ABSTRACT
The Kazakhs, the largest non-Mongolian minority group, speak a Turkish-based language and live predominantly in the far western aimags. Other languages that have played a significant cultural and political role in Mongolia have been Chinese and Manchu, during the colonial Qing Empire, and Tibetan, beginning with the formation of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition in Mongolia in the 16th century. The Buddhist Church was undoubtedly the dominant literacy institution of pre-modern Mongolia, as it suppressed local shamanist faiths, which rejected the textual transmission of their belief systems and practices. Mongolia became, in part, a modern state because of language education policy, which made literacy resources more accessible to women and non-elites and, in the second half of the 20th century, made Russian language instruction a necessity for Mongolian students. English remains the dominant foreign language in Mongolian public secondary schools and post-secondary institutions.
