"The Mongolian Language Since 1991"

I would like to catalog the status of the Mongolian language. I am interested in how the Russian language influenced Mongolian as well as whether Mongolian retained those changes after 1991. My primary interest is historical linguistics; describing the synchronic (in this case, current) position of Mongolian would provide an important benchmark in the linguistic study of this language.

As a linguistics major, I look forward to the valuable field experience of conducting research on a non-Indo-European language. Very little research has been done regarding post-Soviet Mongolian; most literature on the subject focuses on language policy in the USSR or Russian as a major language in its (formerly) subordinate states.

My research methods in Mongolia will emphasize the language's official and public position nowadays. I will interview teachers and students of foreign language (notably Russian and English) to investigate popular attitudes toward various languages. Also, I will catalog loanwords from other languages that have come into Mongolian recently, noting the areas which have the most loans, and I will ask speakers whether they are aware of the words' non-native origins.

The media will be vital in my research; I will study public news, books, movies, music, theater, and other forms of communication/entertainment. This will help me see how the Mongolian language is treated and which types of media are broadcast in which languages. I hope to conduct this research while interning at the National Library. The documents in the library will be useful in charting the changes in writing systems, another subject which interests me greatly.

My research will culminate in a final paper and presentation. In these, I will aim to provide a broad picture of the status of the Mongolian language since 1991. Examining the language in a particular time period will serve as a focal point for comparing later stages of Mongolian with its position today.