Until the beginning of the 13th century. AD The historical role of the Mongols was very insignificant, but after the unification of Mongolia under the rule of Genghis Khan (Temuchin), its rule extended from Korea to southern Russia. The Mongolian language belongs to the Altaic family of languages. Dialects of the Mongolian language are now spoken by peoples living in the territory from the Great Chinese wall to the Amur River and from the Gobi Desert to the Altai Mountains. There are no significant differences between the three main Mongolian dialects or languages - Khalkha, Oirat-Kalmyk and Buryat. The literary Mongolian language is the form of the Khalkha language for which in the XIII-XIV centuries. Lamas Saskia Pandiat and Choyji Odzer introduced writing.
Until the writing pa-se-pa or “p” ags-pa, which was a modification of the Tibetan script, was introduced in 1272 for the Mongolian language, official letter and the written language of Mongolia was the Uyghur language and the Uyghur script. In 1310, the pa-se-pa writing was replaced by the Galika or Kalika writing (from ka-lekka, that is, “ka writing”), which, based mainly on the Uyghur alphabet, experienced a certain influence of the Tibetan writing and adopted the experience of the pa-se-pa system. sse-pa.
During the XIV century. The Galika alphabet (which was used to write Mongolian translations of Buddhist Sanskrit and Tibetan works), having undergone some changes, became the Mongolian national alphabet.
Signs of the Mongolian, Kalmyk, Manchu and Buryat alphabet.
Sending a letter to Mongolian writing vertical, top to bottom. Maybe this had an impact Chinese influence, but unlike Chinese writing, the columns here follow each other from left to right. The Mongolian writing system is not perfect; Thus, the signs for the sounds g and k, d and t, o and u, y and j are respectively the same in it, therefore many words that are distant in meaning have similar spellings, for example, urtu “long” and ordu “palace”.
Manchu writing
A sample of Manchu writing.
Manchu people speaking the Southern Tungusic language, related to the Tungusic group of Altai languages 1 The Manchu language belongs to the southern group of Tungus-Manchu languages, which are combined by some researchers with Mongolian and Turkic languages to an Altai family. - Approx. edit, entered the arena of history only in the 17th century. The creator of Manchu writing and literature can be considered Nurhachu, who, having become emperor in 1616, took the name Ahkai Fulingga (in Chinese Tian Ming - “Appointed by Heaven”). Manchu literature consists primarily of translations or imitations of Chinese works.
Originally, Manchu writing was simply a Mongolian alphabet adapted for the Manchu language. In 1632, some diacritics were added to it. In 1748, the Manchu script was reformed by the Manchu Emperor of China, Chen-lun, who, according to legend, chose one of the thirty-two existing scripts. Manchu, like Mongolian, is written in vertical columns from left to right.
Kalmyk alphabet
Kalmyks 2 The author means Kalmyks in in a broad sense, including the Oirats, who live mainly in Xinjiang, China. The Kalmyks themselves, living in the Kalmyk Autonomous Region in the USSR, have now introduced writing on a Russian basis. - Approx. ed.- a people related to the Mongols, inhabiting the vast expanses of Mongolia in the eastern part of the Tien Shan Mountains, on the western border of the Gobi Desert; their nomads spread in the east to Gansu and in the west to the Kalmyk steppes. Some Kalmyks settled on the banks of the Volga.
Kalmyk alphabet.
In 1648, under Lama Zaya Pandit, the Kalmyks adapted the Mongolian alphabet to their language. The Kalmyk alphabet more accurately conveys the sound composition of the language than the Mongolian alphabet.
Buryat alphabet
The Buryat language belongs to the Mongolian group of languages, it is spoken by more than 300 thousand people living in the Buryat Autonomous Region and in Irkutsk region in Transbaikalia. The writing of the Buryat language, which is the eastern branch of the Mongolian language group, is the last descendant of the Mongolian alphabet. The Russian alphabet is also adapted to the Buryat language.
In my life I have come across the Mongolian alphabet twice, and in two different options. The first time was in childhood, when I enthusiastically solved cryptograms from the collection of “Linguistic Problems”. Then I came across an ancient Mongolian version - written from top to bottom with some squiggles, a little like capital letters. The second time I encountered the Mongolian alphabet was at work. And this was already a modern spelling. I remember then I was very surprised why Mongolia has Cyrillic, and I studied this issue a little.
First
There were many different states on the territory of modern Mongolia. Naturally, there was an ancient alphabet, which was later stopped being used, in my opinion, due to its complexity. As far as I know, the Cyrillic alphabet appeared in Mongolia during a time of close friendship with Soviet Union, although back in the 19th century Russian educators went there, bringing, so to speak, culture to the “illiterate” Asian population. Unfortunately, for some reason Russians still consider Asia an underdeveloped region, although this has not been the case for a long time. In general, we were so friendly with our Mongolian colleagues that it was decided to write down their language with our letters. By the way, the Chuvash language was also written in Cyrillic at the beginning of the 20th century. But the Vietnamese language, for example, is written in Latin.
Second
It seems to me that writing down any Asian language using our letters is quite a difficult task. Therefore, the Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet contains two additional characters, namely:
As I understand it, these are just another “o” and “y”. I know that in the Korean language there are two types of “o”, which are almost indistinguishable to our ears. I think it's the same with Mongolian pronunciation. But the recording of Russian names and surnames in Mongolian is absolutely identical to the writing in Russian.
The main asset of any people is its language and writing. They give originality, allow you to establish national identity and stand out from others. Over their centuries-old history, the Mongols managed to try about ten different alphabets; now these people mainly use the Cyrillic alphabet. As descendants of the conquerors who founded Golden Horde, switched to a writing system similar to Russian? And why not Latin or Old Mongolian script?
Many alphabets, one language
Many have tried to develop an alphabet suitable for the Mongolian language and all its dialects. The legendary commander Genghis Khan himself, when creating a huge empire, was concerned with the need to establish a document flow in order to record orders and draw up contracts.
There is a legend that in 1204, after defeating the Naiman tribe, the Mongols captured a scribe named Tatatunga. By order of Genghis Khan, he created a writing system for the conquerors based on his native Uyghur alphabet. All documents of the Golden Horde were compiled using the developments of a captive scribe.
A characteristic feature of the Old Mongolian writing is its vertical orientation: words are written from top to bottom, and lines are arranged from left to right. Some researchers explain this fact by the fact that it was easier for a warrior galloping on his war horse to read scrolls compiled in this way.
In the 90s of the 20th century, in the homeland of Genghis Khan, the old Mongolian script was returned to official status, but its scope of application is limited to company logos and names of organizations, since this alphabet is outdated and does not correspond to modern pronunciation. In addition, the old Mongolian script is not convenient for working on a computer.
However, a modified version of this alphabet is used in Inner Mongolia, a region of China where the main population is the descendants of the legendary conquerors.
Subsequently, there were several more variants of Mongolian writing. For example, at the end of the 13th century, the Tibetan monk Pagba Lama (Dromton Chogyal Pagpa) developed the so-called square script based on the symbols of Chinese phonetics. And in 1648, another monk, Zaya-Pandita of Oirat, created todo-bichig (clear writing), focusing on Tibetan writing and Sanskrit. The Mongolian scientist Bogdo Dzanabazar developed soyombo at the end of the 17th century, and the Buryat monk Agvan Dorzhiev (1850-1938) developed vagindra. The main goal these scientists were creating an alphabet most suitable for translation sacred texts into Mongolian.
Writing is a political issue
The use of certain symbols to record a language is not so much a matter of convenience and linguistic conformity as it is a choice of the sphere of political influence. By using one alphabet, peoples inevitably become closer and enter into a common cultural space. In the twentieth century, Mongolia, like many other countries, actively sought self-determination, so writing reform was inevitable.
Revolutionary transformations in this Asian state began in 1921, and soon socialist power was established throughout Mongolia. The new leadership decided to abandon the old Mongolian script, which was used to translate religious texts ideologically alien to the communists, and switch to the Latin alphabet.
However, the reformers encountered strong resistance from many representatives of the local intelligentsia, some of whom were supporters of modifying the old Mongolian script, while others argued that the Latin alphabet was not suitable for their language. After accusations of nationalism and a wave of repressions in the second half of the 30s of the twentieth century, the linguistic reformers simply had no opponents left.
The Latin alphabet was officially approved in Mongolia on February 1, 1941, and a modified version of this alphabet began to be used for printing newspapers and books. But less than two months passed before this decision of the country’s leadership was canceled. And on March 25, 1941, the people were announced about the imminent transition to the Cyrillic alphabet. Since 1946, all media began to use this alphabet, and since 1950, legal documents began to be compiled in it.
Of course, the choice in favor of the Cyrillic alphabet was made by the Mongolian authorities under pressure from the USSR. At that time, the languages of all peoples of the RSFSR, Central Asia and neighboring states, which were under the strong influence of Moscow, were transferred to the Cyrillic alphabet by order.
Only the inhabitants of Inner Mongolia, which is part of the People's Republic of China, still have the same vertical writing system. As a result, representatives of one nation, separated by a border, use two different alphabets and do not always understand each other.
In 1975, under the leadership of Mao Zedong, preparations began to translate the language of Inner Mongolia into the Latin alphabet, but the death of the head of the Chinese Communist Party prevented this plan from being realized.
Now some Mongolians who are citizens of the PRC use the Cyrillic alphabet to emphasize their national identity as a counterbalance to the assimilating influence of the Chinese authorities.
Cyrillic or Latin?
Unlike the Russian alphabet, the Mongolian version of the Cyrillic alphabet has two additional letters: Ү and Ө. The developers managed to distinguish between the dialect sounds of the sounds Ch and C, Zh and Z, G and X, O and U, Ө and Ү. And yet, this type of writing does not provide a complete correlation between writing and pronunciation.
Although the Latin alphabet cannot be called a suitable alphabet for the Mongolian language, this type of writing has its drawbacks. Not all sounds are the same when written and pronounced.
In the 1990s, in the wake of the rejection of communist ideology and the search for a further path of development, there was an attempt to return the old Mongolian writing, but it ended in failure. This alphabet no longer corresponds to the trends of the times, and converting all scientific terms, formulas, textbooks and office work in the country to a vertical spelling turned out to be an impractical, costly and labor-intensive process. Such a reform would take a lot of time: we would have to wait for representatives of the next generation, educated in Old Mongolian, to start working as teachers.
As a result, having given the original alphabet the official status, the Mongols use it only for decorative purposes, continuing to write in Cyrillic, although from time to time there are calls in the country to switch to the Latin alphabet.
Wanting to demonstrate their national independence, at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries, the states of Central Asia abandoned the Cyrillic alphabet, which was imposed on them during the Soviet era. Even in Tatarstan, which is part of Russia, there was talk of writing reform. This process is actively lobbied by Turkey, which switched to the Latin alphabet in 1928, as well as its NATO allies - Great Britain and the USA, who are interested in spreading their cultural influence in Asia.
However, Mongolia's transition to the Latin alphabet is unlikely for several reasons.
Firstly, this country is not one of the Turkic-speaking states, unlike its neighbors from Central Asia, and therefore the opinion of official Ankara does not have of great importance in Ulaanbaatar.
Secondly, the Mongols do not strong desire distance yourself from Russia. Despite the repressions of the 30s of the twentieth century, this country also remembers the good things that were done with the help of the USSR: the construction of enterprises, hospitals, educational centers, infrastructure facilities.
Thirdly, Mongolians fear the growing influence of China, which is seeking to assimilate all neighboring peoples. The Cyrillic alphabet serves as a kind of cultural buffer that prevents the Mongols from being deprived of their national identity.
In addition, as we mentioned above, the Latin alphabet is also not entirely suitable for the Mongolian language, just like the Cyrillic alphabet. Therefore, residents of this country do not see much sense in changing one alphabet for another.
Mongols continue to suffer from changes in writing system
After the introduction of the Cyrillic alphabet imposed by political forces, Mongols are confused between horizontal and vertical system letters
This summer I went on an expedition along the route Beijing - Inner Mongolia - Manchuria - the center of Russian Buryatia Ulan-Ude - Ulaanbaatar - Beijing.
I processed almost all the collected materials on the spot, but I wanted to take the most important ones with me - they did not fit into my luggage, and I had to carry several folders with me.
Mongols who have difficulty understanding the Mongolian alphabet
Usually I take a train between Ulan-Ude and Ulaanbaatar, but this time the travel time was limited and I crossed the border by bus, which took me 12 hours to my destination.
This circumstance in itself was not a tragedy, and I don’t even need to write about the terrible quality of the road; the shaking when you drive along it causes nausea on both the Russian and Mongolian sides.
However, after we crossed the border, one person got on the bus. As I learned later, checkpoint employees or members of their families usually sit after the border.
The bus was almost full, but there were a few empty seats in the back, one of which was next to me. This young Mongol sat down next to me. As I found out from a subsequent conversation, he worked at the border at passport control, and was traveling to Ulaanbaatar to take exams for promotion. First he spoke to me in English, and I noticed his excellent pronunciation.
He was leafing through books bought in Russia, or perhaps magazines from his pocket in the bus seat, and suddenly began to read a text he found in one of the books, written vertically.
He had difficulty making his way through the vague meaning of the column of letters, but in the end he said that here, apparently, we're talking about about the war (I was just feeling nauseous, so I wasn’t able to read).
He explained that he studied these letters at school, but due to lack of habit, he could only read what was written syllable by syllable. The text was written in Mongolian letters.
Now in the Mongolian language there are two types of writing. The first one is vertical type using the Mongolian alphabet, the second is a horizontal letter in Cyrillic, as in Russian.
The Mongolian alphabet is used throughout Chinese Inner Mongolia, while the Cyrillic alphabet is used in Mongolia itself. Due to the fact that Mongolia writes in Cyrillic, they are often asked whether the Mongolian language is similar to Russian, while in fact it is close in grammar to Japanese.
Mongolian is very similar to Japanese
After the two or three years I spent in Mongolia, my Japanese became a little strange.
One of the reasons for the slight deviations was that it was enough to substitute Mongolian words for Japanese words, including grammatical indicators, in order to communicate with people around them - the Mongolian language is so close to Japanese. Because of this, over the course of two or three years, I began to think more in Mongolian, and my Japanese began to sound strange.
The Mongolian language switched to Cyrillic in 1946. It is believed that the Mongolian alphabet originates in the 12th-13th centuries. Mongolian letters were introduced with the help of the Uyghurs, who in turn took them from the horizontal Arabic script.
As a reason that horizontal system writing turned into a vertical one; the Mongols themselves cite the convenience of this method of writing for a rider on a horse. Scientists suggest that they probably came to the vertical script in the process of signing trade agreements with China, where Mongolian was assigned next to the vertical Chinese script.
In addition, under the inscriptions of the names of the gates in the Chinese Forbidden City there are still signatures in the Manchu language, which used the Mongolian alphabet.
The Mongolian language has tried more than one script - either because the Mongolian script was borrowed from the Uyghurs, or because it could not fully reflect the sounds of the language.
Among other things, the Mongols used a square alphabet created by the Tibetan Buddhist monk Pagba Lama, which they sought to develop into an international script for recording the languages of the small peoples ruled by the Yuan dynasty. The Yuan Dynasty was eventually overthrown in 1368, and the Mongols fled to the Mongolian plateau and then stopped using the Pagba script.
The reason for such a rapid abandonment of the square script was that the Pagba script was more difficult to write than the Mongolian alphabet, which had a cursive variant. Due to the fact that the Mongolian alphabet could not accurately convey sounds, it was equally distant from all dialects, and the Pagba letter, on the contrary, accurately reflected all the phonetic features of the court Mongolian language, but was too far removed from the dialects.
Moreover, there is even a theory that the Korean Hangul alphabet was not created from scratch, but arose under the influence of the Pagba script.
600 years after those events, the moment of truth has come for the Mongolian alphabet, which has endured numerous trials. A revolution took place in 1921, and socialist power was established in 1924.
Switch from Latin to Cyrillic under influence of the Soviet Union
Considering that the Mongolian alphabet is the reason for the low (less than 10%) literacy rate of the population, the authorities announced that the Mongolian language would be written in a “revolutionary way” - in the Latin alphabet.
Of course, it was simply necessary to teach people the Mongolian alphabet, using, for example, traditional Buddhist texts. Probably one of the reasons for the replacement was the fear that if nothing was changed, the “new socialist thinking” would never take root.
In the early 1930s, the Latin alphabet was introduced, with the opposition, which supported the Mongolian writing style, winning a temporary victory. However, in the second half of the 1930s, sentiment changed dramatically after Stalin's wave of terror and accusations of nationalist use of the Mongolian alphabet.
In order to save their lives, everyone was forced to support the transition to the Latin alphabet.
In February 1941, the authorities gave the green light to use the Latin alphabet, but a month later they approved the Cyrillic alphabet as official system letters. The decision was made by the same composition that approved the Latin alphabet.
It is obvious that pressure was exerted from Moscow, the center of the revolution.
Even in Chinese Inner Mongolia in the 1950s, there was a movement to introduce the Cyrillic alphabet. However, it immediately stopped as soon as the shadow of the Soviet-Chinese confrontation, which emerged from the late 1950s, fell on the movement.
During perestroika in the second half of the 1980s, the grip of the center weakened, and in Mongolia (at that time the Mongolian people's republic) a movement appeared for the restoration of folk traditions.
Symbol national traditions became the Mongolian alphabet. There were calls to abandon the Cyrillic alphabet and restore the Mongolian alphabet. In September 1992, first graders began learning Mongolian letters.
However, when these children entered the third grade, they were again transferred to the Cyrillic alphabet. The reason was that the numbers and chemical formulas did not fit in with vertical writing, and - what is most important - in conditions of terrifying economic situation there was no money either for textbooks or for training teaching staff who would teach science using vertical writing.
Divided by border, Mongols continue to use different scripts
Thus, a situation has arisen where Mongols in Mongolia and Mongols in Chinese Inner Mongolia speak the same language but write differently. Most likely, the situation will remain this way.
Discrepancies in identical languages separated by a border line can be seen in the most different places Worldwide. One example may be the emergence of new languages after a country gained political and linguistic independence from its former metropolis.
This perception is especially strong in countries bordering each other. Similar phenomena could be observed in Norway when it separated from Denmark, in the case of Spain and Portugal, Serbia and Croatia.
However, it is important that in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia the phenomenon of divergence in writing options is not the result of differences between peoples, but the result of policies imposed by another state.
If we recall the Buryats, who also previously used the Mongolian alphabet and had close contact with Mongolia (in 1938, the Cyrillic alphabet, which differed from the Mongolian language, was established as the main script for them), then the problem of separation by borders becomes clear.
Among the countries of Central Asia that gained their independence from the USSR, there were also those that switched to the Latin alphabet in order to escape the sphere of influence of Russia.
Initially, in the 1920-1930s, the languages of the Central Asian countries adopted the Latin alphabet as their written language. This transition was the result of the modernization movement that began in the mid-19th century. In 1928, Turkey adopted the Latin script for the Turkish language, which became one of the examples of general trends in Central Asian countries.
Even in Russia itself, the movement for the adoption of Latin writing for Tatar language. When the countdown to the introduction of the Latin alphabet began in December 2002, amendments were adopted to the law on the national languages of small nationalities of the Russian Federation, which limited writing federal language and languages of the republics of small nationalities within the Russian Federation only in Cyrillic. The movement for change stopped there.
These events can be linked to the use of writing to indicate spheres of influence. You can also call this the fate of small nations.
If you think about it, the Latin, Cyrillic, Arabic, Indian Devanagari or Chinese characters denote a certain cultural circle, and sometimes a religious sphere of influence. In some cases, as with the Pagba script, the script disappears with the collapse of the empire and the destruction of its sphere of influence. It turns out that the issue of writing is quite politicized.
Meanwhile, a young Mongolian is having difficulty deciphering Mongolian symbols. His appearance gave me something to think about.