Mongolian alphabets
Mongolian fonts are available in large numbers and range of variation. For the Mongolian language more different writing systems were developed or adapted as for most other languages.
The oldest remained the most successful and is still in active use. Other writings have been developed to correct disadvantages or to allow the transcript of additional languages , with Sanskrit and Tibetan Lamaist due to translation or Buddhist works were the main foreign languages. In the 20th century, Mongolia has the writing system changed to a Cyrillic alphabet to facilitate cooperation with their former allies, the Soviet Union.
Classical Mongolian script
An introduction to the development and introduction of classical Mongolian script revolves around the Uyghur scribe Tatar -Tonga, who was captured at the beginning of the Mongol Empire in the defeated Naiman of the Mongols. Genghis Khan ordered him in 1208 to develop a font for the administration of the empire. Therefore Tatar - Tonga adapted the Uighur script, which in turn derived via the Sogdian script from the Aramaic alphabet, in the Mongolian language.
The feature of this font family is the vertical writing and, unlike most other vertical fonts in the lead from left to right. They arose from the fact that the Uyghur had their font rotated 90 ° counterclockwise, to make the Chinese notation similar.
The classical Mongolian script used in China today, in Inner Mongolia for Mongolian, and just there in Heilongjiang for ewenkische language.
The oldest Mongolian script testimony is the so-called Genghis stone, which today is located in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg.
Galik script
1587 developed the translator and scholar Ayuusch Güüsch the Galik script ( Али - гали, Ali Gali ), inspired by the third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso. He added the Mongolian script in the first place more characters added to translate religious texts from Sanskrit and Tibetan, and later also from Chinese. Some of these characters are still in use today to write loan words and foreign language names.
Clear writing
The Buddhist monk Zaya Pandit developed in 1648 a script variant, which should bring the written closer to the actual pronunciation. A further object was to facilitate the transcription of Tibetan and Sanskrit. The clear font was used by Kalmyks of Russia until 1924, after which it was replaced by Cyrillic. In Xinjiang in China, the Oirat use it until today.
Vaghintara font
Another variant was developed in 1905 by Buryat monk Agvan Dorjiev ( 1850-1938 ). You should also eliminate some ambiguities, and in addition to Mongolian enable the writing of the Russian language. However, the most significant change was the elimination of the positional shape variations of character. All characters based on the medial form of the original Mongolian script.
Phagspa font
During the Yuan Dynasty (about 1269 ) commissioned Kublai Khan Tibetan monk Phagspa to develop a new font for the entire Mongol Empire. Phagspa expanded the Tibetan script in order to be able to use it to write also Mongolian and Chinese. The vertically -written script was also called square script Mongolian or seal script. She found predominantly used in official documents and lost after the end of the Yuan Dynasty important again.
Sojombo font
In the late 17th century, the Mongolian monk and scholar Dsanabadsar designed a syllabary ( abugida ), also with the Tibetan and Sanskrit can be written. One particular sign this document, the Sojombo icon became a national symbol of Mongolia. Since 1921, it can be found on the national flag, and since 1992 also in the coat of arms. The font was used by Dsanabadsar and his students much for the transcription of Buddhist texts. In addition to the historical literature, she finds herself still frequently inscriptions and prayer wheels. Also for linguistic research is interesting because it reflects some former developments of the Mongolian language, such as the long vowels.
Horizontal square script
At about the same time Dsanabadsar also developed the horizontal square script, which was only rediscovered in 1801. About their actual use is not known.
Western Script
On 1 February 1941, Mongolia officially led a Latin script. The selected alphabet but turned out to be immature. It did not support all the sounds of the Mongolian language and was difficult to use. For these reasons, the decision on 25 March, was again made just two months later reversed.
Cyrillic Script
The recent publication for the Mongolian language is a slightly extended Cyrillic alphabet. It is the Russian alphabet with two additional characters Өө / o / and Үү / ü /. This custom is approximately phonemic alphabet and has a comparatively better correspondence between speech sounds and letters on. Decided it was used by the Communists on May 9, 1941 but the actual launch took place until early 1946. Outside of China, it is now the primary font for the Mongolian language.
Foreign writing systems
Before the 13th century, foreign writings had to be used to write Mongolian. Even during the period of the Mongol Empire and many wrote in the conquered territories continue in their traditional writings. The most common Mongolian was transcribed with Chinese characters, as for example in the oldest surviving copies of the Secret History of the Mongols is the case. Subjects from the Middle East, which have been engaged for administrative functions, commonly used Arabic fonts for their mongolischsprachigen documents.