Phonology
The phonetic model (Background) determines the characters of a writing system by a phonemic analysis of the language that the writing system records. This appendix lists the phonemes of the four languages the writing systems of this document record, giving the transcription used in this document, the phonetic value where it differs from the transcription, and the letters that record it in each writing system (Architecture).
| Language | Recorded in |
| Mongolian | Hudum, Todo |
| Manchu | Sibe, Manchu |
| Tibetan | Tibetan, Hudum Ali Gali, Todo Ali Gali, Manchu Ali Gali |
| Sanskrit | Tibetan, Hudum Ali Gali, Todo Ali Gali, Manchu Ali Gali |
Mongolian
The phonemes of Mongolian consist of native and borrowed phonemes. Its letters are in Hudum and Todo.
| native vowels | a | e (/ə/ in Hudum, /e/ in Todo) | i (lax /i/, tense /ɪ/) | o | u |
| ö (/ɵ/) | ü (/ʉ/) | ||||
| borrowed vowel | ë (/ɤ/, in Hudum; Todo has no ë) | ||||
| native consonants | n | ng | b | p | x (/x/ before a lax vowel, /χ/ before a tense vowel) |
| g (/ɡ/ before a lax vowel, /q/ before a tense vowel) | m | l | s | š (/ʃ/) | |
| t | d | č (/tʃ/) | ǰ (/dʒ/) | y (/j/) | |
| r | w | ||||
| borrowed in Hudum | f | k | c (/ts/) | z (/dz/) | x’ (/h/ before a tense vowel) |
| ž (/ɹ/) | lh (/ɬ/) | ẑ (/dʐ/) | ĉ (/tʂ/) | ||
| borrowed in Todo | f | k | c (/ts/) | z (/dz/) | g’ (/ɡ/ before a tense vowel) |
| x’ (/x/ before a tense vowel) | ǰ’ (in Jangar) | ñ (in Mañjuśri) | z’ (in Mañjuśri) | ||
| vowel harmony | tense /a/, /ɪ/, /o/, /u/; lax /ə/, /i/, /ɵ/, /ʉ/ | ||||
Manchu
The phonemes of Manchu consist of native and borrowed phonemes. Its letters are in Sibe and Manchu. The Möllendorff transcription is the most widely used system.
| native vowels | a | e (/ə/) | i | o | u |
| ū (/o̘/ and /ʊ/) | |||||
| borrowed vowel | i’ (/ɹ̩/) | ||||
| native consonants | n | k (/k/ before a lax vowel, /q/ before a tense vowel) | g (/ɡ/ before a lax vowel, /q/ before a tense vowel) | h (/x/ before a lax vowel, /χ/ before a tense vowel) | b |
| p | s | š (/ʃ/) | t | d | |
| l | m | č (/tʃ/) | ǰ (/dʒ/) | y (/j/) | |
| r | f | w | ng (/ŋ/) | ||
| borrowed consonants | k’ (/k/ before a tense vowel) | g’ (/ɡ/ before a tense vowel) | h’ (/x/ before a tense vowel) | c (/ts/) | z (/dz/) |
| ž (/ɹ/) | ẑ (/dʐ/) | ĉ (/tʂ/) | |||
| vowel harmony | tense /a/, (/i/), /o/, /ʊ/; lax /ə/, /i/, /o̘/, /u/ | ||||
Tibetan
The Tibetan recorded in Tibetan script reflects the written phonological system of the ninth century. The letters are in Hudum Ali Gali, Todo Ali Gali, and Manchu Ali Gali.
| consonants | ka (/k/) | kha (/kʰ/) | ga (/ɡ/) | nga (/ŋ/) | ca (/tɕ/) | cha (/tɕʰ/) | ja (/dʑ/) | nya (/ɲ/) |
| ta (/t/) | tha (/tʰ/) | da (/d/) | na (/n/) | pa (/p/) | pha (/pʰ/) | ba (/b/) | ma (/m/) | |
| tsa (/ts/) | tsha (/tsʰ/) | dza (/dz/) | wa (/w/) | zha (/ʑ/) | za (/z/) | va (/ɦ/) | ya (/j/) | |
| ra (/r/) | la (/l/) | sha (/ɕ/) | sa (/s/) | ha (/h/) | a (/ʔ/) | |||
| vowels | a (/a/) | i (/i/) | u (/u/) | e (/e/) | o (/o/) |
The onset va. When va (/ɦ/) begins a syllable it represents a nasalized onset, as in vgo (va ga o; /ŋɡo/), vju (va ja u; /ɲdʑu/), vdi (va da i; /ndi/), vbu (va ba u; /mbu/), and vdzem (va dza e ma; /ndzem/); between two vowels its pronunciation is faint or even absent, so that the sequence is readily perceived as a diphthong, as in ngavi (nga va i; /ŋai/) and gavu (ga va u; /ɡau/).
The transcription. It is intended to be phonemic rather than to mirror the spelling character by character, for example i (a i; /ʔi/) and gyar (ga ya sub a ra; /ɡjar/).
Sanskrit
The Sanskrit materials in China are found chiefly in the Siddham and Lantsa scripts, and the Sanskrit letters follow IAST. The letters are in Hudum Ali Gali, Todo Ali Gali, and Manchu Ali Gali.
| initials | ka | kha | ga | gha | ṅa |
| ca | cha | ja | jha | ña | |
| ṭa | ṭha | ḍa | ḍha | ṇa | |
| ta | tha | da | dha | na | |
| pa | pha | ba | bha | ma | |
| ya | ra | la | wa | śa | |
| ṣa | sa | ha | kṣa | ||
| finals | a | ā | i | ī | |
| u | ū | ṛ | ṝ | ||
| ḷ | ḹ | e | ai | ||
| o | au | aṃ | aḥ |