Ordos dialect
Encyclopedia
The Ordos dialect of Mongolian
is spoken in the Ordos City
region in Inner Mongolia
. It is also sometimes classified as a language within the Mongolic language family
or as a dialect of the Southern Mongolian standard language
. Due to the research of Antoine Mostaert
, the development of this dialect could be traced back 100 years.
The Ordos vowel
phoneme
system in word-initial syllable
s is similar to that of the Chakhar dialect
, the most notable difference being that it has [e] and [e:] instead of [ə] and [ə:]. In contrast to the other dialects of Mongolian proper, it retains this distinction in all following syllables including in open word-final syllables, thus resembling the syllable and phoneme structure of Middle Mongolian
more than any other Mongolian variety. E.g. MM /ɑmɑ/ Ordos /ɑmɑ/ Khalkha /ɑm/ ‘mouth’, Ordos /ɑxʊr/ Khalkha /ɑxr/ ([ɑxɑ̯r]) ‘short; short sheep’s wool’. Accordingly, it could never acquire palatalized consonant phonemes. Due to their persistent existence as short non-initial phonemes, /u/ and /ʊ/ have regressively assimilated
*ø and *o, e.g. *otu > /ʊtʊ/ ‘star’, *ɡomutaɮ > /ɡʊmʊdaɮ/ ‘offence’, *tʰøry > /tʰuru/ ‘power’. An analogous change took place for some sequences of *a and *u, e.g. *arasu > /arʊsʊ/.
Ordos retains a variant of the old comitative case
and shares the innovated directive case
. The verb
system is not well researched, but employs a notable innovated suffix
,, that doesn’t seem to adhere to the common division into three Mongolic
verb suffix classes.
The lexicon
of Ordos is that of a normal Mongolian dialect, with some Tibetan
and Chinese loanwords.
Mongolian language
The Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...
is spoken in the Ordos City
Ordos City
Ordos is one of the twelve major subdivisions of Inner Mongolia, China. It is located within the Ordos Loop of the Yellow River. Although mainly rural, Ordos is administered as a prefecture-level city...
region in Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in the northern region of the country. Inner Mongolia shares an international border with the countries of Mongolia and the Russian Federation...
. It is also sometimes classified as a language within the Mongolic language family
Mongolic languages
The Mongolic languages are a group of languages spoken in East-Central Asia, mostly in Mongolia and surrounding areas plus in Kalmykia. The best-known member of this language family, Mongolian, is the primary language of most of the residents of Mongolia and the Mongolian residents of Inner...
or as a dialect of the Southern Mongolian standard language
Standard language
A standard language is a language variety used by a group of people in their public discourse. Alternatively, varieties become standard by undergoing a process of standardization, during which it is organized for description in grammars and dictionaries and encoded in such reference works...
. Due to the research of Antoine Mostaert
Antoine Mostaert
- Brief Biography :Born in Bruges, 10 August 1881; studied Latin and Greek during his Secondary education. He joined the CICM Missionaries, and was ordained priest. As a seminarian in Belgium he studied Chinese, which he came to know well; he also began to learn Mongolian using Isaac Jacob...
, the development of this dialect could be traced back 100 years.
The Ordos vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
system in word-initial syllable
Syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
s is similar to that of the Chakhar dialect
Chakhar dialect
The Chakhar dialect is a variety of Mongolian spoken the central region of Inner Mongolia. It is phonologically close to Khalkha and is the basis for the standard pronunciation of Mongolian in Inner Mongolia....
, the most notable difference being that it has [e] and [e:] instead of [ə] and [ə:]. In contrast to the other dialects of Mongolian proper, it retains this distinction in all following syllables including in open word-final syllables, thus resembling the syllable and phoneme structure of Middle Mongolian
Middle Mongolian language
Middle Mongolian is an ancient Mongolic language formerly spoken in the Mongol Empire and later on in Greater Mongolia during the 13th to at least the early 15th century.-Definition and historical precessors:...
more than any other Mongolian variety. E.g. MM /ɑmɑ/ Ordos /ɑmɑ/ Khalkha /ɑm/ ‘mouth’, Ordos /ɑxʊr/ Khalkha /ɑxr/ ([ɑxɑ̯r]) ‘short; short sheep’s wool’. Accordingly, it could never acquire palatalized consonant phonemes. Due to their persistent existence as short non-initial phonemes, /u/ and /ʊ/ have regressively assimilated
Assimilation (linguistics)
Assimilation is a common phonological process by which the sound of the ending of one word blends into the sound of the beginning of the following word. This occurs when the parts of the mouth and vocal cords start to form the beginning sounds of the next word before the last sound has been...
*ø and *o, e.g. *otu > /ʊtʊ/ ‘star’, *ɡomutaɮ > /ɡʊmʊdaɮ/ ‘offence’, *tʰøry > /tʰuru/ ‘power’. An analogous change took place for some sequences of *a and *u, e.g. *arasu > /arʊsʊ/.
Ordos retains a variant of the old comitative case
Comitative case
The comitative case , also known as the associative case , is a grammatical case that denotes companionship, and is used where English would use "in company with" or "together with"...
and shares the innovated directive case
Allative case
Allative case is a type of the locative cases used in several languages. The term allative is generally used for the lative case in the majority of languages which do not make finer distinctions.-Finnish language:In the Finnish language, the allative is the fifth of the locative cases, with the...
. The verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
system is not well researched, but employs a notable innovated suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
,
Mongolic languages
The Mongolic languages are a group of languages spoken in East-Central Asia, mostly in Mongolia and surrounding areas plus in Kalmykia. The best-known member of this language family, Mongolian, is the primary language of most of the residents of Mongolia and the Mongolian residents of Inner...
verb suffix classes.
The lexicon
Lexicon
In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. A lexicon is also a synonym of the word thesaurus. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes. Coined in English 1603, the word "lexicon" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" , neut...
of Ordos is that of a normal Mongolian dialect, with some Tibetan
Classical Tibetan
Classical Tibetan refers to the language of any text written in Tibetan after the Old Tibetan period and before the modern period, but in particular refers to the language of early canonical texts translated from other languages, especially Sanskrit...
and Chinese loanwords.