| Clear Script | |
| Also Known As: | Oirat alphabet |
| Languages: | Oirat Sanskrit Tibetic |
| Fam7: | Mongolian script |
| Creator: | Zaya Pandita |
| Sisters: | Manchu alphabet Vagindra script |
| Time: | ca. 1648 - today |
| Unicode: | U+1800 – U+18AF |
| Iso15924: | Mong |
| Sample: | Smp kalmyk.gif |
The Clear Script (Kalmyk; Oirat: {{MongolUnicode|ᡐᡆᡑᡆ<br />ᡋᡅᡒᡅᡎ|valign=middle, pronounced as /todo bit͡ʃ(ə)k/; Mongolian: Тод бичиг / {{MongolUnicode|ᠲᠣᠳᠣ<br />ᠪᠢᠴᠢᠭ|valign=middle, in Mongolian pronounced as /tɔd bit͡ʃək/, Тодо бэшэг|translit=Todo besheg, (pronounced as /tɔdɔ bɛʃək/), or just todo) is an alphabet created in 1648 by the Oirat Buddhist monk Zaya Pandita for the Oirat language.[1] [2] [3] It was developed on the basis of the Mongolian script with the goal of distinguishing all sounds in the spoken language, and to make it easier to transcribe Sanskrit and the Tibetic languages.
The Clear Script is a Mongolian script, whose obvious closest forebear is vertical Mongolian. This Mongolian script was derived from the Uyghur alphabet. The Clear Script was developed as a better way to write Mongolian, specifically of the Western Mongolian groups of the Oirats and Kalmyks. It resolved ambiguities in the written language by assigning symbols to vowels, and adding new symbols and diacritics to show vowels and vowel lengths, and to distinguish between voiced and unvoiced consonants. Symbols that were preserved from the traditional Mongolian script were assigned a fixed meaning.
There were even some marks enabling distinctions that were unimportant for words written in the Oirat language but were useful for the transcription of foreign words and names, such as between and .
The Clear Script was used by Oirat and neighboring Mongols, mostly in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. It was widely used by its creator and others to translate Buddhist works so that they might better spread the Buddhist religion throughout western Mongolia. Though the script was useful for translating works from other languages, especially Tibetan, it was also used more informally, as evidenced by some letters from the late 1690s.
Around the 19th and early 20th centuries, some Altaians in Russia were able utilize the script to read and write texts due to contacts with Mongolian Buddhists.[4]
The script was used by Kalmyks in Russia until 1924, when it was replaced by the Cyrillic script. In Xinjiang, Oirats still use it, although today Mongolian education takes place in Chakhar Mongolian all across China.
This script is a vertical script, as was its 'vertical Mongolian' parent script. Letters and diacritics are written along a central axis. Portions of letters to the right of the axis generally slant up, and portions to the left of the axis generally slant down. The only signs that do not follow these rules are the horizontal signs for , , and part of . Words are delineated by a space, as well as different letter forms. Though most letters only come in one shape, there are some letters that look different depending on where in the word they occur, whether they are initial, medial, or final.
There is an alphabetic order in the Clear Script, as in other related scripts, but the order for it is not the same as its Mongolian parent script. The Clear Script order is: , , , , , , ; , , , , , & , , , , , , , , , , , , , .
| Single vowels[5] [6] [7] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial | Medial | Final | IPA | Notes< | -- Citation needed: additional sources are needed to equate the (Cyrillic) Kalmyk Oirat letters with the Clear Script ones. --> | ||
| Dan. & Kara | ALA-LC | ||||||
| All these form ligatures with a preceding bow-shaped consonant. | |||||||
| ɑ, ∅ | Final example ligature: . This ligated form of final extends its tail to the left. This letter's forms are shared with Hudum script . | ||||||
| e, ∅ | Initial/medial/final example ligature: . | ||||||
| i, ∅ | Final example ligature: . This ligated form of final differs from the one used elsewhere. | ||||||
| ɔ | Initial/medial/final example ligature: . This ligated form of is fully round. The ligature is also identical in form to . | ||||||
| ʊ, ∅ | Initial/medial/final example ligature: . | ||||||
| ø, ∅ | Initial/medial/final example ligature: . This ligated form of is fully round. | ||||||
| y, ∅ | Initial/medial/final example ligature: . The ligatures and are identical in form. | ||||||
| Long vowels | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial | Medial | Final | IPA | Notes< | -- Citation needed: additional sources are needed to equate the (Cyrillic) Kalmyk Oirat letters with the Clear Script ones. --> | ||
| Dan. | ALA-LC | ||||||
| — | ɑː | Final example ligature: . | |||||
| eː, æː | |||||||
| — | iː | Diphthongs ending in are shaped and transliterated in the same manner. | |||||
| — | — | ||||||
| ɔː | |||||||
| ʊː | |||||||
| øː, æː | |||||||
| yː | |||||||
| Native consonants< | -- Citation needed: source for what separates these from the "foreign" consonants below. -->[8] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial | Medial | Final | IPA | Notes[9] < | -- Citation needed: additional sources are needed to equate the (Cyrillic) Kalmyk Oirat letters with the Clear Script ones. Sources also needed for the Kalmyk spellings. --> | ||
| Dan. & Kara | ALA-LC | ||||||
| n | This letter is shared with Hudum . | ||||||
| b | This letter's initial/medial form is shared with Hudum . | ||||||
| — | x | Used before back vowels. As in 'black'. | |||||
| — | ɢ | < | -- Citation needed. --> As in 'fire'. | ||||
| — | ɡ | As in 'ger'. | |||||
| — | k | Used before front vowels. As in 'blue'. | |||||
| — | ɡ | Used syllable-finally, and irrespective of vowel harmony. As in 'time'. | |||||
| m | This letter's initial/medial form is shared with Hudum . | ||||||
| l | This letter is shared with Hudum . | ||||||
| r | This letter is shared with Hudum . | ||||||
| d | |||||||
| — | t | ||||||
| — | j | ||||||
| — | z | , | †. Ambiguous value (, ) from the 18th century until post-war reform.< | -- Which war? --> As in modern/older 'summer'. | |||
| d͡ʒ | — | As in modern (older ) 'year'. | |||||
| — | t͡s | , | †. Ambiguous value (, ) from the 18th century until post-war reform.< | -- Which war? --> As in modern/older 'tea'. | |||
| t͡ʃ | — | As in modern (older ) 'you'. | |||||
| s | This letter is shared with Hudum . | ||||||
| ʃ | This letter is shared with Hudum . | ||||||
| — | ŋ | ||||||
| Letters used in foreign words< | -- Citation needed: source for why these are separated from the "native" consonants above. --> | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial | Medial | Final | IPA | Translit. | Notes< | -- Citation needed: additional sources are needed to equate the (Cyrillic) Kalmyk Oirat letters with the Clear Script ones. Sources also needed for the Clear transliterations. --> | ||
| Dan. & Kara | ALA-LC | |||||||
| — | p | — | ||||||
| — | < | -- "Typically required" letter as per Unicode15ch13. --> | ||||||
| — | < | -- "Typically required" letter as per Unicode15ch13. --> | ||||||
| — | k | , | < | -- "Typically required" letter as per Unicode15ch13. --> | ||||
| — | — | < | -- "Typically required" letter as per Unicode15ch13. --> | |||||
| — | — | < | -- Confer Kalmyk Oirat . --> | |||||
| — | < | -- "Typically required" letter as per Unicode15ch13. --> | ||||||
| — | < | -- Confer Kalmyk Oirat . --> | ||||||
| — | < | -- Confer Kalmyk Oirat . --> | ||||||
| — | This letter is shared with Hudum . | |||||||
| w | < | -- "Typically required" letter as per Unicode15ch13. --> | ||||||
| Ligatures | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial | Medial | Final | Notes | |||
| Dan. | ALA-LC | |||||
| Written the same as . | ||||||
| Written the same as . | ||||||
| < | -- Citation needed. --> | |||||
| < | -- Citation needed. --> | |||||
| < | -- Citation needed. --> | |||||
| Other bow-shaped ligatures are formed in the same manner. | ||||||