On the principles of Chinese transcription of Mongolian sounds in the Sino-Mongolian glossaryDada yu/Beilu yiyu(late 16th–early 17th century)

Abstract

The article deals with the main principles according to which Mongolian sounds are rendered into Chinese in the Sino-Mongolian glossary Dada yu/Beilu yiyu (late 16th–early 17th century) where one of the late Middle Mongolian dialects is reflected. Three such principles are distinguished by the author: (1) principle of phonetic identity (the Chinese and Mongolian segments completely coincide with each other by their features); (2) principle of phonetic substitution in its two varieties: weak phonetic substitution (the Chinese and Mongolian segments differ from each other in only one distinctive feature) and strong phonetic substitution (the Chinese and Mongolian segments are distinguished from each other by two or more features); (3) principle of zero marking (the Mongolian segment is in no way rendered into the Chinese transcription because of the impossibility of its notation by means of Chinese). The influence of different stages of the phonetic development of Chinese on the glossary’s system of transcriptions is also emphasised, such as Standard Chinese, Late Ming Guanhua, and Ancient Mandarin.