Tibetan Subscripts <i>ya</i> and <i>wa</i> in Oirat Clear Script

Abstract

The paper presents some observations on the special characteristics of two signs used in the Oirat Clear Script alphabettwo additional graphemes that imitate the Tibetan subscripts ya (yatag) and wa (wazur). These two signs are unique because they transfer the principle of Tibetan orthography into Clear Script: if a syllable contains the vowel a, it is not marked in writing. Although the two signs that imitate yatag and wazur are consistently used in Clear Script and can be found in most texts of Buddhist content, in academic publications they are often overlooked and not marked in transliteration, which can lead to inaccurate interpretations of certain words. This paper justifies the necessity of employing special symbols to distinguish these signs in transliteration, and offers examples showing the use of yatag and wazur in seventeenth-century manuscripts, which allows one to trace their history back to the very first decades of the existence of the Clear Script alphabet.