Editing Mongolian writing systems

{{Short description|Writing systems devised for the Mongolian language}}
{{About|Mongolian writing systems|original Mongolian writing system|Mongolian script|the language|Mongolian language}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2016}}
[[Image:Mongɣol.png|350px|thumb|The word ''Mongol'' in various contemporary and historical scripts: 1. [[Traditional Mongolian alphabet|traditional]], 2. [[#Traditional alphabet|folded]], 3. [['Phags-pa script|'Phags-pa]], 4. [[Clear script|Todo]], 5. [[Manchu alphabet|Manchu]], 6. [[Soyombo alphabet|Soyombo]], 7. [[Zanabazar square script|horizontal square]], 8. [[Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet|Cyrillic]]]]
Various '''Mongolian writing systems''' have been devised for the [[Mongolian language]] over the centuries, and from a variety of scripts. The oldest and native script, called simply the [[Mongolian script]], has been the predominant script during most of Mongolian history, and is still in active use today in the [[Inner Mongolia]] region of [[China]] and has ''[[de facto]]'' use in [[Mongolia]]. 

It has in turn spawned several alphabets, either as attempts to fix its perceived shortcomings, or to allow the notation of other languages, such as [[Mandarin Chinese|Chinese]], [[Sanskrit]] and [[Standard Tibetan|Tibetan]]. In the 20th century, [[Mongolia]] briefly switched to the [[Latin script]], but then almost immediately replaced it with the modified [[Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet|Cyrillic alphabet]]  because of its smaller discrepancy between written and spoken form, contributing to the success of the literacy campaign, which increased the literacy rate from 17.3% to 73.5% between 1941 and 1950<ref name=unesco>Batchuluun Yembuu, Khulan Munkh-Erdene (2005). [http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001462/146207e.pdf Literacy country study: Mongolia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230105103206/https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000146207_eng |date=2023-01-05 }}. Background paper prepared for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2006.
Literacy for Life. P.7-8</ref> Nevertheless, Mongols living in [[Inner Mongolia]] as well as other parts of [[China]] continued to use alphabets based on the traditional Mongolian script.

In March 2020, the [[Government of Mongolia]] announced plans to use the traditional Mongolian script alongside the Cyrillic script in official documents (e.g. [[identity documents]], [[academic certificate]]s, [[birth certificates]], [[marriage certificate]]s, among others) as well as the [[State Great Khural]] by 2025, although the Cyrillic script could be used alone on an optional basis for less official writing.<ref name=traditional1>{{cite web|title=Mongolia to promote usage of traditional script|url=http://www.china.org.cn/arts/2020-03/19/content_75834583.htm|website=China.org.cn (March 19, 2020)}}</ref><ref name="traditional2">{{Cite web |title=Official documents to be recorded in both scripts from 2025 |url=https://www.montsame.mn/en/read/219358 |access-date=2024-07-05 |website=MONTSAME News Agency |language=en}}</ref><ref name="traditional3">{{Cite web |last=gogo.mn |title=Mongolian Language Law is effective from July 1st |url=https://mongolia.gogo.mn/r/146942 |access-date=2024-07-05 |website=gogo.mn |language=en |quote=Use of cyrillic is to be terminated and only Mongolian script to be used. There is no provision in the law that states the termination of use of cyrillic. It clearly states that Mongolian script is to be added to the current use of cyrillic. Mongolian script will be introduced in stages and state and local government is to conduct their correspondence in both cyrillic and Mongolian script. This provision is to be effective starting January 1st of 2025. ID, birth certificate, marriage certificate and education certificates are to be both in Mongolian cyrillic and Mongolian script and currently Mongolian script is being used in official letters of President, Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament.}}</ref>

== Precursors ==
[[File:Small Khitan Fish Tally.jpg|thumb|100px|right|Bronze 'fish tally' with Khitan script]]
The [[Xianbei people|Xianbei]] spoke a proto-Mongolic language and wrote down several pieces of literature in their language. They are believed to have used [[Chinese characters]] to phonetically represent Xianbei, like the Japanese system of [[Man'yōgana]] with Chinese, but all works written in Xianbei are now lost.

In 2019, with the emergence of new evidence through the analysis of the ''[[Bugut inscription|Brāhmī Bugut]]'' and ''[[Inscription of Hüis Tolgoi|Khüis Tolgoi]]'', [[Rouran language]] was deciphered, and Rouran was spelled in [[Brahmi script]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Brāhmī inscriptions of Mongolia: Whose decipherment |journal=International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics |date=21 December 2021 |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=153–157 |doi=10.1163/25898833-00320012 |url=https://www.academia.edu/77261355/The_Brāhmī_inscriptions_of_Mongolia_Whose_decipherment|doi-access=free }}</ref>

The [[Khitan people|Khitan]] spoke [[Khitan language|another proto-Mongolic language]] and developed two scripts for writing it: [[Khitan large script]] and [[Khitan small script]], logographic scripts derived from Chinese characters.

== Classic Mongolian scripts ==
[[File:Monggol in Monggol bicig.jpg|thumb|147x147px|"Mongol" in Traditional Mongolian script.]]
[[File:Monggol.svg|thumb|147x147px]]

===Traditional alphabet===
{{Main|Mongolian script}}
At the very beginning of the [[Mongol Empire]], around 1204, [[Genghis Khan]] defeated the [[Naimans]] and captured a [[Kingdom of Qocho|Uyghur]] scribe called [[Tata-tonga]], who then adapted the [[Old Uyghur alphabet|Uyghur alphabet]]—a descendant of the [[Syriac alphabet]], via [[Sogdian alphabet|Sogdian]]—to write Mongol. With only minor modifications, it is used in [[Inner Mongolia]] to this day. Its most salient feature is its vertical direction; it is the only [[Horizontal and vertical writing in East Asian scripts|vertical script]] still in use that is written from left to right. (All other vertical writing systems are written right to left.) This is because the Uyghurs rotated their script 90 degrees anticlockwise to emulate the Chinese writing system.<ref>György Kara, "Aramaic Scripts for Altaic Languages", in Daniels & Bright ''[[The World's Writing Systems]],'' 1994.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DuCRAgAAQBAJ|title=The Mongolic Languages|last=Janhunen|first=Juha|date=2006-01-27|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-79690-7|language=en}}</ref>{{rp|36}}

As a variant of the traditional script there exists a ''vertical square script'' (Босоо дөрвөлжин), also called ''folded script'', used e.g. on the [[Mongolian tögrög|Mongolian banknotes]].

=== Galik alphabet ===
{{Main|Galik alphabet}}
In 1587, the translator and scholar [[Ayuush Güüsh]] created the Galik alphabet, inspired by [[3rd Dalai Lama|Sonam Gyatso]], the third [[Dalai Lama]]. It primarily added extra letters to transcribe [[Classical Tibetan|Tibetan]] and [[Sanskrit]] terms in religious texts, and later also from [[Chinese language|Chinese]] and [[Russian language|Russian]]. Later some of these letters were officially merged into traditional alphabet as a group named "Galig usug" to transcribe foreign words in modern use.
[[File:Monggol in Todo bicig.jpg|thumb|173x173px|"Mongol" in Todo script.]]

=== Todo alphabet ===
{{Main|Clear script}}
In 1648, the [[Oirats|Oirat]] [[Lama|Buddhist monk]] [[Zaya Pandita]] created this variation with the goal of bringing the written language closer to the actual [[Oirats|Oirat]] pronunciation, and to make it easier to transcribe Tibetan and [[Sanskrit]]. The script was used by Kalmyks of [[Russia]] until 1924, when it was replaced by the Cyrillic alphabet. In [[Xinjiang]], China, the Oirats still use it.

== 'Phags-pa script (Square script)==
{{Main|'Phags-pa script}}
[[File:Monggol in Dorbeljin bicig.jpg|thumb|208x208px|"Mongol" in Phags-pa script.]]
The traditional Mongolian alphabet is not a perfect fit for the Mongolian language, and it would be impractical to extend it to a language with a very different phonology like Chinese. Therefore, during the [[Yuan dynasty]] ({{circa|1269}}), [[Kublai Khan]] asked a Tibetan monk, [[Drogön Chögyal Phagpa]], to design a new script for use by the whole empire. Phagpa extended his native [[Tibetan script]] to encompass Mongolian and Chinese; the result was known by several descriptive names, such as the ''Mongolian new script'', but today is known as the 'Phags-pa script. The script did not receive wide acceptance and fell into disuse with the collapse of the Yuan dynasty in 1368. After this it was mainly used as a phonetic [[interlinear gloss|gloss]] for Mongols learning Chinese characters. However, scholars such as [[Gari Ledyard]] believe that in the meantime it was the source of some of the basic letters of the Korean [[hangul]] alphabet.

== Soyombo script ==
{{Main|Soyombo script}}
[[File:Monggol in Soyombo bicig.jpg|thumb|155x155px|"Mongol" in Soyombo script.]]
The Soyombo script is an [[abugida]] created by the Mongolian monk and scholar [[Bogdo Zanabazar]] in the late 17th century, that can also be used to write Tibetan and [[Sanskrit]]. A special glyph in the script, the [[Soyombo symbol]], became a national symbol of [[Mongolia]], and has appeared on the [[Flag of Mongolia|national flag]] since 1921, and on the [[Coat of arms of Mongolia|national coat of arms]] since 1992, as well as money, stamps, etc.

Zanabazar had created it for the translation of Buddhist texts from Sanskrit or Tibetan, and both he and his students used it extensively for that purpose. Aside from historical texts, it can usually be found in temple [[inscriptions]]. It also has some relevance to linguistic research, because it reflects certain developments in the Mongolian language, such as that of long vowels.

== Horizontal square script ==
{{Main|Horizontal square script}}
[[File:Monggol in kebtege dorbeljin bicig.png|thumb|"Mongol" in Horizontal Square script.]]
At around the same time, Zanabazar also developed the ''horizontal square script'' (Хэвтээ дөрвөлжин), which was only rediscovered in 1801. The script's applications during the period of its use are not known. It was also largely based on the Tibetan alphabet, read left to right, and employed vowel diacritics above and below the consonant letters.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2015/15337-zanabazar-square.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2015/15337-zanabazar-square.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live | title=L2/15-337: Proposal to Encode the Zanabazar Square Script in ISO/IEC 10646 | first=Anshuman | last=Pandey | publisher=ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 | date=2015-12-03 }}</ref> Additionally, a dot was used below consonants to show that they were syllable-final.

Horizontal square script is included in the [[Unicode Standard]] under the name "Zanabazar Square". The [[Zanabazar Square (Unicode block)|Zanabazar Square]] block, comprising 72 characters, was added as part of Unicode version 10.0 in June 2017.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Unicode 10.0.0 | url=https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode10.0.0/ | publisher=[[Unicode Consortium]] | date=June 20, 2017 | access-date=June 21, 2017 }}</ref>

== Foreign scripts ==
Before the 13th century, foreign scripts such as the Uighur and the Tibetan scripts were used to write the Mongolian language.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mongolian alphabet |date=17 September 2007 |publisher=Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mongolian-alphabet |access-date=20 March 2021}}</ref> Even during the reign of the Mongol Empire, people in the conquered areas often wrote it in their local systems. In some cases it was transcribed phonetically using [[Chinese character]]s,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kapaj |first1=Luigi |title=Mongol Scripts |url=http://www.viahistoria.com/SilverHorde/main.html?research/MongolScripts.html |website=The Silver Horde |access-date=20 March 2021}}</ref> as is the case with the only surviving copies of ''[[The Secret History of the Mongols]]''. Subjects from the [[Middle East]] hired into administrative functions would also often use [[Perso-Arabic]] script to write their Mongolian language documents.

=== Latin script ===
{{Main|Mongolian Latin alphabet}}

On 1 February 1930, Mongolia officially adopted a Latin alphabet. On 25 March 1941, the decision was reversed. According to later official claims, the alphabet had turned out to have not been thought out well. It was said not to distinguish all the sounds of the Mongolian language, and was difficult to use. Using "y" as feminine "u" {{IPAslink|u}}, with additional feminine "o" ("ө") {{IPAslink|ɵ}} and with additional consonants "ç" for "ch" {{IPAslink|tʃ}}, "ş" for "sh" {{IPAslink|ʃ}} and ƶ for "zh" {{IPAslink|dʒ}}, it successfully served in printing books and newspapers. Many of the Latin letters (f, h, p, v) were even rarely used while q, w and x were completely excluded. The adoption of the Cyrillic script a short time later, almost simultaneously with most Soviet republics, suggests political reasons. In the advent of the Internet, people who use social networking services prefer typing in the Latin script for the ease of typing compared to the Cyrillic script, using the orthography introduced in 1939.<ref>{{cite web|title=Russian Influence in Mongolia is Declining|url=https://globalsecurityreview.com/decline-russian-influence-mongolia/|website=Global Security Review (March 2, 2019)|date=2 March 2019}}</ref>

=== Cyrillic script ===
[[Image:Mongolia-text.svg|thumb|"Mongol" in Cyrillic script]]
{{Main|Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet}}The most recent Mongolian alphabet is based on the [[Cyrillic script]], more specifically the [[Russian alphabet]] plus the letters, Өө ''Öö'' and Үү ''Üü''. It was [[Cyrillisation in the Soviet Union|introduced]] in the 1940s and has been in use as the official writing system of [[Mongolia]] ever since.

In March 2020, the Government of Mongolia announced plans to use the traditional Mongolian script alongside Cyrillic in official documents starting from 2025.<ref name=traditional1/><ref name=traditional2/><ref name=traditional3/>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Language}}
*[[SASM/GNC romanization#Mongolian|SASM/GNC romanization § Mongolian]]
*[[Mongolian transliteration of Chinese characters]]
**{{ill|Sino–Mongolian Transliterations|zh|中蒙联合转写}}
*[[Mongolian Braille]]
* [[Mongolian Sign Language]]
* [[Mongolian name]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Mongolian writing}}
* [http://www.viahistoria.com/SilverHorde/main.html?research/MongolScripts.html The Silver Horde: Mongol Scripts]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070704024151/http://www.indiana.edu/~mongsoc/mong/language.htm The Mongolian language and scripts], Tseveliin Shagdarsuren, Indiana University
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160325064712/http://mongoliancalligraphy.com/english/mongolcalligraphy.htm Inkway] Mongolian Calligraphy

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{{list of writing systems}}
{{Mongolic languages}}
{{Mongolia topics}}
{{Inner Mongolia topics}}

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