Clear script

Clear script (or Oirat clear script, Todo bicig, or just Todo) (Mongolian: Тодо бичиг, todo bichig) is a Mongol alphabet created in 1648 by the Oirat Buddhist monk Zaya Pandita Oktorguin Dalai for the Oirat Mongol language. It was developed on the basis of the traditional Mongolian alphabet with the goal of distinguishing all sounds in the spoken language, and to make it easier to transcribe Tibetic and Sanskrit.

History

The clear script is a Mongolian script, whose obvious closest forebear is vertical Mongolian. This Mongolian script was derived from the Old Uyghur alphabet, which itself was descendent from the Aramaic alphabet. Aramaic is an abjad, an alphabet that has no symbols for vowels, and clear script is the first in this line of descendants to develop a full system of symbols for all the vowel sounds.

Formation

As mentioned above the clear script was developed as a better way to write Mongolian, specifically of the Western Mongolian groups of the Oirats and Kalmyks. The practicality of clear script lies in the fact that it was supremely created in order to dissolve any ambiguities that might appear when one attempts to write down a language. Not only were vowels assigned symbols, but all existing symbols were clarified. All of the 'old' symbols, those that did not change from the previously used script, were assigned a fixed meaning, based mostly on their Uyghur ancestors. New symbols and diacritical marks were added to show vowels and vowel lengths, as well as distinguish between voiced and unvoiced consonants. There were even some marks enabling distinctions such as between ši and si which are unimportant for words written in the Oirat language but are useful for the transcription of foreign words and names.