A map (in Russian) showing the distribution of Oirat outside Kalmykia. Varieties in dispute have not been included.[5]
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is Torgut.[1][8] The term Oirat or more precisely, Written Oirat is sometimes also used to refer to the language of historical documents written in the Clear script.[10]
There are some varieties of Oirat that are difficult to classify. The Alasha dialect in Alxa League, Inner Mongolia, originally belonged to Oirat[12] and has been classified as such by some because of its phonology.[1] However, it has been classified by others as Mongolian proper because of its morphology.[13] The Darkhad dialect in Mongolia's Khövsgöl Province has variously been classified as Oirat, Mongolian proper, or (less often) Buryat.[14]
Endangered languageedit
Oirat is endangered 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, along with the subsequent imposition among them of Russian as the sole official language have rendered the language obsolescent: it is almost exclusively the elderly who have a fluent command of Kalmyk.[15] In China, while Oirat is still quite widely used in its traditional ranges and there are many monolingual speakers,[16] 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,[17] 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.[18] As for Mongolia, the predominance of Khalkha Mongolian is bringing about the Khalkhaization of all other varieties of Mongolian.[19]
Script systemsedit
An Oirat manuscript in "clear script" (todo bichig)[20]
Oirat has been written in two script systems: the Mongolian scripts and Cyrillic.
Historically, the Clear script, which originated from the Mongolian script, 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 and Southern Mongolian grammar for writing. In practice the people use neither and resort to learning Mandarin Chinese and using hànzì to communicate with others in China.
In Kalmykia, a Cyrillic-based script system has been implemented. It does not represent 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 which de facto only represents Khalkha Mongolian.
^Modern Oirat at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required) Written Oirat at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^cp. the distribution given by Svantesson et al. 2005: 141
^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
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. [Gene. 12 Sep. 2005].
Sanžeev, G. D. (1953): Sravnitel’naja grammatika mongol’skih jazykov. Moskva: Akademija nauk SSSR.
Svantesson, Jan-Olof, Anna Tsendina, Anastasia Karlsson, Vivan Franzén (2005): The Phonology of Mongolian. New York: Oxford University Press.
External linksedit
Kalmyk edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ELAR archive of Documenting Henan Oirat, China
April 13, 2024
oirat, language, redirects, here, other, uses, oirat, clear, script, ᡆᡕᡅᠷᠠᡑᡘᡄᠯᡄᠨ, oirad, kelen, œːˈrdə, cɛˈlən, kalmyk, Өөрд, Őrd, khalkha, mongolian, Ойрад, oirad, mongolian, pronunciation, œˈrət, mongolic, language, spoken, descendants, oirat, mongols, formi. XAL redirects here For other uses see Xal Oirat Clear script ᡆᡕᡅᠷᠠᡑᡘᡄᠯᡄᠨ Oirad kelen IPA œːˈrde cɛˈlen Kalmyk Өord Ord Khalkha Mongolian Ojrad Oirad Mongolian pronunciation œˈret is a Mongolic language spoken by the descendants of Oirat Mongols now forming parts of Mongols in China Kalmyks in Russia and Mongolians Largely mutually intelligible to other core Central Mongolic languages scholars differ as to whether they regard Oirat as a distinct language 6 or a major dialect of the Mongolian language 7 Oirat speaking areas are scattered across the far west of Mongolia 8 the northwest of China 8 and Russia s Caspian coast where its major variety is Kalmyk 9 In China it is spoken mainly in Xinjiang but also among the Deed Mongol of Qinghai and Subei County in Gansu 8 Oiratᡆᡕᡅᠷᠠᡑᡘᡄᠯᡄᠨ Oirad kelenӨord keln ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯᠬᠡᠯᠡᠨ ᠦᠣᠶᠢᠷᠠᠳᠠᠶᠠᠯᠭᠤ Monggol kelen u Oyirad ayalguMonһl kelnә Өord ajlһNative toMongolia Russia China Kyrgyzstan 1 RegionKhovd Uvs 2 Bayan Olgii 3 Kalmykia Xinjiang Gansu QinghaiEthnicity655 372 OiratsNative speakers368 000 58 of ethnic population 2007 2010 4 Language familyMongolic Central MongolicBuryat MongolianMongolianOiratStandard formsKalmykWriting systemClear script China unofficial Cyrillic Russia official Official statusOfficial language inKalmykia Russia in the form of Kalmyk Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai China Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture and Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region ChinaLanguage codesISO 639 2 span class plainlinks xal span ISO 639 3Either a href https iso639 3 sil org code xal class extiw title iso639 3 xal xal a Modern Oirat a href https iso639 3 sil org code xwo class extiw title iso639 3 xwo xwo a Written OiratLinguist List Written OiratGlottologkalm1243Linguaspherepart of 44 BAA bA map in Russian showing the distribution of Oirat outside Kalmykia Varieties in dispute have not been included 5 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 1 8 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 Contents 1 Dialects 2 Endangered language 3 Script systems 4 References 4 1 Citations 4 2 Sources 5 External linksDialects editIn Mongolia there are seven historical Oirat dialects each corresponding to a different tribe 11 Dorbet is spoken in half of the districts sums of Uvs Province and in Dorgon sum Khovd Province Bayat in the sums of Malchin Khyargas Tes and Zuungovi Uvs Torgut in Bulgan sum Khovd Altai Uriankhai in the sums of Duut and Monkhkhairkhan Khovd and in the sums of Altai Buyant and Bulgan Bayan Olgii Province Oold in Erdeneburen Khovd Zakhchin in the sums of Mankhan Altai Uyench Zereg and Most Khovd Khoton in Tarialan Uvs There are some varieties of Oirat that are difficult to classify The Alasha dialect in Alxa League Inner Mongolia originally belonged to Oirat 12 and has been classified as such by some because of its phonology 1 However it has been classified by others as Mongolian proper because of its morphology 13 The Darkhad dialect in Mongolia s Khovsgol Province has variously been classified as Oirat Mongolian proper or less often Buryat 14 Endangered language editOirat is endangered 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 along with the subsequent imposition among them of Russian as the sole official language have rendered the language obsolescent it is almost exclusively the elderly who have a fluent command of Kalmyk 15 In China while Oirat is still quite widely used in its traditional ranges and there are many monolingual speakers 16 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 17 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 18 As for Mongolia the predominance of Khalkha Mongolian is bringing about the Khalkhaization of all other varieties of Mongolian 19 Script systems edit nbsp An Oirat manuscript in clear script todo bichig 20 Oirat has been written in two script systems the Mongolian scripts and Cyrillic Historically the Clear script which originated from the Mongolian script 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 and Southern Mongolian grammar for writing In practice the people use neither and resort to learning Mandarin Chinese and using hanzi to communicate with others in China In Kalmykia a Cyrillic based script system has been implemented It does not represent 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 which de facto only represents Khalkha Mongolian References editCitations edit a b c Svantesson et al 2005 148 Svantesson et al 2005 141 Coloo 1988 1 Modern Oirat at Ethnologue 18th ed 2015 subscription required Written Oirat at Ethnologue 18th ed 2015 subscription required cp the distribution given by Svantesson et al 2005 141 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 Sanzeev 1953 Secenbagatur et al 2005 a b c d Secenbagatur et al 2005 396 398 Secenbagatur et al 2005 Blasing 2003 229 Birtalan 2003 210 211 Coloo 1988 1 6 Secenbagatur et al 2005 265 266 Secenbagatur et al 2005 190 191 See literature given in Sanzaa and Tujaa 2001 33 34 Bitkeeva 2007 for details see Bitkeeva 2006 Bitkeeva 2007 Secenbagatur et al 2005 179 Indjieva 2009 59 65 Coloo 1988 III IV Chuluunbaatar 2008 41 Sources edit Birtalan Agnes 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 Blasing Uwe 2003 Kalmuck In Janhunen ed 2003 229 247 Chuluunbaatar Otgonbayar 2008 Einfuhrung in die mongolischen Schriften Hamburg Buske Coloo Z 1988 BNMAU dah mongol helnii nutgiin ajalguuny tol bichig oird ayalguu Ulaanbaatar SUA 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 Gene 12 Sep 2005 Sanzeev G D 1953 Sravnitel naja grammatika mongol skih jazykov Moskva Akademija nauk SSSR Secenbagatur Qasgerel Tuyag a B ǰirannige U Ying ǰe 2005 Monggul kelen u nutug un ayalgun u sinǰilel un uduridqal Kokeqota Obur monggul un arad un keblel un qoriy a Svantesson Jan Olof Anna Tsendina Anastasia Karlsson Vivan Franzen 2005 The Phonology of Mongolian New York Oxford University Press External links edit nbsp Kalmyk edition of Wikipedia the free encyclopedia ELAR archive of Documenting Henan Oirat China Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Oirat language amp oldid 1217578667, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
