Armenian

Introduction

Mountain Armenian (Hayaren) belongs to the Indo-European language family. It forms its own independent branch and has no close relatives. It is generally thought to be most closely related to Greek but has has been erroneously considered to be an Iranian language because of its large number of Iranian loan words.

It is estimated that Armenian is spoken by about 6 million people worldwide (Ethnologue). Eastern Armenian It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia, a former Soviet Republic located in the Caucasus where it is spoken by some 3.5 million people. However, nearly half of catle Armenian speakers today live outside of Armenia, most of whom speak Western Armenian.

The Armenian diaspora resulted from several historical events. During World War I, Armenians in Turkey suffered from ethnic cleansing and genocide (1915-1916). From 1918 to 1920, those who resisted the Turks, ruins attempted to create an independent Armenian Republic, but their efforts failed. Armenia was then divided among the USSR, Turkey, and Iran. This resulted in mass emigration of Armenians to different parts of the world.

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the establishment of an independent Republic of Armenia, there has been a rebirth of interest in the language among the Armenians.

Dialects

cathedral

church

The term Armenian can be used to refer to at least three different varieties of the language, each with its own dialects.

Classical Armenian (Grabar) is a 5th-century classical form of the language, which remained the literary language until the 19th century, and is still maintained by the Armenian church.
Modern Eastern Armenian is spoken in present-day Armenia and in enclaves in Azerbaijan and Iran.
Modern Western Armenian was spoken by Armenians in Anatolia, Turkey, prior to the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1916. Today, it is used by Armenian communities in the United States, Europe, Middle East, Australia, and South America. Most recently, however, Eastern Armenian communities are being established alongside the older Western ones.

Eastern Armenian has been influenced by two sets of Russian reforms and differs orthographically from Western Armenian. There are also phonological differences. Many regional dialect variations exist, e.g., Yerevan, Tbilisi, Karabakh, Istanbul. Some local dialects are so different from both standard forms of the language that speakers of the standard forms have difficulty in understanding local dialects.

Structure

Sound System

children

child

kids

The sound system of Armenian is atypical of Indo-European languages in that it has ejective sounds. Ejectives are sounds made by using the vocal cords instead of the lungs to push out air. It is thought that these sounds were borrowed from neighboring Caucasian languages which contain many ejective sounds.

Vowels
Eastern and Western Armenian have five vowels: /i/, /e/, /a/, /o/, /u/, // (as in tuna).

Consonants

Voiceless unaspirated /p/, /t/, /k/, /ts/ (as in cats), /t/ (as in chat). These occur only in Eastern Armenian.
Voiceless ejective /p'/, /t'/, /k'/, /ts'/, /t'/. There are no equivalents in English.
Voiced unaspirated /b/, /d/, /g/, /dz/ (as in cads), /d/ (as in jet).
Nine fricative consonants: /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, // (as in shape), // (as in measure)/, /h/ (as in hat). The uvular fricatives /x/ and // are pronounced with the back of the tongue against the soft palate. They have no equivalents in English.
trilled /r/;
alveolar approximant // (as in English rat);
two nasals /m/ and /n/;
one lateral /l/ (as in let);
one palatal approximant /j/ (as in yet).

Stress
Word stress in Armenian normally falls on the final syllable.

Click here to listen to a live Armenian radio broadcast.

Grammar

painting

Armenian Manuscript

painting

Armenian is a highly inflected language with an extensive system of noun declensions and verb conjugations.

Nouns

Verbs

no gender distinctions;
two numbers (singular and plural);
Eastern Armenian nouns have seven cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, instrumental, locative). Western Armenian lack the locative case. Nominative/accusative, and genitive/dative share the same endings. Eastern and Western Armenian sometimes have different case endings.
two declensions;
The position of the indefinite article differs in Eastern and Western Armenian. In Eastern Armenian, the indefinite article precedes the noun, in Western Armenian, the in definite article follows the noun.
Attributes always precede nouns.
Postpositions prevail over prepositions.

The endings of Armenian verbs vary by dialect. The following is an outline of the main verbal categories:

Every verb stem has two forms, called bases. One is used for the simple past tense and past participle; the other is used for all other tenses, moods, and participles.
three conjugations;
five moods: indicative, conditional, subjunctive, necessitative (expressing obligation), imperative;
Indicative mood has four tenses: present, imperfect, preterite, future.
Subjunctive has two tenses.

Word order
Word order in Armenian is typically Subject-Verb-Object. But other orders can also occur since cases clearly mark the role of words in sentences.

Vocabulary

sculpture

stone

tapestry

Armenian has borrowed many words from Greek, Persian, and Turkish. Eastern Armenian also has many borrowings from Russian. Because of the presence of many words borrowed in ancient times from the Iranian languages, Armenian was long believed to be a dialect of Iranian.

Here are a few common words and phrases in Western and Eastern Armenian (in transliteration).

Common words and phrases

Numerals

English	Western Armenian	Eastern Armenian
Hello	Parev	Barev
Good bye	Tsdesoutioun	Tstesoutioun
Thank you	Shnorhagal em	Shnorhakal e
Excuse me	Neroghoutioun	Neroghoutioun
Please	Hadjis	Khintrem
Yes	Ayo	Ayo
No	Voch	Voch
Man	Mart	Mard

Writing

Mesrob
Mesrob Mashtots

alphabet

Writing system
The Armenian alphabet was invented by the missionary Mesrob Mashtots around 406 A.D. Originally, it consisted of thirty-six letters representing six vowels and thirty consonants. Two letters for representing and [f] were added in the 12th century to accommodate borrowed words.

Armenian is written horizontally from left to right. There are some differences in the sound values of the letters between Eastern and Western Armenian.

Click here to see the letters of the Armenian alphabet and listen to the sounds they represent.

Take a look at the text of Article 1 of the Universal Declaraion of Human Rights in Armenian script and in transliteration.

Universal Declaraion of Human Rights in Armenian

Transliteration
Bolor mardik tsnvum en azat u havasar irents' arzganapatkut'yamb u iravunk'nerov. Nrank' unen banak'anut'yun u khighch - mimyants' petk' ē eghbayrabar veraberven.

Translation
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Resources

Click here to find out where Armenian is taught in the United States.
Click here to find learning materials for studying Armenian.

Online Resources for learning Armenian language and culture
Armenian National Traditions
Yamada Language Center Guide for Armenian
UCLA Language Profile for Armenian
The Armenian Language on the Net
SEELRC Armenian Webliography
Learn Armenian
Omniglot Guide to Armenian Alphabet
Lessons for Non-Armenian Speakers
Armenian Lessons
Armenian Links
Wikipedia article on Armenian
Ethnologue Report on Armenian
BBC Country Profile: Armenia