This article describes two- and three-letter combinations (so-called digraphs and trigraphs) used for the Mongolian language when written in the Mongolian script.
Quick Facts The, vowels ...
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The intervocalic letters γ/g, and y has in some combinations come to help form long vowels, namely:[1]: 36–37
- Long a with: aγa, iγa, iya.
- Long e with: ege, ige, iye.
- Long i with: igi.
- Long o with: oγa, oγo, uγa.
- Long u with: aγu, iγu, uγu.
- Long ö with: öge, üge.
- Long ü with: egü, igü, ügü.
Sometimes intervocalic b and m is silent: as in ᠳᠡᠪᠡᠯ debel (дээл deel) 'robe, garment' or ᠬᠦᠮᠦᠨ kümün (хүн khün) 'human, person; man'.[2]: 64 [3]
More information Doubled vowels: 10, 30 : 59, ii ...
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- The doubled vowels ii, uu, and üü mark these out as long. Doubled oo is instead both used in a few words to mark the vowel as short, and to distinguish it from u.[1]: 30
More information ai, ei ...
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- Most of the i's of these diphthongs derive from an earlier yi, but is no longer recognized as such. The yi origin can for instance be seen in the two long teeth of ᠰᠠᠶᠢᠨ⟨?⟩ sayin 'good'. These has become a pair of short and long teeth (᠊ᠢ᠋) in recent manuscripts. The diphthongs only appears with the single form of i, as in ᠳᠠᠯᠠᠢ dalai̯ 'sea', at the end of words.[1]: 10, 31 [4]: 9, 58
More information Diphthongs, continued: 11, 31–32, au ...
Diphthongs, continued[1]: 11, 31–32 |
au |
eü |
u‑a |
uu‑a |
Transliteration |
aū |
eǖ |
uă/uā |
ūā? |
Pronunciation |
ᠠᠤ |
— |
— |
— |
Initial |
ᠠᠤ |
Medial |
— |
ᠤᠠ⟨?⟩ ⟨⟩[lower-alpha 11] |
ᠤᠤᠠ⟨?⟩ |
Final |
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Interrogative uu/üü particle (subject to vowel harmony; уу/үү/юу/юү uu/üü/yuu/yuü) used after the predicate.[7]: 437, 889, 1014 [1]: 172 [4]: 38 [8]: 53 [9]: 183 The positional variant ⟨ᠶᠤᠤ⟩ yuu/yüü (юу/юү yuu/yuü) is only used in the modern language.[7]: 437 [8]: 53
As in ᠣᠣ/ᠠᠭᠤᠤ uu/aγuu (—/агуу —/aguu) 'vast, great[ly], large', etc.[7]: 18, 889 [1]: 30
Written with an intervocalic long tooth, as in ᠦᠷ/ᠦᠦᠷ ür/üür (үүр üür) 'dawn, daybreak'.[7]: 1010, 1014
As in ᠲᠤᠤᠯᠢ tuuli (тууль tuuli) 'old tale, story, epic, epic poem'.[7]: 847 [10]: 834
Written with an intervocalic long tooth, as in the loanword ᠫᠦᠳ/ᠫᠦᠦᠳᠡ püd/püüde (пуд pud) 'pud', a Russian weight.[7]: 650
Final uu/üü in the prohibitive particle ᠪᠤᠤ () buu/büü (бүү büü) 'don't' lacks an intervocalic long tooth.[7]: 141, 153 [1]: 166 [4]: 38 Contrast with the visually similar conjunction ᠪᠤᠶᠤ (): xiii buyu (буюу buyuu) 'or',[7]: 132 [4]: 44 and noun ᠬᠦᠦ küü (хүү khüü) 'son, young boy', a colloquial form of ᠬᠥᠪᠡᠭᠦᠨ köbegün (хөвүүн/хөвгүүн khövüün/khövgüün),[7]: 494, 509 [1]: 20 [4]: 11 [10]: 816 [11]: 37 [12]: 395
As in ᠠᠢ ai (ай ai) 'category; sound, noise', or an pity/sympathy/worry-expressing interjection.[7]: 19
As in ᠡᠢ ei (ий ii), an compassion/sorrow/fright/disgust-expressing interjection.[7]: 303
As in ᠣᠢ oi (ой oi) 'woods, forest, grove; mind, intellect; memory',[7]: 603–604 or ᠤᠢ ui (уй ui) 'mourning, sorrow'.[7]: 866
As in ᠥᠢ/ᠥᠶᠢ öi/öyi (өөе ööye), an exclamatory interjection meaning 'hello', 'I say', or 'look here',[7]: 633 [3] or ᠦᠢ ᠲᠦᠮᠡᠨ üi (үй üi) tümen 'multitude; innumerable'.[7]: 999
As in the final diphthongs u-a and uu-a.[1]: 31
Scholarly transliteration.[5]
Lessing, Ferdinand (1960). Mongolian-English Dictionary (PDF). University of California Press. Note that this dictionary uses the transliterations c, ø, x, y, z, ai, and ei; instead of č, ö, q, ü, ǰ, ayi, and eyi;: xii as well as problematically and incorrectly treats all rounded vowels (o/u/ö/ü) after the initial syllable as u or ü.[6]