The Khitan Alphabet

Q: What language is Khitan?

Khitan (契丹語, ISO 639-3: zkt) [1] is an extinct Mongolic language spoken by the Khitan people, who founded the Liao dynasty in 907 CE and ruled northern China and Central Asia until 1125 CE. It is the earliest well-attested Mongolic language and a key ancestor language in the family that includes Mongolian, Buryat and Kalmyk.

Q: What scripts did Khitan use?

Khitan was written in two scripts [2] : the Khitan large script (契丹大字, introduced 920 CE), a logographic system inspired by Chinese characters, and the Khitan small script (契丹小字, introduced c. 925 CE), a semi-syllabic system with several hundred characters. Both scripts are only partially deciphered. Academia Sinica [2] and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences [1] lead the ongoing decipherment work.

Q: Is Khitan related to Mongolian?

Yes — Khitan belongs to the Mongolic branch [3] of the Altaic-related language group, making it a close relative of Classical Mongolian and the ancestor of several features of the Mongolian language. Indiana University's Central Eurasian Studies department [3] documents the relationship between Khitan and its Mongolic relatives, tracing grammatical and lexical parallels across the family.

Q: Why is Khitan only partially deciphered?

The Khitan scripts are partially deciphered because the language has no close surviving relative that can serve as a key, and the available inscriptions are often short funerary texts [1] . The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences [1] has made significant progress by comparing Khitan inscriptions with Chinese historical glosses and with cognates in Middle Mongolian, but many characters in both scripts remain unread.

Q: What was the Liao dynasty?

The Liao dynasty (907–1125 CE) [1] was an empire founded by the Khitan people that ruled northern China, Mongolia and parts of Central Asia. At its height it was one of the largest empires in Asia, coexisting with the Song dynasty to the south. The Liao dynasty was bilingual — Khitan and Chinese were both used in official administration. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences [1] documents the Liao dynasty's language and cultural legacy in its ongoing research on Khitan.

Q: What happened to the Khitan people after the fall of the Liao dynasty?

After the Liao dynasty fell to the Jurchen Jin dynasty in 1125 CE, part of the Khitan aristocracy fled westward and founded the Western Liao dynasty (Qara Khitai) in Central Asia [2] , which survived until 1218 CE. The remaining Khitan in northern China were gradually absorbed into Jurchen, Mongol and Han Chinese populations. Academia Sinica [2] researches the diaspora history of the Khitan and the fate of the Khitan language in the post-Liao period.

Q: What do scholars study in Khitan inscriptions?

Khitan inscriptions [1] are found primarily on stone funerary steles (epitaphs), bronze mirrors and official seals from the Liao dynasty period. Scholars from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences [1] and Academia Sinica [2] analyse these inscriptions to reconstruct the vocabulary, grammar and phonology of Khitan, comparing texts in both the Khitan large and small scripts with bilingual Khitan-Chinese inscriptions that provide partial keys for decipherment.

Q: How does Khitan relate to other Mongolic languages?

Khitan [3] is the earliest well-attested member of the Mongolic language family. Its vocabulary and grammar show clear parallels with Middle Mongolian, Classical Mongolian and modern Mongolian, confirming the Mongolic classification. Indiana University's Department of Central Eurasian Studies [3] situates Khitan within the Mongolic family and traces the linguistic innovations that separate Khitan from the ancestor of the main Mongolian branch, such as certain vowel correspondences and lexical differences.

Q: Where can Khitan language research be found?

The leading centres for Khitan language research are the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences [1] in Beijing, which has published major dictionaries and studies of Khitan inscriptions, and the Academia Sinica — Institute of History and Philology [2] in Taipei, which focuses on the philological analysis of Liao dynasty texts. Indiana University's Department of Central Eurasian Studies [3] integrates Khitan into its broader curriculum on the languages of the Eurasian steppe.

Khitan Language at a Glance

Khitan (契丹語, ISO 639-3: zkt) is an extinct Mongolic language ^[1] spoken by the Khitan people who founded and ruled the Liao dynasty of northern China and Central Asia from 907 to 1125 CE. It is the ancestor of several Mongolic languages and represents an important early form of the Mongolic branch
Khitan was written in two distinct scripts: the Khitan large script (契丹大字), a logographic writing system derived from Chinese characters, introduced in 920 CE; and the Khitan small script (契丹小字), a semi-syllabic script introduced around 925 CE ^[1]. Both scripts are only partially deciphered
The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences ^[1] leads ongoing research into the Khitan language and its two scripts. Scholars have identified several hundred Khitan words by comparing Khitan inscriptions with Chinese historical records of the Liao dynasty, making Khitan one of the better-documented extinct languages of Inner Asia
The Academia Sinica — Institute of History and Philology ^[2] in Taiwan conducts philological research on the Khitan scripts and the Liao dynasty, contributing to the decipherment of Khitan inscriptions found on stone steles, metal artefacts and funerary objects throughout northern China and Mongolia
Indiana University's Department of Central Eurasian Studies ^[3] studies the languages and cultures of Inner Asia, including Khitan, situating the language within the broader Mongolic family and its role in the transmission of literary and administrative culture between the Liao dynasty and neighbouring Jurchen, Tangut and Song Chinese states
This page presents the academic Latin transcription ^[1] used by scholars to represent Khitan phonology. The actual Khitan scripts (large and small) required specialised typesetting and are shown in academic publications; the transcription letters here represent the sounds that researchers have reconstructed from historical and comparative evidence

Khitan Vowels (Latin Transcription)

Scholars have reconstructed 5 vowel phonemes in Khitan ^[1]: A, E, I, O, U. Like other Mongolic languages, Khitan likely had vowel harmony, grouping vowels into back and front classes within a word.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences ^[1] and Academia Sinica ^[2] have established this vowel system by comparing Khitan small script characters with their known readings and with cognates in other Mongolic languages closely related to Khitan.

[AH]

[EH]

[EE]

[OH]

[OO]

Khitan Consonants (Latin Transcription)

The reconstructed Khitan consonant system includes sounds typical of Mongolic languages, such as the velar nasal Ŋ, the uvular stop Q and the voiced velar fricative Ɣ ^[1]. These are consistent with other early Mongolic consonant inventories.

Indiana University's Central Eurasian Studies department ^[3] compares the Khitan consonant system with Middle Mongolian and other Mongolic languages, helping to trace the phonological development of the Mongolic branch from Khitan to the modern Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet.

[B]

[TS]

[CH]

[D]

[G]

[GH]

[H]

[Y]

[K]

[L]

[M]

[N]

[NG]

[P]

[Q]

[R]

[S]

[SH]

[T]

[W]

[Z]

[ZH]

[B]

as in "bat"

[TS]

as in "cats"

[CH]

as in "church"

[D]

as in "dog"

[G]

as in "go"

[GH]

voiced velar fricative

[H]

as in "hat"

[Y]

palatal approximant

[K]

as in "key"

[L]

as in "lamp"

[M]

as in "man"

[N]

as in "not"

[NG]

velar nasal, as in "sing"

[P]

as in "pen"

[Q]

uvular stop

[R]

as in "run"

[S]

as in "sun"

[SH]

as in "ship"

[T]

as in "top"

[W]

as in "wet"

[Z]

as in "zoo"

[ZH]

as in "measure"

Khitan Special Characters

The academic transcription of Khitan uses several special characters including Č, Š, Ž, Ŋ and Ɣ ^[2], following conventions shared with other Mongolic and Turkic language transcription systems.

These characters appear in academic publications from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences ^[1] and Academia Sinica ^[2], providing a standard notation for comparing Khitan phonology with its Mongolic relatives and Liao dynasty neighbours.

[CH]

[ch]

[SH]

[sh]

[ZH]

[zh]

[NG]

[ng]

[GH]

[gh]

[CH]

ch sound (uppercase)

[ch]

ch sound (lowercase)

[SH]

sh sound (uppercase)

[sh]

sh sound (lowercase)

[ZH]

zh sound (uppercase)

[zh]

zh sound (lowercase)

[NG]

velar nasal (uppercase)

[ng]

velar nasal (lowercase)

[GH]

voiced velar fricative (uppercase)

[gh]

voiced velar fricative (lowercase)

[zero]

[one]

[two]

[three]

[four]

[five]

[six]

[seven]

[eight]

[nine]

Complete Khitan Transcription Alphabet

The complete academic Latin transcription alphabet used in Khitan language studies, representing the phonological system reconstructed by scholars from Liao dynasty inscriptions.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences ^[1], Academia Sinica ^[2] and Indiana University ^[3] continue work to decipher the remaining Khitan scripts, making Khitan one of the most actively studied extinct languages of East and Central Asia.

[AH]

[B]

[TS]

[CH]

[D]

[EH]

[G]

[GH]

[H]

[EE]

[Y]

[K]

[L]

[M]

[N]

[NG]

[OH]

[P]

[Q]

[R]

[S]

[SH]

[T]

[OO]

[W]

[Z]

[ZH]

Expand All Collapse All

What language is Khitan?

What scripts did Khitan use?

Is Khitan related to Mongolian?

Why is Khitan only partially deciphered?

What was the Liao dynasty?

What happened to the Khitan people after the fall of the Liao dynasty?

What do scholars study in Khitan inscriptions?

How does Khitan relate to other Mongolic languages?

Where can Khitan language research be found?

References:

[1] Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (中国社会科学院), Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology. "Khitan Language and Script Research" — the Academy conducts research on the Khitan language (契丹語, ISO 639-3: zkt), an extinct Mongolic language of the Liao dynasty (907–1125 CE), documenting the Khitan large script and Khitan small script and their partial decipherment. Retrieved from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
[2] Academia Sinica, Institute of History and Philology (中央研究院歷史語言研究所), Taipei. "Khitan Script and Liao Dynasty Studies" — the Institute conducts philological research on the Khitan language and its two scripts (large and small), situating Khitan within the Mongolic branch and the historical context of the Liao dynasty of northern China. Retrieved from Academia Sinica — Institute of History and Philology
[3] Indiana University, Department of Central Eurasian Studies, Bloomington. "Inner Asian Languages — Khitan" — the department is a leading US centre for research on the languages and cultures of Inner Asia, including the extinct Khitan language and its unique logographic and semi-syllabic scripts used by the Khitan people of the Liao dynasty. Retrieved from Indiana University — Central Eurasian Studies