Mongolic languages, including Mongolian, Buryat, and Oirat. Their distribution, classification, grammar, scripts, and modern status.

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Mongolic languages form a unique and tightly-knit language family with a rich historical, cultural, and linguistic heritage. Their core geographical centre is Outer Mongolia (modern Republic of Mongolia) and Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of China. Beyond these regions, Mongolic-speaking communities exist in Manchuria, the Gansu-Qinghai corridor, and Xinjiang in China, as well as in parts of Russia—particularly around Lake Baikal (Buryatia) and the Caspian Sea (Kalmykia). A tiny group of speakers is even found in Afghanistan.

These languages have survived centuries of cultural interaction, political change, and migration, maintaining a remarkable continuity while also absorbing influences from neighboring linguistic groups.

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Distribution of Mongolic Languages

The core area of Mongolic languages is Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, where Mongolian is the dominant language. In addition, smaller Mongolic-speaking populations are scattered across surrounding regions:

• China: Inner Mongolia, Gansu-Qinghai corridor, Xinjiang
• Russia: Buryatia and Kalmykia
• Afghanistan: Tiny, isolated communities

The family includes both central/core languages and peripheral languages that have undergone varying degrees of change due to contact with other languages such as Chinese, Tibetan, and Iranian languages.

Mongolic speakers currently number around 7.5 million, with 2.5 million in Mongolia, more than 4 million in China, and 600,000 in Russia. Among these, Mongolian itself is by far the largest language, while others like Moghol are nearly extinct.

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External Classification

Many scholars classify Mongolic languages as one of the three subfamilies of the Altaic family, alongside Tungusic and Turkic languages. This classification is based on some historical and structural parallels, though many linguists argue that the similarities are insufficient to conclusively prove a shared Altaic origin. Therefore, some experts treat Mongolic, Turkic, and Tungusic as independent language families.

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Internal Classification

Within the Mongolic family, there is a distinction between central (core) Mongolic languages and peripheral Mongolic languages:

Core Languages:

• Mongolian: The largest and most widely spoken
• Buryat: Spoken near Lake Baikal
• Oirat: Found in western Mongolia and parts of China
• Ordos: Southern Mongolia
• Khamnigan: Northeast

Peripheral Languages:

• Dagur: Northeast
• Kalmuck: West
• Moghol: Nearly extinct, Afghanistan
• Shirongolic languages: Bonan, Santa, Mangghuer, Mongghul

Mangghuer and Mongghul are often collectively referred to as Monguor or Tu in Chinese classifications.

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Status and Speaker Numbers

Mongolian is the official language of the Republic of Mongolia and continues to thrive. Other Mongolic languages face decline or endangerment. For example:

Language	Number of Speakers	Status
Mongolian	5,900,000	Thriving
Buryat	350,000	Vulnerable
Santa	350,000	Declining
Oirat	300,000	Declining
Kalmuck	100,000	Vulnerable
Ordos	100,000	Endangered
Dagur	100,000	Vulnerable
Mongghul	100,000	Endangered
Mangghuer	25,000	Endangered
Bonan	6,000	Endangered
Shira Yughur	3,000	Endangered
Khamnigan	2,000	Endangered
Moghol	?	Nearly extinct

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Historical Background

The earliest known Mongolic documents date back to the 13th century CE, written in Middle Mongolian. Important historical texts include:

• Stele of Yisüngge: Describes an archer’s race
• Secret History of the Mongols: Chronicles the deeds of Genghis Khan

These documents highlight both the literary and administrative use of Mongolic languages during the Mongol Empire.

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Phonology

Mongolic languages share several phonological features:

• Vowels: Most have a seven-vowel system (i, e, a, u, ʊ, o, ɔ), with long vowels present in most languages except Moghol, Mangghuer, and Santa.
• Vowel Harmony: Palatal and labial harmony are common.
• Consonants: Stop and affricate consonants are categorized as strong or weak. Many consonants can be palatalized, and the distinction is often phonemic.

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Morphology

Mongolic languages are agglutinative and suffixing.

Nominal Morphology:

• Nouns and pronouns are inflected for up to seven or eight cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative, instrumental, comitative).
• Gender is generally not marked, but number is, including plural or paucal forms in some languages like Bonan.

Verbal Morphology:

• Verbs include finite forms, participles, and converbs.
• Proto-Mongolic had six temporal-aspectual categories, including narrative, durative, deductive, terminative, confirmative, and resultative.
• Participles convey both aspect and temporal dimensions.
• Converbs link actions across clauses, with some languages having over 20 forms, while Moghol has only one.

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Syntax

• Basic word order is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV).
• The copula may be omitted in many languages.
• Genitive and nominal modifiers precede the head noun.
• Case systems and postpositions indicate syntactic relationships.

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Lexicon

Historically, Mongolic languages borrowed extensively from neighboring languages:

• Turkic: Early and significant influence
• Tungusic: Early contact
• Chinese and Tibetan: Through Ancient Uighur and later periods
• Modern influences include Russian in Buryat and Manchu in Dagur.
• Peripheral languages such as Bonan, Santa, and Mangghuer have absorbed more Chinese and Tibetan elements. Moghol incorporated Iranian words and grammatical changes.

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Scripts

The writing systems of Mongolic languages evolved over centuries:

• 13th–15th centuries: Classical Mongolian (Uighur-based), Phagspa (Tibetan-derived), Chinese, and Arabic scripts.
• Modern Mongolia: Cyrillic alphabet.
• China: Classical Mongolian alphabet is still used.
• Oirats: Used the “Clear Script” developed by Zaya Pandita in 1648; now replaced by Cyrillic in Russia and Classical Mongolian in China.

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Mongolic languages represent a rich linguistic heritage, encompassing a spectrum from the widely spoken Mongolian to nearly extinct languages like Moghol. Their shared phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon illustrate the deep ties within the language family, while regional variations and borrowings reflect centuries of cultural contact. Preserving these languages is not only crucial for linguistic diversity but also for understanding the historical and cultural legacy