Graph choice and manuscript-internal organisation in a 1921 Jinshang Chinese–Mongolian trade glossary and phrasebook: <i>Waiguo Huaben</i>

This study examines the Chinese – Mongolian section of a privately compiled booklet dated 1921, 外國話本 (Waiguo Huaben ‘Foreign-language Phrasebook’), produced in the context of frontier commerce by Shanxi (Jinshang) merchants. The dataset consists of 155 records drawn from this single manuscript compilation. Adopting a manuscript-grounded, distributional approach, the study treats Chinese-character transcription as a system of graph choice and manuscript-internal organisation, rather than as direct evidence for phonological reconstruction or for identifying a single spoken variety. The lexical content is organised around recurring domains compatible with trade-mediated interaction, including quantities and money, trade goods, mobility, basic needs, and negotiation routines. The analysis further identifies recurrent, position-sensitive regularities in graph selection that function as consultation-oriented cues for segmentation and recognition, with stable conventions in initial position and patterned distributions in closing position, including word-internal and word-final environments. Together, these findings suggest that, in Waiguo Huaben, a small core inventory of graphs is deployed as consultation-oriented signals. The manuscript supports an interpretation of Waiguo Huaben as a compact reference tool suited to retrieval and reuse in commercial contexts. Throughout this study, ‘Mongolian’ is used strictly as a manuscript-internal label and does not imply linguistic, dialectological, or historical classification.