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Panchronic Comparative Linguistics

Manchu grammar bibliography

by Andreas Hölzl, 20.02.2026

Part of the Elementa linguae tartaricae (page 8) as held at the Bavarian State Library in Munich (Münchener DigitalisierungsZentrum, CC0 1.0 Universal)

Overview

Manchu is a Tungusic language that has been described and analyzed for several centuries. The following is a more or less exhaustive list of 81 important grammars and grammatical sketches (excluding most studies that only address individual features). These have been written in Chinese (27), English (22), French (7), German (12), Hungarian (1), Japanese (3), Latin (2), Polish (1), and Russian (5). One is bilingual (Chinese, Manchu).

Some older grammatical descriptions from Korea are currently inaccessible to me. These have been described in: Lie Hiu. 1972. Die Mandschu-Sprachkunde in Korea. Bloomington: Indiana University Publications.

Several further grammar books produced during Qing dynasty not listed yet are discussed in: Takashi Takekoshi. 2019. Grammatical descriptions of Manchu grammar from the Qing Dynasty. Histoire Epistémologie Langage 41(1). 39-55.

Bibliography

Written Manchu

  1. [French] Abel-Rémusat, Jean-Pierre. 1820. Recherches sur les langues tartares, 89-149. Paris: Imprimerie Royale.
  2. [French] Adam, Lucien. 1873. Grammaire de la langue mandchou. Paris: Maisonneuve.
  3. [Chinese] Aixinjueluo Wulaxichun 爱新觉罗·乌拉熙春. 1983. Manyu yufa 满语语法. Hohot: Neimenggu renmin chubanshe.
  4. [Chinese] Aixinjueluo Yingsheng 爱新觉罗·瀛生. 2004. Manyu zashi 满语杂事. Beijing: Xueyuan chubanshe.
  5. [French] Amiot, Joseph-Marie. 1787. Grammaire tartare-mantchou. Paris: Nyon l’aîné.
  6. [Russian] Avrorin, V. A. 2000. Grammatika man’čžurskogo pis’mennogo jazyka. Saint Petersburg: Nauka.
  7. [Hungarian] Budenz, József. 1886/87. A mandsu nyelv alaktana. Nyelvtudományi Kozlemények 20. 307-319, 380-400, 475-476.
  8. [Chinese] Chaoke, D. O. 朝克, Wang Difei 王敌非 & Wuriqimuge 乌日其木格. 2025. Manyu yanjiu 满语研究. Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe.
  9. [English] Clark, Larry V. 1979/80. Manchu suffix list. Manchu Studies Newsletter 3. 29-40.
  10. [French] de Harlez, Charles. 1884. Manuel de la langue mandchoue. Paris: Maisonneuve.
  11. [German] Doerfer, Gerhard. 1963. Der Numerus im Mandschu. Mainz: Franz Steiner.
  12. [English] Gorelova, Liliya M. 2002. Manchu grammar. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
  13. [German] Haenisch, Erich. 1961. Mandschu-Grammatik mit Lesestücken und 23 Texttafeln. Leipzig: VEB Verlag Enzyklopädie.
  14. [German] Hauer, Erich. 1991. Abriß der manjurischen Grammatik. In Martin Gimm, Giovanni Stary & Michael Weiers (eds.), Aetas Manjurica 2, 117-146. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. (Posthumously published.)
  15. [Italian] Hoffmann, Giovanni. 1883. Grammatica mancese. Firenze: Coi tipi dei successori Le Monnier.
  16. [Japanese] Ikegami Jirō 池上二良. 1999. Manshūgo kenkyū 満洲語研究. Tōkyō: Kyūko Shoin.
  17. [Chinese] Ji Yonghai 季永海. 1986. Manyu yufa 满语语法. Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.
  18. [Chinese] Ji Yonghai 季永海. 2011. Manyu yufa 满语语法. Beijing: Zhongguo minzu daxue chubanshe.
  19. [Latin] Kaulen, Franz. 1856. Linguae mandshuricae institutiones. Regensburg: Manz.
  20. [English] Meadows, Thomas Taylor. 1849. Translations from the Manchu, with the original texts, prefaced by an essay on the language. Canton: Press of S. Wells Williams.
  21. [Chinese] Mu Yejun 穆晔骏. 1981. Jichu manyu gailun 基础满语概论. Harbin: Heilongjiangsheng manyu xuexiban songhuajiang diqu wenwu guan lizhan.
  22. [English] Norman, Jerry. 1965. A grammatical sketch of Manchu. Phi Theta Annual 9. 1-43.
  23. [English] †Norman, Jerry, & Stephen Wadley. 2015. Manchu language. In Rint Sybesma et al. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Chinese language and linguistics online. Brill. DOI
  24. [Russian] Paškov, B. K. 1963. Man’čžurskij jazyk. Moscow: Nauka.
  25. [German] Peeters, Hermes. 1940. Manjurische Grammatik. Monumenta Serica 5. 349-418.
  26. [German] Plath, Heinrich. 1831. Die Völker der Mandschurey, vol. 2, 997-1035. Göttingen: in der Dietrichschen Buchhandlung. (Contains a Manchu sketch.)
  27. [English] Roth Li, Gertraude. 2010. Manchu. A textbook for reading documents, 2nd edn. Honolulu: National Foreign Language Resource Center.
  28. [French] Sinor, Denis. 1968. La langue mandjoue. In Walter Fuchs (ed.), Tungusologie, 257-280. Leiden: Brill.
  29. [Russian] Sunik, O. P. 1997. Man’čžurskij jazyki. In V. M. Alpatov et al. (eds.), Jazyki mira, Mongol’skie jazyki, tunguso-man’čžurskie jazyki, japonskij jazyk, korejskij jazyk, 162-173. Moscow: Indrik.
  30. [Polish] Tulisow, Jerz. 2000. Język mandżurski. Warsaw: Dialog.
  31. [Latin] Verbiest, Ferdinand. 1682. Elementa linguae tartaricae. Paris: Moette.
  32. [French] von der Gabelentz, H. Conon. 1832. Éléments de la grammaire mandchoue. Comptoir de la Littérature: Altenbourg.
  33. [German] von der Gabelentz, H. Conon. 1864. Beiträge zur mandschuischen Conjugationslehre. Zeitschschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 18. 202-219.
  34. [German] von der Gabelentz, H. Georg. 2010 [1880]. Anfangsgründe der Mandschu-Grammatik [Elements of Manchu grammar]. Central Asiatic Journal 54(2). 207–236. (Edited by Martin Gimm.)
  35. [German] von Klaproth, Julius. 1817. Mandshuisch. In Johann Christoph Adelung (eds.), Mithridates oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde mit dem Vater Unser als Sprachprobe in bey nahe fünf hundert Sprachen und Mundarten, vol. 4, 194-224. Berlin: In der Vossischen Buchhandlung.
  36. [English] von Möllendorff, Paul G. 1892. A Manchu grammar with analysed texts. Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press.
  37. [English] Vovin, Alexander. 2024. Written Manchu. In Alexander Vovin, José Andrés Alonso de la Fuente, Juha Janhunen (eds.), The Tungusic languages, 103-138. London: Routledge.
  38. [Japanese] Watanabe Shigetarō 渡部薰太郎. 1918. Mango bunten 満語文典. Mangogaku Sōsho Hakkōkai 満語学叢書発行会.
  39. [Manchu, Chinese] Wuge Shouping & Cheng Mingyuan. 1730. Manju nikan hergen-i Cing wen ki meng bithe / Man han zi Qingwen qimeng 滿漢字清文啓蒙, 4 vols. Beijing.
  40. [English] Wylie, Alexander. 1855. Translation of the Ts’ing wan k’e mung, a Chinese Grammar of the Manchu Tartar Language; with introductory notes on Manchu Literature. Shanghai: London Mission Press.
  41. [Japanese] Kawachi Yoshihiro 河内良弘 & Kiyose Gisaburō N. 淸瀨義三郎則府. 2002. Manshūgo bungo nyūmon 満洲語文語入門. Kyōto: Kyōto Daigaku Gakujutsu Shuppankai.
  42. [Russian] Zakxarov, Ivan. 1879. Grammatika man’čžurskago jzyka. Saint Petersburg: Imperatorskaja Akademija Nauk. (Reprinted 2010.)

Spoken and historical varieties

  1. [Chinese] Aixinjueluo Yingsheng 爱新觉罗·瀛生. 2014. Manyu kouyu yindian 满语口语音典. Beijing: Huayi chubanshe.
  2. [Chinese] Chaoke D. O. 朝克. 2006. Xiandai xiboyu kouyu yanjiu. Beijing: Renmin chubanshe.
  3. [Chinese] Chaoke D. O. 朝克 & Zhao Aping 赵阿平. 2001. Heilongjiang xiandai manyu yanjiu 黑龙江现代满语研究. Harbin: Heilongjiang jiaoyu chubanshe. (Reprint of Mu Yejun’s materials of Alchuka, Bala, Chinese Kyakala, and Jing Manchu.)
  4. [Chinese] Dai Guangyu 戴光宇. 2012. Sanjiazi manyu yuyin yanjiu 三家子满语语音研究. Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe.
  5. [Chinese] Enhebatu 恩和巴图, Merden. 1995. Manyu kouyu yanjiu 满语口语研究. Hohot: Neimonggu daxue chubanshe.
  6. [French] Grube, Wilhelm. 1894. Note préliminaire sur la langue et l’écriture Jou-tchen. T’oung Pao 5(4). 334-340.
  7. [German] Grube, Wilhelm. 1896. Die Sprache und Schrift der Jučen. Leipzig: Kommissionsverlag von O. Harrassowitz.
  8. [English] Hölzl, Andreas. 2021. The only known text from Bala, an extinct Tungusic language. Studia Orientalia Electronica 9(1). 173–191. (Contains lexical and grammatical details concerning Bala.)
  9. [Chinese] Jang, Taeho 张泰镐. 2008. Xiboyu yufa yanjiu 锡伯语语法研究. Kunming: Yunnan minzu chubanshe.
  10. [English] Jang, Taeho. 2020. Xibe and the Manchuric languages. In Martine Robbeets & Alexander Savelyev (eds.), The Oxford guide to the Transeurasian languages, 269-287. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  11. [English] Jang, Taeho & Thomas E. Payne. 2018. The modern spoken Xibe verb system. International Journal of Diachronic Linguistics and Linguistic Reconstruction 15. 147-169. (ed. by Andreas Hölzl & Peter-Arnold Mumm.)
  12. [Chinese] Jin Guangping 金光平 & Jin Qizong 金启孮. 1980. Nüzhen yuyan wenzi yanjiu 女真语言文字研究. Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe.
  13. [Chinese] Jin Qizong 金启孮. 1981. Manzu de lishi yu shenghuo 满族的历史与生活. Heilongjiang renmin chubanshe. (Contains a sketch of Sanjiazi Manchu. There is a German translation from 1984, translated by Giovanni Stary and edited by Hartmut Walravens.)
  14. [German] Kałużyński, Stanisław. 1977. Sibinische Sprachproben. III. Sprachbemerkungen. Rocznik Orientalistyczny 39(1). 35-53.
  15. [English] Kane, Daniel. 1989. The Sino-Jurchen vocabulary of the Bureau of Interpreters. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
  16. [English] Kane, Daniel & Marc Hideo Miyake. 2024. Jurchen. In Alexander Vovin, José Andrés Alonso de la Fuente, Juha Janhunen (eds.), The Tungusic languages, 76-102. London: Routledge.
  17. [English] Kim Juwon, Ko Dongho, Chao Ke D. O., Han Youfeng, Piao Lianyu & B. V. Boldyrev. 2008. Materials of Spoken Manchu. Seoul: Seoul National University Press.
  18. [English] Kiyose, Gisaburo N. 1977. A study of the Jurchen language and script: Reconstruction and decipherment. Kyōto: Shōwado.
  19. [Chinese] Li Shulan 李树兰. 1979. Xiboyu gaikuang 锡伯语概况. Minzu yuwen 民族语文 3. 221-232.
  20. [Chinese] Li Shulan 李树兰. 1984a. Xiboyu jianzhi 锡伯语简志. Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.
  21. [Chinese] Li Shulan 李树兰. 2007. Xiboyu 锡伯语. In Sun Hongkai 孙宏开 Hu Zengyi 胡增益 & Huang Xing 黄行 (eds.), Zhongguo de yuyan 中国的语言, 1989-2016. Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan.
  22. [Chinese] Li Shulan 李树兰, Zhong Qian 仲谦 & Wang Qingfeng 王庆丰. 1984. Xiboyu kouyu yanjiu 锡伯语口语研究. Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.
  23. [German] Menges, Karl. H. 1968. Die tungusischen Sprachen. In Walter Fuchs et al. (eds.), Handbuch der Orientalistik, vol. 1(5.3): Tungusologie, 21-256. Leiden: Brill. (Contains a sketch of Jurchen.)
  24. [German] Menges, Karl H. 1971. Zu einigen Charakteristika des gesprochenen Manzu. Central Asiatic Journal 15. 29-54.
  25. [English] Miyake, Marc. 2017. Jurchen language. In Rint Sybesma et al. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Chinese language and linguistics, 5 vols., 478-480. Leiden: Brill.
  26. [Chinese] Mu Yejun 穆晔骏. 1986. Alechuka manyu de shuci yu gezhuci. Manyu yanjiu 满语研究 1986(2). 2-17.
  27. [Chinese] Mu Yejun 穆晔骏. 1987. Balayu. Manyu yanjiu 满语研究 1987(2). 2-31, 128. (Contains lexical and grammatical details concerning Alchuka, Bala, and Chinese Kyakala.)
  28. [English] Norman, Jerry. 1974. A Sketch of Sibe morphology. Central Asiatic Journal 18. 159-174.
  29. [Russian] Pevnov, A. M. 1997. Čžurženskij jazyk. In V. M. Alpatov et al. (eds.), Jazyki mira, Mongol’skie jazyki, tunguso-man’čžurskie jazyki, japonskij jazyk, korejskij jazyk, 260-267. Moscow: Indrik.
  30. [Chinese] Sameng 萨蒙, Yierhanzhi 伊尔罕芝, Guo Xiangyang 郭向阳 & Xie Wei 谢巍. 2010. Xiboyu tonglun 锡伯语通论. Ürümqi: Xinjiang renmin chubanshe.
  31. [Chinese] Sun Bojun 孙伯君. 2004. Jindai nüzhenyu 金代女真语. Shenyang: Liaoning minzu chubanshe.
  32. [Chinese] Wang Qingfeng 王庆丰. 1984. Aihui manyu gaikuang 爱辉满语概况. Minzu yuwen 民族语文 5. 55-66.
  33. [Chinese] Wang Qingfeng 王庆丰. 2005. Manyu yanjiu 满语研究. Beijing: Minzu chubanshe. (A description of the Aihui dialect.)
  34. [Chinese] Wang Qingfeng 王庆丰. 2007. Manyu 满语. In Sun Hongkai 孙宏开 Hu Zengyi 胡增益 & Huang Xing 黄行 (eds.), Zhongguo de yuyan 中国的语言, 1973-1988. Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan.
  35. [Chinese] Zhao Jie 赵杰. 1989. Xiandai manyu yanjiu 现代满语研究. Beijing: Minzu chubanshe. (A description of the Yibuqi dialect.)
  36. [English] Zikmundová, Veronika. 2013. Spoken Sibe. Morphology of the inflected parts of speech. Prague: Karolinum.
  37. [English] Zikmundová, Veronika. 2015. Sibe language. In Rint Sybesma et al. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Chinese language and linguistics online. Brill. DOI
  38. [English] Zikmundová, Veronika. 2024. Sibe. In Alexander Vovin, José Andrés Alonso de la Fuente, Juha Janhunen (eds.), The Tungusic languages, 483-500. London: Routledge.
  39. [English] Zikmundová, Veronika & Gao Wa. 2024. Spoken Manchu. In Alexander Vovin, José Andrés Alonso de la Fuente, Juha Janhunen (eds.), The Tungusic languages, 463-482. London: Routledge.