In this paper, descriptions of the history and present situation of the Uighur origin scripts are given: The scripts described here are the Uighur script, which was developed from the cursive Sogdian script in the eighth to ninth centuries and which served as the official written script of the Eastern Turkic world; the Mongolian script, which was derived from the Uighur script and became the official script of the Mongolian empire from the beginning of the thirteenth century; the Todo script of the Oyirad Mongols, which was developed from the Mongolian script in the seventeenth century; and the Vagindra script of the Buryad Mongols of the early twentieth century, which was an improved version of the Mongolian and the Todo script. The Manchu script, which derives from the Mongolian script at the end of the sixteenth century to serve as the official written script of the empire until the early twentieth century, and the Sibe script, which originated from the Manchu script in the middle of the twentieth century are also introduced.
Observations are made of the process of the continuous improvement of the each script for a better recording of each affiliated language. Also discussed are the great contributions of these scripts to the development of the spiritual and the material culture of the speakers of affiliated languages. The “reversed direction influence” of the Manchu script on the Mongolian script is briefly mentioned; the Manchu script successfully cleared the ambiguity of the latter, via the alteration and addition of letters, and by the consistent use of diacritical signs. The Mongolian script applied the Manchu solution to remove its ambiguity related to it.
Observations are also made of the situation in which most of the Uighur origin scripts stopped being used after their centuries long service, as the official scripts of the empires, or when they arrived at the most reasonable or the highest stages of development. Instead of inherent problems with the writing systems, but chanes in the political and religious environments, changes in the numbers of speakers of the affiliated languages, and the national policies of each country are pointed out as causes of the decline of the use of these scripts. The fact that only a small portion of the population was literate at the time is also indicated as a factor influencing this trend.
Efforts of the Mongolian government, parliament, and experts to transfer from the Cyrillic alphabet, which they have been using since 1946, to the traditional Mongolian script are briefly introduced. The suggestion is advanced carefully to observe and study the process of carrying out the script policies of this country, where the general sentiments of the people are not in agreement with the policy because they are fully accustomed to the Cyrillic script after 70 years of use.

이 글에서는 8~9세기 필기체 소그드 문자에서 비롯되어 14세기까지 동부 튀르크어 세계의 공용문자 구실을 맡았던 위구르 문자, 위구르 문자에서 파생되어 13세기 초 제국의 글자가 된 몽골 문자, 몽골 문자에서 17세기 중반에 파생된 오이라드 몽골의 토도 문자, 그리고 몽골 문자와 토도 문자를 참고하여 20세기 초에 만든 부리야드 몽골의 바긴드라 문자 등 몽골어 계통의 문자들에 대해 소개한다. 16세기 말 몽골 문자에서 파생되어 20세기 초까지 제국의 글자로 사용된 만주 문자와 20세기 중반 만주 문자에서 파생된 시버 문자에 대해서도 소개한다.
이들 문자들이 각각 소속 언어를 표기하기 위해 지속적으로 개량되는 과정과 그 언중들의 정신 및 물질 문화 발전에 크게 이바지한 면을 간략하게 살펴본다. 몽골 문자에서 파생되어 나간 만주 문자가 글자의 변형과 추가, 부가 기호의 일관된 사용을 통해 모호성을 해결하고, 몽골 문자가 그것을 본받아 모호성을 해소하게 되는 “역방향 영향”에 대해서도 언급한다. 이러한 문자들이 길게는 수백 년 간 제국의 또는 언어권 전체의 공용 문자로 사용되다가 가장 합리적이고 간편한 상태로 발전한 단계에서 사용이 중지되는 상황을 살펴보고, 1946년부터 사용하기 시작한 키릴 문자에서 벗어나 전통의 몽골 문자로 돌아가기 위한 몽골 정부와 국회, 학계의 노력에 대해 간략하게 소개한다.