Oirat language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Oirat | ||
|---|---|---|
| (non-Unicode Todo script) | ||
| Spoken in | People's Republic of China, Mongolia, Russia, Kyrgyzstan[1] | |
| Region | Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai, Kalmykia, Khovd, Uvs[2], Bayan-Ölgii[3] | |
| Total speakers | ||
| Language family | Altaic[4] | |
| Writing system | Clear script (China: unofficial), Mongolian script (Mongolia: unofficial, China: official), Cyrillic (Russia: official, Mongolia: official) | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1 | None | |
| ISO 639-2 | xal | |
| ISO 639-3 | & xal xwo & xal | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Oirat (Kalmyk: Өөрд Öörd, Khalkha-Mongolian: Ойрд Oird, transcript from Clear script: Oyirad) is a major dialect of Mongolian[6] that includes Kalmyk in Russia[7], the Oirat varieties spoken in the People's Republic of China (mainly in Xinjiang)[8] including Ööld in the west of the Mongolian state[8], or an independent language[9]. Its most widespread dialect that is spoken in all of these territories is Torgut[8][1]. Oirat is part of the family of Mongolic languages. The term Oirat or, more precisely, Written Oirat is sometimes also used to refer to the language of historical documents written in the Clear script[10].
In Mongolia, there are seven historical Oirat tribes and dialects: Dörbet is spoken in half of the sums of Uvs Province and in Dörgön, Khovd. Bayat is spoken in the sums Malchin, Khyargas, Tes and Züüngovi in Uvs. Torgut is spoken in Bulgan sum in the Khovd Province. Uriankhai is spoken in the sums Duut and Mönkhkhairkhan in Khovd and in the sums Altai, Buyant and Bulgan in Bayan-Ölgii Province. Ööld is spoken in Erdenebüren, Khovd. Zakhchin is spoken in the sums Mankhan, Altai, Üyench, Zereg and Möst in Khovd Province. Khoton is spoken in Tarialan, Uvs.[11]
There are some varieties that are difficult to classify. The Alasha dialect in Alasha league in South Mongolia originally belonged to Oirat[12] and has been classified as such because of its phonology[1] and as Mongolian proper because of its morphology[13]. The Darkhad dialect in Khövsgöl in Mongolia has variously been classified as Oirat, Mongolian proper or (less often) Buryat.[14]
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c Svantesson et al. 2005: 148
- ^ Svantesson et al. 2005: 141
- ^ Coloo 1988: 1
- ^ The existence of the Altaic family is controversial. See Altaic languages.
- ^ cp. the distribution given by Svantesson et al. 2005: 141
- ^ Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005
- ^ Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005, Bläsing 2003: 229
- ^ a b c Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005: 396-398
- ^ Birtalan 2003. Note that she is not altogether clear about that matter as she writes: "For the present purpose, Spoken Oirat, from which Kalmuck is excluded, may therefore be treated as a more or less uniform language." (212). See also Sanžeev 1953
- ^ Birtalan 2003: 210-211
- ^ Coloo 1988: 1-6
- ^ Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005: 265-266
- ^ Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005: 190-191
- ^ see literature given in Sanžaa and Tujaa 2001: 33-34
[edit] Bibliography
- Birtalan, Ágnes (2003): Oirat. In: Janhunen (ed.) 2003: 210-228.
- Bläsing, Uwe (2003): Kalmuck. In: Janhunen (ed.) 2003: 229-247.
- Coloo, Ž. (1988): BNMAU dah’ mongol helnij nutgijn ajalguuny tol’ bichig: ojrd ajalguu. Ulaanbaatar: ŠUA.
- Janhunen, Juha (ed.) (2003): The Mongolic languages. London: Routledge.
- Sanžeev, G. D. (1953): Sravnitel’naja grammatika mongol’skih jazykov. Mosvka: Akademija nauk SSSR. (in Russian)
- 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. (in Mongolian)
- Svantesson, Jan-Olof, Anna Tsendina, Anastasia Karlsson, Vivan Franzén (2005): The Phonology of Mongolian. New York: Oxford University Press.
