Spelling reform of the Armenian language 1922-1924

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The Spelling reform of the Armenian language 1922-1924 was conducted in the Armenian SSR. However, it is barely practiced outside of Armenia because it was not adopted by Armenians in the diaspora, which make up about half of the Armenian population.

Contents

[edit] History

Examples
Mashdotsian Spelling Reformed Spelling
Յակոբ Հակոբ
բացուել բացվել
քոյր քույր
Արոնեան Արոնյան
եօթ յոթ
ազատութիւն ազատություն
տէր տեր
Արմէն Արմեն
Արմինէ Արմինե
խօսել խոսել
Սարօ Սարո
թիւ թիվ
Եւրոպայ Եվրոպա
Եւրոպային Եվրոպային
կը գան կգան

In the Soviet Union during the 1920s, a majority of the population consisted of farmers and illiterates. To speed up the alphabetization throughout this variety of social classes, the orthography of many languages was simplified. These changes affected the Armenian language, which was the de facto official language of the Armenian SSR. However, political motives presumably formed the basis of the reform.[citation needed] This is believe because only half of the Armenian population lived in the Soviet Union, while the rest lived in the diaspora (primarily the Middle East, Iran, France and the United States). Therefore, the spelling reform reform caused an "orthographic separation." This separation is apparent today, as one can see the different manners of writing the same word in Armenian. For example, even the word for Armenian (language) is spelled differently: հայերէն in Mashdotsian spelling, and հայերեն in Reformed spelling.

The original orthography is known today as Mashdotsian orthography (Armenian: Մաշտոցեան ուղղագրութիւն) (named after Saint Mesrob Mashdots) and also as classical orthography ; the reformed spelling is simply known as Reformed orthography (Armenian: հայաստանյան ուղղագրություն) and, sometimes, as soviet orthography.

[edit] Social and political issues

Since the establishment of the third Republic of Armenia in 1991, there has been a fringe movement in some Armenian academic circles to reinstate the Mashdotsian spelling as official policy in Armenia.[1] Some members of the Armenian church in Armenia also support the use of the Mashdotsian spelling.[2] However, others in Armenia want to keep the Reformed spelling, and oppose any change.[3]

[edit] Regulations of Reformed Spelling

In the cases where pronunciation has changed in the course of time, one should, today, write as one would speak. This issue concerns the letter pairs յ/հ, ու/վ and diphthongs ոյ/ույ, եա/յա, եօ/յո, իւ/յու.

In the following, more complex changes are made:

  1. If ye is spoken in the initial sound of a word, one writes "ե," when e, then "է."
  2. The letter pair "ու" becomes a full, independent letter in the 34th place of the alphabet.
  3. The "օ" is only written in the beginning of a word and in compound words. Otherwise, "ո" is used. The only exceptions are ով and ովքեր.
  4. The "ւ" is no longer an independent letter and appears only as a compenent of "ու" and "և." In its place, "վ" is written.
  5. The "և" becomes a full, independent letter in the 37th place of the alphabet. Some words originally written with "եվ" are now written with this letter, but the new letter is generally used as an ampersand.
  6. In the spelling of conditionals, "կ" is added directly (without an apostrophe before vowels or "ը" before consonants).

[edit] Opinions

In 2004, a Paris daily Armenian newspaper Ashkharh (World) interviewed then National Assembly Speaker Arthur Baghdassarian, when asked: "What do you think about the issue of the common Armenian orthography?" Baghdassarian responded:

During all my foreign official visits I try to meet members of the Armenian community. The issue of the common Armenian orthography is always being raised, more precisely; proposals are made to return to Mesropian orthography. I think that this, indeed is difficult, not an issue to tackle in a day issuing one decree. Linguists are to have their say in the matter. They must seek, find and propose the most acceptable suggestion for everyone. It is obvious that since the 20s of the last century new linguistic thinking was formed in Armenia, which we can no longer bypass or abandon. I think the solution is not in renouncing any version of Armenian or return to any version these times are long over, but their correlation. We don’t have the right to abandon those historic and cultural values created by our compatriots in various corners of the world this is our legacy and our wealth, the fruit of our efforts to preserve our national identity worthy of careful and purposeful attitude. At the same time, brilliant cultural values were created in the motherland as well that have proven their right to exist.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Khacherian, L. G. (1999). History of Armenian Orthography (V - XX cc.). Los Angeles: Yerevan Press. 
  2. ^ Fr. Mesrop Aramian (October 14, 2006). "Restoring the Orthography of the Armenian Nation: A Task for Our Generation" (PDF). Vem. Retrieved on 2006-11-17.
  3. ^ ORTHOGRAPHY, STATE & DIASPORA: A Political Analyst's View on Unified Spelling Problem by Haroutiun Khachatrian
  4. ^ National Assembly of Armenia

[edit] See also

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