GRAPHEMES OF THE MONGOLIAN SCRIPT

Element Mongolian Name niru!u a"u! titim silbi eber gedes orki"a "a"ul!-a uru!sila!-a erteger segl kims odui segl ba!bur ba!-a orki"a gejige "eg dusul knggr dusultu knggr biteg sanjitu silbi ang!arqai ba!bur bosu!-a silbi a"a erteger silbi sljimel silbi sljimel segl !oqatu silbi se"ig English Name spine tooth crown shin bone horn belly right flourish disjoined flourish left flourish upturned tail claw short tail covered dish small right flourish pigtail point double point gully dotted gully closed loop looped shin bone open dish rising shin bone branch upturned shin bone crossed shin bone crossed tail hooked shin bone crest (of a bird) Example Fereoa Seiieeea Fe(T SidO Lema Dodo*T Feldea kejiIT DemekEt Mo2go& FelI SoA bEgedo* Hemo( MerdeeeO Nigoca Hege_ kela Hegea DeoleI BxdoeeO PXi27O SiejI Ceceit Yegekigeoa HereeeO bElcikE* Wege* qEzi_

- e F i L o a t T & I A b ( M , . k H D d p j c Y r * W
q

sanji !oq-a sederkei nomu solbimal jabaji

loop hook open tear bow fold mouth corner

qree[I Fe]iIT F~oi2nO vwA F~wA |xlonI Selku

These graphical elements are the building blocks of the Mongolian alphabet and when arranged along a straight vertical line or spine (niru!u) they form letters and, in turn, words.

[ ] ~ v | S

Final

t t a a I ) ee g O

ot % O eit # ( a $ o oi n e

it & ^ _ + oa

I *

Medial

THE MONGOLIAN ALPHABET (BASIC LETTERS)

e E i

ek b p ee k

k l m s z

oe

c j y r

Initial

Fe F Fi Fo Foi N

b p H k G k L M S Z D C J Y R

Letter

o/u

t/d ng m n p b q k g

y s i 10 11 12 13 14 l 15 16 17 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

18

19

20

21 1 2

22

Extended Letters
Letter 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 w/v f lh ts h zh ch Initial Medial Final

W Fw q ' L~ { } F~ ~I v ooI

W w q ' l~ { } ~

WA @ !

Variant B-Forms
Letter ba/be bi bo/bu b/b Initial Medial Final

bEt bu BX BX

bE bi Bx BXi

bE bi Bx Bx

Variant P-Forms
Letter pa/pe pi po/pu p/p Initial Medial Final

pEt pu PX PX

pE pi Po PXi

pE pi Po Po

Variant F-Forms
Letter fa/fe fi fo/fu f/f Initial Medial Final

qEt qu QX QX

qE qi Qo QXi

qE qi Qo Qo

Variant K/G-Forms
Letter ke/ge ki k/g k/g Initial Medial Final

kEt ku

kE ki KXi

kE ki Kx

KX

MONGOLIAN PUNCTUATION
Mongolian punctuation can be divided into two sections those marks used during the Classical period and those marks used today in Inner Mongolia. CLASSICAL PUNCTUATION Punctuation Mark Mongolian Name "eg dabqur "eg drbeljin "eg bir!-a English Name point double point square point Birga Usage Roughly analogous to the English comma Roughly analogous to the English full stop Used to mark the end of chapters Used at the beginning of books or major sections within books Used to mark dharani, sometimes carries the phonetic value of Om

MODERN PUNCTUATION Punctuation Mark Mongolian Name dang "eg dabqur "eg sal!aqu "eg jerge"ege "eg qasilta qa!alta jiru!asu qolbu!asu anqaru!ulqu temdeg English Name point double point separation marker coordinate marker enclosing markers shutters hyphen union hyphen exclamation mark As English Usage equivalent to an English comma equivalent to an English full stop equivalent to an English semi-colon equivalent to an English colon

, . 6 5 3 , . ; UV \ ` / = 9< >0 :"

darani-yin temdeg

Dharani Marker

asa!uqu temdeg

question mark

As English

HANDWRITTEN AND PRINTED LETTER FORMS

As with any language, the printed form of the Mongolian script is slightly different to that used in handwriting. Each letter of the script is presented below in the cursive handwritten style along with instructions on stroke orders. The first box represents an ideal version of the letter in question joined, in most cases, to the letter a. Some of the letters, specifically the vowels and one or two of the more exotic foreign transcription letters, appear in their own special isolated forms. The three subsequent boxes represent, in order, the shapes of the letters in Initial, Medial and Final position.

THE VOWELS
THE LETTER A

THE LETTER E

THE LETTER I

THE LETTER O/U

THE LETTER /

THE CONSONANTS
THE LETTER N

THE LETTER NG

THE LETTER B

THE LETTER P

THE LETTER Q

THE LETTER K/G

THE LETTER %

THE LETTER L

THE LETTER M

THE LETTER S

THE LETTER &

THE LETTER T/D

THE LETTER '

THE LETTER J

THE LETTER Y

THE LETTER R

FOREIGN TRANSCRIPTION LETTERS

THE LETTER W

THE LETTER (

THE LETTER F

THE LETTER )

THE LETTER LH

THE LETTER *

THE LETTER TS

THE LETTER H

CHINESE TRANSCRIPTION LETTERS

These letters are not used for writing any native Mongolian words and are reserved solely for rendering sounds specific to the Chinese language for which no equivalents exist in the native Mongolian script. They are used exclusively for writing the Pinyin sounds, zhi, r-, chi, er and shi. ZHI

THE LETTER +

CHI

ER

SHI

VARIANT B/K/G FORMS

The letters b, k, g, as well as p, f, and $, become elongated when attached to the vowels o, u, , or , and subsequently have a slightly different shape than they otherwise would. Only the variant forms for the commonly occurring letters b, k, and g are listed here as the variant forms for the remaining letters should be immediately clear. VARIANT-B FORMS BO/BU

VARIANT-B FORMS B/B

VARIANT-KG FORMS K/K/G/G