Mongolian GrammarD. Tserenpil R. KullmannUnder the Auspices of:School of Mongolian Language and Culture, National University of Mongolia andInstitute of Language and Literature, Academy of Sfoiencep, MongoliaDDC494.23'015 U-969 Dandii-Yadamyn Tserenpil, 2005' All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.EditorsFor Mongolian (Cyrillic and Uighuric) texts: Davaagiin BattuulFor English text: Ken Kiehm Molly Deatherage Lori YounkerDesign of Mongolian Fonts: Jrgen Kullmann Cover Design: Togoobatyn JamiyansrenFirst edition published in Hong Kong in 1996: 1000 copies (hardback)Second revised edition published in Hong Kong, China in 2001: 500 copies (paperback)Third revised edition published in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in 2005: 500 copiesPrinted by ADMON Co.,Ltd, Mongolia, 2005ISBN: 99929-0-445-3Distribution:Dandii-Yadamyn TserenpilPhone: (++976) 99242672 /mobile/(++976 11) 344333 E-mail: dandy@magicnet.mndtserenp@yahoo.comPreface to the Third EditionThe first two editions of this book, published in Hong Kong in 1996 rind 2001 in the amount of 1500 copies have been all sold out reasoning to republish the Hook again in another 500 copies. Most of them were distributed Within Mongolia. The buyers were thdse who came to Mongolia not only with a tourist interest, but also with more serious iriiehiions to. be related to Mongolia and its people obtaining their language and culture. Among them, (hero are hdndreds of my students at the Department of Mongolian language for foreigners, School of Moitgoliari language and culture. National University of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar for the years since 2001 whfen I have been lecturing. At least one third of the books were released in abroad, especially in the USA, Germany) Great Britain, Turkey, Japan. Korea and Taiwan. The book has a great demand in the USA where 1 had been an instructor of Mongolian at the Department of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University, USA for the years of 1997-2001. A lot of efforts for '< the distribution of the book throughout the world are being made by Susie Drost, a treasurer of the ! Mongolia Society, Inc. at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. USA. My special thanks and : appreciation are addressed to her for it. :The book, especially its theoretical part a|id basic linguistic principles were formulated during my more than 10 years research work (1984-1996) oil the morphological structure and syntactical system of Modern Mongolian conducted at the institute, of Language and .Literature. Academy of Sciences, Mongolia. Thereby it has been reanalyzed the mqiri arguments of Mongolian grammar in the light of new advances in modern linguistic theory. Firstly,IRita Kullmann and I started working on a grammar book designed to help foreigners leara Mongolian. Then after lengthy discussions about the book, we both felt that it should be not only an 'ordinary' study book with some traditional grammar explanations and examples but should also be a popular Scientific grammar, including the latest achievements in Mongolian linguistics in general, and implementing the structural approach as introduced by Sh. Luvsanvandan, the godfather of the Modern Mongolian linguistics, in particular.For the last years since the first edition df the Grammar was published in 1996, my grammatical ' principles and concepts incorporated in the book have been revised during my classes with my students -learners of Mongolian as a second language at the National University of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar and Indiana University. USA. Also the comparative part of the book covering Mongolian and English grammars, mostly in the aspects of Chomsky's "Universal Grammar", was tested and reanalyzed at my lectures giving to Mongolian students measuring jri English a( the NUM.The improvements in the new edition (ouch ttie results of the workshop discussions, covering new ideas and suggestions of my Mongolian and Ibtejgn pollcilgties. on number of linguistic problems such as vowel development (e.g. assimilation and the origin of the long vowel and diphthong), word structure, especially word stems and the zero sut'flje, changes in the case system of Modern Mongolian, 'representative parts of speech' or so-called pfowbrds, focus particles, a new syntactic classification, the form of subjects in subordinate clauses, etc., Also: included are some results of my own researches on j such problems as the idea of the defiriite/in=f. x=kh- u=ts, "J=cH, ui=sh,. l= *, 3=e, =yu/yu, a=ya.Because we haVe taken an indigenous approach to the Mongolian grammar, this book is not neccessar ily user-friendly. We used Icrms Which might be unfamiliar to an English speaker (e^g comitative case: reflexive suffix): sometimes we even created new terms (e.g. adword, proword). We have aimed, though, not to use linguistic terms without explaining them, bearing in mind that some readers might not have such "a background. We suggest that readers familiarize themselves with the book, the appendix, and the abbreviations in order to benefit from the book in the best way possible. Here is what you should pay attention to: Very detailed table of contents (first pages of the book)Even though one might not know the right term for something and therefore not be able to look it: up, the Cyrillic words or suffixes, that are part of the table of contents will help you find what you are looking for. Appendix: IndexWe have given an index, trying to list every term we used in English, German, and Mongolian. Tins enables you to become familiar with the Mongolian terms your teacher is using (although he/she might sometimes use the traditional nmries rather than the new names given in this book). Appendix: List of Inflectional QiiffixefeThis list will be very important as you read a Mongolian text and come across suffixes you dont know. Nexl to the suffix are the abbreviations of the name or category of the suffix and on which page it is explained. You may copy that list in order to memorize the suffixes. Appendix: Table of contents in MongolianOur grammar is not a self-study book, although a lot could be learned this way. It will be important thai students show the Mongolian table of contents to their teachers, that they can refer to paragraphs as they teach. AbbreviationsWe used the following abbreviations: e.g. = for example(ex. a.b.g) = examples a, b and g111:1.1.2 (ex. a-d)= Part [FI. 1.1.2 = examples a, b, c and dIn some tables, we could only wive the first letfpr nf th ru > ,,:om.(C.) imitative case vl ml = 'nstmemaI caseUir. (D.)A = directive caseAll suffix abbreviations are found in the list of the inflection aie tnose we used most often in this book-CS ^ = Case Suffix NDS = Noun Determining Suffix PTS = Person-bound Terminating Suffix KS - Reflexive Suffixi suffixes on page 413ff. But herePS = Plural Suffix VDS = Verb Determining Suffix TTS = Tense-bound Terminating SuffixTd[q)D( ff ODPart I: Introduction..................................................p. 11. THE MONGOLIAN LANGUAGE ANb ITS DEVELOPMENT.........p. 21.1 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MONGOLIAN LANGUAGE...........p. 21.2 THE MONGOLIAN LAN0UAGf8 AND THEIR DIALECTS................................P. 21.3 THE CLASSICAL WRITTEN AND MODERN LITERARY LANGUAGES........P. 32. THE MONGOLIAN ALPHABETS...................................................p.J42.1 THE CLASSICAL ALPHABET............................................................P-|42.1.1 General Table of the Classical Alphabet......................................................................P-l 42.1.2 Polyphonetic Alphabet.................................................................................................P- 52.1.3 Detailed Table of the Classical Alphabet......................................................................P- 62.1.4 Vowels.................................................*......................................................................P-i72.1.4.1 Vowel Harmony....................................................................................................pH2.1.4.2 Process of Development........................................................................................p. 72.1.4.2.1 Assimilation,..................................................................................................P-72.1.4.2.1.1 Forward Assimilation.............................................................................p- 72.1.4.2.1.2 Backward Assimilation..........................................................................p. 82.1.4.2.2 Origin of Long Vowels..................................................................................P- 92.1.4.2.2.1 Sound Complexes..................................................................................P: 92.1.4.2.2.2 Short Vowels.......................................................................................P-102.1.4.2.2.3 Compound Vowejf;..............................................................................p. .102.1.4.2.3 Origin of Diphthongs...................:..........................................................-.p. '102.1.4.2.3.1 Y-DiphtHongS......................................................................................P-112.1.4.2.3.2 Final Diphthongs.......................................................'........................P-112.1.4.2.4 Reduced Vowels..........................................................................................P- '122.1.4.2.4.1 Vowel Weakness.................................................................................P- 122.1.4.2.4.2 Vowel Dropping..................................................................................P- 122.1.5 Consonants............................................................................