Manchu

Where it’s spoken

Manchu was historically spoken across Manchuria (northeast China and parts of the Russian Far East), but the modern Manchu people of about 10 million have largely shifted to Mandarin Chinese. Fewer than 20 elderly first-language speakers of Manchu remain, mostly in Heilongjiang Province villages. The closely related Sibe language (spoken by 30,000 in Xinjiang) is the only living Tungusic-Manchu variety with vigorous use.

What it sounds like

Manchu has six vowels with vowel harmony and around 20 consonants, including aspirated and unaspirated stop contrasts. Stress is generally on the first syllable. The phonology is influenced by contact with Mongolian and Chinese.

How it’s written

Manchu was written in the Manchu script — a modification of the traditional Mongolian script, written vertically from top to bottom — adapted under the Qing Dynasty. The script was used extensively for Qing imperial documents, religious works, and translations from Chinese.

History

The Manchu Qing Dynasty (1644–1912) made Manchu a co-official language alongside Chinese, producing enormous textual archives. After the dynasty’s fall, language shift to Chinese accelerated, leaving the language nearly extinct as a vernacular by the early 21st century.