Classical Armenian | ||||
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Spoken in | Armenian Highlands | |||
Extinct | developed into Middle Armenian | |||
Language family |
Indo-European
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Writing system | Armenian alphabet | |||
Language codes | ||||
ISO 639-3 | xcl | |||
Linguasphere | 57-AAA-aa | |||
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Classical Armenian (Armenian: գրաբար grabar, meaning "literary"; also Old Armenian or Liturgical Armenian) is the oldest attested form of the Armenian language. It was first written down at the beginning of the 5th century, and all Armenian literature from then through the 18th century is in the Grabar Armenian language. Many ancient Greek, Persian, Hebrew, Syriac, and Latin manuscripts survive only in their Armenian translation. Classical Armenian continues to be the liturgical language of the Armenian Apostolic Church and is often learned by Biblical, Intertestamental, and Patristic scholars dedicated to textual studies. Classical Armenian is also important for the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European language, since it preserves many archaic features.
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Classical Armenian has seven monophthong vowels:
There are also traditionally six diphthongs:
In the following table there is listed the Classical Armenian consonantal system. The occlusives and affricates have in addition to the more common voiced and unvoiced series also a separate aspirated series (transcribed with a spiritus asper after the letter): p῾, t῾, c῾, č῾, k῾. For each phoneme there are three symbols in the table. The leftmost indicates the pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA); in the middle there is the corresponding symbol in the Armenian alphabet; and the rightmost is its transliteration in Latin alphabet (following ISO 9985).
Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar / Palatal |
Velar / Uvular |
Glottal | ||
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Nasals | m մ m | n ն n | ||||
Plosives | voiced | b բ b | d դ d | ɡ գ g | ||
unvoiced | p պ p | t տ t | k կ k | |||
aspirated | pʰ փ p’ | tʰ թ t’ | kʰ ք k’ | |||
Affricates | voiced | dz ձ j | dʒ ջ ǰ | |||
unvoiced | ts ծ ç | tʃ ճ č̣ | ||||
aspirated | tsʰ ց c’ | tʃʰ չ č | ||||
Fricatives | voiced | v վ v | z զ z | ʒ ժ ž | ʁ ղ ġ | |
unvoiced | f ֆ f | s ս s | ʃ շ š | χ խ x | h հ h | |
Approximants | lateral | l լ l | ||||
central | ɹ ր r | j յ y | ||||
Trill | r ռ ṙ |
The letter f (or ֆ) was introduced in the Medieval Period to represent the foreign sound /f/, or the voiceless labiodental fricative, and was not originally a letter in the Armenian Alphabet.
Classical Armenian uses traditional Armenian orthography.
For a list of words relating to Old Armenian language, see the Old Armenian language category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |