Mongolian script multigraphs

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This article describes two- and three-letter combinations (so-called digraphs and trigraphs) used for the Mongolian language when written in the Mongolian script.

Contents

Mongolian script multigraphs
Mongolian Script Interrogative Particle.svg
The Mongolian script
Mongolian vowels
ᠠ
a
 ᠡ
e
 ᠢ
i
 ᠣ
o
 ᠤ
u
 ᠥ
ö
 ᠦ
ü
ᠧ
(ē)
Mongolian consonants
ᠨ
n
 ᠩ
ng
 ᠪ
b
 ᠫ
(p)
 ᠬ
q/k
 ᠭ
ɣ/g
 ᠮ
m
ᠯ
l
 ᠰ
s
 ᠱ
š
 ᠲ
t
 ᠳ
d
 ᠴ
č
 ᠵ
ǰ
ᠶ
y
 ᠷ
r
 ᠸ
(w)
Mongolian script multigraphs

Vowel and consonant combinations

The intervocalic letters ɣ/g, and y has in some combinations come to help form long vowels, namely: [1] : 36–37 

  • Long a with: aɣa, iɣa, iya.
  • Long e with: ege, ige, iye.
  • Long i with: igi.
  • Long o with: oɣa, oɣo, uɣa.
  • Long u with: aɣu, iɣu, uɣu.
  • Long ö with: öge, üge.
  • Long ü with: egü, igü, ügü.

Sometimes intervocalic b and m is silent: as in ᠳᠡᠪᠡᠯdebel (Khalkha: дээл deel) 'robe, garment' or ᠬᠦᠮᠦᠨkümün (Khalkha: хүн khün) 'human, person; man'. [2] : 64  [3]

Vowel combinations

Doubled vowels [1] : 10, 30  [4] : 59 
iioouuüü Transliteration [note 1]
ī ŏ ūǖPronunciation
——ᠤᠤ ⟨?⟩ ⟨ Block-printed interrogative particle.svg ⟩
[note 2] 		Alone
ᠣᠣ
[note 3] 		—
ᠤᠤ‍ᠦᠦ‍
[note 4] 		Initial
‍ᠢᠢ‍‍ᠣᠣ‍
[note 5] 		(‍ᠦ᠋ᠦ‍)
[note 6] 		Medial
——‍ᠤᠤ
[note 7] 		Final
  • The doubled vowels ii, uu, and üü mark these out as long. Doubled oo is instead both used in a few words to mark the vowel as short, and to distinguish it from u. [1] : 30 
Diphthongs [1] : 10, 31–32  [4] : 58  [13] : 111  [8] : 41–42 
aieioi, uiöiüiTransliteration
āi̯ ēi̯ōi̯, ūi̯—ǖi̯Pronunciation
ᠠᠢ
[note 8] 		ᠡᠢ
[note 9] 		ᠣᠢ
[note 10] 		ᠥᠢ
[note 11] 		Alone
ᠠᡳ᠌‍ᠡᡳ᠌‍ᠣᡳ᠌‍—ᠣᡳ᠌‍Initial
‍ᠠᡳ᠌‍‍ᠣᡳ᠌‍—‍ᠦᡳ᠌‍Medial
‍ᠠᠢ‍ᠣᠢ—‍ᠦᠢFinal
  • Most of the i's of these diphthongs derive from an earlier yi, but is no longer recognized as such. The yi origin can for instance be seen in the two long teeth of ᠰᠠᠶᠢᠨ ⟨?⟩ sayin 'good'. These has become a pair of short and long teeth (᠊‍ᠢ᠋‍) in recent manuscripts. The diphthongs only appears with the single form of i, as in ᠳᠠᠯᠠᠢdalai̯ 'sea', at the end of words. [1] : 10, 31  [4] : 9, 58 
Diphthongs, continued [1] : 11, 31–32 
aueüu‑auu‑aTransliteration
aūeǖuă/uāūā?Pronunciation
ᠠᠤ‍———Initial
‍ᠠᠤ‍Medial
—‍ᠤ᠎ᠠ ⟨?⟩ ⟨ 3mg ouou final.PNG 3mg ae2 final 2.png ⟩
[note 12] 		‍ᠤᠤ᠎ᠠ ⟨?⟩ Final

Notes

    1. ↑ Scholarly transliteration. [5]
    2. ↑ Interrogative uu/üü particle (subject to vowel harmony; Khalkha: уу/үү/юу/юү uu/üü/yuu/yuü) used after the predicate. [7] : 437, 889, 1014  [1] : 172  [4] : 38  [8] : 53  [9] : 183  The positional variant ⟨ᠶᠤᠤ⟩yuu/yüü (Khalkha: юу/юү yuu/yuü) is only used in the modern language. [7] : 437  [8] : 53 
    3. ↑ As in ᠣᠣ/ᠠᠭᠤᠤuu/aɣuu (Khalkha: —/агуу —/aguu) 'vast, great[ly], large', etc. [7] : 18, 889  [1] : 30 
    4. ↑ The tooth here is not from the semivowel y but is part of the first vowel itself, it's the only sign that distinguishes a u from a ü. Sample word: ᠦᠷ/ᠦᠦᠷür/üür (Khalkha: үүр üür) 'dawn, daybreak'. [7] : 1010, 1014 
    5. ↑ As in ᠲᠤᠤᠯᠢtuuli (Khalkha: тууль tuuli) 'old tale, story, epic, epic poem'. [7] : 847  [10] : 834 
    6. ↑ Written with an intervocalic long tooth , as in the loanword ᠫᠦᠳ/ᠫᠦᠦᠳᠡpüd/püüde (Khalkha: пуд pud) 'pud', a Russian weight. [7] : 650 
    7. ↑ Final uu/üü in the prohibitive particle ᠪᠤᠤ( Block-printed buu buu.svg )buu/büü (Khalkha: бүү büü) 'don't' lacks an intervocalic long tooth . [7] : 141, 153  [1] : 166  [4] : 38  Contrast with the visually similar conjunction ᠪᠤᠶᠤ( Block-printed buyu.svg ): xiii buyu (Khalkha: буюу buyuu) 'or', [7] : 132  [4] : 44  and noun ᠬᠦᠦküü (Khalkha: хүү khüü) 'son, young boy', a colloquial form of ᠬᠥᠪᠡᠭᠦᠨköbegün (Khalkha: хөвүүн/хөвгүүн khövüün/khövgüün), [7] : 494, 509  [1] : 20  [4] : 11  [10] : 816  [11] : 37  [12] : 395 
    8. ↑ As in ᠠᠢai (Khalkha: ай ai) 'category; sound, noise', or an pity/sympathy/worry-expressing interjection. [7] : 19 
    9. ↑ As in ᠡᠢei (Khalkha: ий ii), an compassion/sorrow/fright/disgust-expressing interjection. [7] : 303 
    10. ↑ As in ᠣᠢoi (Khalkha: ой oi) 'woods, forest, grove; mind, intellect; memory', [7] : 603–604  or ᠤᠢui (Khalkha: уй ui) 'mourning, sorrow'. [7] : 866 
    11. ↑ As in ᠥᠢ/ᠥᠶᠢöi/öyi (Khalkha: өөе ööye), an exclamatory interjection meaning 'hello', 'I say', or 'look here', [7] : 633  [3] or ᠦᠢᠲᠦᠮᠡᠨüi (Khalkha: үй üi) tümen 'multitude; innumerable'. [7] : 999 
    12. ↑ As in the final diphthongs u-a and uu-a. [1] : 31 

    References

    1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Poppe, Nicholas (1974). Grammar of Written Mongolian. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN   978-3-447-00684-2.
    2. ↑ Kara, 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.
    3. 1 2 "Mongolian State Dictionary". Mongol toli (in Mongolian). Retrieved 2022-05-16.
    4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Grønbech, Kaare; Krueger, John Richard (1993). An Introduction to Classical (literary) Mongolian: Introduction, Grammar, Reader, Glossary. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN   978-3-447-03298-8.
    5. ↑ "Mongolian transliterations" (PDF). Institute of the Estonian Language. 2006-05-06.
    6. ↑ "Mongolian Transliteration & Transcription". collab.its.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-26.
    7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Lessing, 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. [6]
    8. 1 2 3 Janhunen, Juha (2006-01-27). The Mongolic Languages. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-135-79690-7.
    9. ↑ Janhunen, Juha A. (2012). Mongolian. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN   978-90-272-3820-7.
    10. 1 2 Bawden, Charles (2013-10-28). Mongolian English Dictionary. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-136-15588-8.
    11. ↑ Skorodumova, L. G. (2000). Vvedenie v staropismenny mongolskiy yazykВведение в старописьменный монгольский язык (PDF) (in Russian). Muravey-Gayd. ISBN   5-8463-0015-4.
    12. ↑ Bat-Ireedui, Jantsangiyn; Sanders, Alan J. K. (2014-10-14). Colloquial Mongolian (eBook And MP3 Pack): The Complete Course for Beginners. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-136-22246-7.
    13. ↑ Svantesson, Jan-Olof; Tsendina, Anna; Karlsson, Anastasia; Franzen, Vivan (2005-02-10). The Phonology of Mongolian. OUP Oxford. ISBN   978-0-19-151461-6.
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