Mongolian/The Alphabet

Mongolian has been written in a variety of alphabets over the years. The traditional Mongolian script was adapted from Uyghur alphabet in 1208, although it has undergone transformations, and occasionally been supplemented by other scripts. The Mongolian alphabet was used in Mongolia until 1931, when it was temporarily replaced by the Latin alphabet, and finally by Cyrillic in 1937. The traditional alphabet was abolished completely by the pro-Soviet government in 1941, and a short-lived attempt to reintroduce the traditional alphabet after 1990 was abandoned after some years. In the People's Republic of China, the Mongolian language is a co-official language with Standard Mandarin in some regions, notably the entire Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The traditional alphabet has always been used there, although Cyrillic was considered briefly before the Sino-Soviet split. The classical script used in China in fact represent a very old state of language, and there is no one-to-one correspondence between Cyrillic and classical script. Cyrillic alphabet Currently Mongolian in Outer Mongolia is written in the Cyrillic alphabet. The modified Cyrillic alphabet used for Mongolian is as follows: Cyrillic Name Sounds Like Transliteration Cyrillic Name Sounds Like Transliteration Аа а [a] in "father" a Пп пэ [p] in "pop" p Бб бэ [b] in Bob b(be) Рр эр [r] in "water" r Вв вэ [v] in vote v(ve) Сс эс [s] in "see" s Гг гэ [g] in green g(ge) Тт тэ [t] in "tall" t Дд дэ [d] in dance d(de) Уу у [ʊ] in "book" u Ее е [jε~jɜ, e] in "yes" ye Үү ү [u] in "loose" ü Ёё ё yo(ee-o/io) Фф фэ~фа~эф [f] f Жж жэ je like Gem j(je) Хх хэ~ха [x,xʲ] h Зз зэ ze z(ze) Цц цэ [tsʰ] ts Ии и Ee i(ee) Чч чэ [tʃʰ] ch Йй хагас и Ee i(ee) Шш ша~эш [ʃ] sh Кк ка Ca from cat k(ka) Щщ ща~эшчэ [stʃ] shch Лл эл [ɮ,ɮʲ] l(el(hard l) Ъ ъ хатуугийн тэмдэг " Мм эм m from brim m(em) Ыы эр үгийн ы [i:] ï Нн эн n from hen n(en) Ьь зөөлний тэмдэг ʲ ' Оо о O from on o Ээ э [e] e Өө ө O from oh but in a lower tone ö Юю ю [jʊ, ju] yu Яя я [ja, j] ya Үү and Өө are sometimes written as Vv and Єє, mainly when using Russian software or keyboards that don't support them. Notes for good writing When writing the iy sound on the end of a back vowel word you write it as ы (this is referred to as the jarin-nigin (sixty one) iy). When writing this sound at the end of front vowel words you write the normal iy: ий. Examples: таны цөцгий Traditional Mongolian alphabet Note: Make sure your web browser has quality support for Mongolian layout. For more details, see: Template:MongolUnicode#Issues. The traditional Mongolian alphabet used for Mongolian is as follows: CharactersTransliterationNotesaloneinitialmedialfinalLatinCyrillicIPAᠠᠠ‍‍ᠠ‍‍ᠠ‍ᠠ᠋aАaDistinction usually by vowel harmony (see also q/γ and k/g below)ᠡᠡ‍eЭeᠢᠢ‍‍ᠢ‍ width: 1emFollowing a consonant, Latin transliteration is i. ‍ᠢ᠋‍Following a vowel, Latin transliteration is yi, with rare exceptions like naim ("eight") or Naiman.‍ᠢi, yiИ, Й, Ы, Ьi, jiAt end of word today often absorbed into preceding syllableᠣᠣ‍‍ᠣ‍‍ᠣo, uО, Уo, ʊDistinction depending on context.ᠥᠥ‍‍ᠥ‍‍ᠥ᠋‍‍ᠥ‍ᠥ᠋ö, üӨ, Үœ, uDistinction depending on context.ᠨᠨ‍‍ᠨ‍Character for front of syllable (n-<vowel>). ‍ᠨ᠋‍Character for back of syllable (<vowel>-n).‍ᠨ‍ᠨ᠌nНnDistinction from medial and final a/e by position in syllable sequence.ᠩ‍ᠩ‍‍ᠩngН, НГŋOnly at end of word (medial for composites). Transcribes Tibetan ང; Sanskrit ङ.ᠪᠪ‍‍ᠪ‍‍ᠪ‍ᠪ᠋bБ, Вb, vIn classical Mongolian v is used only for transcribing foreign words, so most "В (V)" in Cyrillic Mongolian correspond to "Б (B)" in Classical Mongolian.ᠫᠫ‍‍ᠫ‍‍ᠫpПpOnly at the beginning of Mongolian words. Transcribes Tibetan པ;ᠬᠬ‍ᠬ‍‍ᠬqХxOnly with back vowelsᠭᠭ‍ᠭ‍‍ᠭ᠋‍‍ᠭ‍ᠭ᠋γГg, ɢOnly with back vowels. Between vowels pronounced as a long vowel in oral Mongolian.Examples: qa-γ-an (khan) is shortened to qaan unless reading classical literary Mongolian. Some exceptions like tsa-g-aan ("white") exist. The "final" version only appears when followed by an a written detached from the word.ᠬ‍‍ᠭ᠍‍kХxOnly with front vowels, but 'ki/gi' can occur in both front and back vowel words Word-finally only g, not k. g between vowels pronounced as long vowel.Example: de-g-er is shortened to deer. Some exceptions like ügüi ("no") exist.‍ᠭ᠌gГg, ɢᠮᠮ‍‍ᠮ‍‍ᠮmМmᠯᠯ‍‍ᠯ‍‍ᠯlЛlᠰᠰ‍‍ᠰ‍‍ᠰsСsᠱᠱ‍‍ᠱ‍‍ᠱšШʃᠲᠳᠲ‍‍ᠲ‍‍ᠳ᠋‍‍ᠳt, dТ, Дt, dDistinction depending on context.ᠴᠴ‍‍ᠴ‍čЧ, Цtʃʰ, tsʰDistinction between /tʃʰ/ and /tsʰ/ in Khalkha Mongolian.ᠵᠵ‍‍ᠵ‍jЖ, Зtʃ, tsDistinction by context in Khalkha Mongolian.ᠶᠶ‍‍ᠶ‍‍ᠶy -Й, Е*, Ё*, Ю*, Я*jᠷᠷ‍‍ᠷ‍‍ᠷrРrNot normally at the beginning of words.Transcribed foreign words usually get a vowel prepended. Example: Transcribing Русь (Russia) results in Oros.ᠸᠸ‍‍ᠸ‍vВvUsed to transcribe foreign words (Originally used to transcribe Sanskrit व)ᠹᠹ‍‍ᠹ‍‍ᠹfФfUsed to transcribe foreign wordsᠺ‍ᠺ‍‍ᠺkКkʰUsed to transcribe foreign words (Originally used to transcribe Tibetan /g/ ག; Sanskrit ग)ᠻᠻ‍‍ᠻ‍‍ᠻḳКkʰUsed to transcribe foreign words (Originally used to transcribe Tibetan /kʰ/ ཁ; Sanskrit ख)ᠼᠼ‍‍ᠼ‍(c)(ц)tsUsed to transcribe foreign words (Originally used to transcribe Tibetan /ts'/ ཚ; Sanskrit छ)ᠽᠽ‍‍ᠽ‍(z)(з)zUsed to transcribe foreign words (Originally used to transcribe Tibetan /dz/ ཛ; Sanskrit ज)ᠾᠾ‍‍ᠾ‍(h)(г, х)hUsed to transcribe foreign words (Originally used to transcribe Tibetan /h/ ཧ, ྷ; Sanskrit ह)ᠿᠿ‍(ř)(-,-)Transcribes Chinese 'ri' - used in Inner Mongoliaᡁᡁ‍(zh)(-,-)ʈ͡ʂTranscribes Chinese 'zhi' - used in Inner Mongoliaᡂᡂ‍(chi)(-,-)Transcribes Chinese 'chi' - used in Inner Mongolia Notes:"note" Notes for good writing When writing the suffix at the end of a word you write it separately without initial form. Examples: ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ‍ᠤᠨ ᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ ‍ᠤ When writing the following diagraphs you write them as ligature: ᠪᠠ‍ middle (initial & medial), ‍ᠪᠠ middle (final) b + a/e ᠪᠡ‍ middle (initial & medial), ‍ᠪᠢ middle (final) b + i ᠪᠣ middle b + o/u/ö/ü ᠫᠠ‍ middle (initial & medial), ‍ᠫᠠ middle (final) p + a/e ᠫᠡ‍ middle (initial & medial), ‍ᠫᠢ middle (final) p + i ᠫᠣ middle p + o/u/ö/ü ᠬᠥ middle q + ö/ü ᠬ᠋ᠥ middle γ + ö/ü