Mongolian IPA Transcription - Help

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About This Implementation

This Mongolian transcription app uses a modified version of the Wiktionary Mongolian Pronunciation Module to generate phonemic transcriptions for Mongolian text, updated based on The Phonology of Mongolian by Jan-Olof Svantesson et al. (2005), aiming for representation of the Standard Halh dialect as spoken in Ulaanbaatar.

Dialects Supported

• Default - Standard Halh (Khalkha). The official standard language of Mongolia.

Transcription Forms

• Phonemic: A simplified, broad transcription that shows only the sounds that are essential for distinguishing meaning (phonemes). It represents the abstract sound system of the language. It uses voiced symbols (b, d, g) for lenis stops and aspirated symbols (pʰ, tʰ, kʰ) for fortis stops.

Key Phonological Rules

• Vowel Reduction: Mongolian has a strong distinction between initial and non-initial syllables. Short vowels in non-initial syllables are treated as epenthetic and reduced to Schwa (/ə/).
• Initial Merger: In the first syllable, the short vowels э and и are merged to /i/.
• Diphthong Preservation: Unlike Inner Mongolian dialects which monophthongize sounds, Halh preserves diphthongs (e.g., ай becomes /ai/, not /ɛː/).
• Nasal Assimilation: The dental nasal н assimilates to the velar nasal /ŋ/ before velar consonants (г, к, х) and at the end of words.
• Syllable Coda Glides: The letter в in a syllable coda (end of a syllable) is realized as the glide /w/ rather than a fricative.
• Palatalization: Consonants are automatically palatalized in specific contexts, notably the fricative ш becoming /ɕ/ before i.
• Absence of Stress: Following Svantesson (2005), word stress is considered non-phonemic in Mongolian. Therefore, no stress marks (ˈ) are generated.

Technical Information

This implementation is based on the Wiktionary Mongolian pronunciation module, but has been modified to adhere to the phonological analysis in The Phonology of Mongolian (Svantesson et al., 2005). Key modifications include:

• Stress Removal: The logic for generating phonemic stress marks was removed, as stress is non-contrastive in Mongolian.
• Schwa Generation: A syllable-aware processing loop was added to correctly reduce non-initial short vowels to /ə/ while preserving full vowels in the initial syllable.
• Dialect Correction: Vowel mappings were adjusted to reflect Standard Halh (Ulaanbaatar) rather than Chahar/Inner Mongolian (e.g., restoring diphthongs and the initial э/и merger).

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For technical issues or suggestions, please visit our GitHub repository.