G.J. Ramstedt

A 6th century Mongolian inscriptions written in Brahmi script is newly discovered in Mongolia. The phonological features are: *p- initial consonant and *-p- middle consonant, which reaffirms the historical phonological law of Mongolian language constructed by Ramstedt. Based on this, the Mongolian vocabulary of Tuoba Xianbei and Rouran is restored. Then it is determined that the primitive Mongolian «writing » *biti- is the first writing behavior in the history of nomadic nomadic history, and they first writing they learnt is Chinese script. Before that, the nomadic world had only the Turkic-Mongolian cognate *yïr- ~ *ǰiru-, which was the tradition of the Huns of "carved bone wood". Today, only the Mongolian dialect Tu (Monguor) of Qinghai  still uses *ǰiru-"scribe", resisting the trend of *biti- ~ *biči- writing. Finally, study the underlying vocabulary of the Tu language (Monguor), compare the history of Tuyuhun, and explore the potential relationship between the these two.
蒙古國新發現六世紀婆羅米字原始蒙古語碑文，其音韻特色：*p- 首輔音與 *-p- 中間輔音，重新肯定藍司鐵 (Ramstedt) 構擬的蒙古語歷史音韻規律。以此為基礎，還原拓跋鮮卑與柔然的蒙古語詞匯。繼而考訂原始蒙古語“寫”*biti- 是遊牧史上最先的書寫行為，寫的是漢字：*biti- 是漢語“筆”，引意筆寫。在此之前，遊牧世界只有突厥－蒙古同源詞 *yïr- ~ *ǰiru-，是匈奴人“刻骨契木”的傳統。今日，蒙古方言只有青海的土族語 (Monguor) 仍然使用 *ǰiru-“劃寫”，抵制了 *biti- ~ *biči- 筆寫潮流。最後，研究土族語的底層詞彙，對比吐谷渾的歷史，探索兩者之間的潛在關係。

Monitoimimies Sakari Pälsi on erityisen tunnettu maailmanmatkoistaan. Ensimmäiselle tutkimusmatkalleen ulkomaille hän pääsi kuitenkin vasta 26-vuotiaana, nykynäkökulmasta ajatellen varsin myöhään. Pälsi oli edellisenä vuonna saattanut arkeologian yliopisto-opintonsa kunniakkaaseen päätökseen ja kaipasi mahdollisuuksia hyödyntää vastavalmistunutta tutkintoaan. Gustaf John Ramstedt (1873–1950), joka oli jo tuolloin tunnettu kielitieteilijä ja tutkimusmatkailija, oli lähdössä kuudennelle Itä-Aasian tutkimusmatkalleen. Ramstedt oli jo aiemmin tutkinut Mongolian kieltä ja kulttuuria, mutta halusi laajentaa tutkimustensa aikaperspektiiviä myös esihistorialliseen aikaan ja etsi sopivaa matkakumppania. Pälsi tarttui hanakasti mahdollisuuteen päästä Ramstedtin matkaan, ja kahden hengen tutkimusretkikunta suunnisti puoli vuotta kestäneelle tutkimusretkelle Mongolian aroille keväällä 1909. Tässä matkassa oli
monia piirteitä, joista tuli leimaa-antavia Pälsin myöhemmille reissuille. Mongolian matkalla olikin ilmeisen huomattava vaikutus Pälsin myöhemmän uran muotoutumisen kannalta.

Jack-of-all-trades Sakari Pälsi was especially renowned for his journeys abroad. However, he was able to depart on his first expedition only in the age of 26, comparatively late from a contemporary
perspective. Pälsi had, the year before, successfully completed his archaeological studies at the university and was looking for opportunities to put his newly acquired qualification to use. Gustaf
John Ramstedt (1873–1950), who was already then a renowned linguist and explorer, was leaving for his sixth expedition to East Asia.
Ramstedt had already earlier studied Mongolian language and culture, but was keen to broaden the timescale of his research to include prehistory and was in search of a suitable traveling companion. Pälsi jumped at the chance to travel with Ramstedt, and the expedition-of-two headed for a six-month exploratory journey to the Mongolian steppes in the spring of 1909. Many aspects of this journey were
to become a model for Pälsi’s later trips. This journey to Mongolia had a remarkable impact on the formation of Pälsi’s later career.

Finnish-Mongolian Archaeological and Anthropological Expedition to Mongolia in 2019!

Our expedition will be re-tracing in the summer 2019 the trail of the 1909 Finnish Mongolia expedition, 110 years after the original expedition by Finnish linguist G.J. Ramstedt and archaeologist Sakari Pälsi.

Researchers: Jamsranjav Bayarsaikhan (National Museum of Mongolia) and Oula Seitsonen (University of Helsinki / University of Oulu, Finland).

The expedition is generously funded by the Nordenskiöld-samfundet (Finland).