Tu is primarily an oral language [3] with no official writing system. The Tu people use Chinese characters for official and educational purposes. Academic linguists use a Latin romanization system to represent Tu phonology in research publications. ELAR [3] archives field recordings and transcribed texts of Tu, preserving the language's spoken form for research and community use.

The Tu (Monguor) Alphabet — Mongolic Minority Language of Qinghai and Gansu, China

Q: What is the Tu (Monguor) language?

Tu (also Monguor, ISO 639-3: mjg) [1] is a Mongolic minority language of the Tu ethnic group (土族) of Qinghai province and parts of Gansu, China. It is one of the southernmost Mongolic languages and is closely related to Classical Mongolian, Dongxiang and Bonan. The Tu people number around 290,000, with the language in an endangered state as younger generations shift to Mandarin Chinese.

Q: Why is Tu also called Monguor?

The name Monguor [2] is a historical Western scholarly name for the Tu language and people, derived from a dialectal form of "Mongol." The name "Tu" (土族语) is the official Chinese designation used today. Both names refer to the same Mongolic minority language of Qinghai and Gansu, China. Minzu University of China [1] uses the name Tu in its official academic publications.

Q: Is Tu (Monguor) related to Mongolian?

Yes — Tu (Monguor) [1] belongs to the Mongolic branch of the Altaic-related language family, making it a close relative of Mongolian. Tu shares core vocabulary, grammatical structures and vowel harmony features with Classical Mongolian. Minzu University of China [1] situates Tu in the Southern Mongolic subgroup alongside Dongxiang and Bonan, distinguishing it from the main Mongolian dialect area in Mongolia. Centuries of contact with Tibetan and Chinese have also added loanwords to the Tu lexicon.

Q: Where is Tu (Monguor) spoken?

Tu (Monguor) [1] is spoken primarily in Qinghai province , particularly in Huzhu Tu Autonomous County (互助土族自治县), and in parts of neighbouring Gansu province, China. The area is part of the historical Amdo cultural region of the Tibetan Plateau borderlands, where Mongolic, Tibetic and Sinitic communities have long co-existed. The Tu ethnic group numbers around 290,000 people, though active speakers of the language are considerably fewer as many Tu people now use Mandarin Chinese in daily life.

Q: Is Tu (Monguor) an endangered language?

Yes — Tu (Monguor) [2] is classified as an endangered language by the Endangered Languages Project. Intergenerational transmission has weakened significantly as Tu children increasingly grow up speaking Mandarin Chinese as their primary language. The Endangered Languages Archive [3] at SOAS preserves field recordings and linguistic materials of Tu to support both scholarly research and community language revitalisation efforts.

Q: What languages are most closely related to Tu?

Tu (Monguor) is most closely related to Dongxiang (Santa) and Bonan (Paoan) [1] , two other Mongolic minority languages of Gansu and Qinghai, China, forming a Southern Mongolic subgroup. Tu is also related to Eastern Yugur (Yogur), another Southern Mongolic language of the same region. Minzu University of China [1] documents these inter-language relationships in its comparative Mongolic research.

Q: What research institutions study Tu (Monguor)?

The leading institution for Tu (Monguor) research is Minzu University of China [1] (中央民族大学, Beijing), which has produced grammars, dictionaries and phonological studies of Tu. The Endangered Languages Project [2] maintains documentation and resources for the language community, while the Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) [3] at SOAS University of London holds archived field recordings. Historical studies by the French Jesuit missionary Louis Schram in the early 20th century — published under the name "Monguor" — remain foundational references for Tu linguistic research.

Q: What is the Tu cultural and historical background?

The Tu ethnic group (土族) [1] are one of China's 55 officially recognised ethnic minorities, with a history in the Qinghai-Gansu borderlands stretching back many centuries. They have maintained a distinct Mongolic language and cultural identity while living in close proximity to Tibetan, Han Chinese and Hui Muslim communities. The Endangered Languages Project [2] notes that Tu cultural practices, including distinctive embroidery, costumes and festivals, have helped sustain a sense of ethnic identity even as the Tu language itself faces decline among younger generations.

Tu (Monguor) Language at a Glance

Tu (also Monguor, 土族语, ISO 639-3: mjg) is a Mongolic minority language ^[1] spoken by the Tu ethnic group (土族) of Qinghai province and parts of Gansu, China. Tu is closely related to Classical Mongolian and is one of the southernmost Mongolic languages. The Tu people number around 290,000, though not all are active speakers
Tu is primarily an oral language ^[2]. For official purposes, the Tu people use Chinese characters. Academic linguists and language documentarians use a Latin romanization system to represent Tu phonology in publications, dictionaries and fieldwork materials. This page presents that academic romanization
Minzu University of China ^[1] (中央民族大学) in Beijing is the leading institution for research on China's ethnic minority languages, including Tu. Its linguists have documented the Tu language's phonology, grammar and vocabulary, establishing the romanization conventions used in academic publications on Tu
Tu belongs to the Central Mongolic subgroup ^[1] of Mongolic, sharing features with the Dongxiang (Santa) and Bonan (Paoan) languages of Gansu. All three are sometimes grouped as "Kangjia-Mongolic" or "Southern Mongolic," reflecting their geographic and genetic proximity in the Amdo cultural region of Qinghai and Gansu
The Endangered Languages Project ^[2] documents Tu as a language under threat, as younger generations increasingly shift to Mandarin Chinese. The project provides resources for language communities and researchers working to document and revitalise Tu
The Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) ^[3] at SOAS holds field recordings and transcribed materials of Tu, preserving examples of the language's oral tradition and everyday speech for future linguistic research and community language learning

Tu (Monguor) Vowels

Tu has 7 vowel phonemes ^[1]: A, E, I, O, Ö, U, Ü. Like other Mongolic languages, Tu features front rounded vowels Ö and Ü, reflecting its genetic connection to Classical Mongolian. Tu also shows vowel harmony features inherited from its Mongolic ancestry.

Minzu University of China ^[1] has documented the Tu vowel system in the context of the broader Southern Mongolic languages, comparing Tu vowels with Dongxiang and Bonan, the two closely related Mongolic languages of the same Amdo cultural region.

[AH]

[EH]

[EE]

[OH]

[EU]

[OO]

[UE]

Tu (Monguor) Consonants

Tu has a rich consonant inventory including palatal sounds represented by Q (palatal affricate) and X (palato-alveolar fricative) ^[1] in the academic romanization, reflecting sounds that developed from Proto-Mongolic under the influence of Tibetan and Chinese contact.

Minzu University of China ^[1] documents Tu consonants in comparative studies with Dongxiang and Bonan. The Endangered Languages Archive ^[3] holds audio recordings that illustrate these distinctive Tu consonant sounds in natural speech.

[B]

[TS]

[D]

[F]

[G]

[H]

[Y]

[K]

[L]

[M]

[N]

[P]

[CH]

[R]

[S]

[T]

[W]

[SH]

[Y]

[Z]

[B]

as in "bat"

[TS]

as in "cats"

[D]

as in "dog"

[F]

as in "fish"

[G]

as in "go"

[H]

as in "hat"

[Y]

as in "yes"

[K]

as in "key"

[L]

as in "lamp"

[M]

as in "man"

[N]

as in "not"

[P]

as in "pen"

[CH]

palatal affricate

[R]

as in "run"

[S]

as in "sun"

[T]

as in "top"

[W]

as in "wet"

[SH]

palato-alveolar fricative

[Y]

palatal glide

[Z]

as in "zoo"

[EU]

[eu]

[UE]

[ue]

[zero]

[one]

[two]

[three]

[four]

[five]

[six]

[seven]

[eight]

[nine]

Complete Tu (Monguor) Romanization Alphabet

The complete academic Latin romanization alphabet used in Tu language documentation and research. Tu is also known as Monguor — this page covers both names for the same language.

Minzu University of China ^[1], the Endangered Languages Project ^[2] and ELAR ^[3] together support the documentation and study of Tu (Monguor) as a distinctive Southern Mongolic language of China.

[AH]

[B]

[TS]

[D]

[EH]

[F]

[G]

[H]

[EE]

[Y]

[K]

[L]

[M]

[N]

[OH]

[EU]

[P]

[CH]

[R]

[S]

[T]

[OO]

[UE]

[W]

[SH]

[Y]

[Z]

Expand All Collapse All

What is the Tu (Monguor) language?

Why is Tu also called Monguor?

How is Tu written?

Is Tu (Monguor) related to Mongolian?

Where is Tu (Monguor) spoken?

Is Tu (Monguor) an endangered language?

What languages are most closely related to Tu?

What research institutions study Tu (Monguor)?

What is the Tu cultural and historical background?

References:

[1] Minzu University of China (中央民族大学), College of Ethnology and Sociology, Beijing. "Tu (Monguor) Language Studies" — the leading university for China's ethnic minority languages conducts research on Tu (土族语, ISO 639-3: mjg), a Mongolic language of Qinghai and Gansu, China, documenting its romanization system and its relationship to Classical Mongolian and other Mongolic languages. Retrieved from Minzu University of China
[2] Endangered Languages Project, Google & First Peoples Worldwide. "Tu (Monguor) — Language Documentation" — the Project documents Tu (Monguor, ISO 639-3: mjg), a Mongolic minority language of Qinghai and Gansu, China, spoken by the Tu ethnic group (土族), whose language is closely related to Classical Mongolian. Retrieved from Endangered Languages Project
[3] Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR), SOAS University of London. "Tu (Monguor) Language Documentation" — ELAR holds documentation of Tu (Monguor), a Mongolic language of the Tu ethnic group of Qinghai and Gansu, China, providing field materials that include the academic Latin romanization system used by scholars to represent Tu sounds in writing. Retrieved from Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR)