Oirat (
Clear script
Clear Script ( xal, , Тодо бичиг, , ''todo biçig''; mn, Тод бичиг, ''tod bichig'', , bxr, Тодо бэшэг, ''Todo besheg'' (), or just todo) is an alphabet created in 1648 by the Oirat Buddhist monk Zaya Pandita for t ...
: , , ;
Kalmyk: , ;
Khalkha Mongolian
The Khalkha dialect ( mn, Халх аялгуу / / , ) is a dialect of central Mongolic widely spoken in Mongolia. According to some classifications, the Khalkha dialect includes Southern Mongolian varieties such as ''Shiliin gol'', ''Ulaanch ...
: , ) is a
Mongolic language spoken by the descendants of
Oirat Mongols
Oirats ( mn, Ойрад, ''Oirad'', or , Oird; xal-RU, Өөрд; zh, 瓦剌; in the past, also Eleuths) are the westernmost group of the Mongols whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of Siberia, Xinjiang and western Mongolia.
Histor ...
, now forming parts of
Mongols in China
Mongols in China or Mongolian Chinese () are ethnic Mongols who were integrated into the nation-building of the Republic of China (1912–1949) after the fall of Qing Empire (1636–1911). Those not integrated broke away in the Mongolian Revolu ...
,
Kalmyks in Russia and Mongolians. Largely
mutually intelligible
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as a ...
to other core Central Mongolic languages, scholars differ as to whether they regard Oirat as a distinct
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
or a major
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...
of the
Mongolian language
Mongolian is the official language of Mongolia and both the most widely spoken and best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residen ...
. Oirat-speaking areas are scattered across the far west of
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million ...
,
the northwest of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
[Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005: 396-398] and
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
's
Caspian coast, where its major variety is
Kalmyk. In China, it is spoken mainly in
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwes ...
, but also among the ''
Deed Mongol'' of
Qinghai
Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...
and
Subei County in
Gansu
Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province.
The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibe ...
.
In all three countries, Oirat has become variously endangered or even obsolescent as a direct result of government actions or as a consequence of social and economic policies. Its most widespread tribal dialect, which is spoken in all of these nations, is
Torgut.
[Svantesson et al. 2005: 148] The term ''Oirat'' or more precisely, Written Oirat is sometimes also used to refer to the language of historical documents written in the
Clear script
Clear Script ( xal, , Тодо бичиг, , ''todo biçig''; mn, Тод бичиг, ''tod bichig'', , bxr, Тодо бэшэг, ''Todo besheg'' (), or just todo) is an alphabet created in 1648 by the Oirat Buddhist monk Zaya Pandita for t ...
.
Dialects
In Mongolia, there are seven historical Oirat dialects, each corresponding to a different tribe:
#
Dörbet is spoken in half of the districts (''
sums'') of
Uvs Province and in
Dörgön ''sum'',
Khovd Province
#Bayat in the ''sums'' of
Malchin
Malchin () is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It offers some notable landmarks, such as two Brick Gothic town gates, a medieval defense tower, the Gothic town church of St. Johannis ...
,
Khyargas,
Tes and
Züüngovi, Uvs
#
Torgut in
Bulgan ''sum'', Khovd
#
Altai Uriankhai
The Altai Uriankhai (Mongolian Cyrillic: , ; ) refers to a Mongol tribe around the Altai Mountains that was organized by the Qing dynasty. They now form a subgroup in western Mongolia and eastern Xinjiang.
The Uriyangkhai or Uriankhai peo ...
in the ''sums'' of
Duut and
Mönkhkhairkhan, Khovd and in the ''sums'' of
Altai,
Buyant and
Bulgan,
Bayan-Ölgii Province
Bayan-Ölgii ( mn, Баян-Өлгий, ; xal, Байн-Өлгий, ; kk, Бай-Өлке / Bai-Ölke, ; "Rich region") is the westernmost of the 21 aimags (provinces) of Mongolia. The country's only Muslim and Kazakh-majority aimag, it was ...
#
Ööld
The Dzungar people (also written as Zunghar; from the Mongolian words , meaning 'left hand') were the many Mongol Oirat tribes who formed and maintained the Dzungar Khanate in the 17th and 18th centuries. Historically they were one of major t ...
in
Erdenebüren, Khovd
#
Zakhchin
The Zakhchin ( mn, Захчин) is a subgroup of the Oirats residing in Khovd Province, Mongolia.
Zakhchin means 'Border people'. They are so called because they originated from the border garrison (mainly from Torghut, Dorbet Oirat, and Dzun ...
in the ''sums'' of
Mankhan,
Altai,
Üyench
Üyench ( mn, Үенч) is a sum (district) of Khovd Province in western Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; literal translation, lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russi ...
,
Zereg
Zereg ( mn, Зэрэг) is a sum (district) of Khovd Province in western Mongolia. The administrative center is Altanteel. The sum is 130 km away from the city of Khovd. and
Möst, Khovd
#Khoton in
Tarialan, Uvs.
There are some varieties of Oirat that are difficult to classify. The
Alasha dialect 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 ...
, originally belonged to Oirat and has been classified as such by some because of its
phonology
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
.
However, it has been classified by others as Mongolian proper because of its
morphology. The
Darkhad dialect in Mongolia's
Khövsgöl Province has variously been classified as Oirat, Mongolian proper, or (less often)
Buryat.
Endangered language
Oirat is
endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...
in all areas where it is spoken. In Russia, the killing of a large fraction of the Kalmyk population and the destruction of their society as consequences of the
Kalmyk deportations of 1943
The Kalmyk deportations of 1943, codename Operation Ulusy () was the Soviet deportation of more than 93,000 people of Kalmyk nationality, and non-Kalmyk women with Kalmyk husbands, on 28–31 December 1943. Families and individuals were forci ...
, along with the subsequent imposition among them of
Russian as the sole
official language
An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...
have rendered the language obsolescent: it is almost exclusively the elderly who have a
fluent command of Kalmyk. In China, while Oirat is still quite widely used in its traditional ranges and there are many
monolingual speakers, a combination of government policies and social realities has created an environment deleterious to the use of this language: the Chinese authorities' adoption of
Southern Mongolian as the
normative Mongolian language, new educational policies which have led to the virtual elimination of Mongolian schools in Xinjiang (there were just two left as of 2009), policies aiming to curtail
nomadism, and the limited occupational prospects in Chinese society for graduates of Mongolian schools. As for Mongolia, the predominance of
Khalkha Mongolian
The Khalkha dialect ( mn, Халх аялгуу / / , ) is a dialect of central Mongolic widely spoken in Mongolia. According to some classifications, the Khalkha dialect includes Southern Mongolian varieties such as ''Shiliin gol'', ''Ulaanch ...
is bringing about the Khalkhaization of all other varieties of Mongolian.
[Coloo 1988: III-IV]
Script systems
Oirat has been written in two script systems: the Mongolian scripts and Cyrillic.
Historically, the
Clear script
Clear Script ( xal, , Тодо бичиг, , ''todo biçig''; mn, Тод бичиг, ''tod bichig'', , bxr, Тодо бэшэг, ''Todo besheg'' (), or just todo) is an alphabet created in 1648 by the Oirat Buddhist monk Zaya Pandita for t ...
, which originated from the
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 ...
, was used. It uses modified letters shapes e.g. to differentiate between different rounded vowels, and it uses a small stroke on the right to indicate vowel length. It was retained longest in China where it can still be found in an occasional journal article. However, in China,
Buryat and Oirat are considered non-standard compared to
Southern Mongolian and are therefore supposed to use the
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 ...
and Southern Mongolian grammar for writing. In practice the people use neither and resort to learning
Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...
and using
hànzì to communicate with others in China.
In Kalmykia, a
Cyrillic-based script system has been implemented. It is strictly phonemic, not representing
epenthetic vowels, and thus doesn't show syllabification.
In Mongolia, Central Mongolian minority varieties have no status, so Oirats are supposed to use
Mongolian Cyrillic
The Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet ( Mongolian: , or , ) is the writing system used for the standard dialect of the Mongolian language in the modern state of Mongolia. It has a largely phonemic orthography, meaning that there is a fair degree ...
which de facto only represents
Khalkha Mongolian
The Khalkha dialect ( mn, Халх аялгуу / / , ) is a dialect of central Mongolic widely spoken in Mongolia. According to some classifications, the Khalkha dialect includes Southern Mongolian varieties such as ''Shiliin gol'', ''Ulaanch ...
.
References
Citations
Sources
* Birtalan, Ágnes (2003): Oirat. In: Janhunen (ed.) 2003: 210–228.
* Bitkeeva, Aisa (2006): ''Kalmyckij yazyk v sovremennom mire''. Moskva: NAUKA.
* Bitkeeva, Aisa (2007): Ethnic Language Identity and the Present Day Oirad-Kalmyks. ''Altai Hakpo, 17'': 139–154.
* Bläsing, Uwe (2003): Kalmuck. In: Janhunen (ed.) 2003: 229–247.
* Chuluunbaatar, Otgonbayar (2008): ''Einführung in die mongolischen Schriften''. Hamburg: Buske.
* Coloo, Ž. (1988): ''BNMAU dah’ mongol helnii nutgiin ajalguuny tol’ bichig: oird ayalguu''. Ulaanbaatar: ŠUA.
* Indjieva, Elena (2009)
Oirat Tobi: Intonational structure of the Oirat language University of Hawaii. Dissertation.
*
Janhunen, Juha (ed.) (2003): ''The Mongolic languages''. London: Routledge.
* Katoh T., Mano S., Munkhbat B., Tounai K., Oyungerel G., Chae G. T., Han H., Jia G. J., Tokunaga K., Munkhtuvshin N., Tamiya G., Inoko H.
Genetic features of Khoton Mongolians revealed by SNP analysis of the X chromosome.Molecular Life Science, School of Medicine, Tokai University, Bohseidai, Isehara, Kanagawa, 259–1193, Japan.
ene. 12 Sep. 2005
* Sanžeev, G. D. (1953): ''Sravnitel’naja grammatika mongol’skih jazykov''. Moskva: Akademija nauk SSSR.
* Sečenbaγatur, Qasgerel, Tuyaγ-a, B. ǰirannige, U Ying ǰe (2005): ''Mongγul kelen-ü nutuγ-un ayalγun-u sinǰilel-ün uduridqal''. Kökeqota: Öbür mongγul-un arad-un keblel-ün qoriy-a.
* Svantesson, Jan-Olof, Anna Tsendina, Anastasia Karlsson, Vivan Franzén (2005): ''The Phonology of Mongolian''. New York: Oxford University Press.
External links
ELAR archive of Documenting Henan Oirat, China
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oirat Language
Agglutinative languages
Languages of Mongolia
Languages of China
Languages of Russia
Languages of Kyrgyzstan
Central Mongolic languages
Mongolic languages