Monguor language


The Monguor language is a Mongolic language of its Shirongolic branch and is part of the Gansu–Qinghai sprachbund. There are several dialects, mostly spoken by the Monguor people. A written script was devised for Huzhu Monguor in the late 20th century, but has been little used. A division into two languages, namely Mongghul in Huzhu Tu Autonomous County and Mangghuer in Minhe Hui and Tu Autonomous County, is considered necessary by some linguists. While Mongghul was under strong influence from Amdo Tibetan, the same holds for Mangghuer and Sinitic languages, and local varieties of Chinese such as the Gangou language were in turn influenced by Monguor.

Phonology

Monguor has five vowels:.

Numerals

Mongolian numerals such as the following are only in use in the Mongghul dialect, while Mangghuer speakers have switched to counting in Chinese. Note that while the Mongolian script has only arban for 'ten', Middle Mongolian *harpa/n including *h can be reconstructed from the scripts.
NumeralClassical MongolianMonguor
1nigennige
2qoyarghoori
3ghurbanghuran
4dörbendeeran
5tabuntawun
6jirghughanjirighun
7dologhanduluun
8naimanniiman
9yisünshdzin
10arbanharan