A (Mongolic)

A is a letter of related and vertically oriented alphabets used to write Mongolic and Tungusic languages.^{[1]: 549–551}

Mongolian language

Main articles: Mongolian script, Mongolian writing systems, and Mongolian language

A
The Mongolian script
Mongolian vowels
ᠠ a ᠡ e ᠢ i ᠣ o ᠤ u ᠥ ö ᠦ ü ᠧ (ē)
Mongolian consonants
ᠨ n ᠩ ng ᠪ b ᠫ (p) ᠬ q/k ᠭ ɣ/g ᠮ m ᠯ l ᠰ s ᠱ š ᠲ t ᠳ d ᠴ č ᠵ ǰ ᠶ y ᠷ r ᠸ (w)
Foreign consonants
Mongolian script multigraphs
v t e

Letter[2]: 17, 18 [3]: 546
‑a	a	Transliteration[note 1]
—	ᠠ [note 2]	Alone
	ᠠ᠋ [note 3]
	[note 4]
	ᠠ‍ [note 5]	Initial
	‍ᠠ‍	Medial
	‍ᠠ	Connected final
᠎ᠠ^⟨?⟩ ⟨⟩	—	Separated final

Ligatures[2]: 22–23 [3]: 546
ba	pa	Transliteration
ᠪᠠ [note 6]	ᠫᠠ	Alone
ᠪᠠ‍	ᠫᠠ‍	Initial
‍ᠪᠠ‍	‍ᠫᠠ‍	Medial
‍ᠪᠠ	‍ᠫᠠ	Final

Separated suffixes[note 7]
‑a	Transliteration
ᠠ‍^⟨?⟩ ⟨⟩	Initial
ᠠ^⟨?⟩ ⟨⟩	Whole

• Transcribes Chakhar /ɑ/;^[8][9] Khalkha /a/, /ə/, and /∅/.^{[10]: 40–42} Transliterated into Cyrillic with the letter а.^[11][4]
• Medial and final forms may be distinguished from those of other tooth-shaped letters through: vowel harmony (e), the shape of adjacent consonants (q/k and ɣ/g), and position in syllable sequence (n, ng, q, ɣ, d).^[12]
• The final tail extends to the left after bow-shaped consonants (such as b, and p), and to the right in all other cases.
• ‍ᠠ᠋‍ = medial form used after the junction in a proper name compound.^[13]: 44
• ‍ᠠ᠋^⟨?⟩ ⟨⟩ = connected galik final.^{[2]: 26–28 [13]: 38–39}
• Derived from Old Uyghur aleph (𐽰), written twice for isolate and initial forms.^{[3]: 539–540, 545–546 [14]: 111, 113 [13]: 35}
• Produced with A using the Windows Mongolian keyboard layout.^[15]
• In the Mongolian Unicode block, a comes before e.

Clear Script

Main article: Clear Script

Xibe language

Main article: Xibe language § Alphabet

Manchu language

Main article: Manchu alphabet

Notes

1. Scholarly transliteration.^[4]
2. As in the interjection ᠠ a (аа aa) 'a!, oh!, well!'.^[6]: 1
3. As in the exclamation ⟨ᠠ᠋; ⟩ a/e (аа/ээ/оо/өө aa/ee/oo/öö), or interjection ᠡ e (ээ ee) 'oh!'.^{[6]: 1, 284}
4. As in the exclamation ⟨ᠠ᠋; ⟩ a/e (аа/ээ/оо/өө aa/ee/oo/öö).^[6]: 1
5. Also used in enumerations, akin to a) or b).^[2]: 18
6. As in ᠪᠠ ba (ба ba) 'and'.^{[6]: 64 [2]: 22}
7. Separated suffixes starting with, or made up by the letter a include:  ᠠ^⟨?⟩ ‑a (vocative or dative-locative),  ᠠᠴᠠ^⟨?⟩ ‑ača (ablative), and  ᠠᠴᠠᠭᠠᠨ^⟨?⟩ ‑ačaɣan (reflexive+ablative).^[7]

References

1. "The Unicode Standard, Version 14.0 – Core Specification Chapter 13: South and Central Asia-II, Other Modern Scripts" (PDF). www.unicode.org. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
2. Poppe, Nicholas (1974). Grammar of Written Mongolian. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-00684-2.
3. Daniels, Peter T.; Bright, William (1996). The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507993-7.
4. "Mongolian transliterations" (PDF). Institute of the Estonian Language. 2006-05-06.
5. "Mongolian Transliteration & Transcription". collab.its.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-26.
6. Lessing, Ferdinand (1960). Mongolian-English Dictionary (PDF). University of California Press. Note that this dictionary uses the transliterations c, ø, x, y, z, ai, and ei; instead of č, ö, q, ü, ǰ, ayi, and eyi;^: xii as well as problematically and incorrectly treats all rounded vowels (o/u/ö/ü) after the initial syllable as u or ü.^[5]
7. "PROPOSAL Encode Mongolian Suffix Connector (U+180F) To Replace Narrow Non-Breaking Space (U+202F)" (PDF). UTC Document Register for 2017. 2017-01-15.
8. "Mongolian Traditional Script". Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Mongolian Language Site. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
9. "Writing – Study Mongolian". Study Mongolian. August 2013. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
10. Svantesson, Jan-Olof; Tsendina, Anna; Karlsson, Anastasia; Franzen, Vivan (2005-02-10). The Phonology of Mongolian. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-151461-6.
11. Skorodumova, L. G. (2000). Vvedenie v staropismenny mongolskiy yazyk Введение в старописьменный монгольский язык (PDF) (in Russian). Muravey-Gayd. ISBN 5-8463-0015-4.
12. Viklund, Andreas. "Lingua Mongolia - Mongolian Grammar Reference". Lingua Mongolia. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
13. Janhunen, Juha (2006-01-27). The Mongolic Languages. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-79690-7.
14. Clauson, Gerard (2005-11-04). Studies in Turkic and Mongolic Linguistics. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-43012-3.
15. jowilco. "Windows keyboard layouts - Globalization". Microsoft Docs. Retrieved 2022-05-16.