Documenting the Durvud dialect of Oirat in Western Mongolia will document the Durvud dialect of Oirat, a variety spoken in vast, but sparsely populated regions in western Mongolia such as Uvs, Khovd, and Bayan-Olgii. Due to the increasing dominance of Khalkha, Durvud and other varieties of Oirat are diasappearing rapidly, and only a small minority among the 66706 ethnic Durvuds still speak the language. The documentation effort will focus on the language as occuring in a number of different culturally important situation types of nomadic life and thus capture those parts of Durvud langugae culture that are disappearing most rapidly. Primary investigator: Tsendee Yunger