Local solutions to universal problems

Abstract This study examines the transcriptional practices of the handwritten Jinshang Chinese–Mongolian Glossaries and Phrasebooks (JCMGP), compiled by Shanxi merchants between the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries. Focusing on a Jiaqing-period manuscript (1796–1820) and later versions from 1906 and 1907, it shows how mouth-radical characters — such as 哈 , 吔 , and 哦 — were systematically refunctionalized to mark vowel-initial syllables absent from the Chinese syllable template. Distributional analysis reveals that this strategy constituted a recurrent and distributionally stable pattern, while adaptive extensions (e.g., 吓 for ɣa and 𠳾 for xaa(n) ) addressed structurally adjacent phonological environments. Comparison across manuscripts further demonstrates a trajectory from stabilization to diversification without systemic collapse. The JCMGP thus exemplifies a locally grounded transcriptional subsystem that visualizes phonological irregularity within a logographic script, thereby refining discussions of literacy practices and writing system typology.