Writing Systems
The literary tradition of Oirat reaches back to 11th century when the Uyghur script was used. The official Kalmyk alphabet, named Todo Bichig (Clear Script), was created in the 17th century by a Kalmyk Buddhist monk called Zaya Pandit. In 1924 this script was replaced by a Cyrillic script, which was abandoned in 1930 in favor of a Latin script. The Latin script was in turn replaced by another Cyrillic script in 1938. These script reforms effectively disrupted the Oirat literary tradition.
The modified Cyrillic alphabet used for the Kalmyk language is as follows:
| Cyrillic | IPA | Transliteration | Cyrillic | IPA | Transliteration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Аа | a | A a | Оо | ɔ | O o | |
| Әә | æ | Ä ä | Өө | o | Ö ö | |
| Бб | p, pʲ | B b | Пп | (pʰ, pʲʰ) | P p | |
| Вв | w, wʲ | W w | Рр | r, rʲ | R r | |
| Гг | ɡ, ɡʲ, ɢ | G g | Сс | s | S s | |
| Һһ | h | H h | Тт | tʰ, tʲʰ | T t | |
| Дд | t, tʲ | D d | Уу | ʊ | U u | |
| Ее | je | E e | Үү | u | Ü ü | |
| Ёё | jɔ | Yo | Фф | (f) | F f | |
| Жж | tʃ | Ž ž | Хх | x, xʲ | X x | |
| Җҗ | dʒ | J j | Цц | tsʰ | Ts, S | |
| Зз | ts | Z z | Чч | tʃʰ | Ç ç | |
| Ии | i | I i | Шш | ʃ | Ş ş | |
| Йй | j | Y y | Щщ | (stʃ) | şç | |
| Кк | (k, kʲ) | K k | Ыы | i | I i | |
| Лл | ɮ, ɮʲ | L l | Ьь | ʲ | ˇ (diac.) | |
| Мм | m, mʲ | M m | Ээ | e | E e | |
| Нн | n, nʲ | N n | Юю | jʊ | Yu | |
| Ңң | ŋ | Ñ ñ | Яя | ja | Ya |
Read more about this topic: Kalmyk Oirat
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