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Mengwen zhiyao 蒙文旨要

Jan 9, 2011 © Ulrich Theobald

Mengwen zhiyao 蒙文旨要 "Guide to the Mongol language" is a language textbook for early modern Mongolian written by the linguist Saišangga 賽尚阿 (1798-1875), courtesy name Heding 鶴汀, from the Alut Clan 阿魯特 of the Mongolian Plain Blue Banner (Menggu zhenglan qi 蒙古正藍旗). It was printed in 1848 and is 4 juan "scrolls" long.

It was an important handbook for the daily routine work of central government state officials that had to be familiar with the languages Manchurian, Chinese, and Mongolian. All three languages are used to explain the grammatical and linguistic differences. In the chapter Bianlan zheng'e 便覽正訛, Saišangga provides corrigenda to the earlier three-language phrase book Sanhe bianlan 三合便覽 written by Jingzhai 敬齋 (jinshi degree 1748).

Sources:
Dao Bu 道布 (1988). "Mengwen zhiyao 蒙文旨要", in Zhongguo da baike quanshu 中國大百科全書, Vol. Yuyan wenzi 語言•文字 (Beijing/Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe), 287-288.