A Collection of Clear Script Manuscripts of S. Naadgai and the Continuity of Clear Script Usage in Oirat Religious Life

Authors

SRBA Ondřej

Year of publication 2015
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Linguistica Brunensia
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Arts

Citation
web Digitální knihovna FF MU
Field Linguistics
Keywords Written Oirat; Mongolian writing systems; manuscripts; collections; palaeography
Description The article provides a survey and a list of a manuscript collection created in the last decades of the 20th century by S. Naadgai in Mo'nhhairhan, Hovd aimag (Mongolia), who belonged to the last generation of Oirats in Mongolia actively using the clear script (todo bičig) in their religious practice. The collection and the oral history connected with Naadgai's lifetime give an evidence about the role of the Clear script usage among the ethnic group of Altain Uriankhais, a tradition now definitely interrupted on the Mongolian side of the Altai range. The aim of this paper is to clarify the palaeographic and orthographical differences of Naadgai's autographs from the classical Written Oirat (17-18th centuries). The analysis shows an influence of the spoken dialect and a general decline of the Clear script litteracy in the contemporary Western Mongolia.
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