Spelling Manchu with Chinese characters

Oh wow this is an AMAZINGLY FASCINATING find! The 'Chinese characters' seem intractable, but are just phonetically written Mandarin syllables (initial, nucleus, coda): c(e) 策+ e 額 + (e)ng 鞥 = ceng Next to it a Manchu transcription: ᡮᡝ᠋᠊ᠩ I wonder where it comes from? https://t.co/p2T42WANGD pic.twitter.com/z9V2DO5SaC

— Egas Moniz-Bandeira ᠡᡤᠠᠰ ᠮᠣᠨᠢᠰ ᠪᠠᠨᡩ᠋ᠠᠶᠢᠷᠠ (@egasmb) June 4, 2024

See also here.

Lots of graphemes for few phonemes and morphemes

 

Selected reading

• "Polyglot Manchu emperor" (4/6/23)
• "Manchu 'princess' speaking English" (8/23/20)
• "Mandarin and Manchu semen" (3/11/22)
• "Sino-Manchu seals of the Xicom Emperor" (2/12/20)
• "Manchu illiteracy" (4/14/16)
• “Ornamental Manchu: the lengths to which a forger will go” (4/24/21)
• "Faux Manchu: Ornamental Manchu II" (6/23/21)
• "Sibe: a living Manchu language" (9/30/17)
• "Sibe and the revival of Manchu" (10/4/21)
• "A rebirth for Manchu?" (1/16/16)
• "Manchu film" (12/31/16)
• "Manchu loans in northeast Mandarin" (10/17/13)
• "Ask Language Log: Manchu Blue Dragon" (2/13/24)

[h.t. Geoff Wade]