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Alphabet used to write the Manchu language

The Manchu alphabet is the alphabet used to write the now critically endangered Manchu language. A similar script called Xibe script is used today by the Xibe people, whose language is considered either a dialect of Manchu or a closely related, mutually intelligible language. It is written vertically from top to bottom, with columns proceeding from left to right.

The Jurchens of a millennium ago became the ancestors of the Manchus when Nurhaci united the Jianzhou Jurchens (1593–1618) and his son subsequently renamed the consolidated tribes as the "Manchu". Throughout this period, the Jurchen language evolved into what we know as the Manchu language. The Jurchen script has no relation to the Manchu alphabet, as it was derived from the Khitan script, itself derived from Chinese characters. After the collapse of the Jin dynasty, the Jurchen script fell into disuse. According to the 满洲实录 (; ), in 1599 the Jurchen leader Nurhaci decided to convert the Mongolian alphabet to make it suitable for the Manchu people. He decried the fact that while illiterate Han Chinese and Mongolians could understand their respective languages when read aloud, that was not the case for the Manchus, whose documents were recorded by Mongolian scribes. Overriding the objections of two advisors named Erdeni and G'ag'ai, he is credited with adapting the Mongolian script to Manchu. The resulting script was known as tongki fuka akū hergen — the "script without dots and circles".

In 1632, Dahai added diacritical marks to clear up a lot of the ambiguity present in the original Mongolian script; for instance, a leading k, g, and h are distinguished by the placement of no diacritical mark, a dot, and a circle, respectively. This revision created the standard script, known as tongki fuka sindaha hergen — the "script with dots and circles". As a result, the Manchu alphabet contains little ambiguity. Recently discovered manuscripts from the 1620s make clear, however, that the addition of dots and circles to Manchu script began before their supposed introduction by Dahai. Dahai also added the tulergi hergen ("foreign/outer letters"): ten graphemes to facilitate Manchu to be used to write Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan loanwords. Previously, these non Manchu sounds did not have corresponding letters in Manchu. Sounds that were transliterated included the aspirated sounds k' (Chinese pinyin: k, ᠺ), k (g, ᡬ), x (h, ᡭ); ts' (c, ᡮ); ts (ci, ᡮ᠊ᡟ); sy (si, ᠰ᠊ᡟ); dz (z, ᡯ); c'y (chi, ᡱᡟ); j'y (zhi, ᡷᡟ); and ž (r, ᡰ).

By the middle of the nineteenth century, there were three styles of writing Manchu in use: standard script (ginggulere hergen), semi cursive script (gidara hergen), and cursive script (lasihire hergen). Semicursive script had less spacing between the letters, and cursive script had rounded tails. The Manchu alphabet was also used to write Chinese. The way in which this was done is explained in Manchu: a Textbook for Reading Documents, which has a comparative table of romanizations of Chinese syllables written in Manchu letters, Hànyǔ Pīnyīn and Wade–Giles. Using the Manchu script to transliterate Chinese words is a source of loanwords for the Xibe language. Several Chinese Manchu dictionaries contain Chinese characters transliterated with Manchu script. The Manchu versions of the Thousand Character Classic and Dream of the Red Chamber are actually the Manchu transcription of all the Chinese characters. In the Imperial Liao Jin Yuan Three Histories National Language Explanation (欽定遼金元三史國語解 Qinding Liao Jin Yuan sanshi guoyujie) commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor, the Manchu alphabet is used to write Evenki (Solon) words. In the Pentaglot Dictionary, also commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor, the Manchu alphabet is used to transcribe Tibetan and Chagatai (related to Uyghur) words.

Characters Transliteration Notes isolated initial medial final Vowels ᠠ ᠠ᠊ ᠊ᠠ᠊ ᠊ᠠ a A second final form is used after b (᠊ᠪᠠ ba) and p (᠊ᡦᠠ pa). ᡝ ᡝ᠊ ᠊ᡝ᠊ ᠊ᡝ e A second final form is used after b (᠊ᠪᡝ be) and p (᠊ᡦᡝ pe). The undotted medial form is used after k, g, h and before d and t.
The final form is used after t (᠊ᡨᡝ te). A second final form is used after k (᠊ᡴᡝ ka), g (᠊ᡤᡝ ga), and h (᠊ᡥᡝ ha). ᡳ ᡳ᠊ ᠊ᡳ᠊ ᠊ᡳ i The second isolated form serves as genitive case marker. The second medial form is used after vowels. ᠣ ᠣ᠊ ᠊ᠣ᠊ ᠊ᠣ o The bow less final form is used in single syllable words only. ᡠ ᡠ᠊ ᠊ᡠ᠊ ᠊ᡠ u The dotless medial form is used after k, g, h, d, t.
The bow less final form is used in single syllable words only. dotted ᡡ ᡡ᠊ ᠊ᡡ᠊ ᠊ᡡ ū/uu/v Denotes u after k [qʰ], g [q], h [χ]. ᠊ᡟ᠊ ᠊ᡟ y/y/i' Used in Chinese loanwords. ioi Used in Chinese loanwords. Consonants — ᠨ᠊ ᠊ᠨ n The dotted form is used before vowels; undotted form before consonants. A dotted final form is used in some words of chinese origin. ᠊ᠨ᠊ — — ᠊ᠩ᠊ ᠊ᠩ ng The medial form is used before consonants. — ᡴ᠊ ᠊ᡴ᠊ ᠊ᡴ k The undotted medial form is used before a, o, ū; dotted form before consonants. k Initial and medial forms are used before e, i, u. — ᡤ᠊ ᠊ᡤ᠊— g Used before a, o, ū. — g Used before e, i, u. —ᡥ᠊ ᠊ᡥ᠊ — h Used before a, o, ū. — h Used before e, i, u. — ᠪ᠊ ᠊ᠪ᠊ ᠊ᠪ b — ᡦ᠊ ᠊ᡦ᠊ — p — ᠰ᠊ ᠊ᠰ᠊ ᠊ᠰ s , before — ᡧ᠊ ᠊ᡧ᠊ — š , before — — t Used before a, o, ū, i. — ᠊ᡨMedial form is used before consonants. —Used before e, u. — ᡩ᠊ — d Used before a, o, ū, i. ᠊ᡩ᠊Used before e, u. — ᠯ᠊ ᠊ᠯ᠊ ᠊ᠯ l Initial and final forms usually exist in foreign words. — ᠮ᠊ ᠊ᠮ᠊ ᠊ᠮ m — ᠴ᠊ ᠊ᠴ᠊ — c/ch/č/q , before — ᠵ᠊ ᠊ᠵ᠊ — j/zh/ž , before — ᠶ᠊ — y — ᡵ᠊ ᠊ᡵ᠊ ᠊ᡵ r Initial and final forms exist mostly in foreign words. — ᡶ‍ ‍ᡶ‍ — f First initial and medial forms are used before a, e;
second initial and medial forms are used before i, o, u, ū. — ᠸ᠊ ᠊ᠸ᠊ — v (w) , — ᠺ᠊ ᠊ᠺ᠊ — k'/kk/k῾/k’ Used for Chinese k [kʰ]. Used before a, o. — ᡬ᠊ ᠊ᡬ᠊ — g'/gg/ǵ/g’ Used for Chinese g [k]. Used before a, o. — ᡭ᠊ ᠊ᡭ᠊ — h'/hh/h́/h’ Used in Chinese h [x]. Used before a, o. — ᡮ᠊ ᠊ᡮ᠊ — ts'/c/ts῾/c Used in Chinese c [t͡sʰ]. — ᡯ᠊ ᠊ᡯ᠊ ᠊ᡯ dz/z/dz/z Used in Chinese z [t͡s]. — ᡰ᠊ ᠊ᡰ᠊ — ž/rr/ž/r’ Used in Chinese r [ʐ]. — ᡱ᠊ ᠊ᡱ᠊ — c'/ch/c῾/c’ Used in Chinese ch [tʂʰ] and chi/c'y [tʂʰɨ] — ᡷ᠊ ᠊ᡷ᠊ j/zh/j̊/j’ Used in Chinese zh [tʂ] and zhi/j'y [tʂɨ]

Despite its alphabetic nature, the Manchu "alphabet" was traditionally taught as a syllabary to reflect its phonotactics. Manchu children were taught to memorize the shapes of all the syllables in the language separately as they learned to write and say right away "la, lo", etc., instead of saying "l, a — la"; "l, o — lo"; etc. As a result, the syllables contained in their syllabary do not contain all possible combinations that can be formed with their letters. They made, for instance, no such use of the consonants l, m, n and r as English; hence if the Manchu letters s, m, a, r and t were joined in that order, a Manchu would not pronounce them as "smart". Today, it is still divided among experts on whether the Manchu script is alphabetic or syllabic. In China, it is considered syllabic, and Manchu is still taught in this manner, while in the West it is treated like an alphabet. The alphabetic approach is used mainly by foreigners who want to learn the language, as studying the Manchu script as a syllabary takes longer.

The Manchu alphabet has two kinds of punctuation: two dots (᠉), analogous to a period; and one dot (᠈), analogous to a comma. However, with the exception of lists of nouns being reliably punctuated by single dots, punctuation in Manchu is inconsistent, and therefore not of much use as an aid to readability. The equivalent of the question mark in Manchu script consists of some special particles, written at the end of the question.

The Manchu alphabet is included in the Unicode block for Mongolian.