Mongolo-Tibetica Pragensia ’11 Linguistics, Ethnolinguistics, Religion and Culture Volume 4, No. 1 (2011)
Editors-in-chief:
J. Vacek and A. Oberfalzerová
Editorial Board:
Daniel Berounský (Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic)
Agata Bareja-Starzyńska (University of Warsaw, Poland)
Katia Buffetrille (École pratique des Hautes-Études, Paris, France)
J. Lubsangdorji (Charles University Prague, Czech Republic)
Marie-Dominique Even (Centre National des Recherches Scientifiques, Paris, France)
Tsevel Shagdarsurung (National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia)
Domiin Tömörtogoo (National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia)
English correction: Dr. Mark Corner (HUB University, Brussels)
Institute of South and Central Asian Studies, Seminar of Mongolian Studies
Faculty of Philosophy, Charles University in Prague
Celetná 20, 116 42 Praha 1, Czech Republic
http://mongolistika.ff.cuni.cz/
Published by Triton
First edition, Praha (Prague) 2008
ISSN 1803-5647
Registration number of MK ČR E 18436
The publication of this journal was financially supported by the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic as a part of the Research Project No. MSM0021620825 “Language as human activity, as its product and factor”, a project of the Faculty of Philosophy, Charles University in Prague.
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Contents
J. Lubsangdorji: On the Chinese transcription, Ming Glossary and on translations of the Secret History of the Mongols into European languages
In the study of the SHM there is a conception of the language of the original of the SHM, to which its Chinese interlinear translation and the Chinese abridged translation belong. In this paper this conception is questioned, and it is demonstrated from concrete examples that it results in erroneous translations. We may mention several examples: Temüjin seized a mare from the Merkit ruler and presented it to his brotherly friend Jamuqa (§117); an important riding horse of Chingis Khan’s commander Boorči had an arched back (§95); Mongolian Khans killed people by cooking them all in a kettle (§129); and the like. The author of the paper discloses and corrects a number of such errors and proposes new possibilities for translations, which would correctly reflect the facts described in the SHM.
Alena Oberfalzerová: The use of onomatopoeic words in spoken Mongolian
This paper carries on the investigation of the spoken language as a part of the ethnography of communication and summarises the linguistic material for a very special language phenomenon – onomatopoeia and iconopoeia (Mongolian du’rsleh u’g – lit. ‘depicting words’), which, though to some extent this type of word occurs in every language, fulfils in Mongolian communication a very important role in displaying expressivity, in creating metaphors and in the specific manner of expressing agreeable and disagreeable feelings. The paper directly links up with the previous paper (Oberfalzerová 2010, but partly also with other previous papers), which was devoted to the formation and use of iconopoeic words. The paper provides the same formal analysis of iconopoeic words and of the words which represent both image and sound at the same time. In the first part I present the standard formation of onomatopoetic words and in the second and third parts I deal with individual words, together with examples of their use as they occurred in my field recordings of live spoken language, besides some examples taken from folklore.
Veronika Zikmundová: The function of descriptive verbs in Khalkha Mongolian: The basic pair of verbs of motion och- ‘to visit’ vs. ir- ‘to come’
The paper follows the description of two basic verbs of motion in the Sibe language, by describing verbs with analogical meanings in Khalkha Mongolian. I try to outline, using examples from the spoken language, their main grammatical functions and semantic fields. This paper presents a collection of systematically arranged material. A description of other verbs of motion in more languages should follow in order to present material for comparison and deeper research.
Veronika Kapišovská: Some remarks on loanwords in Mongolian lexical pairs
This paper discusses the specific ability of the Mongolian language to involve borrowings in the process of formation of lexical pairs. The phenomenon of lexical pairs is common in many languages spoken in the region of Central Asia – Mongolic, Turkic and to a lesser extent also Manchu-Tungus. Lexical pairs with borrowed components are further described from the point of view of various aspects in order to find out the features that distinguish them from among genuine lexical pairs. In conclusion several remarks on the usage of these lexical pairs are provided.
Kozo Yoshino: A consideration of communicative behaviours – Focusing on the kinship terminology and personal names/pronouns in the Mongolian language
In the previous article, we specified the communicating subjects within the sentences of self-oriented terms, address terms and terms referring to persons, and addressing of address terms of Mongolian naming terms in order to compare them with those of Japanese. We also discussed the interdisciplinary quality of the standards of communicative behaviour and family relationships (Yoshino 2009). In this article, we will introduce the complements of the self terms, address terms, and 3rd person terms of Mongolian naming terms. We will also redefine Mongolian communicative behaviour in terms of politeness based on the documentations from the previous and this article. This is therefore a continuation of what was discussed in the previous article.
Jaroslav Vacek: Verba dicendi and related etyma in Dravidian and Altaic. 5.2. Etyma with initial vowels (i-, e-, u-, o-, a-) and root-final liquids
This paper is the last in a series presenting the material collection of verba dicendi arranged according to their formal phonetic structure (starting with Vacek 2003ff.). The present subject is verb roots with initial vowels (i-, e-, u-, o-, a-) and root-final liquids. This paper finalises the group of verba dicendi with initial vowels (Vacek 2010c) and is structured analogically with the previous papers. It collects available material parallels from the individual Mongolian, Manchu-Tungus, Turkic and Dravidian languages. In agreement with previous findings, besides the verba dicendi in the narrow sense of the word there are also a few onomatopoetic expressions which are formally close to the VL-/VR- root structure of the relevant verba dicendi.
Review section
Serjee, Besud Jambaldorjiin, Orchin tsagiin mongol khelnii onooson neriin sudalgaa (The Study of the Onomastics of Contemporary Mongolian Language). MUIS, Mongol khel soyolyn surguuli, Ulanbaatar 2010, 315 pp. Price not specified; ISBN 978-99962-3-020-2 – Reviewed by Eva Obrátilová
Elisabetha Chiodo, The Mongolian Manuscripts on Birch Bark from Xarbuxyn Balgas in the Collection of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. Part 1–2. Asiatische Forschungen. Monographienreihe zur Geschichte, Kultur und Sprache der Völker Ost- und Zentralasiens. Band 137, 1–2. Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2009. Part 1: X+305 pp. + Facsimiles; Part 2: VIII+338 pp. + Facsimiles. Hardback, price not stated; ISBN 3-447-04246-X, ISSN 0571-320X – Reviewed by Ondřej Srba