LINGUISTIC STUDIES OF MONGOLIAN TRADITIONAL SCRIPT: THEORY AND METHODOLOGY

Mongolian traditional script (Mongol bichig) is regarded as one of the world’s most distinguished literary traditions, carrying an intellectual heritage that spans several centuries. One of its oldest surviving examples is the Chinggis Khan stone inscription, dated to 1224–1225. Manuscripts and archival documents written in Mongolian script are held in libraries around the world, including in Russia, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Sweden, Hungary, and France, and the majority of Mongolia’s own archival holdings are recorded in this script; the National Library of Mongolia alone catalogues more than two million historical items written in Mongolian script. In recent years, the Government of Mongolia has pursued a public policy of reviving the national script, culminating in the 2015 Law on the Mongolian Language, which mandates that government organizations use a combination of Cyrillic and Mongolian script beginning in 2025. Against this backdrop, the forensic examination of Mongolian script has taken on renewed importance — not only for authenticating historically significant sudurshastir (canonical texts) written in Mongolian script, but also for identifying the author of an original text or manuscript. This paper examines the theoretical and methodological issues involved in the forensic examination of Mongolian script and, on that basis, proposes solutions to the problems identified.