Language name: KHALKHA
UPSID number: 2166
Alternate name(s): MONGOLIAN
Classification: Ural-Altaic, Mongolian
This language has 33 segments
Its Frequency index is 0.284821609 (average percentage of segments; 0.1: many very rare segments; 0.39: average; 0.7: many common segments)
The language has these sounds: ph b "th "d kh g "tsh "dz tSh dZ P B "s S x m "n "l "r i U O j I a "hl u o+ ae Oi ui Ui e_
Comment: Khalkha is spoken primarily in Mongolia People's Republic but there are few speakers in USSR. All simple vowels appear both long and short. Khalkha Mongolian has a vowel harmony system probably based on pharyngeal cavity size (Svantesson 1985). /i, u, e, o/ have expanded pharynx ([+ATR]), though /i/ is neutral to vowel harmony in non-initial syllables. /g/ and /x/ are treated as allophones by Hangin (1968). Treatment of diphthongs is varied in sources.
Source(s): Hangin, J.G. 1968. Basic Course in Mongolian (Indiana University Publications, Uralic and Altaic Series 73). Indiana University, Bloomington.
Luvsanvandan, S. 1964. The Khalkha-Mongolian phonemic system. Acta Orientalia (Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae) 17: 175-85.
Street, J.C. 1963. Khalkha Structure (Indiana University Publications, Uralic and Altaic Series 24). Indiana University, Bloomington.
Svantesson, J. 1985. Vowel harmony shift in Mongolian. Lingua 67:283-327.

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