This article describes two- and three-letter combinations (so-called digraphs and trigraphs) used for the Mongolian language when written in the Mongolian script.

Mongolian script multigraphs
The Mongolian script
Mongolian vowels
ᠠ​
a
ᠡ​
e
ᠢ​
i
ᠣ​
o
ᠤ​
u
ᠥ​
ö
ᠦ​
ü
ᠧ​
(ē)
Mongolian consonants
ᠨ​
n
ᠩ​
ng
ᠪ​
b
ᠫ​
(p)
ᠬ​
q/k
ᠭ​
γ/g
ᠮ​
m
ᠯ​
l
ᠰ​
s
ᠱ​
š
ᠲ​
t
ᠳ​
d
ᠴ​
č
ᠵ​
ǰ
ᠶ​
y
ᠷ​
r
ᠸ​
(w)
Foreign consonants

Vowel and consonant combinations

The intervocalic letters γ/g, and y has in some combinations come to help form long vowels, namely:[1]: 36–37 

  • Long a with: aγa, iγa, iya.
  • Long e with: ege, ige, iye.
  • Long i with: igi.
  • Long o with: oγa, oγo, uγa.
  • Long u with: aγu, iγu, uγu.
  • Long ö with: öge, üge.
  • Long ü with: egü, igü, ügü.

Sometimes intervocalic b and m is silent: as in ᠳᠡᠪᠡᠯ debel (дээл deel) 'robe, garment' or ᠬᠦᠮᠦᠨ kümün (хүн khün) 'human, person; man'.[2]: 64 [3]

Vowel combinations

Doubled vowels[1]: 10, 30 [4]: 59 
ii oo uu üü Transliteration[note 1]
ī ŏ ū ǖ Pronunciation
— — ᠤᠤ⟨?⟩ ⟨⟩[lower-alpha 1] Alone
ᠣᠣ[lower-alpha 2] —
ᠤᠤ‍ ᠦᠦ‍[lower-alpha 3] Initial
‍ᠢᠢ‍ ‍ᠣᠣ‍[lower-alpha 4] (‍ᠦ᠋ᠦ‍)[lower-alpha 5] Medial
— — ‍ᠤᠤ[lower-alpha 6] Final
  • The doubled vowels ii, uu, and üü mark these out as long. Doubled oo is instead both used in a few words to mark the vowel as short, and to distinguish it from u.[1]: 30 
Diphthongs[1]: 10, 31–32 [4]: 58 [13]: 111 [8]: 41–42 
ai ei oi, ui öi üi Transliteration
āi̯ ēi̯ ōi̯, ūi̯ — ǖi̯ Pronunciation
ᠠᠢ[lower-alpha 7] ᠡᠢ[lower-alpha 8] ᠣᠢ[lower-alpha 9] ᠥᠢ[lower-alpha 10] Alone
ᠠᡳ᠌‍ ᠡᡳ᠌‍ ᠣᡳ᠌‍ — ᠣᡳ᠌‍ Initial
‍ᠠᡳ᠌‍ ‍ᠣᡳ᠌‍ — ‍ᠦᡳ᠌‍ Medial
‍ᠠᠢ ‍ᠣᠢ — ‍ᠦᠢ Final
  • Most of the i's of these diphthongs derive from an earlier yi, but is no longer recognized as such. The yi origin can for instance be seen in the two long teeth of ᠰᠠᠶᠢᠨ⟨?⟩ sayin 'good'. These has become a pair of short and long teeth (᠊‍ᠢ᠋‍) in recent manuscripts. The diphthongs only appears with the single form of i, as in ᠳᠠᠯᠠᠢ dalai̯ 'sea', at the end of words.[1]: 10, 31 [4]: 9, 58 
Diphthongs, continued[1]: 11, 31–32 
au eü u‑a uu‑a Transliteration
aū eǖ uă/uā ūā? Pronunciation
ᠠᠤ‍ — — — Initial
‍ᠠᠤ‍ Medial
— ‍ᠤ᠎ᠠ⟨?⟩ ⟨⟩[lower-alpha 11] ‍ᠤᠤ᠎ᠠ⟨?⟩ Final

Notes

  1. ↑ Interrogative uu/üü particle (subject to vowel harmony; уу/үү/юу/юү uu/üü/yuu/yuü) used after the predicate.[7]: 437, 889, 1014 [1]: 172 [4]: 38 [8]: 53 [9]: 183  The positional variant ⟨ᠶᠤᠤ⟩ yuu/yüü (юу/юү yuu/yuü) is only used in the modern language.[7]: 0437 [8]: 53 
  2. ↑ As in ᠣᠣ/ᠠᠭᠤᠤ uu/aγuu (—/агуу —/aguu) 'vast, great[ly], large', etc.[7]: 18, 889 [1]: 30 
  3. ↑ Written with an intervocalic long tooth, as in ᠦᠷ/ᠦᠦᠷ ür/üür (үүр üür) 'dawn, daybreak'.[7]: 1010, 1014 
  4. ↑ As in ᠲᠤᠤᠯᠢ tuuli (тууль tuuli) 'old tale, story, epic, epic poem'.[7]: 847 [10]: 834 
  5. ↑ Written with an intervocalic long tooth, as in the loanword ᠫᠦᠳ/ᠫᠦᠦᠳᠡ püd/püüde (пуд pud) 'pud', a Russian weight.[7]: 650 
  6. ↑ Final uu/üü in the prohibitive particle ᠪᠤᠤ () buu/büü (бүү büü) 'don't' lacks an intervocalic long tooth.[7]: 141, 153 [1]: 166 [4]: 38  Contrast with the visually similar conjunction ᠪᠤᠶᠤ (): xiii  buyu (буюу buyuu) 'or',[7]: 132 [4]: 44  and noun ᠬᠦᠦ küü (хүү khüü) 'son, young boy', a colloquial form of ᠬᠥᠪᠡᠭᠦᠨ köbegün (хөвүүн/хөвгүүн khövüün/khövgüün),[7]: 494, 509 [1]: 20 [4]: 11 [10]: 816 [11]: 37 [12]: 395 
  7. ↑ As in ᠠᠢ ai (ай ai) 'category; sound, noise', or an pity/sympathy/worry-expressing interjection.[7]: 19 
  8. ↑ As in ᠡᠢ ei (ий ii), an compassion/sorrow/fright/disgust-expressing interjection.[7]: 303 
  9. ↑ As in ᠣᠢ oi (ой oi) 'woods, forest, grove; mind, intellect; memory',[7]: 603–604  or ᠤᠢ ui (уй ui) 'mourning, sorrow'.[7]: 866 
  10. ↑ As in ᠥᠢ/ᠥᠶᠢ öi/öyi (өөе ööye), an exclamatory interjection meaning 'hello', 'I say', or 'look here',[7]: 633 [3] or ᠦᠢ ᠲᠦᠮᠡᠨ üi (үй üi) tümen 'multitude; innumerable'.[7]: 999 
  11. ↑ As in the final diphthongs u-a and uu-a.[1]: 31 
  1. ↑ Scholarly transliteration.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Poppe, Nicholas (1974). Grammar of Written Mongolian. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-00684-2.
  2. ↑ Kara, György (2005). Books of the Mongolian Nomads: More Than Eight Centuries of Writing Mongolian. Indiana University, Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies. ISBN 978-0-933070-52-3.
  3. 1 2 "Mongolian State Dictionary". Mongol toli (in Mongolian). Retrieved 2022-05-16.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Grønbech, Kaare; Krueger, John Richard (1993). An Introduction to Classical (literary) Mongolian: Introduction, Grammar, Reader, Glossary. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-03298-8.
  5. ↑ "Mongolian transliterations" (PDF). Institute of the Estonian Language. 2006-05-06.
  6. ↑ "Mongolian Transliteration & Transcription". collab.its.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-26.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Lessing, Ferdinand (1960). Mongolian-English Dictionary (PDF). University of California Press. Note that this dictionary uses the transliterations c, ø, x, y, z, ai, and ei; instead of č, ö, q, ü, ǰ, ayi, and eyi;: xii  as well as problematically and incorrectly treats all rounded vowels (o/u/ö/ü) after the initial syllable as u or ü.[6]
  8. 1 2 3 Janhunen, Juha (2006-01-27). The Mongolic Languages. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-79690-7.
  9. ↑ Janhunen, Juha A. (2012). Mongolian. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 978-90-272-3820-7.
  10. 1 2 Bawden, Charles (2013-10-28). Mongolian English Dictionary. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-15595-6.
  11. ↑ Skorodumova, L. G. (2000). Vvedenie v staropismenny mongolskiy yazyk Введение в старописьменный монгольский язык (PDF) (in Russian). Muravey-Gayd. ISBN 5-8463-0015-4.
  12. ↑ Bat-Ireedui, Jantsangiyn; Sanders, Alan J. K. (2014-10-14). Colloquial Mongolian (eBook And MP3 Pack): The Complete Course for Beginners. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-22246-7.
  13. ↑ Svantesson, Jan-Olof; Tsendina, Anna; Karlsson, Anastasia; Franzen, Vivan (2005-02-10). The Phonology of Mongolian. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-151461-6.
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