MONGOLO-TIBETICA PRAGENSIA '09, Ethnolinguistics, Sociolinguistics, Religion and Culture. Vol. 2, No. 1. 2009
Special Commemorative Issue in Honour of Assoc. Prof. J. Lubsangdorji on his 70th birthday
Editors-in-chief:
J. Vacek and A. Oberfalzerová
Editorial Board:
Daniel Berounský (Charles University in Prague)
Agata Bareja-Starzyńska (University of Warsaw, Poland)
Katia Buffetrille (École pratique des Hautes-Études, Paris, France)
J. Lubsangdorji (Charles University Prague)
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, formerly lecturer at Charles University, presently HUB University, Brussels
Institute of South and Central Asian Studies, Seminar of Mongolian Studies
Faculty of Arts, 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:
Ts. Shagdarsuren (National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar):
A short survey of the scripts used by the Mongols (The place of Mongolian script among other ‘Mongol’ scripts)
The author provides a historical survey of Mongol Scripts. This article is devoted to the reason for the invention of, and changes to, the scripts of the Mongols and to the Mongolian Script’s place among other ‘Mongol’ scripts. The author considered that Mongolian Script was approachable for all ‘felt-tent dwellers’ (Mo. isegei tu?ur?atan) and a symbol of the freedom for dialects to be developed independently and simultaneously with centripetal opportunities.
Key words: ‘Mongol’ Scripts, Mongolian Script, Linguistics point of view, Politics point of view, Synchrony, Diachrony, Centripetal apogee of the Mongolian language.
Alena Oberfalzerová (Charles University in Prague): Onomatopoeia and iconopoeia – as an expressive means in Mongolian
This paper continues the investigation of spoken language from the point of view of ethnography of communication and discusses a very special phenomenon of the Mongolian language – the use of onomatopoeia and iconopoeia. Though this phenomenon exists to some extent in every language, in Mongolian communication it has an important role due to its expressivity. It is essential in forming metaphors and, in particular, it serves to express contentment and discontent. In this respect the paper carries on the topic from the previous paper, which was devoted to the very contenting topic of the native land – nutag – and to the linguistic means of expressing this contentment. The first part of the paper is devoted to the phonetic variability of the so-called du’rsleh u’g (iconopoeic words) and the second part deals with their morphological structure, all of which is documented by concrete examples. The third part offers examples from folklore and from my own recording of a live interview, which are a concrete documentation of the use of iconopeia in communication.
Choimaa Sharav (National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar): The possibility to clarify the nature of the ancient Mongolian Language through the orthography of the old Mongolian written language
In this paper I would like to highlight the fact that the Old Mongolian script offers us an opportunity to research the nature of Mongolian language thinking and its development. In that connection I should also like to underline the importance of comparing the old Mongolian written language with other Altaic languages in order to understand better the ancient characteristics of the Mongolian language.
In diachronic research on the Mongolian language we have above all to pay attention to Old Mongolian orthography.
B. Sodo (Inner Mongolian National University, Tongliao, Inner Mongolia, China): Comparison of the Mongolian locative suffix -dur/-dür – -tur/-tür and the Manchu ablative suffix -deri
In the present paper I compare the Classical Mongolian locative suffix –dur with its allomorphs -dur/-dür – -tur/-tür and the Written Manchu ablative suffix -deri and suggest the conclusion that the latter suffix is of Mongolian origin. I prove this view with the help of concrete examples from written sources, as well as from material of related languages. The Mongolian version of this article appeared in Dumdad-u ulus-un monggol sudulul (Mongolian Studies in China) vol. 6, 2005, pp. 35–41. Translated into English by Veronika Zikmundová. Key words: Mongolian language, Manchu language, Case suffixes, Analogy, Language similarity
Yoshino Kozo (Daito Bunka University, Tokyo, Japan): A comparative study of the usages of Mongolian and Japanese kinship terminologies
Through comparison this paper analyses the similarities and differences between kinship terms in two languages, Mongolian and Japanese, used in communicative behaviour. Kinship terminology used in communication is not only a subject of sociolinguistic study but also a subject of politeness study. The work compares kinship terminologies in Mongolian and Japanese, referring to different views of these two studies.
Jaroslav Vacek (Charles University in Prague): Verba dicendi and related etyma in Dravidian and Altaic
4.2. Etyma with initial dentals (t-, d-, n-) and root-final liquids and retroflex stops
The paper provides further material for the systematic survey of verba dicendi as it was published in previous years (Vacek 2003ff.). It is written in the context of the general principles and theoretical reflections presented in the earlier papers (cf. Vacek 2009e, plus further references). The subject discussed is the etyma with the above defined structure, viz. initial dentals (t-, d-, n-) and root-final liquids and retroflex stops. The arrangement of the etyma follows the same formal criteria as in the previous papers. It includes verba dicendi in the narrow sense of the word and also their semantic extensions and onomatopoetic expressions.
Review section:
Sziregetü Güüszi Czordżi, Czikula keregleczi: Zasady buddyzmu. Translated from Mongolian into Polish, edited and introduced by Agata Bareja-Starzyńska. Biblioteka Dzieł Wschodu – Myśl Wschodu, Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa 2006, 332 pp.; Paperback, 41.00 zł.; ISBN 83-235-0257-9 – Reviewed by Rachel Mikos
Bayarma Khabtagaeva, Mongolic Elements in Tuvan. Turcologica Band 81. Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2009, 341 pp.; Price not specified; ISBN 978-3-447-06095-0 – Reviewed by Veronika Kapišovská