Colloquial Elements in Oirat Script Documents of the 19th Century (original) (raw)

Monuments written in the Oirat Clear script are valuable sources for a research on the history of the Oirat dialects. Although Written Oirat is rather an archaic language in its original form, the precise sound marking capability of Zaya Pandita's Clear script makes easier for elements of the contemporary spoken language to infiltrate into the written language. Examples taken from four Written Oirat sources of the 19 th century demonstrate the diversity of colloquial elements. Thorough study of the colloquial influence helps to layout the relative and absolute chronology of changes that took place in Oirat during the centuries.