Modern Mongolian: A Course-Book

John Gaunt

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2004
• eBook ISBN: 9781135795771
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Regional Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

This complete guide to the Mongolian language provides a basic knowledge of all Mongolian noun inflexions and the basic and most important verbal inflections, and the uses of these. Grammatical concepts are introduced at the beginning of each chapter and discussed, with further examples, in a grammar section. Each chapter is accompanied by a list of new vocabulary items. A complete vocabulary list, English-Mongolian and Mongolian-English, is given at the end of the book, as is a list of all the Mongolian terminations, inflexions and stems that appear in the book.

CHAPTER ONE

TEXT

Cyrillic

Caйн бaйнa yy? Би бaгш. Би aнгли xүн. Энэ xүн миний найз. Tэp бac aнгли xүн. Tэp oюyтан. Tэp caйн oюyтан. Tэp мoнгoл хэл cypнa.

Энэ мaнaй бaйp. Энэ миний өpөө. Mиний өpөө тoм, дyлaaxaн, цэвэрхэн. Mиний өpөөний xaнa шap. Tэp цoнx бaйнa. Гaдaa тoм мoд бaйнa. Tэp мoд нoгooн бaйнa. Mиний мaшин бac бaйнa. Mиний мaшин xap, бac жижиг. Tэp жижиг xap мaшин миний мaшин.

Өнөөдөp би caйxaн нoм aвнa. Өнөө opoй энэ нoмыг yншинa. Mapгaaш би шинэ кино үзнэ. Tэp кино caйxaн aнгли кино.

Roman script

Saim-bainuu? Bi bagsh. Bi anggli hüng. En xüng minii naiz. Ter bas anggli hüng. Ter oyuutang. Ter saing oyuutang. Ter monggol hel suran.

En manai bair. En minii öröö. Minii öröö tom, dulaahang, tseverheng. Minii öröönii han shar. Ter tsongh bain. Gadaa tom mod bain. Ter mod nogoong bain. Minii mashin bas bain. Minii mashin har, bas jijig. Ter xar, jijig mashin minii mashin.

Önöödör bi saihang nom avan. Önöö oroi en nomig ungshin. Margaash bi shin kino üzen. Ter kino saihang anggli kino.

VOCABULARY

GRAMMAR

1) Vowel harmony

Looking at the text and the vocabulary you may notice that Mongolian words contain vowels of either one of two groups. The rule which governs this is called vowel harmony and applies to all words except recent foreign loan words. The two groups are a, o and y (a, o and u—called back or “male” vowels); and э, ө and ү (e, ö and ü—called front or “female” vowels). The “i” sounds (и and й) are neutral, as are the soft sign (ь) and hard sign (ъ) and can appear in any word. “ы” is only used in certain endings on certain back vowel words.

Apart from recent loan words, any word cannot contain vowels from both front and back groups. The ending on a verb or noun must be in harmony with those in the word itself. This may sound complicated but is not, and in fact makes the inflection of any one word much easier to formulate than in many languages. The following table gives possibilities for the vowel content of a word and the vowels in the inflection:

Basically the vowel harmony affects only the the vowels, but there are two consonants in the alphabet where the pronunciation is changed by the vowel harmony. These are the “г” and “x”. All other consonants remain unaffected. The pronunciation of these letters changes in the following way. In back vowel words, the “x” is pronounced in the back of the throat and has a very guttural sound, rather like the “ch” in Scottish “loch”. In front vowel words, the “x” is pronounced more at the front of the throat, at the back of the mouth, and is not so abrasive. The “г” in back vowel words is also in the back of the throat and guttural, sharper than the “x”. The “г” in front vowel words is more like the English “g”. A final “r”, in either front or back vowel words, is pronounced almost as English “g” or “k”. In back vowel words with a “г” followed by a final vowel, this vowel is virtually unpronounced and serves only to gutturalise the sound of the “г”. A back vowel word with a “г” followed by an “и” or a soft sign (ь) has this “г” pronounced as for front vowel words. Listen to the tape and compare the pronunciations of the following words:

2) The present/future tense of verbs

The principle of vowel harmony is shown in the inflection of verbs to form what in Mongolian covers the present and future tenses.

Verbs come in two parts: a stem and an ending. Thus бaй/x—to be; cyp/ax—to study; үзэ/x—to see. After the stroke is the ending, in this case the infinitive or dictionary form, before it the stem, to which tense endings are added. Note that the infinitive ending usually consists of a vowel and a “x”. Which vowel it is to be depends on the vowels in the stem. Some verbs have infinitive endings in “-иx”, such as “yншиx”—to read.

You will see from the vocabulary list that verbs are given twice, with the stem followed by a hyphen and with the full form in brackets below. There is some debate between scholars as to which is a correct “infinitive”. In the vocabulary lists in this book both will be given, to be as correct as possible and to make things easier for the learner who may be used to seeing French or German verbs given in dictionaries in their full infinitive form.

The ending for the present/future tense consists of “-на⁴”. The figure 4 shows that this vowel can change four times, according to the vowel harmony. Dep...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• The Mongolian Alphabet
• Chapter One
• Chapter Two
• Chapter Three
• Chapter Four
• Chapter Five
• Chapter Six
• Chapter Seven
• Chapter Eight
• Chapter Nine
• Chapter Ten
• Chapter Eleven
• Chapter Twelve
• Chapter Thirteen
• Chapter Fourteen
• Index of Mongolian inflexions
• Mongolian-English vocabulary
• English-Mongolian vocabulary
• Keys to Drills and Exercises