Editing Mongolian language (section)

== Phonology ==
{{Listen
 |filename = MOV00979.ogv
 |title = Mongolians speaking Khalkh
 |description = Modern day Mongolians speaking Khalkh, the dominant dialect of Mongolian. Recorded in Tavan Har, Mongolia 
}}

The following description is based primarily on the Khalkha dialect as spoken in [[Ulaanbaatar]], Mongolia's capital. The phonologies of other varieties such as Ordos, Khorchin, and even Chakhar, differ considerably.<ref>Sečenbaγatur ''et al.'' (2005): 249–384.</ref> This section discusses the [[phonology]] of Khalkha Mongolian with subsections on Vowels, Consonants, Phonotactics and Stress.

=== Vowels ===
The standard language has seven [[monophthong]] vowel phonemes. They are aligned into three [[vowel harmony]] groups by a parameter called ATR ([[Advanced and retracted tongue root|advanced tongue root]]); the groups are −ATR, +ATR, and neutral. This alignment seems to have superseded an alignment according to oral backness. However, some scholars still describe Mongolian as being characterized by a distinction between front vowels and back vowels, and the front vowel spellings 'ö' and 'ü' are still often used in the West to indicate two vowels which were historically front. The Mongolian vowel system also has rounding harmony.

Length is phonemic for vowels, and except short [e], which has merged into short [i],<ref>{{Cite book |title=The phonology of Mongolian |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University press |isbn=978-0-19-926017-1 |series=The phonology of the world's languages |location=Oxford (GB)}}</ref> at least in [[Ulaanbaatar]] dialect,{{sfn|Janhunen|2012|pp=33–34}} each of the other six phonemes occurs both short and long. Phonetically, short {{IPA|/o/}} has become centralised to the [[Close-mid central rounded vowel|central vowel]] {{IPA|[ɵ]}}.

In the following table, the seven vowel phonemes, with their length variants, are arranged and described phonetically. The vowels in the Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet are: 
:{| class="wikitable"
|+
![[Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet|Mongolian Cyrillic]]
![[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]
!Romanization
|-
|а, аа
|[{{IPA link|a}}, {{IPA link|aː}}]
|a, aa
|-
|и, ий/ы
|[{{IPA link|i}}, {{IPA link|iː}}]
|i, ii
|-
|о, оо
|[{{IPA link|ɔ}}, {{IPA link|ɔː}}]
|o, oo
|-
|ө, өө
|[{{IPA link|ɵ}}, {{IPA link|oː}}] /{{IPA link|o}}, {{IPA link|oː}}/
|ö, öö
|-
|у, уу
|[{{IPA link|ʊ}}, {{IPA link| ʊː}}]
|u, uu
|-
|ү, үү
|[{{IPA link|u}}, {{IPA link|uː}}]
|ü, üü
|-
|э, ээ
|[{{IPA link|i}}, {{IPA link|eː}}]
|e, ee
|}
:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!
! colspan="2" |[[Front vowel|Front]]
! colspan="2" |[[Central vowel|Central]]
! colspan="2" |[[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
!
! Short
! Long
! Short
! Long
! Short
! Long
|-
! style="text-align: left;" |[[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}}
|{{IPA link|iː}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|u}}
|{{IPA link|uː}}
|-
! style="text-align: left;" |[[Near-close vowel|Near-Close]]
|
|
|
|
|{{IPA link|ʊ}}
|{{IPA link|ʊː}}
|-
! style="text-align: left;" |[[Close-mid vowel|Close-Mid]]
|
|{{IPA link|eː}}
|{{IPA link|ɵ}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|oː}}
|-
! style="text-align: left;" |[[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
|
|
|
|
|{{IPA link|ɔ}}
|{{IPA link|ɔː}}
|-
! style="text-align: left;" |[[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|
|{{IPA link|a}}
|{{IPA link|aː}}
|
|
|}

Khalkha also has four [[diphthong]]s: historically {{IPA|/ui, ʊi, ɔi, ai/}} but are pronounced more like {{IPA|[ʉe̯, ʊe̯, ɞe̯, æe̯]}};<ref>Svantesson ''et al.'' (2005): 22</ref> e.g. {{lang|mn|ой}} in {{lang|mn|нохой}} ({{lang|mn-latn|nokhoi}}) {{IPA|[nɜˈχɞe̯]}} 'dog', {{lang|mn|ай}} in {{lang|mn|далай}} ({{lang|mn-latn|dalai}}) {{IPA|[tɐˈɮæe̯]}} 'sea', {{lang|mn|уй}} in {{lang|mn|уйлах}} ({{lang|mn-latn|uilakh}}) {{IPA|[ˈʊe̯ɮɐχ]}} 'to cry', and {{lang|mn|үй}} in {{lang|mn|үйлдвэр}} ({{lang|mn-latn|üildver}}) {{IPA|[ˈʉe̯ɬtw̜ɘr]}} 'factory'. There are three additional rising diphthongs {{IPA|/ia/}} ({{lang|mn|иа}}), {{IPA|/ʊa/}} ({{lang|mn|уа}}) {{IPA|/ei/}} ({{lang|mn|эй}}); e.g., {{lang|mn|иа}} in {{lang|mn|амиараа}} ({{lang|mn-latn|amiaraa}}) {{IPA|[æmʲæˈra]}} 'individually', {{lang|mn|уа}} in {{lang|mn|хуаран}} ({{lang|mn-latn|khuaran}}) {{IPA|[ˈχʷarɐɴ]}} 'barracks', and {{lang|mn|эй}} in {{lang|mn|хэрэгтэй}} ({{lang|mn-latn|kheregtei}}) {{IPA|[xirɪxˈtʰe]}} 'necessary'.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sanders|first=Alan J. K.|title=Colloquial Mongolian : the complete course for beginners|isbn=978-1-317-30598-9|pages=13|oclc=919495714|date=2015-08-14|publisher=Routledge }}</ref>

==== Allophones ====
This table below lists vowel allophones (short vowels allophones in non-initial positions are used interchangeably with schwa):<ref>Svantesson ''et al.'' (2005): 1</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="3" | Short
! Initial positions
| {{IPA|[a]}}
| {{IPA|[e]}}
| {{IPA|[i]}}
| {{IPA|[ɔ]}}
| {{IPA|[o]}}
| {{IPA|[ʊ]}}
| {{IPA|[u]}}
|-
! rowspan="2" | Non-initial positions
| {{IPA|[ă]}}
| {{IPA|[ĕ]}}
| {{IPA|[ĭ]}}
| {{IPA|[ɔ̆]}}
| {{IPA|[ŏ]}}
| {{IPA|[ʊ̆]}}
| {{IPA|[ŭ]}}
|-
| colspan="7" | {{IPA|[ə]}}
|-
! rowspan="2" | Long
! Initial positions
| {{IPA|[aː]}}
| {{IPA|[eː]}}
| {{IPA|[iː]}}
| {{IPA|[ɔː]}}
| {{IPA|[oː]}}
| {{IPA|[ʊː]}}
| {{IPA|[uː]}}
|-
! Non-initial positions
| {{IPA|[a]}}
| {{IPA|[e]}}
| {{IPA|[i]}}
| {{IPA|[ɔ]}}
| {{IPA|[o]}}
| {{IPA|[ʊ]}}
| {{IPA|[u]}}
|}

==== ATR harmony ====
[[File:Mongolian vowel harmony Venn diagram.svg|thumb|Vowel harmony in Mongolian]]
Mongolian divides vowels into three groups in a system of [[vowel harmony]]:

:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!
! +ATR ("front")
! −ATR ("back")
! Neutral
|-
|IPA
| {{IPA|/e, u, o/}}
| {{IPA|/a, ʊ, ɔ/}}
|{{IPA|/i/}}
|-
|Cyrillic
|э, ү, ө
|а, у, о
|и, ы and й
|-
|Romanization
|e, ü, ö
|a, u, o
|i
|}

For historical reasons, these have been traditionally labeled as "front" vowels and "back" vowels, as /o/ and /u/ developed from /ø/ and /y/, while /ɔ/ and /ʊ/ developed from /o/ and /u/ in Middle Mongolian. Indeed, in Mongolian [[romanization]]s, the vowels {{IPA|/o/}} and {{IPA|/u/}} are often conventionally rendered as {{angle bracket|ö}} and {{angle bracket|ü}}, while the vowels {{IPA|/ɔ/}} and {{IPA|/ʊ/}} are expressed as {{angle bracket|o}} and {{angle bracket|u}}. However, for modern Mongolian phonology, it is more appropriate to instead characterize the two vowel-harmony groups by the dimension of tongue root position. There is also one neutral vowel, {{IPA|/i/}}, not belonging to either group.

All the vowels in a non[[Compound (linguistics)|compound]] word, including all its suffixes, must belong to the same group. If the first vowel is −ATR, then every vowel of the word must be either {{IPA|/i/}} or a −ATR vowel. Likewise, if the first vowel is a +ATR vowel, then every vowel of the word must be either {{IPA|/i/}} or a +ATR vowel. In the case of suffixes, which must change their vowels to conform to different words, two patterns predominate. Some suffixes contain an archiphoneme {{IPA|/A/}} that can be realized as {{IPA|/a, ɔ, e, o/}}; e.g.
*{{IPA|/orx/}} 'household' + {{IPA|-Ar}} (instrumental) → {{IPA|/orxor/}} 'by a household'
*{{IPA|/xarʊɮ/}} 'sentry' + {{IPA|-Ar}} (instrumental) → {{IPA|/xarʊɮar/}} 'by a sentry'

Other suffixes can occur in {{IPA|/U/}} being realized as {{IPA|/ʊ, u/}}, in which case all −ATR vowels lead to {{IPA|/ʊ/}} and all +ATR vowels lead to {{IPA|/u/}}; e.g.
*{{IPA|/aw/}} 'to take' + {{IPA|-Uɮ}} (causative) → {{IPA|/awʊɮ/}}

If the only vowel in the word stem is {{IPA|/i/}}, the suffixes will use the +ATR suffix forms.<ref>Svantesson ''et al.'' (2005): 43–50.</ref>

==== Rounding harmony ====
Mongolian also has rounding harmony, which does not apply to close vowels. If a stem contains {{IPA|/o/}} (or {{IPA|/ɔ/}}), a suffix that is specified for an open vowel will have {{IPA|[o]}} (or {{IPA|[ɔ]}}, respectively) as well. However, this process is blocked by the presence of {{IPA|/u/}} (or {{IPA|/ʊ/}}) and {{IPA|/ei/}}; e.g. {{IPA|/ɔr-ɮɔ/}} 'came in', but {{IPA|/ɔr-ʊɮ-ɮa/}} 'inserted'.<ref>Svantesson ''et al.'' (2005): 46–47, 50–51.</ref>

==== Vowel length ====
The pronunciation of long and short [[vowel]]s depends on the [[syllable]]'s position in the word. In word-initial syllables, there is a [[Phoneme|phonemic]] contrast in [[vowel length]]. A long vowel has about 208% the length of a short vowel. In word-medial and word-final syllables, formerly long vowels are now only 127% as long as short vowels in initial syllables, but they are still distinct from initial-syllable short vowels. Short vowels in noninitial syllables differ from short vowels in initial syllables by being only 71% as long and by being centralized in articulation. As they are nonphonemic, their position is [[Syllabification|determined]] according to [[Phonotactics|phonotactic]] requirements.<ref>Svantesson ''et al.'' (2005): 1–7, 22–24, 73–75.</ref>

=== Consonants ===
The following table lists the consonants of Khalkha Mongolian. The consonants enclosed in parentheses occur only in loanwords.<ref>Svantesson ''et al.'' 2005: 25–30.</ref> The occurrence of palatalized consonant phonemes, except {{IPA|/tʃ/}} {{IPA|/tʃʰ/}} {{IPA|/ʃ/}} {{IPA|/j/}}, is restricted to words with [−ATR] vowels.<ref>Svantesson ''et al.'' (2005): 20–21, where it is actually stated that they are phonemic only in such words; in Svantesson's analysis, [−ATR] corresponds to "pharyngeal" and [+ATR]—to "nonpharyngeal".</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
! colspan=2 rowspan=2|
! colspan=2|[[labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan=2|[[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! colspan=2|[[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! rowspan=2|[[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
|- style="font-size: x-small;"
! plain || [[Palatalization (phonetics)|pal.]]
! plain || [[Palatalization (phonetics)|pal.]]
! plain || [[Palatalization (phonetics)|pal.]]
|-
! colspan=2| [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}} || {{IPA link|mʲ}}
| {{IPA link|n}} || {{IPA link|nʲ}}
| {{IPA link|ŋ}} ||
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Plosive]]
!<small>unaspirated</small>
| {{IPA link|p}} || {{IPA link|pʲ}}
| {{IPA link|t}} || {{IPA link|tʲ}}
| {{IPA link|ɡ}} || {{IPA link|ɡʲ}}
| {{IPA link|ɢ}}
|-
! <small>[[Aspiration (phonetics)|aspirated]]</small>
| ({{IPA link|pʰ}}) || ({{IPA link|pʲʰ}})
| {{IPA link|tʰ}} || {{IPA link|tʲʰ}}
| ({{IPA link|kʰ}}) || ({{IPA link|kʲʰ}})
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Affricate]]
!<small>unaspirated</small>
| ||
| {{IPA link|ts}} || {{IPA link|tʃ}}
| ||
|
|-
!<small>[[Aspiration (phonetics)|aspirated]]</small>
| ||
| {{IPA link|tsʰ}} || {{IPA link|tʃʰ}}
| ||
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Fricative]]
!<small>[[Central consonant|central]]</small>
| ({{IPA link|f}}) ||
| {{IPA link|s}} || {{IPA link|ʃ}}
| {{IPA link|x}} || {{IPA link|xʲ}}
|
|-
!<small>[[Lateral consonant|lateral]]</small>
| ||
| {{IPA link|ɮ}} || {{IPA link|ɮʲ}}
| ||
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Trill consonant|Trill]]
| ||
| {{IPA link|r}} || {{IPA link|rʲ}}
| ||
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Approximant]]
| {{IPA link|w̜}} || {{IPA link|w̜ʲ}}
| || {{IPA link|j}}
| ||
|
|}

A rare feature among the world's languages, Mongolian has neither a voiced lateral approximant, such as {{IPA|[l]}}, nor the voiceless velar plosive {{IPA|[k]}}; instead, it has a [[voiced alveolar lateral fricative]], {{IPA|/ɮ/}}, which is often realized as voiceless {{IPA|[ɬ]}}.<ref>Karlsson (2005): 17</ref> In word-final position, {{IPA|/n/}} (if not followed by a vowel in historical forms) is realized as {{IPA|[ŋ]}}. Aspirated consonants are preaspirated in medial and word-final contexts, devoicing preceding consonants and vowels. Devoiced short vowels are often deleted.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://journals.lub.lu.se/index.php/LWPL/article/viewFile/2341/1916|title=Vowels in Mongolian speech: deletions and epenthesis |author=Anastasia Mukhanova Karlsson|access-date=2014-07-26}}</ref>

=== Syllable structure and phonotactics ===
The maximal [[syllable]] is CVVCCC, where the last C is a word-final suffix. A single short vowel rarely appears in [[Syllable#Coda|syllable-final position]]. If a word was monosyllabic historically, *CV has become CVV. In native words, the following consonants do not occur word-initially: {{IPA|/w̜/}}, {{IPA|/ɮ/}}, {{IPA|/r/}}, {{IPA|/w̜ʲ/}}, {{IPA|/ɮʲ/}}, {{IPA|/rʲ/}}, {{IPA|/tʰʲ/}}, and {{IPA|/tʲ/}}. {{IPA|[ŋ]}} is restricted to codas (else it becomes {{IPA|[n]}}), and {{IPA|/p/}} and {{IPA|/pʲ/}} do not occur in codas for historical reasons. For two-consonant clusters, the following restrictions obtain:
* a palatalized consonant can be preceded only by another palatalized consonant or sometimes by {{IPA|/ɢ/}} and {{IPA|/ʃ/}}
* {{IPA|/ŋ/}} may precede only {{IPA|/ʃ, x, ɡ, ɡʲ/}} and {{IPA|/ɢ/}}
* {{IPA|/j/}} does not seem to appear in second position
* {{IPA|/p/}} and {{IPA|/pʲ/}} do not occur as first consonant and as second consonant only if preceded by {{IPA|/m/}} or {{IPA|/ɮ/}} or their palatalized counterparts.

Clusters that do not conform to these restrictions will be broken up by an [[Epenthesis|epenthetic]] nonphonemic vowel in a syllabification that takes place from right to left. For instance, {{lang|mn-latn|hoyor}} 'two', {{lang|mn-latn|ajil}} 'work', and {{lang|mn-latn|saarmag}} 'neutral' are, phonemically, {{IPA|/xɔjr/}}, {{IPA|/atʃɮ/}}, and {{IPA|/saːrmɡ/}} respectively. In such cases, an epenthetic vowel is inserted to prevent disallowed consonant clusters. Thus, in the examples given above, the words are phonetically {{IPA|[ˈxɔjɔ̆r]}}, {{IPA|[ˈatʃĭɮ]}}, and {{IPA|[ˈsaːrmăɢ]}}. The phonetic form of the epenthetic vowel follows from vowel harmony triggered by the vowel in the preceding syllable. Usually it is a [[Relative articulation#Centralized vowels|centralized]] version of the same sound, with the following exceptions: preceding {{IPA|/u/}} produces {{IPA|[e]}}; {{IPA|/i/}} will be ignored if there is a nonneutral vowel earlier in the word; and a postalveolar or palatalized consonant will be followed by an epenthetic {{IPA|[i]}}, as in {{IPA|[ˈatʃĭɮ]}}.<ref>Svantesson ''et al.'' (2005): 62–72.</ref>

=== Stress ===
[[Stress (linguistics)|Stress]] in Mongolian is non-phonemic (does not distinguish different meanings) and is thus considered to depend entirely on syllable structure. But scholarly opinions on stress placement diverge sharply.<ref>Svantesson ''et al.'' (2005): 95–97</ref> Most native linguists, regardless of which dialect they speak, claim that stress falls on the first syllable. Between 1941 and 1975, several Western scholars proposed that the leftmost heavy syllable gets the stress. Yet other positions were taken in works published between 1835 and 1915.

Walker (1997)<ref>elaborating on Bosson (1964) and Poppe (1970).</ref> proposes that stress falls on the rightmost [[Syllable weight|heavy syllable]] unless this syllable is word-final:

:{|
| H'''ˈH'''LL || {{lang|mn|бай'''гуу'''лагдах}} || {{IPA|[pæ.ˈɢʊ.ɮəɢ.təx]}} || 'to be organized'
|-
| LH'''ˈH'''L || {{lang|mn|хөндий'''рүү'''лэн}} || {{IPA|[xɵn.ti.ˈɾu.ɮəŋ]}} || 'separating' (adverbial)
|-
| LHH'''ˈH'''L || {{lang|mn|Улаанбаат'''рын'''хан}} || {{IPA|[ʊ.ɮan.paːtʰ.ˈrin.xəŋ]}} || 'the residents of Ulaanbaatar'
|-
| H'''ˈH'''H || {{lang|mn|уур'''тай'''гаар}} || {{IPA|[ʊːr.ˈtʰæ.ɢar]}} || 'angrily'
|-
| '''ˈH'''LH || {{lang|mn|'''уйт'''гартай}} || {{IPA|[ˈʊɪtʰ.ɢər.tʰæ]}} || 'sad'
|}

A "heavy syllable" is defined as one that is at least the length of a full vowel; short word-initial syllables are thereby excluded. If a word is bisyllabic and the only heavy syllable is word-final, it gets stressed anyway. In cases where there is only one phonemic short word-initial syllable, even this syllable can get the stress:<ref>Walker's evidence is collected from one native informant, examples from Poppe (1970) and consultation with James Bosson. She defines stress in terms of pitch, duration and intensity. The analysis pertains to the Khalkha dialect. The phonemic analysis in the examples is adjusted to Svantesson ''et al.'' (2005).</ref>

:{|
| L'''ˈH''' || {{lang|mn|га'''луу'''}} || {{IPA|[ɢa.ˈɮʊ]}} || 'goose'
|-
| '''ˈL'''L || {{lang|mn|'''унш'''сан}} || {{IPA|[ˈʊnʃ.səɴ]}} || 'having read'
|}

More recently, the most extensive collection of phonetic data so far in Mongolian studies has been applied to a partial account of stress placement in the closely related Chakhar dialect.<ref>Harnud [Köke] (2003).</ref><ref>Harnud (2003) was reviewed by J. Brown in ''Journal of the International Phonetic Association'' (December 2006). 36(2): 205–207.</ref> The conclusion is drawn that di- and trisyllabic words with a short first syllable are stressed on the second syllable. But if their first syllable is long, then the data for different acoustic parameters seems to support conflicting conclusions: [[Intensity (physics)|intensity]] data often seems to indicate that the first syllable is stressed, while [[Fundamental frequency|F0]] seems to indicate that it is the second syllable that is stressed.<ref>Harnud [Köke] (2003): 44–54, 94–100.</ref>