoto).[27]:48
^With a vertical tail is correct, but isolate ᠺᠦ᠋gü renders incorrectly (without) as of Noto 1.04.
^With a yodh/shilbe is correct, but medial ᠺᠦ᠋gü renders incorrectly (without) as of Noto 1.04.
^With a vertical tail is correct, but final ᠺᠦ᠋gü renders incorrectly (without) as of Noto 1.04.
^As in (n-dotted) ᠴᠧᠮᠧᠨ᠋ᠲ/ᠼᠧᠮᠧᠨ᠋ᠲ⟨?⟩čēmēnt/cēmēnt (цементtsyemyent).[27]:49[36]
^As in (n-dotted) ᠰᠲ᠋ᠠᠨ᠋ᠼᠢ⟨?⟩stanci (станцstants).[27]:48[36]
^As in ᠲᠷᠠᠫᠧᠼtrapēc (трапецtrapyets).[36]
^As in (medially n-dotted) ᠽᠠᠨ᠋ᠳᠠᠨ⟨?⟩zandan (занданzandan).[36]
^As in (medially n-dotted) ᠪᠧᠨ᠋ᠽᠢᠨ⟨?⟩bēnzin (бензинbenzin).[36]
^As in (n-dotted) ᠪᠷᠣᠨ᠋ᠽ⟨?⟩bronz (бронзbronz).[36]
^As in sanskrit hari 'green',[3]:15 or ᠾᠷᠣᠮhrom (хромkhrom).[36]
^As in ᠿᠦᠻᠣᠸ⟨?⟩žükow (жуковjukov).[27]:49
^ Lee & Zee (2003) harvp error: no target: CITEREFLeeZee2003 (help) and Lin (2007) harvp error: no target: CITEREFLin2007 (help) transcribe these as approximants, while Duanmu (2007) harvp error: no target: CITEREFDuanmu2007 (help) transcribes these as voiced fricatives. The actual pronunciation has been acoustically measured to be more approximant-like.[48]
^Separated suffixes starting with, or made up by the letter a include: ᠠ⟨?⟩‑a (vocative or dative-locative), ᠠᠴᠠ⟨?⟩‑ača (ablative), and ᠠᠴᠠᠭᠠᠨ⟨?⟩‑ačaγan (reflexive+ablative).[22]
^Separated suffixes starting with, or made up by the letter e include: ᠡ⟨?⟩‑e (vocative or dative-locative), ᠡᠴᠡ‑eče (ablative), and ᠡᠴᠡᠭᠡᠨ‑ečegen (reflexive+ablative).[22]
^Separated suffixes starting with, or made up by the letter i include: ᠢ⟨?⟩‑i (accusative), ᠢᠶᠠᠨ⟨?⟩‑iyan/‑iyen (reflexive), and ᠢᠶᠠᠷ⟨?⟩‑iyar/‑iyer (instrumental).[22]
^Separated suffixes starting with, or made up by the letter u include: ᠤ⟨?⟩‑u or ᠤᠨ⟨?⟩‑un (genitive), ᠤᠳ⟨?⟩‑ud (plural), and ᠤᠷᠤᠭᠤ⟨?⟩‑uruγu (directive).[22]
^Separated suffixes starting with, or made up by the letter ü include: ᠦ⟨?⟩‑ü or ᠦᠨ⟨?⟩‑ün (genitive), ᠦᠭᠡᠢ⟨?⟩‑ügei (negation), and ᠦᠳ⟨?⟩‑üd (plural).[22]
^Examples with doubled vowels include: tuuli 'epic, epic poem', ...[43]:834
^Separated suffixes starting with the letter n include: ᠨᠠᠷ‑nar/‑ner or ᠨᠤᠭᠤᠳ/ ᠨᠦᠭᠦᠳ⟨?⟩‑nuγud/‑nügüd (plural).[22]
^Separated suffixes starting with the letter b include: ᠪᠠᠨ‑ban/‑ben (reflexive), and ᠪᠠᠷ‑bar/‑ber (instrumental).[22]
^Separated suffixes starting with the letter k include: ᠬᠢ‑ki or ᠬᠢᠨ‑kin (case-bound possession).[22]
^Separated suffixes starting with the letter l include: ᠯᠤᠭᠠ⟨?⟩/ ᠯᠦᠭᠡ⟨?⟩‑luγ‑a/‑lüge (comitative).[22]
^Separated suffixes starting with the letter t include: ᠲᠠᠢ‑tai/‑tei (comitative), ᠲᠠᠭᠠᠨ/ ᠲᠡᠭᠡᠨ‑taγan/‑tegen (reflexive+dative-locative), ᠲᠠᠶᠢᠭᠠᠨ⟨?⟩/ ᠲᠡᠶᠢᠭᠡᠨ⟨?⟩‑tayiγan/‑teyigen (reflexive+comitative), and ᠲᠤ‑tu/‑tü or ᠲᠤᠷ‑tur/‑tür (dative-locative).[22]
^Separated suffixes starting with the letter d include: ᠳᠠᠬᠢ⟨?⟩‑daki/‑deki (dative-locative or ordinal), ᠳᠠᠭ⟨?⟩/ ᠳᠡᠭ⟨?⟩‑daγ/‑deg (regular action), ᠳᠠᠭᠠᠨ⟨?⟩/ ᠳᠡᠭᠡᠨ⟨?⟩‑daγan/‑degen (reflexive+dative-locative), ᠳᠤᠭᠠᠷ⟨?⟩/ ᠳᠦᠭᠡᠷ⟨?⟩‑duγar/‑düger (ordinal), and ᠳᠤ⟨?⟩‑du/‑dü or ᠳᠤᠷ⟨?⟩‑dur/‑dür (dative-locative).[22]
^Separated suffixes starting with the letter y include: ᠶᠢ⟨?⟩‑yi (accusative), ᠶᠢᠨ⟨?⟩‑yin (genitive), and ᠶᠤᠭᠠᠨ⟨?⟩/ ᠶᠦᠭᠡᠨ⟨?⟩‑yuγan/‑yügen (reflexive+accusative).[22]
References[edit]
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo bp bqJanhunen, Juha (2006-01-27). The Mongolic Languages. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-79690-7.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bnDaniels, Peter T. (1996). The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507993-7.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo bp bq br bs bt bu bv bw bx by bz ca cb cc cd ce cf cg ch ci cj ck cl cm cn coPoppe, Nicholas (1974). Grammar of Written Mongolian. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-00684-2.
^ a bGyörgy Kara, "Aramaic Scripts for Altaic Languages", in Daniels & Bright The World's Writing Systems, 1994.
^ a bShepherd, Margaret (2013-07-03). Learn World Calligraphy: Discover African, Arabic, Chinese, Ethiopic, Greek, Hebrew, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Russian, Thai, Tibetan Calligraphy, and Beyond. Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale. ISBN 978-0-8230-8230-8.
^Berkwitz, Stephen C.; Schober, Juliane; Brown, Claudia (2009-01-13). Buddhist Manuscript Cultures: Knowledge, Ritual, and Art. Routledge. ISBN 9781134002429.
^Chinggeltei. (1963) A Grammar of the Mongol Language. New York, Frederick Ungar Publishing Co. p. 15.
^"Mongolia to promote usage of traditional script". China.org.cn (March 19, 2020).
^Official documents to be recorded in both scripts from 2025, Montsame, 18 March 2020.
^Mongolian Language Law is effective from July 1st, Gogo, 1 July 2015. "Misinterpretation 1:Use of cyrillic is to be terminated and only Mongolian script to be used. There is no provision in the law that states the termination of use of cyrillic. It clearly states that Mongolian script is to be added to the current use of cyrillic. Mongolian script will be introduced in stages and state and local government is to conduct their correspondence in both cyrillic and Mongolian script. This provision is to be effective starting January 1st of 2025. ID, birth certificate, marriage certificate and education certificates are to be both in Mongolian cyrillic and Mongolian script and currently Mongolian script is being used in official letters of President, Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament."
^ a b"Unicode Technical Report #2". ftp.tc.edu.tw. Retrieved 2017-12-13.
^ a b cJugder, Luvsandorj (2008). "Diacritic marks in the Mongolian script and the 'darkness of confusion of letters'". In J. Vacek; A. Oberfalzerová (eds.). MONGOLO-TIBETICA PRAGENSIA '08, Linguistics, Ethnolinguistics, Religion and Culture. Mongolo-Tibetica Pragensia : Ethnolinguistics, Sociolinguistics, Religion and Culture. 1/1. Praha: Charles University and Triton. pp. 45–98. ISSN 1803-5647.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq"Mongolian Traditional Script". cjvlang.com. Retrieved 2017-12-07.
^ a bby Manchu convention
^ a bin Inner Mongolia.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ahGrønbech, Kaare; Krueger, John Richard (1993). An Introduction to Classical (literary) Mongolian: Introduction, Grammar, Reader, Glossary. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-03298-8.
^ a b c d e f"A Study of Traditional Mongolian Script Encodings and Rendering: Use of Unicode in OpenType fonts" (PDF). w.colips.org. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v wSvantesson, Jan-Olof (2005). The Phonology of Mongolian. https://media.turuz.com/Language/2012/0122-(5)moghol_(monqol)_dilinin_ses_bilimi-fonoloji(18.163KB).pdf#page=61: Oxford University Press. pp. 40–42. ISBN 0-19-926017-6.CS1 maint: location (link)
^ a b c d e f"The Unicode® Standard Version 10.0 – Core Specification: South and Central Asia-II" (PDF). Unicode.org. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
^ a b c d"Mongolian / ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ Moŋġol" (PDF). www.eki.ee. Retrieved 2017-11-18.
^ a b c dViklund, Andreas. "Lingua Mongolia – Mongolian Grammar". www.linguamongolia.com. Retrieved 2017-12-13.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m"PROPOSAL Encode Mongolian Suffix Connector (U+180F) To Replace Narrow Non-Breaking Space (U+202F)" (PDF). Unicode.org. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
^ a b c d e fKara, György (2005). Books of the Mongolian Nomads: More Than Eight Centuries of Writing Mongolian. Indiana University, Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies. ISBN 978-0-933070-52-3.
^ a b c dJanhunen, Juha A. (2012). Mongolian. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 978-9027238207.
^"University of Virginia: Mongolian Transliteration & Transcription". collab.its.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj akLessing, Ferdinand (1960). Mongolian-English Dictionary (PDF). University of California Press. Note that this dictionary uses the transliterations c, ø, x, y, z, ai, and ei; instead of č, ö, q, ü, ǰ, ayi, and eyi;:xii as well as problematically and incorrectly treats all rounded vowels (o/u/ö/ü) after the initial syllable as u or ü.[25]
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq arСкородумова, Лидия Григорьевна (2000). Введение в старописьменный монгольский язык: учебное пособие (PDF) (in Russian). Изд-во Дом "Муравей-Гайд". ISBN 9785846300156.
^ a bShagdarsürüng, Tseveliin (2001). "Study of Mongolian Scripts (Graphic Study or Grammatology). Enl". Bibliotheca Mongolica: Monograph 1.
^Sanders, Alan (2003-04-09). Historical Dictionary of Mongolia. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-6601-0.
^"The Mongolian Script" (PDF). Lingua Mongolia.
^Mongol Times (2012). "Monggul bichig un job bichihu jui-yin toli" (in Mongolian). Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t uBat-Ireedui, Jantsangiyn; Sanders, Alan J. K. (2015-08-14). Colloquial Mongolian: The Complete Course for Beginners. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-30598-9.
^"Analysis of the graphetic model and improvements to the current model" (PDF). www.unicode.org. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
^Gehrke, Munkho. "Монгол бичгийн зурлага :|: Монгол бичиг". mongol-bichig.dusal.net (in Mongolian). Retrieved 2019-04-18.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t"Mongolian State Dictionary". mongoltoli.mn (in Mongolian). Retrieved 2017-12-14.
^ a b c d"Mongolian transliterations" (PDF). Institute of the Estonian Language.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai"Writing | Study Mongolian". www.studymongolian.net. Retrieved 2017-12-14.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y zClauson, Gerard (2005-11-04). Studies in Turkic and Mongolic Linguistics. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-43012-3.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj akv-kents. "Windows Keyboard Layouts - Globalization". docs.microsoft.com. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
^"Retrieval in Texts with Traditional Mongolian Script Realizing Unicoded Traditional Mongolian Digital Library (PDF Download Available)". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-12-01.
^Baumann, Brian Gregory (2008). Divine Knowledge: Buddhist Mathematics According to the Anonymous Manual of Mongolian Astrology and Divination. BRILL. ISBN 978-9004155756.
^Bawden (2013-10-28). Mongolian English Dictionary. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-15595-6.
^ a b"UNU/IIST Report No. 170 Traditional Mongolian Script in the ISO/IEC 10646 and Unicode Standards" (PDF). unicode.org. Aug 1999. Retrieved 2019-07-29.
^West, Andrew; Zhamsoev, Amgalan; Zaytsev, Viacheslav (2017-01-13). "L2/17-007: Proposal to encode one historical Mongolian letter for Buryat Mongolian" (PDF).
^Chiodo, Elisabetta (2000). The Mongolian Manuscripts on Birch Bark from Xarbuxyn Balgas in the Collection of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-05714-1.
^ a b c d e f g h i j"BabelStone : Mongolian and Manchu Resources". babelstone.co.uk (in Chinese). Retrieved 2021-02-22.
^Lee-Kim, Sang-Im (2014), "Revisiting Mandarin 'apical vowels': An articulatory and acoustic study", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 44 (3): 261–282, doi:10.1017/s0025100314000267
^"Exploring Mongolian Manuscript Collections in Russia and Beyond" (PDF). www.manuscript-cultures.uni-hamburg.de. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
^Otgonbayar Chuluunbaatar (2008). Einführung in die Mongolischen Schriften (in German). Buske. ISBN 978-3-87548-500-4.
^Liang, Hai (23 Sep 2017). "Current problems in the Mongolian encoding" (PDF). Unicode.[dead link]
^D, Badarch (20 Nov 2018). "The Mongol script encoding – 2018" (PDF). Unicode.Org.
^Anderson, Debbie (22 Sep 2018). "Mongolian Ad Hoc meeting summary" (PDF). Unicode.
^Moore, Lisa (27 Mar 2019). "Summary of MWG2 Outcomes and Goals for MWG3 Meeting" (PDF). Unicode.Org.
^ a bBiligsaikhan Batjargal; et al. (2011). "A Study of Traditional Mongolian Script Encodings and Rendering: Use of Unicode in OpenType fonts" (PDF). International Journal of Asian Language Processing. 21 (1): 23–43. Retrieved 2011-09-10.
^Version 5.00 of the Mongolian Baiti font may be displayed incorrectly in Windows Vista
^"490534 - ZWJ and NNBSP rendered incorrectly in scripts like Mongolian". bugzilla.mozilla.org.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mongolian script.
Summaries
University of Vienna: Grammar of Written Mongolian by Nicholas POPPE Index
CJVlang: Making Sense of the Traditional Mongolian Script
StudyMongolian: Written forms with audio pronunciation
The Silver Horde: Mongol Scripts
Lingua Mongolia: Uighur-script Mongolian Resources
Omniglot: Mongolian Alphabet (note: contains several table inaccuracies regarding glyphs and transliterations)
Dictionaries
Bolor Dictionary
Mongol toli dictionary: state dictionary of Mongolia
Transliteration
University of Virginia: Transliteration Schemes For Mongolian Vertical Script
Online tool for Mongolian script transliteration
Automatic converter for Traditional Mongolian and Cyrillic Mongolian by the Computer College of Inner Mongolia University
Manuscripts
Mongolian Manuscripts from Olon Süme – Yokohama Museum of EurAsian Cultures
Digitised Mongolian manuscripts – The Royal Library, National Library of Denmark
Mongolian texts – Digitales Turfan-Archiv, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Preservation of unique and historic newspapers printed in traditional Mongolian script between 1936-1945 – Endangered Archives Programme, British Library
Official Mongolian script version of the People's Daily Online
Didi Tang (20 March 2020). "Mongolia abandons Soviet past by restoring alphabet". The Times. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
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Top-Down, right across the page. Derived from the Old Uyghur alphabet, Mongolian is a true alphabet, with separate letters for consonants and vowels. The Mongolian script has been adapted to write languages such as Oirat and Manchu. Alphabets based on this classical vertical script are used in Inner Mongolia and other parts of China to this day to write Mongolian, Xibe and experimentally, Evenki.
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