Exploring Written Literacy of Mongolians: The Official Cyrillic Writing System

• Main Authors: Gerelma Guruchin, Daria B. Gedeeva
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Российской академии наук, Калмыцкий научный центр 2020-12-01
• Series: Монголоведение
• Subjects: cyrillic literacy; skills; age classification; test; sociolinguistic method
• Online Access: https://mongoloved.kigiran.com/jour/article/view/551/433

Introduction. The aricle studies the Cyrillic literacy of Mongolians through the use of sociolinguistic methods. Mongolians had been using the Mongolian script from ancient times through 1921, and since then by the 1930s the traditional script was replaced because it was considered obsolete and feudal. In 1941, Mongolia officially switched to modified Latin alphabet which was used for some time. However, two months later this decision was cancelled, and three months thereafter Cyrillic alphabet was introduced — on March 25, 1941, the Mongolian People’s Republic officially adopted the Cyrillic writing system. Mongolian script has been taught at secondary schools since the mid-1980s and under the influence of democracy and transparency, the national idea of the public has revived, and their current desire is to use the national script officially. Mongolians also use the Latin script in the Internet and mobile telephony. The Law on Mongolian Language was approved in 2013 and is being implemented, and this law stipulates that from 2025 onwards official documents shall be written in Cyrillic and Classical Mongolian. Results. The work investigates how Mongolians use three writing systems — Cyrillic, Latin and Traditional Mongolian. However, the official script (and literacy to be assessed) is still Cyrillic. The paper uses methods of social linguistics to assess Cyrillic literacy among citizens aged 16–30, 31–40, and over 40. The Cyrillic literacy skills are as follows: 16–30 year olds — 47.5 %, 31–40 year olds — 78.4 %, 41 and older — 52.1 %. The average value of Cyrillic literacy skills across all the three age groups is 59.3 %. The influence of Latin alphabet on Cyrillic skills for 16–30 year olds proves a matter of concern.