About phonetic features in the Kalmyk language and the language of the Oirats of Western Mongolia
The authors of the article consider phonetic features common for the Kalmyk language and the Oirat language of Western Mongolia. These features separate the northwestern Oirat area from the northeastern and southern area of the Mongolian languages. The study of the phonetic structure of the modern Kalmyk language and the Oirat language of Western Mongolia made it possible to note that there are no phonetic differences between these languages, despite the fact that over four hundred years these ethnic groups have been divided by large spaces. There is no language that in the course of its historical development was not influenced by other languages. This article is based on specific factual material from the modern Kalmyk language and the Oirat language of western Mongolia and on materials from the Old Mongolian language because the Oirat language of western Mongolia and the Kalmyk language have one parent language - the language of the Shivei Mongols. The main sources for the study of the Kalmyk language are published dictionaries, grammars, articles that study the phonetic structure of the modern Kalmyk language, as well as observations of the living spoken language of the Kalmyks. Tre Oirat material was taken from the Oirat dialect dictionary compiled by J. Tsolooo. The authors also used their dialectological records made in 2007 and 2009 during trips to western Mongolia and the materials of other personal observations.