Editing Mongolian language (section)

== History ==
[[File:Phagspa imperial edict dragon year.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.59|alt=White page with black Phags-pa characters and two seals, one being in the middle of and one on the right sight of the text. All lines start at the top of the page|Edict of [[Yesün Temür Khan, Emperor Taiding of Yuan]] (1328). Only the [['Phags-pa script]] retains the complete [[Middle Mongol language|Middle Mongol]] vowel system.<ref>Svantesson ''et al.'' (2005): 111.</ref>]]

The earliest surviving Mongolian text may be the {{ill|Stele of Yisüngge|ru|Чингисов_камень}}, a report on sports composed in Mongolian script on stone, which is most often dated at 1224 or 1225.<ref>Garudi (2002): 7, but see Rachewiltz (1976)</ref> The Mongolian-[[Armenian language|Armenian]] wordlist of 55 words compiled by [[Kirakos of Gandzak]] (13th century) is the first written record of Mongolian words.<ref>Djahukyan (1991): 2368</ref> From the 13th to the 15th centuries, Mongolian language texts were written in four scripts (not counting some vocabulary written in Western scripts): Uyghur Mongolian (UM) script (an adaptation of the [[Uyghur alphabets|Uyghur alphabet]] ), [['Phags-pa script]] (Ph) (used in decrees), [[Chinese characters|Chinese]] (SM) (''[[The Secret History of the Mongols]]''), and [[Arabic script|Arabic]] (AM) (used in dictionaries).<ref>Rybatzki (2003b): 58.</ref> While they are the earliest texts available, these texts have come to be called "[[Middle Mongol language|Middle Mongol]]" in scholarly practice.<ref>See Rachewiltz 1999 for a critical review of the terminology used in periodizations of Mongolic; Svantesson ''et al.'' (2005): 98–99 attempt a revision of this terminology for the early period.</ref> The documents in UM script show some distinct linguistic characteristics and are therefore often distinguished by terming their language "Preclassical Mongolian".<ref>Rybatzki (2003b): 57.</ref>

The [[Yuan dynasty]] referred to the Mongolian language in Chinese as "Guoyu" ({{lang-zh|t=國語}}), which means "National language", a term also used by other non-Han dynasties to refer to their languages such as the [[Manchu language]] during the [[Qing dynasty]], the [[Jurchen language]] during the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)]], the [[Khitan language]] during the [[Liao dynasty]], and the [[Xianbei#Language|Xianbei language]] during the [[Northern Wei]] period.

The next distinct period is [[Classical Mongolian language|Classical Mongolian]], which is dated from the 17th to the 19th century. This is a written language with a high degree of standardization in orthography and syntax that sets it quite apart from the subsequent Modern Mongolian. The most notable documents in this language are the Mongolian [[Kangyur]] and [[Tengyur]]<ref>Janhunen (2003a): 32.</ref> as well as several chronicles.<ref>Okada (1984)</ref> In 1686, the [[Soyombo alphabet]] ([[Buddhist texts]]) was created, giving distinctive evidence on early classical Mongolian phonological peculiarities.<ref>Nadmid (1967): 98–102.</ref>