Kalmyk Oirat

"Kalmyk language" redirects here. For discussion of the language of the Oirat people in general, seeOirat language.

Kalmyk
Хальмг келн Haľmg keln ᡍᠠᠯᡅᡏᠠᡎ ᡍᡄᠯᡄᠨ
Native to	Russia
Region	Kalmykia
Ethnicity	Kalmyks
Native speakers	110,000 (2024)
Language family	Mongolic Central Mongolic Buryat–Mongolian Mongolian Oirat Kalmyk
Writing system	Cyrillic,Latin,Clear script
Official status
Official language in	Russia Kalmykia Kyrgyzstan Issyk-Kul Region
Language codes
ISO 639-2	xal
ISO 639-3	xal
Linguist List	xal-kal
Glottolog	kalm1244
ELP	Kalmyk-Oirat
Kalmyk Oirat is classified as Definitively Endangered by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger

A bilingual (Russianand Kalmyk) sign with the text "Clean zone!" (Russian) and "Overseen zone!" (Kalmyk) at theElistabus station

Kalmyk Oirat(Kalmyk:Хальмг Өөрдин келн,Haľmg Öördin keln,IPA:[xalʲˈməkøːrˈdinkeˈlən]),commonly known as theKalmyk language(Kalmyk:Хальмг келн,Haľmg keln,IPA:[xalʲˈməkkeˈlən]), is avarietyof theOirat language,natively spoken by theKalmyk peopleofKalmykia,a federal subject ofRussia.In Russia, it is thestandard formof theOirat language(based on theTorgut dialect), which belongs to theMongolic language family.TheKalmyk peopleof the NorthwestCaspian Seaof Russia claim descent from theOiratsfromEurasia,who have also historically settled inMongoliaandNorthwest China.According toUNESCO,the language is "Definitely endangered".According to the Russian census of 2021, there are 110,000 speakers of anethnic populationconsisting of 178,000 people.

History

Kalmyk is now only spoken as a native language by a small minority of the Kalmyk population.Its decline as aliving languagebegan after the Kalmyk peoplewere deporteden masse from their homeland in December 1943, as punishment for limitedKalmyk collaboration with the Nazis.Significant factors contributing to its demise include: (1) the deaths of a substantial percentage of the Kalmyk population from disease and malnutrition, both during their travel and upon their arrival to remote exile settlements inCentral Asia,south centralSiberiaand theSoviet Far East;(2) the wide dispersal of the Kalmyk population; (3) the duration of exile, which ended in 1957; (4) the stigma associated with being accused of treason, and (5) assimilation into the larger, more dominant culture. Collectively, these factors discontinued the intergenerational language transmission.

In 1957, the Soviet government reinstated theKalmyk Autonomous Oblastand later reestablished theAutonomous Republic of Kalmykia.The Kalmyk people were permitted to return to the Republic in 1957, 14 years after exile. TheRussian language,however, was made the official language of the Republic, and Sovietisation was imposed on the Kalmyk people, leading to drastic cuts in Kalmyk language education.The Cyrillic Alpha bet became firmly established among the Kalmyks (and other peoples, too). For instance, books, periodicals, newspapers, etc., were published using it. By the late 1970s, the Russian language became the primary language of instruction in all schools in the Republic.

During the period ofPerestroika,Kalmyk linguists, in collaboration with the Kalmyk government, planned and tried to implement the revival of the Kalmyk language. This revival was seen as an integral part of the reassertion of Kalmyk culture. In an important symbolic gesture, the Kalmyk language was declared an official language of the Republic, giving it equal status with the Russian language with respect to official governmental use and language education.

During the production of the filmReturn of the Jedi,sound designer Rafe Mercieca—with his life-time partner Ben Curtis—based the language of theEwokson Kalmyk after hearing it spoken in a documentary and being impressed with its phonology.

Geographic distribution

The majority of Kalmyk language speakers live in the Republic of Kalmykia, where it is an official language. A small group of Kalmyk language speakers also live in France and the US, but the use of Kalmyk is in steep decline. In all three locations, the actual number of speakers is unknown. Kalmyk is an endangered language.

As of 2012, the Kalmyk community inNew Jersey,which arrived in the US in the 1950s, was planning to work with theEnduring Voicesproject to promote Kalmyk language and culture.

Linguistic classification

From a synchronic perspective, Kalmyk is the most prominent variety of Oirat. It is very close to the Oirat dialects found in Mongolia and the People's Republic of China, bothphonologicallyandmorphologically.The differences in dialects, however, concern the vocabulary, as the Kalmyk language has been influenced by and has adopted words from the Russian language and variousTurkic languages.

Two important features that characterise Kalmyk areagglutinationandvowel harmony.In anagglutinative language,words are formed by addingaffixesto existingwords,called stem words or root words.Prefixes,however, are not common in Mongolic. Vowel harmony refers to the agreement between the vowels in the root of a word and the vowels in the word's suffix or suffixes. Other features include the absence ofgrammatical gender.

It has some elements in common with theUralicandUyghurlanguages, which reflects its origin from the common language of the Oirats, a union of four Oirat tribes that absorbed some Ugric and Turkic tribes during their expansion westward.

Phonology

Similar toMiddle MongolandWritten Oirat,Kalmyk exhibitstongue-rootvowel harmony.UnlikeMiddle Mongol,however, consonants are not restricted byharmony.For instance, thevoiced velar fricative/ɣ/ can appear in both front and back vowel words, e.g. һәәвһә /ɣæːwɣæ/ "good" and һалун /ɣalun/ "goose".Nonetheless, all consonants andneutral reduced vowel/ə/ are influenced by harmonic status of a word, at least phonetically. The harmonic vowel pairs are: /a/~/æ/, /o/~/ø/, /u/~/y/,[i]~[ɨ],the last pair beingallophonic.

Historicallong vowelsin non-initial syllables have been reduced toshort vowels,while historical short vowels have been reduced toschwaand then, just like inMongolian,were replaced according to language'sphonotactics.For example,Written Oiratɣarān"hand-P.REFL"became һаран /ɣaran/;ɣarɣaqsan"to get out-CAUS-PC.PST"became һарһсн /ɣarɣsən/. Long vowels anddiphthongsin one-syllable words have been also reduced to short vowels:sayin"good" > сән /sæn/. Nevertheless, in inflected forms of such words, short vowels tend to become elongated: сән /sæn/ "good" > сәәг /sæːgə/ "good-ACC",күн /kyn/" man "> күүнә /kyːnæ/" man-GEN".Despite that, long vowels still may be pronounced in non-initial syllables. This happens if a word consists of three syllables, second of which has a vowel /a/ or /æ/, and third syllable has areduced vowel/ə/. Examples include гөрәсн [gøræːsᵊn] "saiga",туршарт [turʃaːrtə]" during ", кезәңк [kezæːŋkə]" a while ago ", һазрас [ɢazraːsə]" land-ABL".

Consonants

The following is an outline of the consonant system of Kalmyk. Note that since virtually all speakers of Kalmyk arebilingual,recent borrowings fromRussiando not undergo phonological adaptation and are pronounced according to the rules ofRussian phonology,including those ofvowel reductionandstress.

Consonants of Kalmyk

		Labial	Alveolar	Post- Alveolar	Dorsal
Nasal		/m/м	/n/н	/nʲ/нь	/ŋ/ң
Plosive	voiceless	/p/п	/t/т	/tʲ/ть	/k/к
	voiced	/b/б	/d/д	/dʲ/дь	/ɡ/г
Affricate	voiceless		/t͡s/ц	/t͡ɕ/ч
	voiced			/d͡ʑ/җ
Fricative	voiceless	(/f/ф)	/s/с	/ʃ/ш	/x/х
	voiced	(/β/)	/z/з		/ɣ/һ
Approximant		/w/в	/l/л	/lʲ/ль	/j/й
Trill			/r/р

• Thevoiceless labiodental fricative/f/ occurs only in loanwords andonomatopoeicterms;
• Thevoiced velar fricative/ɣ/ may also be released as a uvular plosive[ɢ]in the word-initial position as well as uvular fricative[ʁ]in any position, including initial;
• Thevoiceless velar fricative/x/ may also be pronounced asuvular[χ];
• Thevoiced labial approximant/w/ may be released as thevoiced bilabial fricative[β];
• Thevelar nasal/ŋ/ is often pronounced with a velar plosive[g]or[k]at the end, e.g. дөң [døŋk] "help", саң [saŋk] "treasury", маңна [maŋgna] "forehead".

Vowels

Vowels

	Front		Central	Back
Close	/i//iː/и ии	/y//yː/ү үү	(/ɨ/)	/u//uː/у уу
Mid	/e//eː/е ее	/ø//øː/ө өө	/ə/	/o//oː/о оо
Open	/æ//æː/ә әә			/a//aː/а аа

• Note that the mid central vowel /ə/ is not orthographically written;
• The open back vowel is also phonetically central[ä];
• The (historically reduced) vowel /ə/ is phonetically released as[ə̟]inharmonicallyfront-vowel words, as[ə̠]in back-vowel words, and as[ɪ]after palatal and post-alveolar consonants /nʲ tʲ dʲ t͡ɕ d͡ʑ ʃ lʲ j/;
• Although not always manifested orthographically,[ɨ]is a back vowel word allophone of /i/ that is only present inhortative,genitiveandaccusativesuffixes;
• In native words, vowels /o oː/ and /ø øː/ can only appear in word-initial syllables.

Devoicing and assimilation

Orthographicvoicedstopsd, g are devoiced: келәд /kelæt/ "to speak-CV.ANT",бөлг /bølək/" chapter ".Devoicingalso occurs whenever there is a two-consonantclusterwith one consonant beingvoiceless:/bolʃko/ "may not", таңһч /taŋxt͡ɕə/ "republic". Consonant clusters exhibit other types of assimilation:

1. /kx/, /gx/, /xx/ > /kk/, /kk/, /xk/: закх /zakxə~zakkə/ "to order"; өргх /ørkxə~ørkkə/ "to raise" хатхх /xatxxə~xatxkə/ "to poke";
2. /n/ + /b/ > /mb/: кен /ken/ "who" + б /bə/ "Q"> кемб /kembə/" who-Q";
3. /w/ + /n/ > /mn/: тәв- /tæv-/ "to put" + /-næ/ "PRS"> тәмнә /tæmnæ/" to put-PRS";
4. /w/ +voiceless consonant> /p/: ав- /awə/ "to take" + чк /t͡ɕkə/ "COMPL> апчк /apt͡ɕkə/ "to put-COMPL";
5. /t͡ɕ/ + /l/ or /t/ > /ʃl/, /ʃt/: көвүчлх /køvyt͡ɕəlxə/ > көвүшлх /køvyʃəlxə/ "to adopt", ачтн /at͡ɕtən/ > аштн /aʃtən/ "to load-IMP.PL";
6. /n/ > /ŋ/ before consonants /ɣ, g, x, k, s/:Written Oiratsonosxu"to listen" > соңсх /soŋksxə/, түрүн /tyryn/ "first" + к /kə/ "ADJ"> түрүңк /tyryŋkə/" first-ADJ";
7. /l/ ispalatalisedto /lʲ/ beforepalatalaffricates/t͡ɕ d͡ʑ/: болҗ /bolʲd͡ʑə/ "to become-CV.IPEF".

Thevoiced bilabial stop/b/, being only restricted to word-initial position, may be pronounced as[β]in a phrase: келҗ бәәнә /kelʲd͡ʑə bæːnæ/ > [kelʲd͡ʑ βæːnæ] "to speak-CV.IPEFto be-prs".

Thelabial approximantorfricative/w/ can be pronounced as:

1. Close roundedvowel[y]or[u]in past tenseinflection:кел- /kelʲ-/ "to say" + -в /w/ "PST"+ -в /w/"1SG"> келүв /kelyw/" I said "or in consonant clusters: тарвс /tarvəs/ > тарус /tarus/" watermelon "
2. Voiced bilabial stop[b] inpast tenseinflection, if theverbstemends in /-w/: ав- /aw-/ "to take" + -в /-w/ "PST"> /awbə/" took ".

Vowel reduction and phonotactics

Word-initialsyllable structureis (C)V(C), meaning that in native words no word-initial clusters can occur. For non-initial syllables, however, a syllable-initial cluster of up to four consonants is allowed, meaning the maximal syllable is CCCCVC. In someconsonant clusterssuch as /tl tn dn dl/ asonorantbecomessyllabic.These clusters are alsonasally released.

The reduced vowel/ə/ is regularly preserved and can be asyllable nucleusin the following cases:

1. In a word-final position: ик /i.kə/ "big", арат /a.ra.tə/ "fox", чон /t͡ɕo.nə/ "wolf";
2. If, word-finally, there is either aclosed syllableor a finalopen syllablewith a consonant cluster: эцкнр /et͡s.kə.nər/ "father-PL"келчксн /kelʲ.t͡sək.sən/" to say-COMPL-PC.PST"соңсгдна /soŋk.sə.gdna/" to hear-PASS-PRS";
3. In closed non-final syllables of a multisyllabic word: шорһлҗн /ʃor.ɣəlʲ.d͡ʑən/ "ant", әәмшгтә /æ:m.ʃək.tæ/ "dangerous";
4. Word-finally in the following affixes:
   1. Ablative-ас /-asə/;
   2. Accusative-иг /-igə/, -г /-gə/;
   3. Adjective suffix-к /-kə/;
   4. Completive-чк /-t͡ɕkə/;
   5. Imperfective converb,admirativeandevidentialsuffix -җ /-dʑə/;
   6. Dative-д /-də/;
   7. Negationparticle эс /esə/;
   8. Present tensenegationparticle (orsuffix) биш, -ш /biʃə/ /-ʃə/;
   9. Future tenseparticiple-х /-xə/.

On the other hand, the vowel /ə/ cannot form syllables on its own if the following is true:

1. If the following syllable isopen:бичх /bi.t͡ɕxə/ "to write", өгх /øk.kxə/ "to give";
2. Ininflectionsof two-syllable words, if the second syllable of an inflected word has a non-reduced vowel, e.g. мөрн /mørən/ "horse" > мөрта mørtæ "with a horse", церг /t͡se.rək/ "army" > церглә /t͡serglæ/ "with an army";
3. If the following syllable is open and has non-reduced vowel: тоһрун */to.ɣə.run/ > /to.ɣrun/ "grus"; шамдһа */ʃam.də.ɣa/ > /ʃam.dɣa/ "sneaky". In this case, however, reduced syllables may be released phonetically, although they do not play a role insyllable forming.;

Two-syllable words with schwa as anucleusof the second syllable may undergometathesis,thus creating anopen syllable:Written Oiratoros"Russian" > /orəs/ > /orsə/;ulus"country, people" > /uləs/ > /ulsə/;oyirad"Oirat" > /øːrət/ > /øːrdə/.

Stress

Kalmyk exhibitsnon-phonemic stresswith the last syllable (even if it ends inschwa) being stressed.

Grammar

Like otherMongolic languages,Kalmyk is anagglutinative,suffi xing, and agenderlesslanguage. Some aspects of itssyntaxhave been influenced byRussian;for example,relative clauses,traditionally characterized byleft-branchingand employing aconverbial formof a verb (similarly toJapanese), now often use Russian relative pronounкоторыйand thus exhibit right-branching. Other noticeable feature possibly influenced by Russian is frequent usage of futureparticipleas apredicateof a sentence to expressfuture tense.There is little to nonesuppletion(irregular forms) in verbalinflectionand nounconjugation

Nouns

Traditionally, Kalmykcasesare said to have three declensions; however, this is mostly due to orthographical peculiarities. Basically, if the word ends in a full vowel and the case ending begins in a vowel, either (1) a prothetic /g/ or /ʁ/ is added or (2) a vowel is deleted from the case ending. This is further demonstrated in the table below.

Kalmyk noun cases

Case	Suffix (Cyrillic)	Suffix (IPA)	Clear Scriptspelling
nominative	-∅	-∅	-
genitive	-ин; -һин; -н; -а; -ә; -i	-in; -ʁin; -n; -a; -æ; -i	ᡅᡕᡅᠨ(-iyin);ᡎᡅᡕᡅᠨ(-giyin);ᠨ(-n);ᠠᡅ(-ai);ᡅ(-i)
dative	-д; -т	-də; -tə	ᡑᡇ(-du) /ᡑᡉ(-dü) (depending onvowel harmony)ᡐᡇ(-tu) /ᡐᡉ(-tü)
accusative	-иг; -г; ∅	-igə; -gə; ∅	ᡕᡅᡎᡅ(-yigi);ᡎᡅ(-gi); -
ablative	-ас; -әс; -һас; -һәс	-asə; -æsə; -ʁasə; -ʁæsə	ᠠᡃᠰᠠ(-āsa),ᡄᡃᠰᡄ(-ēse) (later spelling, written together with the word);ᡄᡃᡔᡄ(-ēce) (earlier spelling, written separately from the word)
instrumental	-ар; -әр; -һар; -һәр	-ar; -ær; ʁar; ʁær	ᠠᡃᠷ(-ār),ᡄᡃᠷ(-ēr);ᡅᡕᠠᠷ(-iyar) (earlier spelling)
comitative	-та; -тә	-ta; -tæ	ᡐᠠᡅ(-tai);ᡐᡄᡅ(-tei)
directive	-ур; -үр; -һур; -һүр	-ur; -yr; -ʁur; -ʁyr	ᡇᡇᠷ(-uur);ᡇᡇᠷᡇ(-uuru) (earlier spelling; written separately from the word)

• Genitivetakes the suffix -ин (-in) in case it is preceded by a consonant; -һин (-ğin) or -н (-n) if it is preceded by a vowel; -ә (-ä), -a or -и (-i) if it is preceded by the /n/ consonant.
• Dativesuffix is -т (-t) if preceded by voiced stops /b/ (/β/) /d/ /g/, voiceless sibilants /s/ /ʃ/, and /r/
• Accusativeis marked (with a suffix) if the object is definite, unmarked if the object is indefinite
• Nouns ending in -n declense differently. -n is subtracted in the accusative, instrumental, and comitative cases. In all other cases, it is left untouched. For example: kelʲən "language-NOM"kelʲnæ" language-GEN"kelʲəndə" language-DAT"kelʲə/kelʲigə" language-ACC"kelʲnæsə" language-ABL"kelʲær" language-INS"kelʲtæ" language-COM"kelʲnyr" language-DIR"
• Dativealso bears the function oflativeandlocativecases. Its difference with thedirectivecase is not clear, and in some dialects,dativeis the prevailing case forlativeusage.

Writing systems

Todo bichig

Main article:Clear script

The literary tradition of Oirat reaches back to 11th century when theOld Uyghur scriptwas used. The official Kalmyk Alpha bet, namedClear ScriptorTodo bichigin Oirat, was created in the 17th century by a Kalmyk Buddhist monk calledZaya Pandita.

Like the Old Mongolian script, Todo bichig was written from top to bottom. Written Oirat language contained many words borrowed from the Mongolian language and not used in everyday speech, despite many attempts to bring the written standard and colloquial spoken language closer together. Thus, already at the beginning of the 18th century, two written forms of the Kalmyk language were recorded - “bookish”, used in religious practice and having numerous Mongolian and Tibetan borrowings and preserving archaic language forms, as well as “conversational”, used in private correspondence and reflecting the changes taking place in the language.

Todo bichig, also called “zayapandit script” after its creator, existed among the Kalmyks until 1924 with minor changes. Oirats of China use it to the present.

In 1924 this script was replaced by an adaptation of theCyrillic script,which was abandoned in 1930 in favour of aLatin script.

Early Cyrillic Alpha bets

At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, the Orthodox Missionary Society published a number of school books in the Kalmyk language, using Cyrillic script. The first edition of this kind was the "Primer for Kalmyk ulus schools" (1892). The Alpha bet used in this primer has the following composition:А а, Б б, В в, Г г, Д д, Е е, З з, И и, К к, Л л, М м, Н н, О о, П п, Р р, С с, Т т, У у, Х х, Ц ц, Ч ч, Ш ш, ь, Э э, Ю ю, Я я,Ӓӓ,Āā,Ǟǟ,Ӧӧ,Ōō,Ȫȫ,Ӱӱ,Ӯӯ,Ӱ̄ӱ̄,Дждж,Нг нг,Ій,ій, Йе йе, Йӧ йӧ, Ӓй ӓй,Ӣӣ,Э̄ э̄, Ю̄ ю̄, Я̄ я̄.In 1902, the “Primer for Kalmyks” was released, where a different version of the Alpha bet was used:А а, Б б, Г г, Д д, З з, И и, Й й, К к, Л л, М м, Н н, О о, Р р, С с, Т т, У у, Х х, Ц ц, Ч ч, Ш ш, ь, Э э, Ӓ ӓ, Ā ā, Ǟ ǟ, Ӧ ӧ, Ō ō, Ȫ ȫ, Ӱ ӱ, Ӯ ӯ, Ӱ̄ ӱ̄, Дж дж, Ҥ ҥ, Ӣ ӣ, Э̄ э̄.At the same time, the letter of the clear script continued to be used.

On January 6, 1924, a meeting of the Kalmyk public was held in Astrakhan. At this meeting, the majority of the votes had declared obsolete writing - it was noted that it was difficult for writing and learning, lack of fonts, the inability to use on the telegraph, and so on. In this regard, it was decided to translate Kalmyk language into Cyrillic script. On January 12, the Alpha bet was adopted, consisting of the following letters:А а, Б б, В в, Г г, Д д, Е е, Ж ж, З з, И и, К к, Л л, М м, Н н, О о, П п, Р р, С с, Т т, У у, Ф ф, Х х, Ц ц, Ч ч, Ш ш, Щ щ, Ы ы, Э э, Ю ю, Я я, Ь ь, Й й,ä,ö,ӱ,ң,ӝ.Above the long vowels was supposed to put a line (macron), but in practice this was not done. Also, despite the absence of an approved project, the letterъwas used to designate unclear vowels. From January 1926, the newspaper«Ulan Halmg»(ru) began to be printed on this Alpha bet.The basis of the emerging Kalmyk literary language was the Torgut dialect, but later the norm began to focus not only on the Torgut, but also on the Derbet dialect.Sometimes in the editions of that time, the letterңwas replaced byҥorн̈,and the lettersЕ е, Ж ж, Ф Ф, Щ щwere not officially included in the Alpha bet.

September 7, 1926 at a meeting at the Kalmyk pedagogical school in Astrakhan, it was decided to make changes to the Alpha bet. So, all additional letters were canceled, and instead of them enteredD d, V v, H h.In June 1927, this Alpha bet was introduced into official use, but much of the literature and press was still published in the Alpha bet of 1924.

On February 5–8, 1928, a regular meeting on Kalmyk writing was held, at which the Alpha bet was reformed again. The lettersD d, V v, H hwere canceled, and the letterӘ әwas entered to indicate unclear vowels. It was decided to denote the long vowels by doubling the corresponding letters. This Alpha bet was used until 1930.

Latin Alpha bet

In the late 1920s, the process ofromanization of writingbegan in the USSR. In the course of this process in January 1930, the IX Kalmyk Regional Congress of Soviets legalized the new Latinized Alpha bet of the Kalmyk language. Its actual use began in newspapers from the end of September of the same year.In this Alpha bet, the letters were arranged in the following order:A a, B b, C c, Ç ç, D d, E e, Ә ә, G g, H h, I i, j, K k, L l, M m, N n, ꞑ, O o, Ө ө, P p, R r, S s, Ş ş, F f, Y y, Z z, Ƶ ƶ, U u, T t, V v, X x, ь.

On January 10–17, 1931, at a conference held in Moscow, scientists of the Mongolian group of peoples decided to change the phonetic meaning of the two letters of the Kalmyk script, as well as change the Alpha betical order of the letters. In May of the same year, the III Kalmyk Regional Conference on Language and Writing, which was held inElista,confirmed this decision. The Alpha bet took the following form:

A a	B b	C c	Ç ç	D d	E e	Ə ə
F f	G g	H h	I i	J j	K k	L l
M m	N n	Ꞑ ꞑ	O o	Ө ө	P p	R r
S s	Ş ş	T t	U u	V v	X x	Y y
Z z	Ƶ ƶ	Ь ь

The letterЬ ь,unlike most other Soviet Latinized Alpha bets, denoted palatalization.In this form, the Alpha bet existed until 1938.

Modern Cyrillic Alpha bet

In the second half of the 1930s, the USSR began the process of translating scripts into Cyrillic. The Latin script was in turnreplacedby another Cyrillic script in 1938. Initially, the Kalmyk Cyrillic Alpha bet included all the letters of the Russian Alpha bet, as well asÄ ä, Гъ гъ, Дж дж, Нъ нъ, Ö ö, Ӱ ӱ.In 1941, the Alpha bet was reformed again - the outline of additional letters was changed.However, due to thedeportation of the Kalmyksthat followed soon, the transition to a new version of the Alpha bet was carried out only after their rehabilitation - in the late 1950s.These script reforms effectively disrupted the Oirat literary tradition.

The modern Cyrillic Alpha bet used for the Kalmyk language is as follows:

А а	Ә ә	Б б	В в	Г г	Һ һ	Д д
Е е	Ё ё	Ж ж	Җ җ	З з	И и	Й й
К к	Л л	М м	Н н	Ң ң	О о	Ө ө
П п	Р р	С с	Т т	У у	Ү ү	Ф ф
Х х	Ц ц	Ч ч	Ш ш	Щ щ	Ъ ъ	Ы ы
Ь ь	Э э	Ю ю	Я я

Since theTatar Alpha betis identical to the Kalmyk Alpha bet (both featuring the same additional letters to the Russian one), Kalmyks using Windows use Tatar keyboard layouts to type Kalmyk. Kalmyk-specific keyboard layouts, however, are available on Android and Linux systems.

Alphabet matching table

Modern Cyrillic	Latin (1930s)	Cyrillic (1920-30s)	Clear script	Letter name	IPA	Cyrillic transliteration
А а	A a	А а	ᠠ	а	a	A a
Ә ә	Ə ə	Ä ä (1938–41) Я я (1928–30) d (1926–28) Ä ä (1924–26)	—	ә	æ	A̋ a̋
Б б	B в	Б б	ᡋ	бэ	b, bʲ	B b
В в	V v	В в	ᡖ	вэ	v, vʲ	V v
Г г	G g	Г г	ᡙ	гэ	ɡ, ɡʲ, ɢ	G g
Һ һ	H h	Гъ гъ (1938–41) Г г (1928–30) Һ һ (1926–28) Г г (1924–26)	ᡎ	һа	ɣ	Ḥ ḥ
Д д	D d	Д д	ᡑ	дэ	d, dʲ	D d
Е е	E e	Е е	—	е	(j)e	E e*
Ё ё (in Russian loanwords only)	—	—	—	ё	jo	Ë ë**
Ж ж (in Russian loanwords only)	Ƶ ƶ	Ж ж	—	жэ	ʒ	Z̆ z̆
Җ җ	Ƶ ƶ	Дж дж (1938–41) Ж ж (1928–30) Дж дж (1926–28) Ӝ ӝ (1924–26)	ᡚ	җә	ʤ	Z̦̆ z̦̆
З з	Z z	З з	ᡓ	зэ	z	Z z
И и	I i	И и	ᡅ	и	i	I i
Й й	J j	Й й	ᡕ	ахр и	j	J j
К к	K k	К к	ᡘ,ᡗ	кэ	k, kʲ	K k
Л л	L l	Л л	ᠯ	эль	l, lʲ	L l
М м	M m	М м	ᡏ	эм	m, mʲ	M m
Н н	N n	Н н	ᠨ	эн	n, nʲ	N n
Ң ң	Ꞑ ꞑ	Нъ нъ (1938–41) Нг нг (1926–30) Ң ң (1924–26)	ᡊ	аң	ŋ	Ñ ñ
О о	O o	О о	ᡆ	о	o	O o
Ө ө	Ө ө	Ö ö (1938–41) Э э (1928–30) v (1926–28) Ö ö (1924–26)	ᡈ	ө	ø	Ô ô
П п (in Russian loanwords only)	P p	П п	ᡌ	пэ	(p), (pʲ)	P p
Р р	R r	Р р	ᠷ	эр	r, rʲ	R r
С с	S s	С с	ᠰ	эс	s	S s
Т т	T t	Т т	ᡐ	тэ	t, tʲ	T t
У у	U u	У у	ᡇ	у	u	U u
Ү ү	Y y	Ӱ ӱ (1938–41) Ю ю (1926–30) Ӱ ӱ (1924–26)	ᡉ	ү	y	Ù ù
Ф ф (in Russian loanwords only)	F f	Ф ф	—	эф	(f)	F f
Х х	X x	Х х	ᡍ	ха	x, xʲ	H h
Ц ц	C c (1931–38) Ç ç (1930–31)	Ц ц	ᡔ	цэ	ts	C c
Ч ч	Ç ç (1931–38) C c (1930–31)	Ч ч	ᡒ	чэ	tʃ	Č č
Ш ш	Ş ş	Ш ш	ᠱ	ша	ʃ	S̆ s̆
Щ щ (in Russian loanwords only)	—	Щ щ	—	ща	(ɕː)	Ŝ ŝ
Ъ ъ	—	—	—	үзгин нерәдлһн	—	—
Ы ы	—	Ы ы	—	ы	i	Y y
Ь ь	Ь ь	Ь ь	—	җөөлн темдг	ʲ	'
Э э	E e	Э э	ᡄ	э	e	È è***
Ю ю	—	Ю ю	—	ю	jʊ	Û û
Я я	—	Я я	—	я	ja	 â

* Pronounced /je/ at the beginning of words and /e/ otherwise. Only appears at the beginning of a word in Russian loanwords.
** This sound combination exists in native Kalmyk words, but is spelled "йо".
*** Only appears at the beginning of words.

Example text

This text is fromState Anthem of the Republic of Kalmykia.

Kalmyk in Cyrillic script (modern)	Kalmyk in Cyrillic script (1924-1926)	Kalmyk in Cyrillic script (1926-1928)	Kalmyk in Latin script (1931–1938)	Kalmyk in Latin script (experimental)	English
Сарул сәәхн Хальмг Таңһч Сансн тоотан күцәнә, Авта җирһлин бат җолаг Алдр һартан атхна. Улан залата хальмг улс, Улата теегән кеерүлий! Төрскн нутгтан күчән нерәдәд, Толһа менд җирһий! Олн келн-әмтнлә хамдан Уралан Таңһчин зүткнә Иньгллтин залин өндр герлд Иргч мана батрна. Улан залата хальмг улс, Улата теегән кеерүлий! Төрскн нутгтан күчән нерәдәд, Толһа менд җирһий! Баатр-чиирг үрдәр туурад, Буурл теемг өснә. Сурһуль-номдан килмҗән өдәг, Сул нерән дуудулна. Улан залата хальмг улс, Улата теегән кеерүлий! Төрскн нутгтан күчән нерәдәд, Толһа менд җирһий!	Сарул сääхн Хальмг Таңгч Сансн тоотан күцäнä, Авта ӝирглин бат ӝолаг Алдр гартан атхна. Улан залата хальмг улс, Улата теегäн кеерӱлий! Тöрскн нутгтан кӱчäн нерäдäд, Толга менд ӝиргий! Олн келн-äмтнлä хамдан Уралан Таңгчин зӱткнä Иньгллтин залин öндр герлд Иргч мана батрна. Улан залата хальмг улс, Улата теегäн кеерӱлий! Тöрскн нутгтан кӱчäн нерäдäд, Толга менд ӝиргий! Баатр-чиирг ӱрдäр туурад, Буурл теемг öснä. Сургуль-номдан килмӝäн öдäг, Сул нерäн дуудулна. Улан залата хальмг улс, Улата теегäн кеерӱлий! Тöрскн нутгтан кӱчäн нерäдäд, Толга менд ӝиргий!	Сарул сddхн Хальмг Тангһч Сансн тоотан кюцdнd, Авта джирһлин бат джолаг Алдр һартан атхна. Улан залата хальмг улс, Улата теегdн кеерюлий! Тvрскн нутгтан кючdн нерdдdд, Толһа менд джирһий! Олн келн-dмтнлd хамдан Уралан Тангһчин зюткнd Иньгллтин залин vндр герлд Иргч мана батрна. Улан залата хальмг улс, Улата теегdн кеерюлий! Тvрскн нутгтан кючdн нерdдdд, Толһа менд джирһий! Баатр-чиирг юрдdр туурад, Буурл теемг vснd. Сурһуль-номдан килмджdн vдdг, Сул нерdн дуудулна. Улан залата хальмг улс, Улата теегdн кеерюлий! Тvрскн нутгтан кючdн нерdдdд, Толһа менд джирһий!	Sarul səəxn Xalьmg Taꞑhç Sansn tootan kycənə, Avta ƶirhlin ʙat ƶolag Aldr hartan atxna. Ulan zalata xalьmg uls, Ulata teegən keerylij! Tɵrskn nutgtan kyçən nerədəd, Tolha mend ƶirhij! Oln keln-əmtnlə xamdan Uralan Taꞑhcin zytknə Inьglltin zalin ɵndr gerld Irgç mana ʙatrna! Ulan zalata xalьmg uls, Ulata teegən keerylij! Tɵrskn nutgtan kyçən nerədəd, Tolha mend ƶirhij! Baatr-çiirg yrdər tuurad, Buurl teemg ɵsnə. Surhulь-nomdan kilmƶən ɵdəg, Sul nerən duudulna. Ulan zalata xalьmg uls, Ulata teegən keerylij! Tɵrskn nutgtan kyçən nerədəd, Tolha mend ƶirhij!	Sarul səəhn Haľmg Tañğç Sansn tótan küţənə, Avta cirğlin bat colag Aldr ğartan athna. Ulan zalata haľmg uls, Ulata tégən kérüliy! Törksn nutgtan küçən nerədəd, Tolğa mend cirğiy! Oln keln-əmtnlə hamdan Uralan Tañğçin zütknə Iňgĺtin zalin öndr gerld Irgç mana batrna. Ulan zalata haľmg uls, Ulata tégən kérüliy! Törksn nutgtan küçən nerədəd, Tolğa mend cirğiy! Bátr-çírg ürdər túrad, Búrl témg ösnə. Surğuľ-nomdan kilmcən ödəg, Sul nerən dúdulna. Ulan zalata haľmg uls, Ulata tégən kérüliy! Törksn nutgtan küçən nerədəd, Tolğa mend cirğiy!	Bright and beautiful Kalmyk Republic Fulfills everything it wishes for. It holds in its glorious hands Strong reins of harmonious life. Kalmyks with Ulan-Zala, Let's adorn our natal steppes! Let's devote our power to the homeland, and live long happily! With all the peoples of different languages, The Republic is pushing forward. In the high light of the friendship flame, Our future is getting stronger. Kalmyks with Ulan-Zala, Let's adorn our natal steppes! Let's devote our power to the homeland, and live long happily! Heroic children have succeeded, The steppe has emerged. Putting effort into learning, They're putting up the free name. Kalmyks with Ulan-Zala, Let's adorn our natal steppes! Let's devote our power to the homeland, and live long happily!

Notes

Works cited

• Номинханов, Ц. Д. (1976).Очерк истории калмыцкой письменности[Essay on the history of Kalmyk writing]. Мoscow: Наука.

External links

• Kalmyk phrasebooktravel guide from Wikivoyage
• Article on language policy and history in Kalmykia
• Russian-Kalmyk On-Line Dictionary