Alasha dialect
Encyclopedia
Alasha; Mongolian script
Mongolian script
The classical Mongolian script , also known as Uyghurjin, was the first writing system created specifically for the Mongolian language, and was the most successful until the introduction of Cyrillic in 1946...

  Alaša, Chinese 阿拉善 Ālāshàn), or , is a variety in-between Oirat
Oirat language
Oirat belongs to the group of Mongolic languages. Scholars differ as to whether Oirat is a distinct language or a major dialect of the Mongolian language...

 and Mongolian
Mongolian language
The Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...

 that historically used to belong to Oirat but has come under the influence of Mongolian proper. It is spoken by well above 40.000 speakers in Alasha league
Alxa League
Alxa League is one of 12 prefecture level divisions and three extant leagues of Inner Mongolia. The league borders Mongolia to the north, Bayan Nur to the northeast, Wuhai and Ordos to the east, Ningxia to the southeast, and Gansu to the south and west. The capital is Bayan Hot in the aimag's...

 in South Mongolia
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in the northern region of the country. Inner Mongolia shares an international border with the countries of Mongolia and the Russian Federation...

 and consists of two sub-dialects, Alasha proper and .

Phonology

/pɑɢ/ 'small' vs. /pɑɡ/ 'group', therefore /ɢ/. /øt͡səɡtər/, thus affricate
Affricate consonant
Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :...

 depalatalization took place for /t͡ʃʰ/ and /t͡ʃ/ in any position except before *i. /ɪr/ 'to thrust open' vs. /ir/ 'to come', thus /ɪ/. The maximal syllable
Syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...

is CVCC, eg /tʰers.let/ converbal form of 'to counteract.

Literature

(2005):
  • Söngrüb (1988): In: 1. Beijing, : 160-197.
  • Svantesson, Jan-Olof, Anna Tsendina, Anastasia Karlsson, Vivan Franzén (2005): The Phonology of Mongolian. New York: Oxford University Press.
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