A Study of Chinese Characters Denoting Mongolian in the Secret History of the Mongols

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The researcher has made degital(or electronic) texts of Yuanzhao Mishi(The Secret History of the Mongols). Yuanzhao Mishi consists of three main bodies: (1)Mongolian text spelled by Chinese characters which denote the pronunciation(sounds) of the Mongolian language, (2)Chinese glosses attached to every Mongolian word and ending, and (3)Chinese translations devided in 282 paragraphs. Among these bodies, the Mongolian text has been input as romanized transcription and as Chinese characters. Chinese glosses and translations have been input as they are. Four digital text(i. e. Romanised transcription of Mongolian, Chinese transcription of Mongolian, Chinese glosses, and Chinese translations) are related to each other so that we can find all the items when we search any item of them.On the basis of such database, the researcher investigated the usage of Chinese characters which denote Mongolian sounds and syllables in the Mongolian text of Yuanzhao Mishi. There are some Chinese characters which have the same phonetic value, e. g. there are eight kinds of Chinese characters which denote the sound "shi", six kinds of characters for the sound "i", and so forth. The main interest of the study is the the way and the reason of their use, if there is any. The researcher investigated, as a typical case study, the use of five kinds of characters which denote the sound(syllable) "u" of Mongolian exhaustively, and revealed that they are concerned with the meaning of the Mongolian words, in which they are used. The use of Chinese characters is so consistent and thoroughgoing that we have good reason to consider that the transcription of Mongolian texts into Chinese characters were made on definite rules and way of writing.