Mongolian Latin alphabet

The Mongolian Latin script (Монгол Латин үсэг, Mongol Latin üseg in Cyrillic; Mongol Latiin ysyg in itself, [ˈmɔŋɡɔɮ ɮɑˈtin usəx]) was officially adopted in Mongolia in 1931. In 1939, the second version of the Latin alphabet was introduced but not used widely until it was replaced by the Cyrillic script in 1941.^[1]

Characters

First Latin alphabet was using "y" as feminine "u", with additional feminine "o" ("ө") and with additional consonants "ç" for "ch", "ş" for "sh" and "ƶ" for "j", it successfully served in printing books and newspapers. A few of the letters (f, k, p, v) were rarely used, being found only in borrowings, while q, w and x were excluded altogether. Since k transcribed [h] in loans, it is unclear how loans in [kʰ] were written. "j" is used for vowel combinations of the [ja] type. Letter "c" is used for the sound [ts] and "k" is used for the sound [h]. The first version was inspired by the Yanalif script used for the Soviet Union's Turkic languages.

The second version of Latin alphabet made few minor changes to make the way it works to look more familiar to European languages. That change was including replacement of "y" by "ü", "ө" by "ö", "ƶ" by "j", "j" by "y" and also "k" by "x" in native words. Also reduced the number of letters in the alphabet by erasing "ç" "ş" and write them as a combination of ch and sh. And the rest of the alphabet and orthography kept same.

List of characters

IPA		a	e	i	ɔ	ʊ	ɵ	u	n ŋ	m	ɮ	p w	pʰ	f	kʰ	χ h	q ɡ	s	ʃ	tʰ	t	t͡s	t͡ʃ	dz	dʒ	j	r	h
Mongolian		ᠠ	ᠡ	ᠢ	ᠣ	ᠤ	ᠦ	ᠦ	ᠨ	ᠮ	ᠯ	ᠪ	ᠫ	ᠹ	ᠻ	ᠬ	ᠭ	ᠰ	ᠱ	ᠲ	ᠳ	ᠴ	ᠴ	ᠵ	ᠵ	ᠶ	ᠷ	ᠾ
Latin	1931 - 1939	A	E	I	O	U	Ө	Y	N	M	L	B	P	F	K		G	S	Ş	T	D	C	Ç	Z	Ƶ	J	R	H
Latin	1939 - 1941	A	E	I	O	U	Ö	Ü	N	M	L	B	P	F	K	X	G	S	Sh	T	D	C	Ch	Z	J	Y	R	H
Cyrillic		А	Э	И	О	У	Ө	Ү	Н	М	Л	В	П	Ф	К	Х	Г	С	Ш	Т	Д	Ц	Ч	З	Ж	Й	Р	Х

The unaspirated stops are often realized as voiced [b d dz dʒ ɡ/ɢ]. The non-nasal sonorants are often devoiced to [ɸ ɬ].

Text samples

Latin 1931-1939: Manai ulasiin niislel koto Ulaanbaatar bol 80 000 şakam kyntei, ulasiin olon niitiin, aƶi akuin tөb gazaruud oroşison jikeeken oron bolno.; Tus ulasiin dotoroos garka tyykii zuiliig bolbosruulka aƶi yildberiin gazaruudiig baiguulka ni çukala.
Latin 1939-1941: Manai ulasiin niislel xoto Ulaanbaatar bol 80 000 shaxam xüntei, ulasiin olon niitiin, aji axuin töb gazaruud oroshison yixeexen oron bolno.; Tus ulasiin dotoroos garxa tüüxii zuiliig bolbosruulxa aji üildberiin gazaruudiig baiguulxa ni chuxala.
Cyrillic: Манай улсын нийслэл хот Улаанбаатар бол 80 000 шахам хүнтэй, улсын олон нийтийн, аж ахуйн төв газрууд орошсон ихээхэн орон болно.; Тус улсын дотроос гарах түүхий зуйлыг боловсруулах аж үйлдвэрын газруудыг байгуулх нь чухал.
Transliteration of Cyrillic into Latin: Manai ulsyn niislel khot Ulaanbaatar bol 80 000 shakham khuntei, ulsyn olon niitiin, aj akhuin töv gazruud oroshson ikheekhen oron bolno.; Tus ulsyn dotroos garakh tüükhii zuilyg bolovsruulakh aj üildveryn gazruudyg baiguulkh n' chukhal.

Orthography

The orthography of the Mongolian Latin is based on the orthography of the Classical Mongolian script. It preserves short final vowels. It does not drop unstressed vowels in the closing syllables when the word is conjugated. The suffixes and inflections without long or i-coupled vowels are made open syllables ending with a vowel, which is harmonized with the stressed vowel. The rule for the vowel harmony for unstressed vowels is similar to that of the Mongolian Cyrillic. It does not use consonant combinations to denote new consonant sounds. For both of the version, letter "b" is used both in the beginning and in the middle of the word. Because it phonetically assimilates into sound [w], no ambiguity is caused.

Footnotes

↑ Lenore A. Grenoble: Language policy in the Soviet Union. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2003; S. 49.

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[1] Lenore A. Grenoble: Language policy in the Soviet Union. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2003; S. 49.