Why is Mongolian written vertically?

This developed because the Uyghurs rotated their Sogdian-derived script, originally written right to left, 90 degrees counterclockwise to emulate Chinese writing, but without changing the relative orientation of the letters.

Did the Mongolian Empire have a written language?

From the beginning of the 13th century, Mongolian was written using the Uyghur script. Overtime, this was adapted into a vertical script, sometimes called classical or traditional Mongolian Script, and is the only script in the world written vertically and left to right.

What is the Mongolian language?

Mongolian
Mongolia/Official languages

Is Mongolian phonetic?

The Mongolian vowel system also has rounding harmony. Length is phonemic for vowels, and each of the seven phonemes occurs short or long….Vowels.

What is the main language of Mongolia?

When did Mongols start writing?

The Mongolian vertical script language developed at the end of the 12th century; the oldest extant text dates from roughly 1225. The Pre-Classical period of the written language corresponds to Middle Mongolian.

Is Mongolian written vertically or horizontally?

Traditional Mongolian is written vertically from top to bottom, flowing in lines from left to right. The Old Uyghur script and its descendants, of which traditional Mongolian is one among Oirat Clear, Manchu, and Buryat are the only known vertical scripts written from left to right.

What is the writing system of the Mongols?

Writing in Mongolian script. The Mongolian vertical script developed as an adaptation of the Old Uyghur alphabet for the Mongolian language. From the seventh and eighth to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Mongolian language separated into southern, eastern and western dialects.

Why is the Mongolian language written in Cyrillic?

Because of its similarity to the Old Uyghur alphabet, it became known as the Uigurjin Mongol script. During the communist era, when Cyrillic became the official script for the Mongolian language, the traditional script became known as the Old Mongol script, in contrast to the New script, referring to Cyrillic.

Is the Mongolian alphabet still used in Mongolia?

In the Mongolian People’s Republic, it was largely replaced by the Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet, although the vertical script remained in limited use. In March 2020, the Mongolian government announced plans to increase the use of the traditional Mongolian script and to use both Cyrillic and Mongolian script in official documents by 2025.