Alasha dialect explained

Alasha (pronounced as /[ɑɮʃɑ]/, in some Mongolian varieties pronounced as /[ɑɮɑ̆ɡʃɑ]/;^[1] Mongolian script:, Mongolian Cyrillic: Алшаа ,), or , is a Mongolic variety with features of both Oirat and Mongolian^[2] that historically used to belong to Oirat but has come under the influence of Mongolian proper. It has more than 40,000 speakers in Alxa League, Inner Mongolia, China and consists of two sub-dialects, Alasha proper and .^[3]

Phonology

pronounced as //pɑɢ// 'small' vs. pronounced as //pɑɡ// 'group', therefore pronounced as //ɢ//. pronounced as //øt͡səɡtər//, thus affricate depalatalization took place for pronounced as //t͡ʃʰ// and pronounced as //t͡ʃ// in any position except before *i.^[4] pronounced as //ɪr// 'to thrust open' vs. pronounced as //ir// 'to come', thus pronounced as //ɪ//.^[5] The maximal syllable is CVCC, e.g. pronounced as //tʰers.let// converbal form of 'to counteract.^[6]

Literature

• (2005):
• Söngrüb (1988): In: 1. Beijing, : 160-197.
• Svantesson, Jan-Olof, Anna Tsendina, Anastasia Karlsson, Vivan Franzén (2005): The Phonology of Mongolian. New York: Oxford University Press.

Notes and References

1. Here and in the following, the phoneme analysis proposed in Svantesson et al. 2005 is adapted for Alasha
2. Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005: 190-191 classify it as Mongolian according to morphological criteria, Svantesson et al. 2005: 148 classifies it as Oirat because of its vowel system.
3. Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005: 265-266
4. Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005: 272-273, but we follow Söngrüb 1988 (non vidi) who assumes an opposition of unaspirated devoiced and aspirated voiceless phonemes. As we reconstruct *t for Written Mongolian etc. in accordance with Svantesson et al. 2005, Alasha pronounced as //d̥// is simply interpreted as pronounced as //t// from the outset.
5. Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005: 268
6. Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005: 276