Kalmyk Official Writing, 17th-19th Centuries: Genre Diversity Revisited

Introduction. The Kalmyks are one of the few peoples in Russia to have developed a script system of their own centuries ago. Spiritual culture of the ethnos can be traced in numerous original and translated texts of philosophical treatises, medical writings, historical chronicles, grammar essays, diaries of Buddhist pilgrims, fiction, recorded folklore materials, etc. The Kalmyk vertical script was also used for official writing. From the 17th century onwards, in the Lower Volga Kalmyks would expand their knowledge of Russian record keeping procedures (in diplomatic, military and economic contacts), however, adhering to their own writing traditions. Archival materials available attest to that the then genres of Kalmyk official writing were diverse enough, which makes it essential to reveal and investigate some authentic genre samples, classify the latter, identifying certain structural, stylistic, and language features. Goals. So, the paper seeks to essentially and structurally describe the revealed genres. Materials. The work analyzes documents stored by the National Archive of Kalmykia. Conclusions. Current research results indicate in the 17th-19th centuries the Kalmyks did possess a comprehensive official writing system characterized by genre diversity, which makes the introduction of the terms ‘Kalmyk official writing’ and ‘genre of Kalmyk official writing’ reasonable and necessary. The study delineates a number of functional genres, such as cāǰiyin bičiq, zarčim (Cyrillic цааҗин бичг) ‘codes, regulations’, amur yabuxu bičiq (Cyr. амр йовх бичг) ‘letter of discharge’, ayiladxal bičiq (Cyr. әәлдхл бичг) ‘report, dispatch’, erelge (Cyr. эрлһ) ‘petition’, andaγār (Cyr. андһар) ‘vow’, tō (Cyr. то) ‘register’, and the vastest one — bičiq (Cyr. бичг) ‘epistolary message’. However, there are still titles of documents to explore, e.g., bičiq tamaγa (Cyr. бичг тамһ) ‘letter-seal’, elči bičiq (Cyr. элч бичг) ‘letter (to be delivered by) a special messenger’, zarliq (Cyr. зәрлг) ‘order; decree’, etc. In this context, further research of Kalmyk official writing documents can be a priority focus of Mongolian studies. Archival sources are only being discovered, and have not been studied due to large numbers. Thus, the genre structure presented is incomplete and shall definitely be revised or extended.

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