旧蒙语字母写法入门.doc

Writing in Uighur Script by Luigi Kapaj (in the SCA: Gülügjab Tangghudai) Introduction Uighur Script, also known as Old Script, Mongol Script, Script Mongolian, or Classical Mongolian, is an alphabetic script written vertically from top to bottom with lines progressing from left to right. This article will show the letters, in their various forms, along with their Latin and Cyrillic equivalents. This article will also cover some of the caveats of writing with this alphabet to allow the reader to be able to write in this script and pays extra attention to features, such as vowel harmony and the variations of letters, that tend to lack good descriptions in other English sources. History of the Alphabet By order of Chinggis Khaan, this writing system for the Mongol tongue was instituted in 1204. The earliest preserved use of this alphabet for writing Mongol is on a stele erected in 1225. It has been in continuous use from then until the present day. Various attempts have been made to replace it with other alphabets throughout its history but none were successful until the mid 20th century when Cyrillic ultimately became the standard alphabet for Mongolic languages spoken in Russia and Mongolia. While in these areas, where the alphabet was maintained for scholarly and anachronistic interest, there has been a recent revival of its regular use and instruction in regular school curriculum, it has remained in constant use in Chinese controlled Inner Mongolia. Uighur Script is so named for the Uighur tribe, conquered by the Mongols, from whom this writing system was adopted. The Uighur (sometimes spelled Uigur, Uygur or Uygar) were a Turkic people who adapted the alphabet from Sogdian in the 9th century, which was itself derived from Aramaic and quite probably shares a common source with other Indo-European and Semitic alphabets. Similarities to English There are some similarities between writing in English and writing in Old Script Mongol that are important to observe to