Appendix:Russian loanwords in Mongolian
Due to Russian influence in Mongolia during the 20th century, there exists a large number of Russian loanwords in modern Mongolian. Many of these Russian loanwords are also found in Mongolian spoken in Inner Mongolia, but this appendix covers their adoption in Khalkha Mongolian, the variant spoken in the State of Mongolia.
Status of Russian loans
[edit]During the Mongolian People's Republic, many Mongolians were taught Russian language in schools and in some institutions of higher education instruction was conducted in Russian. Thus, many Mongolians of the older generation possess some knowledge of Russian. In this period, many Russian words came to be used widely in the domains of science, technology, business administration, food and drink, clothing and domestic implements.
In order to preserve language purity, many new words were coined from native Mongolian roots to replace these Russian words. This process intensified in the 90s with the transition to a market economy and the lessening of Russian influence in Mongolia. Due to language policy, many Russian words, especially those with acceptable Mongolian equivalents, came to be proscribed in literary Mongolian, but many are still common in colloquial Mongolian. Today, most younger Mongolians are no longer proficient in Russian, and many use words that were felt to be too artificial and literary a generation ago.
Orthography of Russian loans
[edit]In Cyrillic Mongolian, most Russian loans preserve their original spelling, with the exception that unstressed vowels in the final syllable are deleted. There are some exceptions, such as жижүүр (žižüür, “person on duty”), from Russian дежу́рный (dežúrnyj), which is never written *дежур (*dežur), and other examples of pronunciation spelling can be found in dictionaries and isolated cases, but in general original spellings are preferred.
Pronunciation of Russian loans
[edit]Actual pronunciation of Russian words in Mongolian depends on many factors, such as speaker's knowledge of Russian, register or personal preference. Phonological systems of Russian and Mongolian are very different and the degree to which a word is adapted to the Mongolian system exists on a spectrum. As a preliminary comparison, note the different sound values that Cyrillic letters have in Russian and Mongolian. Consonants are mostly pronounced according to these letter correspondences by the majority of speakers.
| Letter | Russian pronunciation | Mongolian native pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| Аа (Aa) | [a] | [a] |
| Бб (Bb) | [b] | [p] |
| Вв (Vv) | [v] | [w̜] |
| Гг (Gg) | [g] | [g, k, ɣ, ɢ, q, ʁ] |
| Дд (Dd) | [d] | [t] |
| Ее (Jeje) | [ʲe, je] | [ʲe, je, ʲi, ji] |
| Ёё (Jojo) | [ʲo, jo] | [ʲɔ̙, ʲɵ, jɔ̙, jɵ] |
| Жж (Žž) | [ʐ] | [tɕ] |
| Зз (Zz) | [z] | [ts] |
| Йй (Jj) | [j] | [e̯] |
| Ии (Ii) | [i] | [i] |
| Кк (Kk) | [k] | |
| Лл (Ll) | [l] | [ɮ] |
| Мм (Mm) | [m] | [m] |
| Нн (Nn) | [n] | [n, ŋ, ɴ] |
| Оо (Oo) | [o] | [ɔ̙] |
| Пп (Pp) | [p] | [pʰ, ʰp] |
| Рр (Rr) | [r] | [r] |
| Сс (Ss) | [s] | [s(ʰ)] |
| Тт (Tt) | [t] | [tʰ, ʰt] |
| Уу (Uu) | [u] | [o̙] |
| Фф (Ff) | [f] | |
| Хх (Xx) | [x] | [x, χ] |
| Цц (Cc) | [ts] | [tsʰ, ʰts] |
| Чч (Čč) | [tɕ] | [tɕʰ, ʰtɕ] |
| Шш (Šš) | [ʂ] | [ʃ] |
| Щщ (Ščšč) | [ɕɕ] | |
| Ъъ | ||
| Ыы (Yy) | [ɨ] | [i] |
| Ьь (ʹʹ) | [ʲ] | [ʲ] |
| Ээ (Ee) | [e] | [i, e] |
| Юю (Juju) | [ju] | [ju, jo̙] |
| Яя (Jaja) | [ja] | [ja] |
The original stress of the Russian word is reinterpreted as length (in the first syllable) or fullness/non-reduction (in other syllables), that is, the stressed vowel is pronounced as if doubled in the Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet. Unstressed vowels are usually reduced (except in the first syllable) and deleted, inserted or moved according to rules of Mongolian syllabification. This includes also the deletion of final unstressed vowels, which is also reflected in the spelling.
The stressed vowel tends to determine the harmonic class of the word and assimilate other vowels. Stressed Russian /u/, written у (u), is adopted according to its sound value as /u/, written ү (ü) in native Mongolian vocabulary, instead of according to its letter. Similarly, Russian /o/, written о (o), can be adopted as either /ʊ/ or /ɔ/, respectively у (u) and о (o).
Palatalization is distinct in Mongolian only in back-vowel words, and also often reflected in Russian loans. Palatalized /tʲ, dʲ/ are generally rendered as /tɕʰ, tɕ/, and palatalized /sʲ/ (non-existent in Mongolian) and /ɕɕ/ as /ʃ/ or sometimes even /tɕʰ/. Oddly enough, palatalized /zʲ/ appears to surface only as /ts/. In some cases, original /i/ can be "broken" (as in inherited Mongolic vocabulary) and pronounced as /ʲa/, even in stressed syllables.
The phoneme /k/, missing from Mongolian, can either be substituted with /g/ (or /ɢ/) or with /x/, but it also often preserved, even in strongly adapted words. /f/ is usually substituted with /pʰ/ (itself a marginal phoneme in Mongolian). Final /n/, even when it only becomes final due to elision of a following unstressed vowel, is commonly read as /ŋ/, this has purely orthographical origin, as Mongolian otherwise distinguishes /n/ and /ŋ/.
Initial consonant clusters, completely alien to Mongolian phonology, are commonly broken up either by a prothetic or an epenthetic vowel. Initial /r/ is also disallowed in native Mongolian and often receives a prothetic vowel. /b/ and /v/ are usually redistributed according to the pattern found in Mongolian whereby /p/ is found initially and after /ɮ/, /m/ and /w/; and /w/ in all other contexts.
Further reading
[edit]- Bat Erdene Sonomžamtsyn (2015) Фонетико-морфологическое освоение русизмов в монгольских языках. [Phono-morphological adaptation of Russianism in Mongolian languages] (in Russian). Dissertation, University of Moscow.
- Svantesson, Jan-Olof, Anna Tsendina, Anastasia Karlsson, Vivan Franzén (2005) The Phonology of Mongolian. New York: Oxford University Press, page 30-33
- Janhunen, Juha (2012) Mongolian (London Oriental and African Language Library; 19), John Benjamins Publishing Company, pages 12-13