Sibe

Written units

ID	Variants				Ligated Variants
	isol	init	medi	fina	init	medi	fina
A						
Aa							
Ah						
Ai				
At							
B					 	 
Cc			
Ch			
Cs			
D			
Db			
Dd				
Dh			
Dt			
G					 	 
G3				
Gc					 	 
Gh					 	 
H			
Hc			
Hh					
I							
Ic			
J2			
K2					 	 
Kc					 	 
Kh					 	 
L						
M						
M3				
N				
Ni			
Nx				
O							
Oh							
Pb					 	 
R				
Rr			
S				
Sp				
T		
Tb		
Th		
Tt		
U				
Ue							
Uh				
V			
W						
Y			
Zs			
Zs2						

Phonetic letters

Letter	FVS	Variants
		isol	init	medi	fina
1820 ᠠ a	-			 A
	1				 Aa
	2		 A A		 A
	3	 A A
185D ᡝ e	-	 A	 A Ni
	1			 A	 A
	2			 Ah	 At
	3				 Aa
	4				 Ah
185E ᡞ i	-		 A I		 I
	1	 I		 A I
	2	 A I		 I
1823 ᠣ o	-	 A O	 A O	 O
	1				 O
	2				 U
1860 ᡠ u	-	 A Oh	 A Oh
	1			 O	 U
	2			 Oh	 Oh
	3				 O
	4				 Uh
1861 ᡡ ue	-	 A Ue	 A O I	 O I	 Ue
185F ᡟ ii	-	 → medi	 → medi	 Ai	 Ai
1807 ᠇ sbm	-	 → medi	 → medi	 A	 → medi
1828 ᠨ n	-	 → init	 N
	1			 N	 N
	2			 A	 A
1862 ᡢ ng	-	 → medi	 → medi	 A G	 A G3
1863 ᡣ k	-	 → init 3			 Nx
	1	 → init 1	 G	 Nx
	2			 G
	3		 H	 H
1864 ᡤ g	-	 → init 2			 → medi 2
	1	 → init 1	 Gh	 Gh
	2		 Hh	 Hh
1865 ᡥ h	-	 → init 2			 → medi 2
	1	 → init 1	 Gc	 Gc
	2		 Hc	 Hc
182A ᠪ b	-	 → init	 B	 B	 B
1866 ᡦ p	-	 → init	 Pb	 Pb	 → medi
1830 ᠰ s	-	 → init	 S	 S	 S
1867 ᡧ sh	-	 → init	 Sp	 Sp	 Sp
1868 ᡨ t	-	 → init 2			 Dd
	1	 → init 1	 Tb	 Db
	2		 T	 Dd
	3			 D
1869 ᡩ d	-	 → init 2			 → medi 2
	1	 → init 1	 Tt	 Dt
	2		 Th	 Dh
182F ᠯ l	-	 → init	 L	 L	 L
182E ᠮ m	-	 → init	 M	 M	 M3
1834 ᠴ ch	-	 → init	 Ch	 Ch	 → medi
186A ᡪ j	-	 → init	 I	 J2	 → medi
1836 ᠶ y	-	 → init 2			 → medi 3
	2		 Y
	3			 Y
1837 ᠷ r	-	 → init	 R	 R	 R
186B ᡫ f	-	 → init	 V	 V	 → medi
1838 ᠸ w	-	 → init	 W	 W	 → medi
183A ᠺ kh	-	 → init	 K2	 K2	 → medi
186C ᡬ gh	-	 → init	 Kh	 Kh	 → medi
186D ᡭ hh	-	 → init	 Kc	 Kc	 → medi
186E ᡮ c	-	 → init	 Cs	 Cs	 → medi
186F ᡯ z	-	 → init 2			 → medi 2
	1		 Zs2	 Zs2
	2		 Zs	 Zs
1870 ᡰ rh	-	 → init	 Rr	 Rr	 → medi
1871 ᡱ cr	-	 → init	 Cc	 Cc	 → medi
1872 ᡲ zr	-	 → init	 Ic	 Ic	 → medi

Letter j. Since the establishment of the Sibe–Solon Cultural Association in 1947, the Association has made modifications to the Sibe orthography. In the scheme given by the Association, both the initial and medial forms of the letter j use the written form I. However, in the subsequent practice of using the Sibe writing system, it was found that this modification would cause confusion of words. Therefore, in all kinds of recently published books, newspapers and dictionaries, the written form J2 is used instead of I.

Letter z. The ligature formed by the written units Zs and I in Sibe is not present in Manchu. Such a difference should be treated directly as a distinct written unit, rather than as a ligature judgment that would depend on the writing system; accordingly, the written unit Zs2 is established, in agreement with the analysis of GB/T 36641—2018.

Shaping process

Letter classes

Class	Letters
masculine vowel	a, o, ue
feminine vowel	e, u
neuter vowel	i
vowel	a, e, i, o, u, ue, ii
consonant	sbm, n, ng, k, g, h, b, p, s, sh, t, d, l, m, ch, j, y, r, f, w, kh, gh, hh, c, z, rh, cr, zr
masculine bowed written unit	K2, Kh, Kc
feminine bowed written unit	G, Gh, Gc, Gx
neuter bowed written unit	B, Pb

Mongolian-specific phase

Shaping step	Letters	Condition	Mapping type
2. Syllabic	o, u	if follows an initial consonant:	marked
	z	if precedes i:	marked
	e, u	if follows t or d or k or g or h:	feminine, feminine_marked
	n	if precedes a vowel:	onset
		else if precedes a consonant:	devsger
	t, d	if precedes a or i or o:	masculine_onset
		else if precedes e or u or ue:	feminine
		else if precedes a consonant:	devsger
		else if a vowel precedes t:	devsger
	k, g, h	if precedes a masculine vowel:	masculine_onset
		else if precedes a feminine vowel or a neuter vowel:	feminine
		else if precedes a consonant:	devsger
		else if a vowel precedes k:	devsger
3. Particle	i	if follows an MVS:	particle
4. Devsger	i	if follows a vowel:	vowel_devsger
5. Post-bowed	a, o	if follows a neuter bowed written unit or a masculine bowed written unit:	post_bowed
	e, u	if follows a neuter bowed written unit or a feminine bowed written unit:	post_bowed, post_bowed_feminine

Conditional mapping

Letter	Mapping type	Variants
		isol	init	medi	fina
1820 ᠠ a	default				
	post_bowed				
185D ᡝ e	default				
	marked				
	feminine				
	feminine_marked				
	post_bowed				
	post_bowed_feminine				
185E ᡞ i	default				
	particle	
	vowel_devsger			
1823 ᠣ o	default				
	marked				
	post_bowed				
1860 ᡠ u	default				
	marked				
	feminine				
	feminine_marked				
	post_bowed				
	post_bowed_feminine				
1861 ᡡ ue	default				
185F ᡟ ii	default				
1807 ᠇ sbm	default				
1828 ᠨ n	default				
	onset			
	devsger			
1862 ᡢ ng	default				
1863 ᡣ k	default				
	devsger			
	masculine_onset			
	feminine			
1864 ᡤ g	default				
	masculine_onset			
	feminine			
1865 ᡥ h	default				
	masculine_onset			
	feminine			
182A ᠪ b	default				
1866 ᡦ p	default				
1830 ᠰ s	default				
1867 ᡧ sh	default				
1868 ᡨ t	default				
	devsger			
	masculine_onset			
	feminine			
1869 ᡩ d	default				
	masculine_onset			
	feminine			
182F ᠯ l	default				
182E ᠮ m	default				
1834 ᠴ ch	default				
186A ᡪ j	default				
1836 ᠶ y	default				
1837 ᠷ r	default				
186B ᡫ f	default				
1838 ᠸ w	default				
183A ᠺ kh	default				
186C ᡬ gh	default				
186D ᡭ hh	default				
186E ᡮ c	default				
186F ᡯ z	default				
	marked			
1870 ᡰ rh	default				
1871 ᡱ cr	default				
1872 ᡲ zr	default				

Particle mapping

When the nominal spelling of a particle in the table below occurs in text, its letters are reshaped using the particle mapping (step 3 in the shaping process above). In the written form, the written units shown in blue are those whose shape is determined by the particle condition. A particle prefixed with mvs is a standalone particle that follows a Mongolian vowel separator; the preceding MVS is then widened to set it off.

Particle	Form
mvs i	

References

• Information technology — Sibe nominal characters, presentation characters and use rules of controlling characters. China national standard, GB/T 36641—2018.

• Liang Jinbao. (2021). The Transferring rules of Sibe nominal form to variant form. Research on Mongolian Encodings, version 0.1.0 (May 1, 2020).

• Quejingzhabu. (2013). “Encoding of Sibe”, in: 确精扎布蒙古文信息处理专辑. Hohhot: Inner Mongolian Education Press, pp. 310–320.

• 新疆维吾尔自治区民族语言文字工作委员会. (1992). 现代锡伯文学语言正字法. Urumqi: Xinjiang People’s Press.

• Yang Zhenyuan. (2013). 锡汉教学词典. Urumqi: Xinjiang People’s Press.

• She Tuken. (2009). 锡伯语语法通论. Urumqi: Xinjiang People’s Press.

• Jang Taeho. (2008). Sibe grammar. Kunming: Yunnan Nationalities Publishing House.

• Fu Yong, Guo Gong, Feng hui. (2017). “A study on the division and spelling of Xibe letters based on phoneme”, in: Journal of Jilin Normal University (Humanities and Social Sciences Edition), 45(5), pp. 35–44.