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This article contains Mongolian script. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of text in Mongolian script.
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.
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 iphoneme (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
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
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 did not receive education in the new script.[citation needed]
Overview
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 digraphth 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
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
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 neutral vowels. Any of these rules might not apply for foreign words however.[3]: 11, 35, 39 [16]: 10 [17]: 4 [13]
Separated final vowels
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 stem, or suffix. This form requires a final-shaped preceding letter, and an inter-word gap in between. This gap can be transliterated with a hyphen.[note 1][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
1925 logo of Buryat–Mongolian newspaper ᠪᠤᠷᠢᠶᠠᠳ ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠤᠨ ᠦᠨᠡᠨ᠃Buriyad Mongγol‑un ünen 'Buryat-Mongol truth' with the suffix ᠤᠨ⟨?⟩‑un.
All casesuffixes, as well as any plural suffixes consisting of one or two syllables, are likewise separated by a preceding and hyphen-transliterated gap.[note 2] A maximum of two case suffixes can be added to a stem.[3]: 30, 73 [16]: 12 [21][22][17]: 28 [19]: 534
Such 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-shaped u in the two-letter suffix ᠤᠨ⟨?⟩‑un/‑ün is exemplified in the adjacent newspaper logo.[3]: 30 [19]: 27
Compound names
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. Orthographic peculiarities are most often retained, as with the short and long teeth of an initial-shaped ö in ᠮᠤᠤᠥ᠌ᠬᠢᠨMuu'ökin 'Bad Girl' (protective name). Medial t and d, in contrast, are not affected in this way.[3]: 30 [23]: 92 [1]: 44 [24]: 88
Isolate citation forms
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
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
Medial and final forms may be distinguished from those of other tooth-shaped letters through: vowel harmony (e), the shape of adjacent consonants (see q/k and 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, and p), and to the right in all other cases.
ᠠ᠋ = medial form used after the junction in a proper name compound.[1]: 44
Transcribes Chakhar /ə/;[13][27] Khalkha /i/, /e/, /ə/, and /∅/.[18]: 40–42 Transliterated into Cyrillic with the letter э.[28][25]
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 word's consonants (see q/k and 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, k, and g), and to the right in all other cases.
Transcribes Chakhar /i/ or /ɪ/;[13][27] Khalkha /i/, /ə/, and /∅/.[18]: 40–42 Transliterated into Cyrillic with the letter и.[28][25]
Today, often absorbed into a preceding syllable when at the end of a word.[citation needed]
Written medially with the single long tooth 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 [32]: 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 [29]: 111, 113 [1]: 35
Produced with I using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[30]
Transcribes Chakhar /ɔ/;[13][27] Khalkha /ɔ/, /ə/, and /∅/.[18]: 40–42 Transliterated into Cyrillic with the letter о.[28][25]
Indistinguishable from u, except when inferred by its placement. It is only found in medial or final syllables if the initial syllable also carries it, or rarely when it carries the vowel i. Additionally, it cannot directly follow i.[3]: 11, 19 [16]: 9–10
ᠣ᠋ = the final form used in loanwords, as in ᠷᠠᠳᠢᠣ᠋radio (радиоradio).[28]: 48 [1]: 36 [33]
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 [29]: 111, 113 [1]: 35
Produced with W using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[30]
Transcribes Chakhar /o/;[13][27] Khalkha /o/[ɵ], /ə/, and /∅/.[18]: 40–42 Transliterated into Cyrillic with the letter ө.[28][25]
Indistinguishable from ü, except when inferred by its placement. It is only found in medial or final syllables if the initial syllable also carries it. Additionally, it cannot directly follow the vowel i.[3]: 11, 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 [29]: 111, 113 [1]: 35
Produced with O using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[30]
Transcribes Chakhar /u/;[13][27] Khalkha /u/, /ə/, and /∅/.[18]: 40–42 Transliterated into Cyrillic with the letter ү.[28][25]
Indistinguishable from ö, 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⟨?⟩⟨
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 [29]: 111, 113 [1]: 35
Produced with U using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[30]
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
Most of the i's of these diphthongs derive from an earlier yi, but is no longer recognized as such. This can be seen in the doubled long teeth, and in words such as earlier ᠰᠠᠶᠢᠨ⟨?⟩sayin 'good' having become ᠰᠠᠢᠨ⟨?⟩sain.[16]: 9
Transcribes Chakhar /n/;[13][27] Khalkha /n/, and /ŋ/.[18]: 40–42 Transliterated into Cyrillic with the letter н.[28][25]
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 [29]: 111, 114 [1]: 35
Produced with N using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[30]
Transcribes Chakhar /b/;[13][27] Khalkha /p/, /w/, and /∅/.[18]: 40–42 Transliterated into Cyrillic with the letter б.[28][25]
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 [29]: 111, 115 [1]: 35
Produced with B using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[30]
Transcribes Chakhar /ɣ/;[13] Khalkha /ɢ/, and /∅/.[18]: 40–42 Transliterated into Cyrillic with the letter г.[28][25]
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]: 7 Qaγan (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 [29]: 111, 113–115 [1]: 35
Produced with G using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[30]
Syllable-initially indistinguishable 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 [33]
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 [33] The final form is also found written like the bow-shaped Manchu final ᡴ᠋k.[1]: 39
May turn silent between two adjacent vowels, and merge these into a long vowel or diphthong.[3]: 36–37 [1]: 7 Deger for instance, is read as deer. Some exceptions like ügüi 'no' exist.[citation needed]
Derived from Old Uyghur kaph.[2]: 539–540, 545–546 [29]: 111, 113, 115 [1]: 35
Produced with G using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[30]
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 Transliterated into Cyrillic with the letter с.[28][25]
Derived from Old Uyghur merged samekh and shin.[2]: 539–540, 545–546 [29]: 111, 113 [1]: 35
Produced with S using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[30]
Transcribes Chakhar /d/;[13][27] Khalkha /t/, and /tʰ/.[18]: 40–42 Transliterated into Cyrillic with the letter д.[28][25]
Syllable-initially indistinguishable 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 [33] 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 [29]: 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).[33]
Produced with D using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[30]
Transcribes Chakhar /t͡ʃ/;[13][27] Khalkha /t͡ʃʰ/, and /t͡sʰ/ (Mongolian Cyrillic ч, and ц, respectively).[13]: § 1.2 [20]: 2 Transliterated into Cyrillic with the letter ч.[28][25]
In Buryat, a derived letter with two dots on the right ⟨ᡸ;
⟩ is used in places where č is pronounced as š.[37]
Derived from Old Uyghur (through early Mongolian) tsade.[16]: 59 [2]: 539–540, 545–546 [29]: 111, 113 [1]: 35
Produced with Q using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[30]
Transcribes Chakhar /d͡ʒ/;[13][27] Khalkha /d͡ʒ/, and d͡z (Mongolian Cyrillic ж, and з, respectively).[13]: § 1.2 [20]: 2 Transliterated into Cyrillic with the letter ж.[28][25]
Derived from Old Uyghur yodh (initial), and Old Uyghur (through early Mongolian) tsade (medial).[16]: 59 [2]: 539–540, 545–546 [29]: 111, 113 [1]: 35
Produced with J using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[30]
Transcribes Chakhar /r/;[13][27] Khalkha /r/.[18]: 40–42 Transliterated into Cyrillic with the letter р.[28][25]
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 [29]: 111, 113 [1]: 35
Produced with R using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[30]
Transcribes Chakhar /w/;[13][27] Transliterated into Cyrillic with the letter в.[28][25]
Used to transcribe foreign words (originally for v in Sanskrit व /va/). Transcribes /w/ in Tibetan ཝ /wa/;[39]: 254 [3]: 28 [29]: 113 Old Uyghur and Chinese loanwords.[1]: 34–35
Derived from Old Uyghur bet,[2]: 539–540, 545–546 [29]: 111, 113 and waw (before a separated vowel).[citation needed]
Produced with ⇧ Shift+W using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[30]
Used to transcribe foreign words (originally for kʰ in Tibetan ཁ /kʰa/; Sanskrit ख /kha/).[39]: 86, 244, 251 [3]: 28 Transliterated into Cyrillic with the letter к.[28][25]
Produced with ⇧ Shift+K using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[30]
Transcribes ch in the Chinese syllable chi (as in 蚩Chī), and used in Inner Mongolia.[39]: 91, 145, 153, 246 [3]: 28 [27] Transliterated into Cyrillic with the letter ч.[28][25]
Produced with ⇧ Shift+C using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.[30]
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 punctuation 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 [28]: 9
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
᠐
᠑
᠒
᠓
᠔
᠕
᠖
᠗
᠘
᠙
Components
Listed in the table below are letter components (graphemes, or in Mongolian: ᠵᠢᠷᠤᠯᠭᠠǰirulγ‑a / зурлагаzurlaga) commonly used across the script. Some of these are used with several letters, and others to contrast between them. As their forms and usage may differ between § writing styles however, examples of these can be found under this section below.
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 [28]: 62–63 [29]: 111, 113–114 [18]: 40–42, 100–101, 117 [1]: 34–37 [50]: 8–11 [35]: 211–215
Cursive sample in (pre-classical) Middle Mongol: Uridu maqam‑un qaǰiun medekü
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.
Examples of lengthened letterforms d and n in ‑daγan (left), and their regular equivalents (right)
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 was 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 ᠭᠣᠣᠯ
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 a 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
In pre-modern Mongolian, medial ml (ᠮᠯ) forms a ligature:
.
A pre-modern variant form for final s appears in the shape of a short final n⟨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. A zayin-shaped final can also appear as part of final m and γ.
Block‑printed
Pen-written forms
Transliteration(s) & 'translation'
Uyghur Mong. forms
semi-modern forms
es(‑)e 'not, no', (negation)
ulus 'nation'
nom 'book'
čaγ 'time'
Initial taw (t/d) can, akin to final mem (m), be found written quite explicitly loopy (as in nom 'book' and toli 'mirror'). 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
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
Transliteration(s) & 'translation'
Uyghur Mong. form
semi-modern form
čečeg 'flower'
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
sar(‑)a 'moon/month'
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.
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.
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.
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 Qingseals.
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]
The Qing dynastyQianlong 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.
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
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.
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]
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
The text samples below should resemble their image counterparts. This ensures that a text in Mongolian script is being rendered somewhat properly. 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.
^As in ᠣо (ооoo) 'powder' in general; 'face powder'.[26]: 598, 625
^As in ᠥ/ᠥᠭᠡö/öge (өөöö) 'fault; roughness, unevenness'.[26]: 627, 630
^ abcdAs 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
^ abcdefgAlternative 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).[25]
^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
)buu/büü (бүүbüü) 'don't'.[26]: 141, 153 [3]: 166 [16]: 38 Compare with the conjunction ᠪᠤᠶᠤ(
): xiii buyu (буюуbuyuu) 'or',[26]: 132 [16]: 44 and ᠬᠦᠦküü (хүүkhüü) 'son, young boy'.[26]: 509 [28]: 37
^As in ᠠᠢai (айai) 'category; sound, noise', or an pity/sympathy/worry-expressing interjection.[26]: 19
^As in ᠡᠢei (ийii), an compassion/sorrow/fright/disgust-expressing interjection.[26]: 303
^As in ᠣᠢoi (ойoi) 'woods, forest, grove; mind, intellect; memory',[26]: 603–604 or ᠤᠢui (уйui) 'mourning, sorrow'.[26]: 866
^As in ᠥᠢ/ᠥᠶᠢöi/öyi (өөеööye), an exclamatory interjection meaning 'hello', 'I say', or 'look here',[26]: 633 [33] or ᠦᠢ ᠲᠦᠮᠡᠨüi (үйüi) tümen 'multitude; innumerable'.[26]: 999
^ abFor the two looks of the particle ᠰᠢᠭ᠋⟨?⟩/ᠰᠢᠭ⟨?⟩siγ/sig (шигshig) 'similar to, similarly, like' etc, the choice between final γ or g is dependent on whether it occurs after a masculine or a feminine word, respectively.[26]: 699 [24]: 201
^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 ᠱᠣšo (шооshoo) 'dice, oracle bones'.[26]: 754
^ abAs 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
^As in the second person singular pronoun ᠴᠢči (чиchi) 'thou, you'.[26]: 174 [3]: 85–86
^ abAs in the strengthening/intensifying (emphatic) and concessive ⟨ᠴᠤ⟩ču/čü (чch) 'even, as for' particle,[26]: 203 [16]: 46 ᠴᠣ/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 [35]: 345 [33] emphatic final;[16]: 46, 59 ǰ‑a particle expressing presumption, probability, or hope;[26]: 1018 doubt-expressing ǰ‑a and corroborative ǰ‑e particle.[38]
^As in the interjection ᠵᠠǰa (зааzaa) 'all right, yes, very good, well!, now then'.[26]: 1018
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.
![The Stele of Yisüngge [ru], with the earliest known inscription in the Mongolian script.[1]: 33](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/Hermitage_hall_366_-_06.jpg/440px-Hermitage_hall_366_-_06.jpg)
