Phonetic information about the Dahurian language in Russia and abroad

This article presents a general description of the endangered Dahurian language in Russia and abroad. We analyzed the facts obtained by Russian and foreign scientists whose works are a bibliographic rarity. The information about the development of Daurian writing system which although undergone three transformations 106 has never become officially recognized due to the small number of Daurians. At present, the Daurian language is considered an unwritten language. In the specialized literature of the late XIX century, the Daurs used to be considered TungusManchurian tribes, and their language was viewed as a TungusManchurian one. According to the latest data, it is unanimously classified as one of the Mongolian languages. The language is given the endangered status, as its transmission from generation to generation has been interrupted. This paper operates the phonetic facts mainly obtained by scientists from their own listening experience. Acoustic data are limited to short vowel formant values measured in wordinitial syllables based on one local accent. The study revealed divergences as far as the number of vowels and consonants in the phonological inventory that are partly explained by the contacting languages interference and differences in traditions of phonetic and phonological descriptions.