Alasha (, in some Mongolian varieties ;
Mongolian script
The traditional Mongolian script, also known as the Hudum Mongol bichig, was the first Mongolian alphabet, writing system created specifically for the Mongolian language, and was the most widespread until the introduction of Cyrillic script, Cy ...
: ,
Mongolian Cyrillic: Алшаа ', zh, s=阿拉善, p=Ālāshàn), 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,
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...
, China and consists of two sub-dialects, ''Alasha proper'' and '.
Classification
Alasha was initially classified as an Oirat language, but has lost many of these features in a process known as de-Oiratization.
Phonology
Alasha shows characteristic features of Oirat, such as preservation of /k/ in some contexts and imperative suffixes. However, it also has several features more typical of Khalkha or some Inner Mongolian dialects, such /j/ in place of Oirat /z/ and some forms of personal pronouns.
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