Alasha (, in some Mongolian varieties ;
Mongolian script
The classical or traditional Mongolian script, also known as the , was the first Mongolian alphabet, writing system created specifically for the Mongolian language, and was the most widespread until the introduction of Cyrillic script, Cyrillic ...
: ', ), or , is a
Mongolic variety with features of both
Oirat and
Mongolian that historically used to belong to Oirat but has come under the influence of Mongolian proper. It has more than 40,000 speakers in
Alxa League
Alxa League or Ālāshàn League (; mn, , Mongolian Cyrillic. Алшаа аймаг) is one of 12 prefecture level divisions and 3 extant leagues of Inner Mongolia. The league borders Mongolia to the north, Bayan Nur to the northeast, Wuha ...
,
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...
, China and consists of two sub-dialects, ''Alasha proper'' and '.
Phonology
'small' vs. 'group', therefore . , thus
affricate
An affricate is a consonant that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative, generally with the same place of articulation (most often coronal). It is often difficult to decide if a stop and fricative form a single phoneme or a consonant pai ...
depalatalization took place for and in any position except before *i. 'to thrust open' vs. 'to come', thus . The maximal
syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological ...
is CVCC, e.g. ''converbal form of 'to counteract.
[Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005: 276]
References
Literature
* (2005):
* Söngrüb (1988): In: '' 1''. Beijing, : 160-197.
* Svantesson, Jan-Olof, Anna Tsendina, Anastasia Karlsson, Vivan Franzén (2005): ''The Phonology of Mongolian''. New York: Oxford University Press.
Central Mongolic languages
{{Mongolic-lang-stub