Oyrat language
Quick Summary
The Oirat language is a western dialect of the Mongol language group. Historically, the Oirat people were western Mongols who maintained a separate existence from the eastern Mongols of Genghis Khan's empire. They were at times allies and at times enemies of the eastern Mongols.1
Significant populations of Oirat speakers reside in the Xinjiang and Qinghai regions of northwestern China, as well as in the Russian Federation and western Mongolia. The Oirat language is part of the Mongolian language family, which is one of three families within the Altaic language group.12
Ask Britannica AI about this topic
Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.
- Altaic languagesThe Mongolian languages
Spoken Oirat is similar to spoken Kalmyk, though written Oirat utilizes a variant of the old Mongolian vertical script. The dialects of spoken Khalkha, Buryat, and Mongol in China are little differentiated. With the exception of such outlying languages as Moghol, Daur, and Monguor (Tu), theā¦
Read MoreSpoken Oirat is similar to spoken Kalmyk, though written Oirat utilizes a variant of the old Mongolian vertical script. The dialects of spoken Khalkha, Buryat, and Mongol in China are little differentiated. With the exception of such outlying languages as Moghol, Daur, and Monguor (Tu), theā¦
Read More - Mongolian languagesThe Eastern and Western groups
ā¦Mongolia) and Western Mongolian (Oirat and Kalmyk) occurred at a later stage than that between the peripheral, archaizing languages and the central group. So many featuresāthe loss of initial /h/, reduction of vowel sequences to long vowels, development of rounded vowels in noninitial syllables, assimilation of /i/ to theā¦
Read Moreā¦Mongolia) and Western Mongolian (Oirat and Kalmyk) occurred at a later stage than that between the peripheral, archaizing languages and the central group. So many featuresāthe loss of initial /h/, reduction of vowel sequences to long vowels, development of rounded vowels in noninitial syllables, assimilation of /i/ to theā¦
Read More