Product Code Database
Example Keywords: gran turismo -ink $10-174
barcode-scavenger
   » » Wiki: Oirat Language
Tag Wiki 'Oirat Language'.
Tag
20%

Oirat (: , ; : Өөрд, ; Khalkha Mongolian: Ойрад, ) is a Mongolic language spoken by the descendants of , now forming parts of Mongols in China, in Russia and Mongolians. Largely mutually intelligible to other core Central Mongolic languages, scholars differ as to whether they regard Oirat as a distinct 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 or a major of the Mongolian language.Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005 Oirat-speaking areas are scattered across the far west of , the northwest of Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005: 396-398 and 's region and coast, where its major variety is .Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005, Bläsing 2003: 229 In China, it is spoken mainly in , but also among the of and Subei County in .

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 .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et al. 2005: 148 The term Oirat or more precisely, Written Oirat is sometimes also used to refer to the language of historical documents written in the .Birtalan 2003: 210-211


Dialects
In Mongolia, there are seven historical Oirat dialects, each corresponding to a different tribe:Coloo 1988: 1-6
  1. Dörbet is spoken in half of the districts ( sums) of and in Dörgön sum,
  2. Bayat in the sums of Malchin, Khyargas, Tes and Züüngovi, Uvs
  3. in Bulgan sum, Khovd
  4. in the sums of Duut and Mönkhkhairkhan, Khovd and in the sums of Altai, Buyant and Bulgan, Bayan-Ölgii Province
  5. Ööld in Erdenebüren, Khovd
  6. in the sums of Mankhan, Altai, Üyench, Zereg and Möst, Khovd
  7. Khoton in Tarialan, Uvs.

There are some varieties of Oirat that are difficult to classify. The in , , originally belonged to OiratSečenbaγatur et al. 2005: 265-266 and has been classified as such by some because of its . However, it has been classified by others as Mongolian proper because of its morphology.Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005: 190-191 The in Mongolia's Khövsgöl Province has variously been classified as Oirat, Mongolian proper, or (less often) .See literature given in Sanžaa and Tujaa 2001: 33-34


Endangerment
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 as the sole official language have rendered the language obsolescent: it is almost exclusively the elderly who have a fluent command of Kalmyk.Bitkeeva 2007; for details see Bitkeeva 2006 In China, while Oirat is still quite widely used in its traditional ranges and there are many speakers,Bitkeeva 2007 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,Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005: 179 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 , and the limited occupational prospects in Chinese society for graduates of Mongolian schools.Indjieva 2009: 59-65 As for Mongolia, the predominance of Khalkha Mongolian is bringing about the Khalkhaization of all other varieties of Mongolian.Coloo 1988: III-IV


Writing system
Oirat has been written in two script systems: the Mongolian scripts and Cyrillic.

Historically, the , which originated from the , 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, and Oirat are considered non-standard compared to Southern Mongolian and are therefore supposed to use the and Southern Mongolian grammar for writing. In practice the people use neither and resort to learning and using hànzì to communicate with others in China.

In Kalmykia, a script system has been implemented. It does not represent , and thus does not 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.


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.
  • (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..
  • 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

Page 1 of 1
1
Post Comment
Font Size...
Font Family...
Font Format...

Page 1 of 1
1

Account

Social:
Pages:  ..   .. 
Items:  .. 

Navigation

General: Atom Feed Atom Feed  .. 
Help:  ..   .. 
Category:  ..   .. 
Media:  ..   .. 
Posts:  ..   ..   .. 

Statistics

Page:  .. 
Summary:  .. 
1 Tags
10/10 Page Rank
5 Page Refs
2s Time