Some classify several other Mongolic languages like Buryat and Oirat as varieties of Mongolian, but this classification is not in line with the current international standard.

It was believed that Mongolian was related to Turkic, Tungusic, Korean and Japonic languages but this view is now seen as obsolete by a majority of (but not all) comparative linguists.

[11] The documents in UM script show some distinct linguistic characteristics and are therefore often distinguished by terming their language "Preclassical Mongolian".

This is a written language with a high degree of standardization in orthography and syntax that sets it quite apart from the subsequent Modern Mongolian.

[14] In 1686, the Soyombo alphabet (Buddhist texts) was created, giving distinctive evidence on early classical Mongolian phonological peculiarities.

[16][22] The children of inter-ethnic Mongol-Chinese marriages also claim to be and are registered as ethnic Mongols so they can benefit from the preferential policies for minorities in education, healthcare, family planning, school admissions, the hiring and promotion, the financing and taxation of businesses, and regional infrastructural support given to ethnic minorities in China.

[16][23][24] In 2020, the Chinese government required three subjects—language and literature, politics, and history—to be taught in Mandarin in Mongolian-language primary and secondary schools in the Inner Mongolia since September, which caused widespread protests among ethnic Mongol communities.

The delimitation of the Mongolian language within Mongolic is a much disputed theoretical problem, one whose resolution is impeded by the fact that existing data for the major varieties is not easily arrangeable according to a common set of linguistic criteria.

[37] Some Western scholars[38] propose that the relatively well researched Ordos variety is an independent language due to its conservative syllable structure and phoneme inventory.

While the placement of a variety like Alasha,[39] which is under the cultural influence of Inner Mongolia but historically tied to Oirat, and of other border varieties like Darkhad would very likely remain problematic in any classification,[40] the central problem remains the question of how to classify Chakhar, Khalkha, and Khorchin in relation to each other and in relation to Buryat and Oirat.

The vowels in the Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet are: Khalkha also has four diphthongs: historically /ui, ʊi, ɔi, ai/ but are pronounced more like [ʉe̯, ʊe̯, ɞe̯, æe̯];[59] e.g. ой in нохой (nohoi) [nɔ̙ˈχɞe̯] 'dog', ай in далай (dalai) [taˈɮæe̯] sea', уй in уйлах (uilah) [ˈʊe̯ɮɐχ] 'to cry', үй in үйлдвэр (üildver) [ˈʉe̯ɮtw̜ɘr] 'factory', эй in хэрэгтэй (heregtei) [çiɾɪxˈtʰe] 'necessary'.

[69] Stress in Mongolian is nonphonemic (does not distinguish different meanings) and thus is considered to depend entirely on syllable structure.

Formally, the independent words derived using verbal suffixes can roughly be divided into three classes: final verbs, which can only be used sentence-finally, i.e. ‑na (mainly future or generic statements) or ‑ö (second person imperative);[81] participles (often called "verbal nouns"), which can be used clause-finally or attributively, i.e. ‑san (perfect-past)[82] or ‑maar 'want to'; and converbs, which can link clauses or function adverbially, i.e. ‑zh (qualifies for any adverbial function or neutrally connects two sentences) or ‑tal (the action of the main clause takes place until the action expressed by the suffixed verb begins).

In many situations, further (more general) rules must also be taken into account in order to produce the correct form: these include the presence of an unstable nasal or unstable velar, as well as the rules governing when a penultimate vowel should be deleted from the stem with certain case endings (e.g. цэрэг (tsereg) → цэргийн (tsergiin)).

Other word (sub-)classes include interrogative pronouns, conjunctions (which take participles), spatials, and particles, the last being rather numerous.

[95] БиbiБиbiНамайгnamaigНамайгnamaigМинийminiiМинийminiiНад-nad-Над-nad-БидbidБидbidБиднийгbidniigБиднийгbidniigБиднийbidniiБиднийbidniiБидн-bidn-Бидн-bidn-МанайmanaiМанайmanaiМан-man-Ман-man-ЧиchiЧиchiЧамайгchamaigЧамайгchamaigЧинийchiniiЧинийchiniiЧам-cham-Чам-cham-ТаtaТаtaТаныгtaniigТаныгtaniigТаныtaniiТаныtaniiТаtaНарnarТа Нарta narТанай/Tanai/ТаTaНарынNariinТанай/ Та НарынTanai/ Ta NariinТан-tan-Тан-tan-ТэрterТэрterТүүнийгtüüniigТүүнийгtüüniigТүүнийtüüniiТүүнийtüüniiТэдtedНарnarТэд Нарted narТэднийгtedniigТэднийгtedniigТэдtedНарынnariinТэд Нарынted nariinNegation is mostly expressed by -güi (-гүй) after participles and by the negation particle bish (биш) after nouns and adjectives; negation particles preceding the verb (for example in converbal constructions) exist, but tend to be replaced by analytical constructions.

Basic interrogative pronouns -юу (yuu 'what'), -хаана (haana 'where'), хэн (hen 'who'), яагаад (yaagaad 'why'), яаж (yaazh 'how'), хэзээ (hezee 'when'), ямар (yamar 'what kind') In Mongolian, verbs have a stem and an ending.

For example, the stems бай- bai-, сур- sur-, and үзэ- üze- are suffixed with -х -h, -ах -ah, and -х -h respectively: байx baih, сурax surah, and үзэx üzeh.

Titles or occupations of people, low numerals indicating groups, and focus clitics are put behind the head noun.

[102] Examples: bid-niiwe-GENuulz-sanmeet-PRFterthatsaihanbeautifulzaluu-gaasyoung.man-ABLchFOCbid-nii uulz-san ter saihan zaluu-gaas chwe-GEN meet-PRF that beautiful young.man-ABL FOC'even from that beautiful young man that we have met'DorzhDorjbagshteachermaanourDorzh bagsh maanDorj teacher our'our teacher Dorj'The verbal phrase consists of the predicate in the center, preceded by its complements and by the adverbials modifying it and followed (mainly if the predicate is sentence-final) by modal particles,[103] as in the following example with predicate bichsen: ters/hehel-eh-güi-geerwithout:sayingüün-iigit-ACCbich-senwrite-PRFshüüPTCter hel-eh-güi-geer üün-iig bich-sen shüüs/he without:saying it-ACC write-PRF PTC's/he wrote it without saying [so] [i.e. without saying that s/he would do so, or that s/he had done so], I can assure you.

[107][86] While the predicate generally has to remain in clause-final position, the other phrases are free to change order or to wholly disappear.

In contrast, conjunctions take verbal nouns without case:[116] yadar-sanbecome.tired-PRFuchraasbecauseunt-laasleep-WIT.PASTyadar-san uchraas unt-laabecome.tired-PRF because sleep-WIT.PAST'I slept because I was tired'Finally, there is a class of particles, usually clause-initial, that are distinct from conjunctions but that also relate clauses: biIolson,find-PRFharinbutchamdyou-DATögöhgüigive-IPFV-NEGbi olson, harin chamd ögöhgüiI find-PRF but you-DAT give-IPFV-NEG'I've found it, but I won't give it to you'.Mongolian has a complementizer auxiliary verb ge- very similar to Japanese to iu.

Mongolian first adopted loanwords from many languages including Old Turkic, Sanskrit (these often via Uyghur), Persian, Arabic, Tibetan,[122] Tungusic, and Chinese.

In more recent times, due to socio-political reforms, Mongolian has loaned various words from English; some of which have gradually evolved as official terms: menezhment 'management', komputer 'computer', fail 'file', marketing 'marketing', kredit 'credit', onlain 'online', and mesezh 'message'.

Examples (Mongolian in brackets) include Persian کشيكچى kešikci (from heshig 'royal guard'), قرقاول qarqâvol (from girgawl 'pheasant'), جیبه jibe (from zhebseg 'iron armour'), داروغه dâruqe (from darga 'chief of commandant'), قیچی qeyci (from kayichi 'scissors'); Uzbek orol (from aral 'island'); Chinese 衚衕 hutong (from gudum 'passageway'), 站赤 zhanchi (from zhamchi 'courier/post station'); Middle Chinese 犢 duk (from tugul 'calf'); Korean 수라 sura (from shüle 'royal meal'), 악대 akdae (from agta 'castrated animal'), 업진 eobjin (from ebchigün 'chest of an animal'); Old English cocer (from köküür 'container'); Old French quivre (from köküür 'container'); Old High German Baldrian (from balchirgan-a 'valerian plant').

The earliest stages of Mongolian (Xianbei, Wuhuan languages) may have used an indigenous runic script as indicated by Chinese sources.

The traditional Mongolian script was first adopted by Genghis Khan in 1204, who recognized the need to represent his own people's language.

Among the Uyghurs sharing that knowledge were Tata-tonga (Chinese: 塔塔統阿), Bilge Buqa (比俚伽普華), Kara Igach Buyruk (哈剌亦哈赤北魯), and Mengsus (孟速思).

The establishment of Soviet Union helped the influence continue, and the Cyrillic alphabet was slowly introduced with the effort by Russian/Soviet linguists in collaboration with their Mongolian counterparts.

[131] Earlier government campaigns to eradicate illiteracy, employing the traditional script, had only managed to raise literacy from 3.0% to 17.3% between 1921 and 1940.