Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet

The word 'Mongolia' ('Mongol') in Cyrillic script

The Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet (Template:Lang-mn, Mongol kirill üseg or Template:Lang-mn, Kirill tsagaan tolgoi) is the writing system used for the standard dialect of the Mongolian language in the modern state of Mongolia. It has a largely phonemic orthography, meaning that there is a fair degree of consistency in the representation of individual sounds. Cyrillic has not been adopted as the writing system in the Inner Mongolia region of China, which continues to use the Traditional Mongolian script.

History

Mongolian Cyrillic is the most recent of the many writing systems that have been used for Mongolian. It is a Cyrillic alphabet and is thus similar to, for example, the Bulgarian alphabet, and identical to the Russian alphabet except for the two additional characters Өө ⟨ö⟩ and Үү ⟨ü⟩.

It was introduced in the 1940s in the Mongolian People's Republic under Soviet influence, after a brief period where Latin was used as the official script. After the Mongolian democratic revolution in 1990, the traditional script was briefly considered to replace Cyrillic, but it has not come to fruition. Nevertheless, Mongolian script has become a compulsory subject in primary and secondary school and is slowly gaining popularity. The Mongolian script is a highly unusual vertical script, and unlike for example Chinese script, cannot easily be adapted for horizontal use, which puts it at a disadvantage compared to Cyrillic for many modern uses. Thus, the Cyrillic script continues to be used in everyday life and on the Internet.

Description

The Cyrillic alphabet used for Mongolian is as follows (with borrowed sounds in parentheses):

Pos.	Cyrillic	Braille	Name	IPA	ISO 9	Standard romanization (MNS 5217:2012)	Library of Congress
1	Аа	⠁	а	a	а
2	Бб	⠃	бэ	p, pʲ	b
3	Вв	⠺	вэ	w̜, w̜ʲ	v
4	Гг	⠛	гэ	ɡ, ɡʲ, ɢ	g
5	Дд	⠙	дэ	t, tʲ	d
6	Ее	⠑	е	ji~jө	e	ye	e
7	Ёё	⠡	ё	jɔ	ë	yo	ë
8	Жж	⠚	жэ	tʃ	ž	j	zh
9	Зз	⠵	зэ	ts	z
10	Ии	⠊	и	i	i
11	Йй	⠯	хагас и	i	j	i	ĭ
12	Кк	⠅	ка	kʰ, kʲʰ, x, xʲ	k
13	Лл	⠇	эл	ɮ, ɮʲ	l
14	Мм	⠍	эм	m, mʲ	m
15	Нн	⠝	эн	n, nʲ, ŋ	n
16	Оо	⠕	о	ɔ	o
17	Өө	⠧	ө	ө~o	ô	ö
18	Пп	⠏	пэ	pʰ, pʰʲ	p
19	Рр	⠗	эр	r, rʲ	r
20	Сс	⠎	эс	s	s
21	Тт	⠞	тэ	tʰ, tʰʲ	t
22	Уу	⠥	у	ʊ	u
23	Үү	⠹	ү	u	ü
24	Фф	⠋	фэ, фа, эф	f, pʰ	f
25	Хх	⠓	хэ, ха	x, xʲ	h	kh
26	Цц	⠉	цэ	tsʰ	c	ts
27	Чч	⠟	чэ	tʃʰ	č	ch
28	Шш	⠱	ша, эш	ʃ	š	sh
29	Щщ	⠭	ща, эшчэ	(ʃt͡ʃ)	ŝ	sh	shch
30	Ъъ	⠷	хатуугийн тэмдэг	none	ʺ	i	ı
31	Ыы	⠮	эр үгийн ы	i	y
32	Ьь	⠾	зөөлний тэмдэг	ʲ	ʹ	i
33	Ээ	⠪	э	e~i	è	e	ê
34	Юю	⠳	ю	jʊ, ju	û	yu	iu
35	Яя	⠫	я	ja	â	ya	ia

Үү and Өө are sometimes also written as Її (or Vv) and Єє respectively, when using Russian software or keyboards that do not support them.

Initial long vowels and non-initial full vowels are written with double vowel letters, while initial short vowels and non-initial epenthetic vowels are written with single vowel letters. Conversely, every vowel letter except у and ү can also represent schwa and zero in non-first syllables. Palatalization is indicated by и (i), the soft sign ь (') or е (ye), ё (yo), я (ya) and ю (yu) after the palatalized consonant. These latter letters are pronounced without [j] in that position. Щ is never used in Mongolian and only used in Russian words containing the letter. Its actual pronunciation in loans by monolingual Mongolians is unknown. The difference between [e~i] might be dialectal, while the difference between ө~o is positional.

/ɡ/ and /ɢ/ are both indicated by the letter г ⟨g⟩, but the phonetic value of that letter is mostly predictable. In words with "front" (+ATR) vowels (see Mongolian phonology for details), it always means /ɡ/, because only /ɡ/ occurs in such words. In words with "back" (−ATR) vowels, it always means /ɢ/, except syllable-finally, where it means /ɡ/; to acquire the value of /ɢ/, it is written as followed by a single mute syllable-final vowel letter. Similarly, a mute vowel is added to final н ⟨n⟩ to make it denote /n/ and not /ŋ/. ф (f) and к (k) are loan consonants and will often be adapted into the Mongolian sound system as [pʰ] and [x].