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| Classical Mongolian script | |
|---|---|
| Name | Classical Mongolian script |
| Type | Vertical alphabet |
| Languages | Mongolian |
| Time | 13th century–present |
| Family | Old Uyghur alphabet |
| ISO | phags-pa? |
Classical Mongolian script is the traditional vertical writing system used for Mongolic languages since the Mongol Empire, originating from the Old Uyghur alphabet and broadly employed across the domains of the Yuan dynasty, Ming dynasty border administrations, and later in the courts of the Northern Yuan and Manchu Empire. It served as the primary literary and administrative vehicle in centers such as Karakorum, Khanbaliq, and Khovd and was used by figures including Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, and clerical scholars associated with the Buddhist canon and the Jadidists in various reform episodes.
The script derives from the Old Uyghur alphabet brought into the Mongol world during the rise of Temüjin and was standardized under the patronage of advisers in the courts of Ogedei Khan and Kublai Khan who administered affairs in Karakorum and Dadu. Early transmission involved scribes attached to the Yuan dynasty bureaucracy and Buddhist translators engaged with the Tibetan script and the Sanskrit corpus, producing manuscripts for monasteries such as Erdene Zuu and libraries at Hulunbuir. During the transition to the Ming dynasty and the retreat of Mongol polities to the Northern Yuan, the script continued in diplomatic use in interactions with the Ming dynasty court, the Oirat confederation, and later the Manchu Empire. Reform and codification efforts occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries under figures associated with the Qing dynasty administration, and the script persisted among literati in Outer Mongolia and cultural centers such as Ulaanbaatar and Hohhot until the 20th-century introduction of the Cyrillic alphabet under the influence of the Soviet Union and reforms promoted by Mongolian People's Party authorities.
The writing system is a cursive, vertically oriented alphabet adapted from the Sogdian alphabet lineage via Old Uyghur alphabet and features positional variants of letters used in documents from the Yuan dynasty chancery and religious manuscripts like the Kanjur and Tanjur. Orthographic practice was codified in manuals comparable to the pedagogical materials used in Tibetan and Arabic scribal traditions, and it incorporates graphemes for vowels and consonants that map imperfectly onto the phonemes documented by pilgrims such as Rashid al-Din and travelers like Marco Polo. Official seals and edicts from the courts of Kublai Khan and the Qing dynasty showcase standard spellings, while ritual texts of the Gelug and Sakya orders exhibit variant orthographies reflecting liturgical usage.
Classical orthography records phonetic contrasts relevant to Middle Mongolian as reconstructed by linguists building on recordings from regions including Khalkha, Oirat, Buryat, and Daur populations encountered in accounts by Sino-Mongolian officials and missionary linguists linked to Jesuit China missions. The script accommodates vowel harmony distinctions noted in the writings of scholars such as S. S. Golden and Nicholas Poppe and shows dialectal spelling differences evident in manuscripts from Inner Mongolia, Khovd, and Kalmykia. Usage patterns vary: court documents from Karakorum preserve one stratum, religious translations under Tibetan influence another, and folk epics like those associated with performers of the Epic of King Gesar tradition reflect regional phonetic realizations.
Calligraphic practice evolved into distinct schools exemplified in inscriptions found in Karakhoto, rubrics in Erdene Zuu monastery manuscripts, and imperial edicts from Kublai Khan and the Qing emperors. Styles range from formal chancery hands comparable to Chinese clerical script in layout to highly cursive forms used by itinerant scribes and lyric poets such as those patronized by nobles in Ordos and Jirel courts. Decorative uses appear on coins, thangka paintings linked to Gelugpa patrons, and monumental stelae erected by figures like Khubilai and regional elites recorded in chronicles maintained by Mongolian kronikographers.
The script gave rise to several adapted systems: the Manchu alphabet was inspired by its vertical orientation, while the Clear Script (Todo script) was created by Zaya Pandita to represent Oirat phonology more precisely. Mongolian scribal traditions influenced the development of orthographies for languages recorded by missionaries and colonial administrators, including transliteration efforts for Tuvan, Buryat, and Evenki vocabularies in archival collections held in Saint Petersburg and Beijing. Variant hands appear in diplomatic corpora exchanged with the Timurid and Safavid chancelleries and in trade documents from caravan hubs such as Kashgar.
From the late 20th century, revival initiatives in Inner Mongolia and Mongolia involved ministries and institutions like the Institute of Language and Literature (Mongolia) and academics associated with National University of Mongolia, promoting education policies reintroducing traditional script alongside Cyrillic for signage, publishing, and official identity documents issued by Ulaanbaatar municipal authorities. Cultural festivals staged in Hohhot, film projects funded by agencies collaborating with UNESCO programs, and scholarly conferences held at Mongolian Academy of Sciences fostered renewed interest among artists, poets, and activists documenting oral epics and liturgical repertoires preserved in monasteries like Khamar Monastery.
Efforts to encode the script in digital standards were undertaken by consortia including specialists from Unicode Consortium, scholars at Academy of Sciences of Mongolia, and engineers from technology firms in Beijing and Seoul, resulting in a standardized block in the Unicode Standard that allows rendering in modern operating systems and web browsers. Projects at universities such as National University of Mongolia and archives in Saint Petersburg produced fonts, input methods, and optical character recognition tools interoperable with software developed by teams partnering with Microsoft, Google, and open-source communities, facilitating digitization of manuscripts from repositories like the Mongolian National Library.