The Armenian language has two standardized forms: Western Armenian and Eastern Armenian. Before the Armenian genocide and other significant demographic changes that affected the Armenians, several dozen Armenian dialects existed in the areas historically populated by them.
Classification by Hrachia Acharian
Classification des dialectes arméniens (Classification of Armenian dialects) is a 1909 book by the Armenian linguist Hrachia Acharian, published in Paris. It is Acharian's translation into French of his original work Hay Barbaṙagitutʿiwn ("Armenian Dialectology") that was later published as a book in 1911 in Moscow and New Nakhichevan. The French translation lacks dialectal examples. An English translation was published in 2024.
Acharian surveyed the Armenian dialects in what is now Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Iran, Azerbaijan and other countries settled by Armenians.
Unlike the traditional division of Armenian into two dialect groups (Western Armenian and Eastern Armenian), he divided Armenian into three main dialect groups based on the present and imperfect indicative particles that were used. He called as the -owm (-ում) dialects, -gë (-կը) dialects, and -el (-ել) dialects.
After the Armenian genocide, linguists Gevorg Jahukyan, Jos Weitenberg, Bert Vaux and Hrach Martirosyan have extended the understanding of Armenian dialects.
Map
List
-owm dialects
| Dialect | Areas spoken (country and city names as of 1909) | |
| 1 | Yerevan |  Russian Empire: Erivan, Novo-Bayazet, Ordubad, Shamshadin, Shulaver, Havlabar quarter (Tbilisi)  Ottoman Empire: Bayazid, Kulp
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| 2 | Tbilisi | Russian Empire: Tbilisi (except Havlabar quarter)
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| 3 | Artsakh | Russian Empire: Shusha, Elisabethpol, Nukha, Baku, Derbent, Ağstafa, Dilijan, Karakilis, Kazak, Lori, Jebrayil, Goris .svg){kind=small} Qajar Persia: Karadagh, Mujumbar; Lilava quarter of Tabriz Ottoman Empire: Burdur, Ödemiş villages near Izmir
|
| 4 | Shamakha | Russian Empire: Shamakhi, Kuba and nearby villages
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| 5 | Astrakhan | Russian Empire: Astrakhan, North Caucasus Qajar Persia: Tabriz
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| 6 | Julfa | Russian Empire: Julfa Qajar Persia: Isfahan (New Julfa quarter), Shiraz, Hamadan, Bushehr, Tehran, Qazvin, Rasht, Bandar-e Anzali
|
| 7 | Agulis | Russian Empire: Agulis, Tsghna, Handamej, Tanakert, Ramis, Dasht, Kaghaki
|
-el dialects
| -el dialects | |||||||
| Dialect | Areas spoken (country and city names as of 1909) | ||||||
| 1 | Maragha | Qajar Persia: Maragha and surrounding villages
| |||||
| 2 | Khoy | Qajar Persia: Khoy, Salmas, Maku, Urmia Russian Empire: Igdir, Nakhichevan; Zangezur settlements: Kori, Alighuli, Mughanjugh, Karashen, Alilu, Angeghakot, Ghushchi-Tazakend, Tazakend, Uz, Mazra, Balak, Shaghat, Ltsen, Sisian, Nerkin Kilisa | |||||
| 3 | Artvin | Russian Empire: Artvin, Ardahan, Artanuj, Olti
| |||||
-gë dialects
Sources
- Adjarian, Hrachia (1909). Classification des dialectes arméniens [Classification of Armenian dialects] (PDF) (in French). Paris: Librairie Honore Champion. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
- Dolatian, Hossep (2024). Adjarian’s Armenian dialectology (1911): Translation and commentary (PDF). Berlin: Language Science Press.
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- Adjarian, Hrachia (1909). Classification des dialectes arméniens. Paris: Librairie Honore Champion.
- Dolatian, Hossep (2024). Adjarian’s Armenian dialectology (1911): Translation and commentary. Berlin: Language Science Press.