6th International Symposium Oriental Studies

85 The 6 th International Symposium on Oriental Ancient Documents Studies Takeuchi Yasunori Linguistic Characteristics of Khitan This paper deals with the numerals of the Khitan language. The pronunciation of a portion of the lexicon has been transmitted by means of transcription through Chinese characters, and numeral expression in the Khitan script has also been extensively deciphered. However, although comparative analysis of the characters representing numerals has been successful, one cannot say that researchers see eye to eye on the pronunciation those characters express. Further, progress on research into Khitan characters has brought us to the ascertainment that we must revise conventional interpretations of numerals. This paper first explains Khitan numerals in simple terms, and attempts to reconstruct the word forms through the expression of numerals and ordinal numbers in Khitan script. It has accordingly been possible to present reconstructions of ordinal and cardinal numbers that differ from previous research, and clarify some of the word formation of Khitan numerals. Key words: Khitan language, Khitan script, Mongolian languages, numerals, vowel harmony.