Menggu Ziyun

[9][10] Based on its format, the British Library manuscript of Menggu Ziyun is thought to be a copy of an earlier printed edition.

[11] The British Library manuscript includes two prefaces in Chinese dated 1308, one by Liu Geng 劉更 and one by Zhu Zongwen 朱宗文 (Mongolian name Bayan) of Xin'an 信安 (modern Changshan County in Zhejiang).

The title of the book in 'Phags-pa script (ꡏꡡꡃ ꡣꡡꡙ ꡐꡜꡞ ꡝꡧꡞꡋ mong xol tshi ʼwin) is anomalous in that it does not exactly transcribe the corresponding Chinese characters (Měnggǔ Zìyùn 蒙古字韻) as mong xol is not a transcription of the Chinese characters 蒙古 (měnggǔ, meaning 'Mongol'), but is a direct phonetic representation of the Mongolian word ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ mongɣol 'Mongol'.

Three folios covering some 37 syllables with -a and -e rimes are missing in the extant manuscript, and so it is thought that the original text would have comprised about 850 entries in total.

[16] The rime classes in Menggu Ziyun follow those given in Gǔjīn Yùnhuì Jǔyào 古今韻會舉要, a lexicographical compendium originally compiled by Huang Gongshao 黃公紹 (died 1297), and published in an abridged form by Xiong Zhong 熊忠 in 1297.

[14][17] However, the Chinese characters under each entry may be based on Xīnkān Yùnlüè 新刊韻略, a rime book compiled by Wang Wenyu 王文郁 during the late Jin dynasty (1115–1234) (the text is known from a manuscript copy of an edition published in 1229).

[citation needed] The discrepancy between the theoretical and actual phonology of Yuan dynasty Chinese is indicated by certain peculiarities in the use of 'Phags-pa letters to represent the 36 initials in Menggu Ziyun: This use of variant forms of the letters fa, ha, sha and ya for different initials is not reflected in surviving inscriptions in the 'Phags-pa script, and is probably an attempt by Zhu Zongwen to artificially distinguish historical phonetic differences that were no longer valid in Yuan dynasty Old Mandarin.