Orthography of the New Kalmyk Literary Language: Prof. Ts.-D. Nominkhanov’s Position

The paper studies a manuscript monograph by Ts.-D. Nominkhanov titled ‘Orthography of the New Kalmyk Literary Language’ (December 25, 1932) and contained in the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Materials. The work investigates sections and subsections of the monograph, namely: ‘Preface’ narrating about areas of residence and dialects of Kalmyk ethnic groups; ‘Old Script Orthography’ supplemented with a Latinized Jangar epic excerpt (alphabet of the 1930s) illustrating Zaya Pandita’s spelling patterns; ‘Spelling of Russified Kalmyk Script’ providing an excerpt from the Latinized spelling-book (Russ. Светлый путь), and reviews decisions of the February 1928 Kalmyk transcription and orthography development meeting; ‘Latinized Script Orthography’ introduces spelling patterns adopted by 1931 Moscow and Elista-based scientific conferences. Results. Prof. Ts. Nominkhanov concluded that the Latinized alphabet of the 1930s based on Zaya Pandita’s spelling could not meet the then needs of orthography. According to him, a scientifically unified Kalmyk literary language was to be based on the development of all Kalmyk dialects through their free interaction towards foundations of the Torghut dialect for further assimilation of different spelling subtleties and final enrichment the Kalmyk language proper. To facilitate this, he proposed that certain measures be undertaken, such as publication of a scientifically reasoned spelling book, organization of consistent academic studies in Kalmyk orthography and existing Kalmyk dialects at large, establishment of a central body that would check all manuscripts against orthographic, grammatical and other regulations introduced prior to publication. Conclusions. The study shall expand the source base on the history of the Kalmyk language and Prof. Ts.-D. Nominkhanov’s scientific heritage, and can be used for further research and educational purposes.

1. Nominkhanov Ts.-D. Orthography of the New Kalmyk Literary Language (December 25, 1932). At: Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Coll. 676. Cat. 1. File 1007. Pp. 7–22. (In Kalm. and Russ.)

2. Kalmyk Calendar: 1875. Stavropol: Stavropol Provincial Administration, 1875. 63 p. (In Kalm.)

3. Kalyaev S. K. (ed.) Kalmyk Grammar for Second-Year Students (Two Stages). Moscow, 1932. 32 p. (In Kalm.)

4. Narmaev L. N. The Bright Path: Spelling-Book. Moscow: Tsentrizdat, 1925. 73 p. (In Kalm.)

5. Nominkhanov Ts.-D. History of the Kalmyk Language: Research Materials. Moscow: Nauka, 1975. 327 p. (In Russ.)

6. Nominkhanov Ts.-D. Kalmyk Script: Historical Essay. Moscow: Nauka, 1976. 140 p. (In Russ.)

7. Nominkhanov Ts.-D. Mongolian Language Coursebook: Oirat Mongolian Script. Tashkent: Soviet Central Asian State University, 1935. 123 p. (In Russ.)

8. Nominkhanov Ts.-D. Don Kalmyks: ethnic structure revisited. In: Kalmyk Research Institute of Language, Literature and History: Scholarly Notes. Ser. ‘Philology’. Elista, 1969. Vol. 7. Pp. 199–202. (In Russ.)

9. Nominkhanov Ts.-D. Long vowels in Turkic and Mongolic language: common laws of development revisited. In: Kalmyk Research Institute of Language, Literature and History: (Scholarly) Notes. Ser. ‘Philology’. Elista, 1964. Vol. 3. Pp. 92–99. (In Russ.)

10. Nominkhanov Ts.-D. Tibetan and Sanskrit lexical elements in the Kalmyk language. In: Kalmyk Research Institute of Language, Literature and History: Scholarly Notes. Ser. ‘Philology’. Elista, 1967. Vol. 5. Pp. 155–160. (In Russ.)

11. Ochirova N. G. Ts.-D. Nominkhanov (1898–1967) ― Kalmykia’s first Doctor of Philology. Bulletin of the Kalmyk Institute for Humanities of the RAS (Oriental Studies). 2008. No. 2. Pp. 83–86. (In Russ.)

12. Vladimirtsov B. Ya. Classical Mongolian and Khalkha Dialect: Comparative Grammar. Introduction and Phonetics. Leningrad: Leningrad Eastern (Language) Institute, 1929. 435 p. (In Russ.)