Writing System
| History of the Mongols |
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| Khamag Mongol |
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| Timeline |
In the 17th century, Zaya Pandita, a Gelug monk of the Khoshut tribe, devised a new writing system called Todo Bichig (clear script) for use by the Oirat people. This system was developed on the basis of the older Mongolian script, but had a more developed system of diacritics to exclude misreading, and reflected some lexic and grammar differences of the Oirat language from Mongolian.
The Todo Bichig writing system remained in use in Kalmykia (Russia) until the mid-1920s when it was replaced by a Latin-based script, and later the Cyrillic alphabet. It can be seen in some public signs in the Kalmyk capital, Elista, and is superficially taught in schools. In Mongolia it was likewise replaced by the Cyrillic alphabet in 1941. Some Oirats in China still use Todo Bichig as their primary writing system, as well as Mongolian script.
Read more about this topic: Oirats
Famous quotes containing the words writing and/or system:
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