The Clear Script (Oirat: ᡐᡆᡑᡆ
ᡋᡅᡒᡅᡎ / Тодо бичиг, romanized: todo bičiq / todo bičig, [todo bit͡ʃ(ə)k]; Mongolian: Тод бичиг / ᠲᠣᠳᠣ
ᠪᠢᠴᠢᠭ, romanized: tod bichig / todo bičig, [tɔd bit͡ʃək], Russian Buryat: Тодо бэшэг, romanized: Todo besheg, ([tɔdɔ bɛʃək]), or just todo) is an alphabet created in 1648 by the Oirat Buddhist monk Zaya Pandita for the Oirat language.^[1][2][3] It was developed on the basis of the Mongolian script with the goal of distinguishing all sounds in the spoken language, and to make it easier to transcribe Sanskrit and the Tibetic languages.

Quick Facts Clear Script Oirat alphabet, Script type ...

Clear Script Oirat alphabet
Script type	Alphabet
Creator	Zaya Pandita
Time period	ca. 1648 – today
Direction	Vertical left-to-right
Languages	Oirat Sanskrit Tibetic
Related scripts
Parent systems	Proto-Sinaitic script Phoenician alphabet Aramaic alphabet Syriac alphabet Sogdian alphabet Old Uyghur alphabet Mongolian script Clear Script
Sister systems	Manchu alphabet Vagindra script
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Mong (145), ​Mongolian
Unicode
Unicode alias	Mongolian
Unicode range	U+1800 – U+18AF
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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The Clear Script is a Mongolian script, whose obvious closest forebear is vertical Mongolian. This Mongolian script was derived from the Uyghur alphabet. The Clear Script was developed as a better way to write Mongolian, specifically of the Western Mongolian groups of the Oirats and Kalmyks.^[3]: 548 It resolved ambiguities in the written language by assigning symbols to vowels, and adding new symbols and diacritics to show vowels and vowel lengths, and to distinguish between voiced and unvoiced consonants.^{[3]: 548 [2]: 145} Symbols that were preserved from the traditional Mongolian script were assigned a fixed meaning.^[2]: 145

There were even some marks enabling distinctions that were unimportant for words written in the Oirat language but were useful for the transcription of foreign words and names, such as between ši and si.^[2]

The Clear Script was used by Oirat and neighboring Mongols, mostly in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.^[2] It was widely used by its creator and others to translate Buddhist works so that they might better spread the Buddhist religion throughout western Mongolia. Though the script was useful for translating works from other languages, especially Tibetan, it was also used more informally, as evidenced by some letters from the late 1690s.^[2]

Around the 19th and early 20th centuries, some Altaians in Russia were able utilize the script to read and write texts due to contacts with Mongolian Buddhists.^[4]

The script was used by Kalmyks in Russia until 1924, when it was replaced by the Cyrillic script. In Xinjiang, Oirats still use it, although today Mongolian education takes place in Chakhar Mongolian all across China.

This script is a vertical script, as was its 'vertical Mongolian' parent script. Letters and diacritics are written along a central axis. Portions of letters to the right of the axis generally slant up, and portions to the left of the axis generally slant down. The only signs that do not follow these rules are the horizontal signs for S, Š, and part of Ö.^[2] Words are delineated by a space, as well as different letter forms. Though most letters only come in one shape, there are some letters that look different depending on where in the word they occur, whether they are initial, medial, or final.^[3]

There is an alphabetic order in the Clear Script, as in other related scripts, but the order for it is not the same as its Mongolian parent script: a, e, i, o, u, ö, ü; n, b, x, γ, g, k & k’, q, m, l, r, d, t, y, z/ǰ, c/č, s, š, ng, v/w.^{[2]: 150–151}

• Mongolian writing systems
• Mongolian script
• Soyombo alphabet

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