Armenian language

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Armenian Հայերեն Hayeren
Spoken in:	Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh (de facto a republic, de-jure part of Azerbaijan), and the Armenian diaspora
Total speakers:	5.5 million [1]
Ranking:	87
Language family:	Indo-European  Armenian
Writing system:	Armenian alphabet
Official status
Official language in:	Armenia  Nagorno-Karabakh (de jure part of Azerbaijan)
Regulated by:	National Academy of Sciences of Armenia
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	hy
ISO 639-2:	arm (B)	hye (T)
ISO 639-3:	hye
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

The Armenian language (հայերեն լեզու, IPA: [hajɛɹɛn lɛzu] — hayeren lezu, conventional short form hayeren) is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as Nagorno-Karabakh (a de facto republic but de-jure part of Azerbaijan). The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora. It has its own script, the Armenian alphabet.

Linguists typically classify Armenian as an independent branch of the Indo-European language family.^[2][3] Some Indo-Europeanists, notably Clackson (1994), have proposed that Armenian may have been grouped together with the Hellenic branch (Greek). This is called the Graeco-Armenian Hypothesis, in combination with a Graeco-Aryan hypothesis (Renfrew, Clackson and Fortson 1994).

Contents 1 History 1.1 Origins 1.1.1 Graeco-Armenian hypothesis 1.1.2 Speculations on Anatolian influence 1.2 Iranian influence 2 Phonology 2.1 Vowels 2.2 Consonants 3 Morphology 3.1 Noun 3.2 Verb 4 Dialects 5 Historical Armenian dialects 6 Words borrowed from other languages 7 Indo-European linguistic comparison 8 See also 9 Footnotes 10 References 11 External links

History

History of the Armenian language (see also: Armenian alphabet)

Proto-Armenian Graeco-Armenian hypothesis

Classical Armenian (from 405)

Middle Armenian (c. 1100–1700)

Modern Armenian (c. 1820 to present) Eastern Armenian Western Armenian

Origins

Main article: Proto-Armenian

See also: Armenian hypothesis

The Armenian language dates to the early period of Indo-European differentiation and dispersion some 5000 years ago, or perhaps as early as 7,800 years ago according to some recent research.^[4]

Graeco-Armenian hypothesis

Main article: Graeco-Armenian hypothesis

Armenian is regarded by some linguists as a close relative of Phrygian. Many scholars such as Clackson (1994) hold that Greek is the most closely related surviving language to Armenian. The characteristically Greek representation of word-initial laryngeals by prothetic vowels is shared by Armenian, which also shares other phonological and morphological peculiarities of Greek. The close relatedness of Armenian and Greek sheds light on the paraphyletic nature of the Centum-Satem isogloss. Armenian also shares major isoglosses with Greek; some linguists propose that the linguistic ancestors of the Armenians and Greeks were either identical or in a close contact relation. However other linguists including Fortson (2004) comment "by the time we reach our earliest Armenian records in the 5th century A.D., the evidence of any such early kinship has been reduced to a few tantalizing pieces."

Speculations on Anatolian influence

Indo-European topics
Indo-European languages
Albanian · Armenian · Baltic Celtic · Germanic · Greek Indo-Iranian (Indo-Aryan, Iranian) Italic · Slavic   extinct: Anatolian · Paleo-Balkans (Dacian, Phrygian, Thracian) · Tocharian
Indo-European peoples
Albanians · Armenians Balts · Celts · Germanic peoples Greeks · Indo-Aryans Iranians · Latins · Slavs historical: Anatolians (Hittites, Luwians) Celts (Galatians, Gauls) · Germanic tribes Illyrians · Italics  · Sarmatians Scythians  · Thracians  · Tocharians Indo-Iranians (Rigvedic tribes, Iranian tribes)
Proto-Indo-Europeans
Language · Society · Religion
Urheimat hypotheses
Kurgan hypothesis Anatolia · Armenia · India · PCT
Indo-European studies

W. M. Austin in 1942 concluded^[5] that there was an early contact between Armenian and Anatolian languages, based on what he considered common archaisms, such as the lack of a feminine, the absence of inherited long vowels and the centum character.

Iranian influence

The Classical Armenian language (often referred to as Grabar, literally "written (language)") imported numerous words from Middle Iranian languages, primarily Parthian, and contains smaller inventories of borrowings from Greek, Syriac, Latin, and autochthonous languages such as Urartian. Middle Armenian (11th–15th centuries AD) incorporated further loans from Arabic, Turkish, Persian, and Latin, and the modern dialects took in hundreds of additional words from Modern Turkish and Persian. Therefore, determining the historical evolution of Armenian is particularly difficult because Armenian borrowed many words from Parthian and Persian (both Iranian languages) as well as from Greek.

The large percentage of loans from Iranian languages initially led linguists to classify Armenian as an Iranian language. The distinctness of Armenian was only recognized when Hübschmann (1875) used the comparative method to distinguish two layers of Iranian loans from the true Armenian vocabulary. The two modern literary dialects, Western (originally associated with writers in the Ottoman Empire) and Eastern (originally associated with writers in the Russian Empire), removed almost all of their Turkish lexical influences in the 20th century, primarily following the Armenian Genocide.

Phonology

Vowels

Part of the series on Armenians Հայեր Armenian culture Architecture · Art Cuisine · Dance · Dress Literature · Music Religion By country or region Armenia · Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian diaspora Subgroups Hamshenis · Cherkesogai Religion Armenian Apostolic Church Armenian Catholic Church · Armenian Evangelical Church Languages and dialects Armenian Eastern Armenian · Western Armenian Armenian History Persecution Armenian Genocide · Hamidian massacres · Adana massacre · Anti-Armenianism v • d • e

Modern Armenian has eight monophthong vowel sounds.

	Front		Central	Back
	Unrounded	Rounded		Unrounded	Rounded
Close	i	ʏ			u
Mid	ɛ	œ	ə		o
Open				ɑ

Classical Armenian distinguishes seven vowels: /a/ (ա), /ɪ/ (ի), /ə/ (ը), /ɛ/ (ե), /e/ (է), /o/ (ո and օ) and /u/ (ու) (transcribed as a, i, ë, e, ē, o/ò, and ow respectively).

Consonants

The following table lists the Eastern Armenian consonantal system. The occlusives and affricates have a special aspirated series (transcribed with a Greek spiritus asper after the letter): p῾, t῾, c῾, č῾, k῾. Each phoneme in the table is represented by three symbols. The topmost indicates the phoneme's pronunciation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA); below that appears the corresponding letter of the Armenian alphabet; and the bottom symbol is its Latin-alphabet transliteration (according to ISO 9985).

	bilabial	labio- dental	alveolar	post- alveolar	palatal	velar / uvular	glottal
plosive	p  b պ  բ p  b		t  d տ  դ t  d			k  g կ  գ k  g
aspirated plosive	pʰ փ p‘		tʰ թ t‘			kʰ ք k‘
nasal	m մ m		n ն n
fricative		f  v ֆ  վ f  v	s  z ս  զ s  z	ʃ  ʒ շ  ժ š  ž		χ  ʁ խ  ղ x  ġ	h հ h
affricate			t͡s  d͡z ծ  ձ ç  j	t͡ʃ  t͡ʒ ճ  ջ č̣  ǰ
aspirated affricate			t͡sʰ ց c‘	t͡ʃʰ չ č
approximant			ɹ ր r		j -յ- y
trill			r ռ ṙ
lateral approximant			l լ l

Morphology

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

Armenian corresponds with other Indo-European languages in its structure, but it shares distinctive sounds and features of its grammar with neighboring languages of the Caucasus region. Armenian is rich in combinations of consonants. Both classical Armenian and the modern spoken and literary dialects have a complicated system of declining nouns, with six or seven noun cases but no gender. In modern Armenian the use of auxiliary verbs to show tense (comparable to will in "he will go") has generally supplemented the inflected verbs of classical Armenian. Negative verbs are conjugated differently from positive ones (as in English "he goes" and "he does not go"). Grammatically, early forms of Armenian had much in common with classical Greek and Latin, but the modern language, like modern Greek, has undergone many transformations. With time the Armenian language made a transition from a synthetic language (Old Armenian or Grabar) to a typical analytic language (Modern Armenian) with Middle Armenian as a midpoint in this transition.

Lord Byron studied the Armenian language. He helped to compile an Armenian grammar textbook and translated a few Armenian books into English.

Noun

Classical Armenian has no grammatical gender, not even in the pronoun. The nominal inflection, however, preserves several types of inherited stem classes. The noun may take seven cases, nominative, accusative, locative, genitive, dative, ablative, instrumental. Interestingly enough, it shares the common -tion noun-forming suffix with Latin (the Armenian cognate is t'yown, թյուն).

Verb

Main article: Armenian verbs

Verbs in Armenian have an expansive system of conjugation with two main verb types (three in Western Armenian) changing form based on tense, mood and aspect.

Dialects

The major division is between the Eastern and Western dialects. The most distinctive feature of Western Armenian is that it has undergone several phonetic mergers; these may be due to proximity to Arabic and Turkish-speaking communities.

For example, Eastern Armenian speakers pronounce (թ) as an aspirated "t" as in "tiger", (դ) like the "d" in "develop", and (տ) as an unaspirated voiceless stop, sounding somewhere between the two as in "stop." Western Armenian has simplified the stop system into a simple division between voiced stops and voiceless aspirate ones; the first series corresponds to the unaspirated voiceless series of Eastern Armenian, and the second corresponds to the Eastern voiced and aspirated voiceless series. Thus, the Western dialect pronounces both (թ) and (դ) as an aspirated "t" as in "tiger," and the (տ) letter is pronounced like the letter "d" as in "develop."

There is no precise linguistic border between one dialect and another because there is nearly always a dialect transition zone of some size between pairs of geographically identified dialects). The main difference between both blocks are:

• Western Armenian (Arevm'tahayeren):
  • example
• Eastern Armenian (Arevelahayeren):
  • example

Armenian can be subdivided in two major dialectal blocks and those blocks into individual dialects, though many of the Western Armenian dialects have died due to the effects of the Armenian Genocide. In addition, neither dialect is completely homogeneous: any dialect can be subdivided into several subdialects. While Western and Eastern Armenian are often described as different dialects of the same language, some subdialects are not readily mutually intelligible. It is true, however, that a fluent speaker of two greatly varying subdialects who are exposed to the other dialect over even a short period of time will be able to understand the other with relative ease.

English - Eastern Armenian

• Yes = Ayo (այո)
• No = Oč (ոչ)
• Excuse me = Neroġowt'iown (ներողություն)
• Hello = Barev (բարեւ)
• How are you(formal) = Vonts ek (վո՞նց եք)
• What's up = Inch ca chca (ի՞նչ կա չկա)
• Please = Xndrem (խնդրեմ)
• Thank you = Šnorhakal em (շնորհակալ եմ)
• Thank you very much = Šat šnorhakal em (շատ շնորհակալ եմ)
• Welcome = Bari galowst (բարի գալուստ)
• Goodbye = C'tesowt'iown (ցտեսություն)
• Good morning = Bari lowys (բարի լույս)
• Good afternoon = Bari òr (բարի օր)
• Good evening = Bari ereko (բարի երեկո)
• Good night = Bari gišer (բարի գիշեր)
• I love you = Es sirowm em k'ez (ես սիրում եմ քեզ)
• I am Armenian = Es hay em (Ես Հայ եմ)

English - Western Armenian

• Yes = Ayo (այո)
• No = Oč (ոչ)
• Excuse me = Neroġowt'iown (ներողութիւն)
• Hello = Parev (բարեւ)
• Please = Xntrem (խնդրեմ)
• Thank you = Šnorhagal em (շնորհակալ եմ)
• Thank you very much = Šad šnorhagal em (շատ շնորհակալ եմ)
• Welcome = Pari egar / Pari egak (բարի եկար / բարի եկաք)
• Goodbye = C'desowt'iown (ցտեսութիւն)
• Good morning = Pari lowys (բարի լոյս)
• Good afternoon = Pari òr (բարի օր)
• Good evening = Parirgown / Pari irigown (բարի իրկուն / բարի իրիկուն)
• Good night = Kišer pari (գիշեր բարի)

Historical Armenian dialects

In 1909, linguist Herachyah Adjarian surveyed many of the Armenian dialects in what is now present day Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Iran, and other surrounding countries settled by Armenians. Unlike the traditional dialect division of Armenian into western and eastern dialects, Adjarian divided Armenian into three main dialects based on which indicative particles are used. He labeled them as the -owm dialects, gë dialects, and -el dialects. These three major dialects were further divided in sub-dialects.

-owm Dialects:

• 1. Yerevan, Doğubeyazit, Tabriz (Kala and Lilava quarters), Gavar, Kamo
• 2. Tbilisi (Havlabar quarter)
• 3. Shusha, Ganja, Shaki, Baku, Derbent, Agstafa, Dilijan, Vanadzor, Qazakh, Lori, Karadagh, Mujumbar, Tabriz (Lilava quarter), Burdur, Ödemiş
• 4. Shamaki, Quba
• 5. Astrakhan
• 6. Julfa, Isfahan (New Julfa quarter), Shiraz, Hamadan, Bushehr, Tehran, Qazvin, Rasht, Bandar-e Anzali
• 7. Aşağı Əylis, Çǝnǝnǝb, Yuxarı Əylis, Yuxarı Əndǝli, Danagyrt, Urmis, Dasta, Kyalaki

gë Dialects:

• 1. Erzerum, Kars, Gyumri, Akhalkalaki, Akhaltsikhe
• 2. Muş, Sason, Bitlis, Hizan, Ahlat, Erciş, Bulanık, Malazgirt, Hinis, Eleşkirt, Aparan, Eshtia, Ujmana, Toria, Martuni
• 3. Van, Diadin, Mukus, Buşkale, Çatak, Basargecher
• 4. Diyarbakır, Lice, Hazro, Kozluk, Hizan, Siverek, Şanlıurfa
• 5. Elazığ, Erzincan, Palu, Bingöl, Çemişgezek, Akpazar, Kigi, Tunceli, Kemah
• 6. Şebinkarahisar, Akıncılar
• 7. Trabzon, Bayburt, Gümüşhane, Giresun
• 8. Hemşin, Trabzon, Ünye, Fatsa, Terme, Çarşamba, Samsun, Sukhumi, Sochi, Mtsara, Tsebelda, Adler, Shapsugskaya
• 9. Malatya, Adıyaman
• 10. Saimbeyli, Süleymanlı, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, İskenderun, Yakacik, Samandağ
• 11. Aramo
• 12. Arapgir, Divriği, Gürün, Darende, Kayseri, Yozgat
• 13. Kemaliye
• 14. Sivas
• 15. Tokat, Amasya, Merzifon, Ordu, Samsun, Sinop
• 16. İzmir
• 17. İzmit, Adapazarı, Yalova, Bahçecik, Geyve, İznik, Pazarköy, Karamürsel, Aslanbey, Ortaköy, Sölöz, Benli
• 18. Istanbul
• 19. Tekirdağ, Malkara
• 20. Nor Nakhichevan, Rostov-on-Don, Stavropol, Krasnodar, Dnipropetrovsk, Anapa, Maykop, Taganrog, Prymorsk, Novocherkassk, Dneprovskaya
• 21. Poland, Bukovina, Transylvania, Hungary
• 22. Jerusalem (K'aġak'ac'i dialect), not in Adjarian but mentioned by Vaux as likely coming from Cilicia

-el Dialects:

• 1. Maragheh
• 2. Khoy, Maku, Iğdir, Kori, Alighuli, Mughanjugh, Karashen, Alilu, Angeghakot, Ghushchi, Tazakend, Uz, Mazra, Balak, Shaghat, Ltsen, Sisian, Nerkin Kilisa
• 3. Artvin, Ardahan, Ardanuç, Oltu

Words borrowed from other languages

• պակա (paka) -- "Goodbye" from Russian пока
• եմիշ (emiš) -- "melon" from Turkish yemiş
• ալլո (allo) -- "Hello" on the phone, from French allô and many other languages
• մերսի (mersi) -- sometimes said as "thank you", from French merci

These are just a sample of the words that are borrowed from other languages. Especially in Eastern Armenian there are many borrowed Russian words because of Armenia being under the Soviet Union a long period of time. This caused the Russian language to gain influence on the Armenian language. When you drive around Yerevan today you will still recognize many Russian influences in the country like a sign of gas will be in Russian "газ" (gaz).

Indo-European linguistic comparison

Armenian is an Indo-European language, and so many of its Proto-Indo-European-descended words are cognates of words in other Indo-European languages such as English, Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit. This table lists only some of the more recognizable cognates that Armenian shares with English (more specifically, with English words descended from the Old English(Anglo-Saxon) language). (Source: Online Etymology Dictionary.^[6])

Armenian	English	Latin	Classical and Hellenistic Greek	Sanskrit	PIE
mayr "mother"	mother (< OE mōdor)	māter "mother"	mētēr "mother"	mātṛ "mother"	*máH₂ter- "mother"
hayr "father"	father (< OE fæder)	pater "father"	patēr "father"	pitṛ "father"	*pH₂tér- "father"
eġbayr "brother"	brother (< OE brōþor[7])	frāter "brother"	phrātēr "brother"	bhrātṛ "brother"	*bʰráH₂ter- "brother"
dowstr "daughter"	daughter (< OE dohtor)	futrei[8] "daughter"	thugatēr "daughter"	duhitṛ "daughter"	*dʰugH₂-tér- "daughter"
kin "woman"	queen (< OE cƿēn[9] "queen, woman, wife")		gunē "a woman, a wife"	gnā/jani "woman"	*gʷén-eH₂- "woman, wife"
im "my"	my, mine (< OE min)	mei "my"	emeo "my"	mama "my"	*mene- "my, mine"
anown "name"	name (< OE nama)	nōmen "name"	onoma "name"	nāman "name"	*H₁noH₃m-n̥- "name"
owt' "8"	eight (< OE eahta)	octō "eight"	oktō "eight"	aṣṭa "eight"	*H₁oḱtō(u) "eight"
inë "9"	nine (< OE nigon)	novem "nine"	ennea "nine"	nava "nine"	*(H₁)néwn̥ "nine"
tas "10"	ten (< OE tien) (< P.Gmc. *tekhan)	decem "ten"	deka "ten"	daśa "ten"	*déḱm̥ "ten"
ačk' "eye"	eye (< OE ēge)	oculus "eye"	ophthalmos "eye"	akṣan "eye"	*H₃okʷ- "to see"
armownk "elbow"	arm (< OE earm "joined body parts below shoulder")	armus "shoulder"	arthron "a joint"	īrma "arm"	*H₁ar-mo- "fit, join (that which is fitted together)"
çownk[10] "knee"	knee (< OE cnēo)	genū, "knee"	gonu "knee"	jānu "knee"	*ǵénu- "knee"
otk' "foot"	foot (< OE fōt)	pedis "foot"	podi "foot"	pāda "foot"	*pod-, *ped- "foot"
sirt "heart"	heart (< OE heorte)	cor "heart"	kardia "heart"	hṛdaya "heart"	*ḱerd- "heart"
kaši "skin"	hide (< OE hȳdan "animal skin cover")	cutis "skin"	keuthō "to cover, to hide"	kuṭīra "hut"	*keu- "to cover, conceal"
mowk "mouse"	mouse (< OE mūs)	mūs "mouse"	mus "mouse"	mūṣ "mouse"	*muH₁s- "mouse, small rodent"
kov "cow"	cow (< OE cū)	bum[11] "cow"	bous "cow"	go "cow"	*gʷou- "cow"
šown "hound"	hound (< OE hund "hound, dog")	canis "hound, dog" (canine)	kuōn "hound, dog"	śvan "dog"	*ḱwon- "hound, dog"
tari "year"	year (< OE gēar)	hōrnus "of this year"	ōra "year"	yare[12] "year"	*yeH₁r- "year"
amis "month"	moon, month (< OE mōnaþ[7])	mēnsis "month"	mēn "moon, month"	māsa "moon, month"	*meH₁ns- "moon, month"
amaṙ "summer"	summer (< OE sumor)			samā "season"	*sem- "hot season of the year"
ǰerm "warm"	burn (< OE beornan)	formus "warm"	thermos "warm"	gharma "heat"	*gʷʰerm- "warm"
lowys "light"	light (< OE lēoht "brightness")	lucere, lux, lucidus "to shine, light, clear"	leukos "bright, shining, white"	roca "shining"	*leuk- "light, brightness"
howr "flame"	fire (< OE fȳr)	pir[11] "fire"	pur "fire"	pu "fire"	*péH₂wr̥- "fire"
heṙow "far"	far (< OE feor "to a great distance")	per "through"	pera "beyond"	paras "beyond"	*per- "through, across, beyond"
helowm "I pour"	flow (< OE flōƿan[9])	pluĕre "to rain"	plenō "to wash"	plu "to swim"	*pleu- "flow, float"
owtem "I eat"	eat (< OE etan)	edulis "edible"	edō "I eat"	admi "I eat"	*ed- "to eat"
gitem "I know"	wit (< OE ƿit[9], ƿitan[9] "intelligence, to know")	vidēre "to see"	idei "I know"	vid "to know"	*weid- "to know, to see"
get "river"	water (< OE ƿæter[9])	utur[11] "water"	hudōr "water"	udan "water"	(*wodor, *wedor, *uder-) from *wed- "water"
gorç[10] "work "	work (< OE ƿeorc[9])	urgēre "push, drive"	ergon "work"	varcas "activity"	*werǵ- "to work"
meç[10] "great "	much (< OE mycel "great, big, many")	magnus "great"	megas "great, large"	mahant "great"	*meǵ- "great"
ançanot'[10] "stranger, unfamiliar"	unknown (< OE uncnaƿen[9])	ignōtus[13], ignōrāntem[13] "unknown, ignorant"	agnōstos[13] "unknown"	ajñāta[13] "unfamiliar"	*n- + *ǵneH₃- "not" + "to know"
meṙaç "dead"	murder (< OE morþor[7])	mortalis "mortal"	ambrotos "immortal"	mṛta "dead"	*mrtro-, from (*mor-, *mr-) "to die"
mēǰteġ "middle"	mid, middle (< OE mid, middel)	medius "middle"	mesos "middle"	madhya "middle"	*medʰyo- from *me- "mid, middle"
ayl "other"	else (< OE elles "other, otherwise, different")	alius, alienus "other, another"	allos "other, another"	anya "other"	*al- "beyond, other"
nor "new"	new (< OE nīƿe[9])	novus "new"	neos "new"	nava "new"	*néwo- "new"
dowṙ "door"	door (< OE dor, duru)	fores "door"	thura "door"	dvār "door"	*dʰwer- "door, doorway, gate"
town "house"	timber (< OE timber "trees used for building material, structure")	domus "house"	domos "house"	dama "house"	*domo-, *domu- "house"
berri, berel "fertile, carry"	bear (< OE beran "give birth, carry")	ferre, fertilis "to bear, fertile"	pherein "to carry"	bharati "carry"	*bʰer- "to bear, to carry"

See also

• Language families and languages
• List of Indo-European languages
• Armenian alphabet
• Western Armenian language
• Eastern Armenian language
• Graeco-Armenian

Footnotes

References

External links

Find more about Armenian language on Wikipedia's sister projects:
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• Ethnologue report on Armenian
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