Khorchin Mongolian Explained
The Khorchin (Mongolian , Chinese 科尔沁 Kē'ěrqìn) dialect is a variety of Mongolian spoken in the east of Inner Mongolia, namely in Hinggan League, in the north, north-east and east of Hinggan and in all but the south of the Tongliao region.[1] There were 2.08 million Khorchin Mongols in China in 2000,[2] so the Khorchin dialect may well have more than one million speakers, making it the largest dialect of Inner Mongolia.
Phonology
Consonants
! Labial! Coronal! Palatal! Velar| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | | pronounced as /link/ |
|---|
| Stop | | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ |
|---|
| pronounced as /pʰ/ | pronounced as /tʰ/ | | pronounced as /kʰ/ |
|---|
| Fricative | | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ |
|---|
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
|---|
| Trill | | pronounced as /link/ | | | |
|---|
Historical pronounced as //t͡ʃʰ// has become modern pronounced as //ʃ//, and in some varieties, pronounced as //s// is replaced by pronounced as //tʰ//.[3] Then, *u (<*pronounced as /ʊ/<*u) has regressively assimilated to pronounced as //ɑ// before *p, e.g. *putaha (Written Mongolian budaγ-a) > pata ‘rice’.[4] However, less systematic changes that pertain only to a number of words are far more notable, e.g. pronounced as /
/ 'capacity'> Khorchin pronounced as //xɛtl//.
[5] This last example also illustrates that Khorchin allows for the consonant nuclei pronounced as //l// and pronounced as //n// (cp. pronounced as /[ɔln]/ 'many').
[6]
Vowels
pronounced as //ɑ/, /ɑː/, /ɛ/, /ɛː/, /ʊ/, /ʊː/, /u/, /uː/, /y/, /yː/, /i/, /iː/, /ɔ/, /ɔː/, /œ/, /œː/, /ə/,/əː/, /ɚ//[7]
The large vowel system developed through the depalatalization of consonants that phonemicized formerly allomorphic vowels, hence pronounced as //œ// and pronounced as //ɛ//. On the other hand, *ö is absent, e.g. Proto-Mongolic pronounced as /
/ >
Kalmyk pronounced as //ɵŋ//, Khalkha pronounced as //oŋk// 'colour',
[8] but Khorchin pronounced as //uŋ//, thus merging with pronounced as //u//.
[9] pronounced as //y// is absent in the native words of some varieties and pronounced as //ɚ// is completely restricted to
loanwords from
Chinese,
[10] but as these make up a very substantial part of Khorchin vocabulary, it is not feasible to postulate a separate loanword
phonology. This also resulted in a
vowel harmony system that is rather different from
Chakhar and
Khalkha: pronounced as //u// may appear in non-initial syllables of words without regard for vowel harmony, as may pronounced as //ɛ// (e.g. pronounced as //ɑtu// 'horses' and pronounced as //untʰɛ// 'expensive';
[11] Khalkha would have pronounced as //ɑtʊ// 'horses' and pronounced as //untʰe//). On the other hand, pronounced as //u// still determines a word as front-vocalic when appearing in the first syllable, which doesn't hold for pronounced as //ɛ// and pronounced as //i//.
[12] In some subdialects, pronounced as //ɛ// and pronounced as //œ// which originated from palatalized pronounced as //a// and pronounced as //ɔ//, have changed vowel harmony class according to their
acoustic properties and become front vowels in the system, and the same holds for their long counterparts. E.g. *mori-bar 'by horse' > Khorchin pronounced as /[mœːrœr]/ vs. Jalaid subdialect pronounced as /[mœːrər]/.
[13]
Morphology
Khorchin uses the old comitative pronounced as //-lɛ// to delimit an action within a certain time. A similar function is fulfilled by the suffix pronounced as //-ɑri// that is, however, restricted to environments in the past stratum.[14] In contrast to other Mongolian varieties, in Khorchin Chinese verbs can be directly borrowed; other varieties have to borrow Chinese verbs as Mongolian nouns and then derive these to verbs. Compare the new loan pronounced as //t͡ʃɑŋlu-// 'to ask for money' < zhāngluó (张罗) with the older loan pronounced as //t͡ʃəːl-// 'to borrow' < jiè (借)[15] that is present in all Mongolian varieties and contains the derivational suffix pronounced as //-l-//.
References
Sources
- Bayančoγtu (2002): Qorčin aman ayalγun-u sudulul. Kökeqota: Öbür mongγul-un yeke surγaγuli-yin keblel-ün qoriy-a.
- Qai yan (2003): Qorčin aman ayalγu ba aru qorčin aman ayalγun-u abiyan-u ǰarim neyitelig ončaliγ. In: Öbür mongγul-un ündüsüten-ü yeke surγaγuli 2005/3: 91-94.
- Sečenbaγatur et al. (2005): Mongγul kelen-ü nutuγ-un ayalγun-u sinǰilel-ün uduridqal. Kökeqota: Öbür mongγul-un arad-un keblel-ün qoriy-a.
- Svantesson, Jan-Olof, Anna Tsendina, Anastasia Karlsson, Vivan Franzén (2005): The Phonology of Mongolian. New York: Oxford University Press.
Notes and References
- Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005: 565
- Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005: 317
- Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005: 327
- Qai yan 2005: 92
- Bayančoγtu 2002: 79
- Bayančoγtu 2002: 109-110
- Bayančoγtu 2002: 1, 80.
- Svantesson et al. 2005:135, 171
- Bayančoγtu 2002: 15
- Bayančoγtu 2002: 28-29
- Bayančoγtu 2002: 89, 91
- Sečenbaγatur et al. 2005: 328-329
- Bayančoγtu 2002: 93
- Bayančoγtu 2002: 149
- Bayančoγtu 2002: 529, 531-532
