History
The Mongolian language is of the Altaic language family, originating with the Mongolic language. It has evolved directly from Middle Mongolian. This was the language that was spoken by the Mongol Empire in the 13th and 14th centuries, but previous to this was the language period of Old Mongolian.
The earliest text that we can see that was written in what we can recognize now as being Old Mongolian is the Stele of Yisungge. Many languages have their origins of text recorded in religious books and tables, but the Stele of Yisungge is, wonderfully, a report about sports, dated from around 1224AD.
In the 17th to the 19th centuries, the language period was classified as Classical Mongolian. It is a written language with many standardized rules about form and syntax, but is quite different from Modern Mongolian, as Modern Mongolian is a little more amorphic in terms of language.
Popularity
The Mongolian language is the official language of the country of Mongolia. It is also an official language of the People’s Republic of China. Within the People’s Republic of China, the Mongolian language is not just spoken within Inner Mongolia, but in the Chinese provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The Mongolian language has not travelled particularly far around the world, and primarily remains within this area of China and Mongolia itself.
It is thought to have around five million speakers, but the exact number is not known, due to a lack of census information, and the fact that there are many ethnic tribes speaking hybrid versions of the Mongolian language. In Mongolia itself, the Mongolian language is spoken by around 2.5 million people.
The Khalka dialect is the main dialect that is used in the country, and it is inarguably part of the Mongolian language. However, there is a great deal of contention surrounding this issue, as there are many regional dialects of Mongolian that may be considered to be their own language. Likewise, there are many dialects that are majoritively considered to not be Mongolian, but may in fact be part of this language group.
Language
The Mongolian language sounds quite harmonious. This is because it uses vowel harmony. This means that the vowels in a word or sentence can affect each other, in terms of what is allowed to be used. For example, if an “o” sound is used, then only complementary vowel sounds will make up the rest of the word or sentence. However, with an influx of modern English words and Mandarin Chinese slang words, this rule cannot always be observed.
There are two alphabets used in the Mongolian language. One is Cyrillic, and the other is traditional Mongolian script. The former is used for the Khalka dialect of Mongolian, while the latter is used in Inner Mongolian.
Why Learn The Mongolian Language?
Linguistically, the Mongolian language is a fascinating one. If you have an interest in languages and their diasporic nature, then this is an excellent language to study simply from an academic point of view. Mongolia has such an interesting history, and has been ruled by various nomadic empires, which have all had their impact on the language itself.
The country of Mongolia is also a great place to travel. It is not often thought of as a tourist destination, but the tourism industry of Mongolia has been increasing steadily in the last few years. It is the 19th largest country in the world, and as such has many different kinds of landscape and terrain to explore. The Mongolian language is spoken throughout Mongolia, so this would be an excellent advantage to a trip or vacation.