Mongolian text-to-speech, online transliterator of Cyrillic to classical script
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From IA:
By way of introduction to what you see below under the asterisks, regarding the (not-always) technical reasons for the paucity of webpages in Mongolian script, see some of the comments here, especially the one at the top (Greg Pringle).
I might mention that the president of Mongolia's webpage in Mongolian script — which he links to — only displays correctly for me in Chrome, not in Firefox and not on my iPhone (Safari).
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(Cyrillic) Mongolian TTS — the brief video demonstration here is veyr impressive
These are awe-inspiring resources.
Selected readings
- "Script origin and typology, part 2" (7/5/24)
- "Mycological meandering: vernacular variora" (7/4/19)
- Anshuman Pandey, "Final proposal to encode Old Uyghur in Unicode" (pdf) (12/18/20) — very informative, both historically and linguistically; a learned, scholarly composition pandey@umich.edu pandey.github.io/unicode
Philip Taylor said,
August 3, 2024 @ 9:18 am
Would you be able to post a screenshot of the President of Mongolia’s web page as rendered in Chrome, Victor ? I ask because it looks as if it renders OK in Seamonkey, but (not reading Mongolian) I am going only by appearances …
David Marjanović said,
August 3, 2024 @ 11:09 am
Some of the issues ought to be easier with this version of Mongolian script.
Chas Belov said,
August 3, 2024 @ 2:36 pm
I'm curious about the use of apparently Hebrew letter names for the Old Uyghur script Unicode proposal.
Victor Mair said,
August 3, 2024 @ 3:26 pm
A long-term resident of Mongolia makes the following remarks:
1. Unfortunately many of the websites on that Internet list appear to have stopped functioning. This is possibly a direct result of Xi Jinping's policies.
2. The two bookshops in Ulaanbaatar that used to sell books in the Traditional Script have both closed down.
One is the Tagtaa Bookshop, which apparently closed in April. It appears to have been an initiative of the Chinese government and carried a broad range of books in the Mongolian script as well as books in Chinese.
The other was called Khaan Bichig, a small private bookshop selling Inner Mongolian books that opened a few years ago. When I dropped by recently it was closed.
3. There was a big stir around 2020 about the phasing out of the Mongolian language in Mongolian-stream schools in Inner Mongolia. The policy meant that all subjects pertaining to literature and culture (history, literature, etc.) would be taught in Chinese, not Mongolian. The Chinese propaganda machine tried to play down its significance, but it's clear that the decision not to teach such subjects in Mongolian would mean the death of meaningful literacy in that language.
However, it turns out that they still do teach the Mongolian script in Mongolian-stream high schools. But here's the rub: the Mongolian script is now a non-examinable subject. This effectively removes any incentive for children to learn it.
Books are still being published in Mongolian and are available in bookshops in Inner Mongolia. So it's clear that the Chinese policy is strategically aimed at removing the next generation of literate Mongolian speakers. (I have gathered the impression that literate Mongolian-speakers in Inner Mongolia are not very happy about Xi's policies but due to the political atmosphere are afraid to speak out.)
4. There has been some reporting in recent years about the Mongolian government's decision to reinstate the Traditional Mongolian script from 2025. I have always been skeptical of this policy, which was actually targeted at government officials, not the general public. I am not privy to developments within the bureaucracy but have personally not detected any real momentum toward implementing it. Like many policies of the Mongolian government, it looks like a bold initiative that falls flat at implementation.