Mongolian scripts
Mongolian scripts exist in large numbers and in great variety. More writing systems have been developed or adapted for the Mongolian language than for most other languages.
The oldest remained the most successful and is still in active use today. Other scripts were developed to correct disadvantages or to enable the writing of additional languages, with Sanskrit and Tibetan being the most important foreign languages due to the translation of Lamaistic and Buddhist works, respectively. In the 20th century, Mongolia changed its writing system to a Cyrillic alphabet in order to facilitate cooperation with its former ally, the Soviet Union .
Classic Mongolian script
An idea of the origin or introduction of the classic Mongolian script revolves around the Uighur scribe Tatar-Tonga , who was captured by the Mongols at the beginning of the Mongol Empire from the defeated Naimans . In 1208 Genghis Khan ordered him to develop a script for the administration of the empire. Tatar-Tonga therefore adapted the Uighur script , which in turn derives from the Sogdian script from the Aramaic alphabet , to the Mongolian language.
The property of this font family is the vertical writing direction and, in contrast to most other vertical fonts, the guidance from left to right. It was created because the Uyghurs had turned their writing 90 ° counterclockwise to make it more similar to the Chinese spelling.
The classic Mongolian script is used in China to this day, in Inner Mongolia for Mongolian, and there in Heilongjiang for the Evenk language . In the cityscape of inner Mongolian cities, however, the Chinese script dominates , and the Sinisation that has progressed since the Qing dynasty has also led to the dominance of Chinese in everyday communication .
In Mongolia, the classic Mongolian script was replaced by an adapted Cyrillic alphabet in the 1940s, mainly to facilitate communication with the Soviet Union. However, since 1991 attempts have been made to revive the classical script in order to preserve the continuity of culture and promote national pride. Since then it has also been taught again in schools. However, it has not regained its importance as a communication medium.
The oldest Mongolian written testimony is the so-called Genghis stone , which is now in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg .
Fold-out
A variant of the classic Mongolian script is the folding or flip -top font . This was previously used, among other things, to decorate door frames, in monasteries and on the side of books, today it is officially used on banknotes of the Mongolian currency and generally in logos and on book covers.
Galik script
In 1587 the translator and scholar Ayuusch Güüsch developed the Galik script ( Али-гали , Ali Gali ), inspired by the 3rd Dalai Lama , Sonam Gyatso . He added more characters to the Mongolian script primarily to translate religious texts from Sanskrit and Tibetan , and later also from Chinese . Some of these characters are still in use today to write loanwords and foreign language names.
Clear font
The Buddhist monk Zaya Pandit developed a variant of the script in 1648, which should bring the written version closer to the actual pronunciation. Another goal was to determine the transcription of Tibetan and Sanskrit easier. Plain script was used by the Kalmyks in Russia until 1924 when it was replaced with Cyrillic. In Xinjiang , China, the Oirats still use them today.
Vaghintara font
Another variant was developed in 1905 by the Buryat monk Agvan Dorzhiev (1850–1938). It should also clear up some ambiguities and allow writing in Russian in addition to Mongolian . The most important change, however, was the elimination of the positional form variants of the characters. All characters were based on the medial form of the original Mongolian script.
Phagspa script
During the Yuan Dynasty (around 1269), Kublai Khan commissioned the Tibetan monk Phagspa to develop a new script for the entire Mongol Empire. Phagspa expanded the Tibetan script so that it could also write Mongolian and Chinese. The vertically written script was also called square script or Mongolian seal script . It was mainly used in official documents and lost importance again after the end of the Yuan dynasty.
Soyombo script
In the late 17th century, the Mongolian monk and scholar Dsanabadsar designed a syllabary ( Abugida ) that can also be used to write Tibetan and Sanskrit. A special sign of this script, the Soyombo symbol , became a national symbol of Mongolia. It has been on the national flag since 1921 and on the coat of arms since 1992. The script was widely used by Dsanabadsar and his disciples for the transcription of Buddhist texts. In addition to historical literature, it is still often found on inscriptions and prayer wheels today . It is also interesting for linguistic research because it reflects some of the developments in the Mongolian language at the time, such as: B. the long vowels.
Horizontal square font
Around the same time, Dsanabadsar also developed the horizontal square script , which was only rediscovered around 1801. Nothing is known about their actual use.
Latin script
On February 1, 1941, Mongolia officially introduced the Latin script. The chosen alphabet turned out to be immature. It did not support all the sounds of the Mongolian language and was difficult to use. For these reasons, the decision was reversed on March 25, just two months later.
Cyrillic script
The most recent script for the Mongolian language is a slightly expanded Cyrillic alphabet . It is the Russian alphabet with the two additional characters Өө / ö / and Үү / ü /. This adapted alphabet is almost phonemic and shows a comparatively better correspondence between speech sounds and characters. The government decided to introduce it on May 9, 1941; general use did not begin until the beginning of 1946. Outside of China it is now the primary script for the Mongolian language. Although the government of Mongolia has been trying to revive the traditional scripts since 1991, they mostly serve as decoration; the Cyrillic script is the means of communication in Mongolia.
Foreign writing systems
Before the 13th century, foreign scripts had to be used to write Mongolian. Even during the duration of the Mongol Empire, many in the conquered areas continued to write in their ancestral scripts. Most often, Mongolian was transcribed using Chinese characters , such as B. is the case with the oldest surviving copies of the Secret History of the Mongols . Middle Eastern subjects hired for administrative functions often used Arabic scripts for their Mongolian-language documents.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Otgonbayar Chuluunbaatar: Introduction to the Mongolian scripts . Buske Verlag, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-87548-500-4 . P. 73.
- ↑ Klemens Ludwig : Multi-ethnic China: the national minorities in the Middle Kingdom . Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-59209-6 , pp. 129 .
- ↑ a b c d Michael Dillon: Lesser dragons: minority peoples of China . Reaction Books, London 2018, ISBN 978-1-78023-911-8 , pp. 121 .
- ^ Otgonbayar Chuluunbaatar: Introduction to the Mongolian Scripts . Buske Verlag, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-87548-500-4 . P. 37.
literature
- Otgonbayar Chuluunbaatar: Introduction to the Mongolian Scriptures . Buske Verlag, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-87548-500-4 .
- Juha Janhunen: The Mongolic Languages . Routledge, London, New York 2003.
- Florian Coulmas: Encyclopedia of Writing Systems . Blackwell, Malden 1999.
