The Monguor Alphabet

Monguor ^[2] is the historical Western scholarly name for Tu (土族語, ISO 639-3: mjg), a Mongolic minority language of the Tu ethnic group of Qinghai province and Gansu, China. The name "Monguor" was used by early Western missionaries and linguists, particularly the French Jesuit scholar Louis Schram who produced influential studies of the language in the early 20th century. Modern Chinese academic usage now prefers "Tu" (土族語).

Yes — Monguor and Tu are two names for the same language ^[1], ISO 639-3: mjg. "Monguor" is the historical Western name derived from a dialectal form of "Mongol," used in 20th-century Western linguistic literature. "Tu" (土族語) is the official Chinese designation. Minzu University of China ^[1] and the Endangered Languages Project ^[2] both recognise these as names for the same Mongolic language of Qinghai and Gansu.

Monguor (Tu) ^[1] belongs to the Mongolic branch of the Altaic-related language group. It is a member of the Southern or Central Mongolic subgroup, together with Dongxiang (Santa) and Bonan (Paoan). All three are Mongolic languages of Gansu and Qinghai, sharing features that distinguish them from the main Mongolian-language area in Mongolia.

The most influential early Western documentation of Monguor/Tu was produced by Louis Schram ^[2], a French Jesuit missionary who worked in Qinghai in the early 20th century. Schram published detailed studies of the Monguor people, their language and culture, establishing the name "Monguor" in Western academic literature. His works remain important historical references. Minzu University of China ^[1] later conducted systematic linguistic documentation under the official name "Tu," building on and superseding much of the earlier missionary scholarship.

Monguor (Tu) ^[1] is spoken in Huzhu Tu Autonomous County (互助土族自治县) and surrounding areas of Qinghai province, and in parts of Gansu province, China. The region lies in the historical Amdo cultural zone at the northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, where Mongolic, Tibetan and Chinese communities have co-existed for centuries. ELAR ^[3] holds field recordings from this region that document authentic spoken Monguor/Tu in its geographic home.

Yes — Monguor (Tu) ^[2] is classified as an endangered language. The Endangered Languages Project documents a progressive shift among younger Tu people toward Mandarin Chinese, weakening intergenerational transmission of the language. The Endangered Languages Archive ^[3] at SOAS University of London preserves recordings and transcribed materials of Monguor/Tu as part of a global effort to document endangered languages before they cease to be spoken.

While Monguor (Tu) ^[1] and Mongolian share a common Mongolic ancestor, they have diverged significantly over centuries. Tu/Monguor has absorbed substantial loanwords from Tibetan and Chinese, developed distinct phonological changes, and lost some features preserved in standard Mongolian. Minzu University of China ^[1] places Tu in the Southern Mongolic subgroup, genetically closer to Dongxiang and Bonan than to the Mongolian of Mongolia. Speakers of one language would not readily understand the other without study.

Monguor (Tu) ^[3] has no standardised writing system. The Tu ethnic community uses Mandarin Chinese in written form for official, educational and administrative purposes. Academic researchers apply a Latin romanization to represent the language's phonology in grammars, dictionaries and field notes. This romanization — the same system presented on this page — appears consistently in publications under both the "Monguor" and "Tu" names. ELAR ^[3] archives romanized transcriptions alongside audio recordings to create a lasting documentary record of the language.