Ordos Mongolian

Ordos Mongolian is a special way of speaking that belongs to the Mongolic language family. It is used by people living in the Ordos City area in Inner Mongolia. Some people think it is its own language, while others see it as a dialect of the standard Mongolian language. Thanks to the work of a researcher named Antoine Mostaert, we know a lot about how this way of speaking has changed over the last hundred years.

One interesting thing about Ordos Mongolian is how its sounds work. It shares many sounds with Chakhar Mongolian but has some unique features, like certain vowel sounds that other Mongolian dialects do not have. This makes its sound structure closer to Middle Mongolian, an older form of the language, than other modern Mongolian varieties.

Ordos Mongolian also has some special grammar features, like an old case used for showing companionship and a new case for indicating direction. Its vocabulary is typical for Mongolian dialects but includes some words borrowed from Tibetan and Chinese.