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{{Short description|Indo-European language}}
{{Infobox language {{Infobox language
|name = Armenian | name = Armenian
| nativename = {{lang|hy|հայերեն}}{{efn|name=classical}}
|nativename = Հայերեն ''Hayeren''
|pronunciation ={{IPA-hy|hɑjɛˈɾɛn|}} | pronunciation = {{IPA-hy|hɑjɛˈɾɛn|}}
| states = {{Plainlist|
|states = ], self-proclaimed ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ]
* ]
|speakers = c. 6 million
* ]
|ref=e17
* ]
|date=2001
* ]
|familycolor = Indo-European
* ]
|protoname = ]
* ]
|ancestor2 = ]
}}
|ancestor3 = ]
| speakers = {{sigfig|5.28129|2}} million{{efn|{{sigfig|1.582290|2}} million for Western Armenian and {{sigfig|3.699000|2}} million for Eastern Armenian}}
|dia1 = ]
| date = 2013–2021
|dia2 = ]
| ref = e26
|nation = {{flag|Armenia}}<br>{{flag|Nagorno-Karabakh}}
| familycolor = Indo-European
|minority={{CYP}}<br>{{POL}}<br>{{ROM}}
| ancestor = ]
|agency = ]
| ancestor2 = ]
|script = ]<br>]<br>]
| ancestor3 = ]
|iso1=hy
| ancestor4 = ]
|iso2b = arm
| stand1 = ]
|iso2t=hye
|lc1=hye|ld1 = Modern Armenian | stand2 = ]
| dia1 = ]
|lc2=xcl|ld2 = ]
| dia2 = ]
|lc3=axm|ld3 = ]
| dia3 = ]
|lingua=57-AAA-a (31 varieties)
| dia4 = ]
|notice=IPA
| dia5 = ]
| dia6 = ]
| dia7 = ]
| dia8 = ]
| dia9 = ]
| script = {{plainlist|
* ]
* ]
}}
| nation = {{plainlist|
* {{flag|Armenia}}
* '''Organisations:'''
* {{flag|Eurasian Economic Union}}{{efn|Though Russian is the working language of the Union according to the Treaty on Eurasian Economic Union, Armenian and the languages of other member states are officially recognized.<ref>{{cite web |title=Treaty on Eurasian Economic Union |url=https://docs.eaeunion.org/docs/en-us/0027353/itia_05062014_doc.pdf |website=eaeunion.org |publisher=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206124246/https://docs.eaeunion.org/docs/en-us/0027353/itia_05062014_doc.pdf |archive-date=6 February 2021 |quote=Article 110 Working Language of the Bodies of the Union. Language of International Treaties within the Union and Decisions of the Commission: 2. International treaties within the Union and decisions of the Commission that are binding on the Member States shall be adopted in Russian with subsequent translation into the official languages of the Member States, if it is provided for by their legislation, in the procedure determined by the Commission.}}</ref> The websites of the Eurasian Economic Union<ref>{{cite web |title=Եվրասիական տնտեսական միություն |url=http://www.eaeunion.org/?lang=am |website=eaeunion.org |publisher=Eurasian Economic Union |access-date=2 May 2021 |language=hy}}</ref> and the Eurasian Economic Commission<ref>{{cite web |title=Եվրասիական Տնտեսական Հանձնաժողով |url=http://www.eurasiancommission.org/hy/Pages/default.aspx |website=eurasiancommission.org |publisher=Eurasian Economic Commission |access-date=2 May 2021 |language=hy}}</ref> are available in Armenian, among other languages.}}
}}
| minority = {{unbulleted list
| {{CYP}}<ref name=CYP1>{{cite web |title=Western Armenian – Cypriot Arabic: new century, new speakers? |url=https://ec.europa.eu/cyprus/event/20170221_en |website=ec.europa.eu |publisher=] |date=21 February 2017 |quote=Dedicated to the two officially recognized minority languages of Cyprus, the event will focus on the teaching aspect of Western Armenian and Cypriot Arabic as mother tongues.}}</ref><ref name=CYP2>{{cite web |last1=Hadjilyra |first1=Alexander – Michael |title=The Armenians of Cyprus |url=https://publications.gov.cy/en/assets/user/publications/ARMENIANS/EN/Armenians_EN_2016.pdf |website=publications.gov.cy |publisher=Press and Information Office, Republic of Cyprus |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214093009/https://publications.gov.cy/en/assets/user/publications/ARMENIANS/EN/Armenians_EN_2016.pdf |archive-date=14 December 2019 |page=15 |quote=According to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of the Council of Europe, Armenian was recognised as a minority language of Cyprus as of 1 December 2002.}}</ref>
| {{HUN}}<ref name=HUN>{{cite web |last1=Kenesei |first1=István |title=Minority languages in Hungary |url=http://www.efnil.org/documents/conference-publications/dublin-2009/09-Dublin-Kenesei-Mother.pdf |website=efnil.org |publisher=European Federation of National Institutions for Language |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214103329/http://www.efnil.org/documents/conference-publications/dublin-2009/09-Dublin-Kenesei-Mother.pdf |archive-date=14 December 2019 |date=2009 |quote=As far as indigenous (autochthonous) minority languages are concerned, Hungarian legislation acknowledges the languages in the following list&nbsp;...: Armenian, Boyash, Bulgarian, Croatian, German, Greek, Polish, Romani, Romanian, Ruthenian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Ukrainian, and Hungarian Sign Language (HSL).}}</ref>
| {{IRQ}}<ref name=IRQ>{{cite web|title=Iraqi Constitution: Article 4|url=http://www.iraqinationality.gov.iq/attach/iraqi_constitution.pdf|publisher=The Republic of Iraq Ministry of Interior General Directorate for Nationality|access-date=16 June 2014|quote=The right of Iraqis to educate their children in their mother tongue, such as Turkmen, Syriac, and Armenian shall be guaranteed in government educational institutions in accordance with educational guidelines, or in any other language in private educational institutions.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128152712/http://www.iraqinationality.gov.iq/attach/iraqi_constitution.pdf|archive-date=28 November 2016}}</ref>
| {{POL}}<ref name=POL1>{{cite web |last1=Zych |first1=Maciej |title=New Polish legislation regarding national, ethnic and linguistic minorities |url=http://ksng.gugik.gov.pl/pliki/new_polish_legislation_regarding_national_ethnic_and_linguistic_minorities.pdf |website=gugik.gov.pl |publisher=Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography of Poland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214104740/http://ksng.gugik.gov.pl/pliki/new_polish_legislation_regarding_national_ethnic_and_linguistic_minorities.pdf |archive-date=14 December 2019 |page=2 |quote=There are 9 national minorities: Belorussian, Czech, Lithuanian, German, Armenian, Russian, Slovak, Ukrainian and Jewish; and 4 ethnic minorities – Karait, Lemko, Roma and Tartar.}}</ref><ref name=POL2>{{cite web |last1=Pisarek |first1=Walery |title=The relationship between official and minority languages in Poland |url=http://www.efnil.org/documents/conference-publications/dublin-2009/16-Dublin-Pisarek-Mother.pdf |website=efnil.org |publisher=European Federation of National Institutions for Language |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214104352/http://www.efnil.org/documents/conference-publications/dublin-2009/16-Dublin-Pisarek-Mother.pdf |archive-date=14 December 2019 |page=118 |date=2009 |quote=In a Statement made by the Republic of Poland with relation to the ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, Belarusian, Czech, Hebrew, Yiddish, Karaim, Kashubian, Lithuanian, Lemkian, German, Armenian, Romani, Russian, Slovak, Tatar and Ukrainian were recognized as minority languages.}}</ref>
| {{ROU}}<ref name=ROU>{{cite web |last1=Saramandu |first1=Nicolae |author-link=Nicolae Saramandu |last2=Nevaci |first2=Manuela |title=MULTILINGVISM ȘI LIMBI MINORITARE ÎN ROMÂNIA |url=http://www.dri.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Multilingvism-si-limbi-minoritare-in-Romania.pdf |publisher=], ] |page=25 |language=ro |date=2009 |quote=În cazul României, 10 limbi beneficiază de protecție generală (albaneză, armeană, greacă, italiană, idiș, macedoneană, poloneză, romani, ruteană, tătară) și 10 limbi beneficiază de protecție sporită (bulgară, cehă, croată, germană, maghiară, rusă, sârbă, slovacă, turcă, ucraineană). |access-date=2019-12-14 |archive-date=2019-12-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214095127/http://www.dri.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Multilingvism-si-limbi-minoritare-in-Romania.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| {{TUR}}<ref name=Toktaş2006/><ref name=Bayır2013/><ref name=HRWLanguageRights/><ref name=Uzum2017/>
| {{UKR}}<ref name=UKR>{{cite web|url=http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/5029-17| title=Law of Ukraine "On Principles of State Language Policy" (Current version – Revision from 01.02.2014) |publisher=rada.gov.ua|work=Document 5029-17, Article 7: Regional or minority languages Ukraine, Paragraph 2|date=1 February 2014|access-date=30 April 2014|language =uk|quote=Стаття 7. Регіональні мови або мови меншин України&nbsp;... 2. У контексті Європейської хартії регіональних мов або мов меншин до регіональних мов або мов меншин України, до яких застосовуються заходи, спрямовані на використання регіональних мов або мов меншин, що передбачені у цьому Законі, віднесені мови: російська, білоруська, болгарська, вірменська, гагаузька, ідиш, кримськотатарська, молдавська, німецька, новогрецька, польська, ромська, румунська, словацька, угорська, русинська, караїмська, кримчацька.}}</ref>}}
| agency = {{plainlist|
*] (Armenia)<ref>{{cite web|title=H. Acharian Institute of Language|url=http://www.sci.am/resorgs.php?oid=34&langid=1|website=sci.am|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141005040613/http://www.sci.am/resorgs.php?oid=34&langid=1|archive-date=5 October 2014|quote=Main Fields of Activity: investigation of the structure and functioning, history and comparative grammar of the Armenian language, exploration of the literary Eastern and Western Armenian Language, dialectology, regulation of literary language, development of terminology}}</ref>
*] (Western Armenian, ''de facto'')<ref>{{cite book |last1=Borjian |first1=Maryam |title=Language and Globalization: An Autoethnographic Approach |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781315394619 |page= |quote=At the forefront of the development of Western Armenian in everyday life as well as in arts and technology is the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Yesayan |first1=Catherine |title=Unraveling the Life of Calouste Gulbenkian |url=https://asbarez.com/181752/unraveling-the-life-of-calouste-gulbenkian/ |work=] |date=June 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502174327/https://asbarez.com/181752/unraveling-the-life-of-calouste-gulbenkian/ |archive-date=2 May 2021 |quote=The 'core' activity of the Armenian Department is the preservation, advancement and revitalization of Western Armenian.}}</ref>}}
| iso1 = hy
| iso2b = arm
| iso2t = hye
| lc1 = hye
| ld1 = ]
| lc2 = hyw
| ld2 = ]
| lc3 = xcl
| ld3 = ]
| lc4 = axm
| ld4 = ]
| lingua = 57-AAA-a
| image = Armenian language in the Armenian alphabet.svg
| imagescale =
| imagecaption = "Armenian language" in the ]
| map = Armenian Language distribution map.png
| mapcaption = The current distribution of the Armenian language in the southern Caucasus
| map2 = Map-of-speakers-of-armenian.png
| mapcaption2 = {{Legend|#023858|Official language spoken by the majority}}
{{Legend|#0570b0|Recognized minority language}}
{{Legend|#74a9cf|Significant number of speakers}}
| notice = IPA
| glotto = arme1241
| glottorefname = Armenic
| ethnicity = ]
}} }}


'''Armenian''' (]: {{lang|hy|հայերեն}},{{Efn|Spelled in ] as {{lang|hy|հայերէն}}.|name=classical}} {{transl|hy|hayeren}}, {{IPA-hy|hɑjɛˈɾɛn|pron|Hɑjɛɾɛn.ogg}}) is an ] and the sole member of the independent branch of the Armenian language family. It is the native language of the ] and the official language of ]. Historically spoken in the ], today Armenian is also widely spoken throughout the ]. Armenian is written in its own ], the ], introduced in 405&nbsp;AD by Saint ]. The estimated number of Armenian speakers worldwide is between five and seven million.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Martirosyan |first1=Hrach |author1-link=Hrach Martirosyan |title=All You Need to Know about Armenian Language |url=https://aspirantum.com/blog/all-you-need-to-know-about-armenian-language |website=aspirantum.com |publisher=ASPIRANTUM: Armenian School of Languages and Cultures |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502175841/https://aspirantum.com/blog/all-you-need-to-know-about-armenian-language |archive-date=2 May 2021 |date=March 2, 2020 |quote=The total number of Armenians in the world is roughly estimated as 7–11 million, of which ca. 5-5.5 million speak Armenian.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Language Monday: Armenian |url=https://www.worldbook.com/behind-the-headlines/Language-Monday-Armenian |website=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502180403/https://www.worldbook.com/behind-the-headlines/Language-Monday-Armenian |archive-date=2 May 2021 |date=April 23, 2018 |quote=About 7 million people speak the Armenian language worldwide.}}</ref>
{{Contains Armenian text}}
]

The '''Armenian language''' ({{lang|hy|հայերեն}} {{IPA-hy|hɑjɛˈɾɛn|}} ''{{transl|hy|ISO|hayeren}}'') is an ] spoken by the ]. It is the official language of the ] and the self-proclaimed ]. It has historically been spoken throughout the ] and today is widely spoken in the ]. It is of interest to linguists for its distinctive ]s within the Indo-European family of languages.

Armenian has its own unique script, the ], invented in 405–406 AD by the ancient linguist and cleric ].

Linguists classify Armenian as an independent branch of the ].<ref></ref> Armenian shares a number of major innovations with ],<ref>{{cite web|title=The Armenian Language|url=http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/language/about/armenian.html}}</ref> and some linguists group these two languages together with ] and the ] family into a higher-level subgroup of Indo-European, which is defined by such ] as the ]. More recently, others have proposed a ] grouping including Greek, Armenian, Phrygian, and ].<ref>''Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction'', Benjamin W. Fortson, John Wiley and Sons, 2009, p383.</ref><ref>Hans J. Holm (2011): “Swadesh lists” of Albanian Revisited and Consequences for its position in the Indo-European Languages. The Journal of Indo-European Studies, Volume 39, Number 1&2.</ref>


==History==
Armenia was a monolingual country no later than by the second century BC.<ref>Strabo, Geographica, XI, 14, 5; Հայոց լեզվի համառոտ պատմություն, Ս. Ղ. Ղազարյան։ Երևան, 1981, էջ 33 (Concise History of Armenian Language, S. Gh. Ghazaryan. Yerevan, 1981, p. 33).</ref> Its language has long literary history, with a fifth-century Bible translation as its oldest surviving text. Its vocabulary has been heavily influenced by ], particularly ], and to a lesser extent by Greek, ], ], ], ], ], and other languages throughout its history. There are two standardized modern literary forms, ] and ], with which most contemporary dialects are ]. The divergent and almost extinct ] is a ]-influenced dialect with an Armenian grammar and a largely Romani-derived vocabulary, including Romani numbers.
===Classification and origins===

==Classification and origins==
{{Main|Proto-Armenian language}} {{Main|Proto-Armenian language}}
{{See also|Armenian hypothesis}} {{See also|Armenian hypothesis|History of the Armenian alphabet|Urartian language}}
{{History of the Armenian language}} {{History of the Armenian language}}
{{Armenians}}
{{Indo-European}} {{Indo-European}}


Armenian is an independent branch of the ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Armenian-language|title=Armenian language|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|date=21 November 2023 }}</ref> It is of interest to linguists for its distinctive ]s within that family. Armenian exhibits ], although it is not classified as belonging to either of these subgroups. Some linguists tentatively conclude that Armenian, ] (and ]), ] and ] were dialectally close to each other;<ref name="p. 6">{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Mateescu |first1=Alexandru |last2=Salomaa |first2=Arto |encyclopedia=Handbook of Formal Languages |volume=1 |publisher=Springer |editor-last1=Rozenberg |editor-first1=Grzegorz |editor-last2=Salomaa |editor-first2=Arto |year=1997 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yQ59ojndUt4C&dq=armeno-aryan&pg=PA6 |page=6 |isbn=3-540-60420-0 |title=Formal Languages: an Introduction and a Synopsis}}</ref><ref name="public.iastate.edu">{{cite web |url=http://www.public.iastate.edu/~cfford/Indoeuropean%20language%20family%20tree.jpg |title=Indo-European tree with Armeno-Aryan, exclusion of Greek |access-date=2014-04-04 |archive-date=2018-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514140029/http://www.public.iastate.edu/~cfford/Indoeuropean%20language%20family%20tree.jpg |url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Fortson|2004|p=383}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Hans J. |last=Holm |year=2011 |title='Swadesh lists' of Albanian Revisited and Consequences for its position in the Indo-European Languages |journal=The Journal of Indo-European Studies |volume=39 |issue=1–2}}</ref><ref name="Martirosyan">{{cite journal |last1=Martirosyan |first1=Hrach |author-link=Hrach Martirosyan|title=The place of Armenian in the Indo-European language family: the relationship with Greek and Indo-Iranian |journal=] |date=2013 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=85–138 |doi=10.31826/jlr-2013-100107|s2cid=212688448 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=James P. T. |last=Clackson |editor-last=Woodard |editor-first=Roger D. |year=2008 |title=Classical Armenian |encyclopedia=The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=124 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511486845.014|isbn=9780521684965 }}</ref> within this hypothetical dialect group, Proto-Armenian was situated between ] (] subgroup) and ] (] subgroup).<ref name="Martirosyan"/> Ronald I. Kim has noted unique morphological developments connecting Armenian to ].<ref name="auto">{{cite journal|last=Kim|first=Ronald|title=Greco-Armenian: The persistence of a myth|journal=Indogermanische Forschungen|publisher=The University of British Columbia Library|date=2018|volume=123 |issue=1 |url=https://www.academia.edu/37844906|access-date=9 June 2019|doi=10.1515/if-2018-0009|s2cid=231923312}}</ref>
While the Armenians were known to history much earlier (for example, they were mentioned in the 6th century BC ] and ]'s 4th century BC history, '']''),<ref>"Armenia as Xenophon Saw It", p. 47, ''A History of Armenia''. Vahan Kurkjian, 2008</ref> the oldest surviving Armenian language text is the 5th century AD ] translation of ]. Mesrob Mashtots created the ] in 405 AD, at which time it had 36 letters. He is also credited by some with the creation of the ].

The Armenian language has a long literary history, with a 5th-century Bible translation as its oldest surviving text. Another text translated into Armenian early on, and also in the 5th-century, was the '']''. The vocabulary of the language has historically been influenced by ], particularly ];<ref>{{harvnb|Livshits|2006|p=79}}</ref> its derivational morphology and syntax were also affected by ] with Parthian, but to a lesser extent.<ref>{{Cite thesis|title=Iranian-Armenian Language Contact in and before the 5th Century CE.|last=Meyer|first=Robin|date=2017|degree=D.Phil.|publisher=University of Oxford|url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:38e2dcfa-4051-4e5f-a761-844526cc6449|language=English}}</ref> Contact with Greek, ], and ] also resulted in a number of loanwords. There are two standardized modern literary forms, ] (spoken mainly in Armenia) and ] (spoken originally mainly in modern-day Turkey and, since the ], mostly in the ]). The differences between them are considerable but they are ] after significant exposure.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Vaux |first=B. |editor-last1=Brown |editor-first1=Keith |editor-last2=Ogilvie |editor-first2=Sarah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC |title=Armenian |encyclopedia=Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World |year=2010 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0-08-087774-7 |pages=70 |language=en |quote=The relationship between the two modern literary dialects is somewhat complicated; there are many grammatical differences and lexical differences , and most Western speakers have difficulty understanding Eastern, but many Eastern speakers are relatively comfortable with the Western dialect. The fact that there is some mutual intelligibility in both directions can also be linked to the fact that the literary dialects tend to borrow the same forms from Classical Armenian, and (at least in recent decades) employ the same newly coined words. |author-link=Bert Vaux |editor-link1=Keith Brown (linguist)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Dolatian |first1=Hossep |url=https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/you.stonybrook.edu/dist/c/2461/files/2023/05/Parskahayeren-May-23-2023.pdf |title=A grammar of Iranian Armenian |last2=Sharifzadeh |first2=Afsheen |last3=Vaux |first3=Bert |date=2023-05-22 |publisher=Language Science Press |isbn=978-3-96110-419-2 |pages=2 |language=en |chapter=Introduction |quote=There are two standardized dialects that are mutually intelligible after significant exposure: Standard Western Armenian (SWA) and Standard Eastern Armenian (SEA); henceforth Standard Western and Standard Eastern. |author-link3=Bert Vaux |access-date=2023-10-08 |archive-date=2023-10-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231014120151/https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/you.stonybrook.edu/dist/c/2461/files/2023/05/Parskahayeren-May-23-2023.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Comrie |first=Bernard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fUq1DwAAQBAJ |title=The Handbook of Linguistics |date=2020 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=978-1-119-30207-0 |editor-last=Aronoff |editor-first=Mark |editor-link=Mark Aronoff |edition=2nd |series=Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics |location=Hoboken, NJ Chichester |pages=23 |chapter=Languages of the World |quote=Armenian, spoken primarily in Armenia though also in the Armenian diaspora originating in eastern Turkey, is another branch of Indo-European consisting of a single language, although the differences between Eastern Armenian (spoken mainly in Armenia) and Western Armenian (spoken originally mainly in Turkey) are considerable, and there are two written languages. |author-link=Bernard Comrie |editor-last2=Rees-Miller |editor-first2=Janie}}</ref> Some subdialects such as ] are not mutually intelligible with other varieties.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vaux |first=Bert |url= |title=The Hemshin: History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey |date=2007-01-24 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-79830-7 |editor-last=Simonian |editor-first=Hovann |editor-link=Hovann Simonian |language=en |chapter=Homshetsma, The language of the Armenians of Hamshen |author-link=Bert Vaux |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/300652|quote=Homshetsma is generally treated as a dialect of western Armenian. The two are generally not mutually intelligible}}</ref>

Although Armenians were known to history much earlier (for example, they were mentioned in the 6th-century BC ] and in ]'s 4th century BC history, '']''),<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Armenia as Xenophon Saw It |page=47 |title=A History of Armenia |first=Vahan |last=Kurkjian |year=2008}}</ref> the oldest surviving Armenian-language writing is etched in stone on Armenian temples and is called ].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Movsisyan |first=Artak |url=https://www.academia.edu/37618167 |title=The Writing Culture of Pre-Christian Armenia |date=2006 |publisher=Yerevan University |isbn=5-8084-0810-5}}</ref>{{Dubious|date=May 2023}} The ] was created by ] in 405, at which time it had 36 letters. He is also credited by some with the creation of the ] and the ].

While Armenian constitutes the sole member of the Armenian branch of the Indo-European family, Aram Kossian has suggested that the hypothetical ] language may have been a (now extinct) Armenic language.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://docplayer.net/108120425-The-mushki-problem-reconsidered.html|title=The Mushki Problem Reconsidered |date=1997 |first=Aram V.|last=Kossian |journal=SMEA |volume=39 |issue=2 |page=262}}</ref>


===Early contacts=== ===Early contacts===
] from ] with Armenian language and alphabet]]
The large percentage of loans from ] initially led linguists to erroneously classify Armenian as an Iranian language. The distinctness of Armenian was only recognized when Hübschmann (1875)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/books/read12.html |title=A Reader in Nineteenth Century Historical Indo-European Linguistics: On the Position of Armenian in the Sphere of the Indo-European Languages |publisher=Utexas.edu |date=2007-03-20 |accessdate=2012-12-18}}</ref> used the ] to distinguish two layers of Iranian loans from the older Armenian ].
]]]
W. M. Austin (1942) concluded<ref>{{cite journal|last=Austin |first=William M. |title=Is Armenian an Anatolian Language? |publisher=Linguistic Society of America |date=January–March 1942 |pages=22–25 |doi=10.2307/409074 |journal=Language |volume=18 |issue=1 |jstor=409074}}</ref> that there was early contact between Armenian and ], based on what he considered common archaisms, such as the lack of a feminine gender and the absence of inherited long vowels. Unlike shared innovations (or '']''), the common retention of archaisms (or '']'') is not considered conclusive evidence of a period of common isolated development. There are words used in Armenian that are generally believed to have been borrowed from Anatolian languages, particularly from ], although some researchers have identified possible ] loanwords as well.<ref>{{citation |url=https://iling.spb.ru/confs/armenian_2015/slides/Hrach_Martirosyan_ALaC2015.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://iling.spb.ru/confs/armenian_2015/slides/Hrach_Martirosyan_ALaC2015.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Notes on Anatolian loanwords in Armenian |work=St. Petersburg, Institute for linguistic studies, Russian Academy of sciences |date=2015 |first=Hrach |last=Martirosyan |location=Russia}}</ref> One notable loanword from Anatolian is Armenian ''xalam'', "skull", cognate to Hittite ''ḫalanta'', "head".<ref>{{harvnb|Fortson|2004|p=337}}</ref>


In 1985, the Soviet linguist ] noted the presence in ] of what he calls a "Caucasian substratum" identified by earlier scholars, consisting of loans from the ] and ].<ref name=Diakonoff1985>{{cite journal |url=https://archive.org/stream/Hurro-urartianBorrowingsInOldArmenian#page/n1/mode/1up |title=Hurro-Urartian Borrowings in Old Armenian |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |date=1985 |pages=597–603 |first=I.&nbsp;M. |last=Diakonoff |author-link=Igor M. Diakonoff |location=New&nbsp;Haven |volume=105 |issue=4 |doi=10.2307/602722 |issn=0003-0279 |jstor=602722 |s2cid=163807245 |oclc=6015257905}}</ref> Noting that ] peoples inhabited the Armenian homeland in the second millennium BC, Diakonoff identifies in Armenian a Hurro-Urartian substratum of social, cultural, and animal and plant terms such as '']'' "slave girl" ( ← Hurr. ''al(l)a(e)ḫḫenne''), ''cov'' "sea" ( ← Urart. ''ṣûǝ'' "(inland) sea"), '']'' "camel" ( ← Hurr. ''uḷtu''), and '']'' "apple (tree)" ( ← Hurr. ''ḫinzuri''). Some of the terms he gives admittedly have an ] or ] provenance, but he suggests they were borrowed through Hurrian or Urartian. Given that these borrowings do not undergo ]s characteristic of the development of Armenian from ], he dates their borrowing to a time before the written record but after the ] stage.
W. M. Austin (1942) concluded<ref>{{cite journal|last=Austin |first=William M. |title=Is Armenian an Anatolian Language? |publisher=Linguistic Society of America |date=January–March 1942 |pages=22–25 |doi=10.2307/409074 |journal=Language |volume=18 |issue=1 |jstor=409074}}</ref> that there was an early contact between Armenian and ], based on what he considered common archaisms, such as the lack of a feminine and the absence of inherited long vowels. However, unlike shared innovations (or '']''), the common retention of archaisms (or '']'') is not necessarily considered evidence of a period of common isolated development.


Contemporary linguists, such as ], have rejected many of the Hurro-Urartian and Northeast Caucasian origins for these words and instead suggest native Armenian etymologies, leaving the possibility that these words may have been loaned into Hurro-Urartian and Caucasian languages from Armenian, and not vice versa.<ref name="Hrach K. Martirosyan 2009">{{cite book |first=Hrach K. |last=Martirosyan |title=Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon |publisher=Brill |year=2009}}</ref> A notable example is '']'', meaning "eagle", believed to have been the origin of Urartian ''Arṣibi'' and Northeast Caucasian ''arzu''. This word is derived from Proto-Indo-European ''*h₂r̥ǵipyós'', with cognates in ] (ऋजिप्य, ''ṛjipyá''), ] (''ərəzifiia''), and Greek (αἰγίπιος, ''aigípios'').<ref>{{cite journal|last=Petrosyan|first=Armen| title=The Armenian Elements in the Language and Onomastics of Urartu| journal=Aramazd: Armenian Journal of Near Eastern Studies|publisher=Association for Near Eastern and Caucasian Studies, German University of Armenia|location=Yerevan|volume=V|issue=1|year=2010|page=134|url=https://www.academia.edu/2939663}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Bert|last=Vaux|title=Recent Armenological Research of Indo-European Relevance|year=1998|url=https://www.academia.edu/2741055}}</ref> Hrach Martirosyan and Armen Petrosyan propose additional borrowed words of Armenian origin loaned into Urartian and vice versa, including grammatical words and parts of speech, such as Urartian ''eue'' ("and"), attested in the earliest Urartian texts and likely a loan from Armenian (compare to Armenian {{lang|hy|]}} {{transliteration|hy|yev}}, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European '']''). Other loans from Armenian into Urartian includes personal names, toponyms, and names of deities.<ref name="Hrach K. Martirosyan 2009"/><ref>{{cite conference|first=Hrach|last=Martirosyan|title=Origins and historical development of the Armenian language|year=2014|pages=7–8|url=https://ling.hse.ru/data/2014/09/01/1313574129/Hrach%20Martirosyan%20-%20Handout.pdf|conference=Лингвистическая школа НИУ ВШЭ|location=Moscow}}</ref><ref name="Martirosyan"/><ref>{{cite journal|first=Armen|last=Petrosyan|title=Towards the Origins of the Armenian People. The Problem of Identification of the Proto-Armenians: A Critical Review|journal=Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies|volume=16|year=2007|pages=33–34|url=https://www.academia.edu/3657764}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|editor-last1=Grekyan|editor-first1=Y|editor-last2=Badalyan|editor-first2=M.|editor-last3=Tiratsyan|editor-first3=N.|editor-last4=Petrosyan|editor-first4=A|
Soviet linguist ] (1985)<ref>Igor Mikhailovich Diakonov, "Hurro-Urartian Borrowings in Old Armenian", ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' 105.4 (1985) </ref> noted the presence in ] of what he calls a ], identified by earlier scholars, consisting of loans from the ] and ] such as ]. Noting that the ] peoples inhabited the Armenian homeland in the second millennium {{smallcaps|b.c.}}, Diakonov identifies in Armenian a Hurro-Urartian substratum of social, cultural, and animal and plant terms such as '']'' "slave girl" ( ← Hurr. ''al(l)a(e)ḫḫenne''), ''cov'' "sea" ( ← Urart. ''ṣûǝ'' "(inland) sea"), ''ułt'' "camel" ( ← Hurr. ''uḷtu''), and '']'' "apple(tree)" ( ← Hurr. ''ḫinzuri''). Some of the terms he gives admittedly have an ] or ] provenance, but he suggests they were borrowed through Hurrian or Urartian. Given that these borrowings do not undergo ]s characteristic of the development of Armenian from ], he dates their borrowing to a time before the written record but after the ] stage.
first=Yervand|last=Grekyan|title=Urartian State Mythology|encyclopedia=Biainili-Urartu: Gods, Temples, Cults|publisher=Yerevan Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography Press|location=Yerevan|year=2018|pages=44–45|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351107801|isbn=978-9939-9178-0-1|lang=hy}}</ref>


Loan words from ], along with the other ancient accounts such as that of Xenophon above, initially led some linguists to erroneously classify Armenian as an Iranian language. Scholars such as ] and F. Müller believed that the similarities between the two languages meant that Armenian belonged to the ].<ref name="iranicaonline.org">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/armenia-iv|title=ARMENIA AND IRAN iv. Iranian influences in Armenian Language|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Iranica|access-date=26 October 2015}}</ref> The distinctness of Armenian was recognized when philologist ] (1875)<ref name="iranicaonline.org"/><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Hübschmann|first=Heinrich|url=https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/books/reader/12-h-h%C3%BCbschmann|encyclopedia=A Reader in Nineteenth Century Historical Indo-European Linguistics|editor-last=Lehmann|editor-first=Winfred P.|title=On the Position of Armenian in the Sphere of the Indo-European Languages|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=1967|access-date=2023-11-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220820053338/https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/books/reader/12-h-h%c3%bcbschmann|archive-date=2022-08-20}}</ref> used the ] to distinguish two layers of Iranian words from the older Armenian ]. He showed that Armenian often had two morphemes for one concept, that the non-Iranian components yielded a consistent ] pattern distinct from Iranian, and that the inflectional morphology was different from that of Iranian languages.
===Graeco-Armenian hypothesis===
{{Main|Graeco-Armenian hypothesis}}


====Graeco-Armenian hypothesis====
The hypothesis that Greek is Armenian's closest living relative originates with ] (1924), who noted that the number of Greek-Armenian lexical cognates is greater than that of agreements between Armenian and any other Indo-European language. ] (1925, 1927) further investigated morphological and phonological agreement, postulating that the parent languages of Greek and Armenian were dialects in immediate geographical proximity in the ]. Meillet's hypothesis became popular in the wake of his ''Esquisse'' (1936). Solta (1960) does not go as far as postulating a Proto-Graeco-Armenian stage, but he concludes that considering both the lexicon and morphology, Greek is clearly the dialect most closely related to Armenian. Hamp (1976, 91) supports the Graeco-Armenian thesis, anticipating even a time "when we should speak of Helleno-Armenian" (meaning the postulate of a Graeco-Armenian proto-language). Armenian shares the ], a negator derived from the set phrase ''ne hoiu kwid'' ("not ever at all"), the representation of word-initial ] by prothetic vowels, and other phonological and morphological peculiarities with Greek. The closeness of the relationship between Armenian and Greek sheds light on the ] nature of the ]. Nevertheless, linguists, including Fortson (2004), comment "by the time we reach our earliest Armenian records in the 5th century AD, the evidence of any such early kinship has been reduced to a few tantalizing pieces."
{{Main|Graeco-Armenian}}


The hypothesis that Greek is Armenian's closest living relative originates with ] (1924), who noted that the number of Greek-Armenian lexical cognates is greater than that of agreements between Armenian and any other Indo-European language. ] (1925, 1927) further investigated morphological and phonological agreement and postulated that the parent languages of Greek and Armenian were dialects in immediate geographical proximity during the Proto-Indo-European period. Meillet's hypothesis became popular in the wake of his book ''Esquisse d'une histoire de la langue latine'' (1936). ] (1960) does not go as far as postulating a Proto-Graeco-Armenian stage, but he concludes that considering both the lexicon and morphology, Greek is clearly the dialect to be most closely related to Armenian. ] (1976, 91) supports the Graeco-Armenian thesis and even anticipates a time "when we should speak of Helleno-Armenian" (meaning the postulate of a Graeco-Armenian proto-language). Armenian shares the ] and a negator derived from the set phrase in the ] {{lang|ine-x-proto|*ne h₂oyu kʷid}} ("never anything" or "always nothing"), the representation of word-initial ] by prothetic vowels, and other phonological and morphological peculiarities with Greek. Nevertheless, as Fortson (2004) comments, "by the time we reach our earliest Armenian records in the 5th century AD, the evidence of any such early kinship has been reduced to a few tantalizing pieces".
==Evolution==
Early in the fifth century, ], or Grabar, was one of the great languages of the Near East and Asia Minor. Although an autonomous branch within the Indo-European family of languages, it had some affinities to Middle Iranian, Greek and the Balto-Slavic languages but belonged to none of them. It was characterized by a system of inflection unlike the other languages, as well as a flexible and liberal use of combining root words to create derivative and compound words by the application of certain agglutinative affixes.


====Greco-Armeno-Aryan hypothesis====
The classical language imported numerous words from Middle Iranian languages, primarily ], and contains smaller inventories of borrowings from Greek, Syriac, Latin, and ] such as ]. 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 ] and ] (both ]s) as well as from Greek.
{{main|Graeco-Aryan}}


Graeco-(Armeno)-Aryan is a hypothetical ] within the ], ancestral to the ], the Armenian language, and the ]. Graeco-Aryan unity would have become divided into ] and ] by the mid-3rd millennium BC. Conceivably, ] would have been located between Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian, consistent with the fact that Armenian shares certain features only with Indo-Iranian (the '']'' change) but others only with Greek (''s'' > ''h'').
In the period that followed the invention of the alphabet and up to the threshold of the modern era, Grabar (Classical Armenian) lived on. An effort to modernize the language in ] and the ] (11–14th centuries) resulted in the addition of two more characters to the alphabet, bringing the total number to 38.


Graeco-Aryan has comparatively wide support among Indo-Europeanists who believe the ] to be located in the ], the "]".<ref>
The Book of Lamentations by ] (951–1003) is an example of the development of a literature and writing style in Middle Armenian. In addition to elevating the literary style of the Armenian language, Gregory of Nareg paved the way for his successors to include secular themes in their writings. The thematic shift from mainly religious texts to writings with secular outlooks further enhanced and enriched the vocabulary. “A Word of Wisdom”, a poem by Hovhannes Sargavak devoted to a starling, legitimizes poetry devoted to nature, love, or female beauty. Gradually, the interests of the population at large were reflected in other literary works as well. Konsdantin Yerzinkatsi and several others even take the unusual step of criticizing the ecclesiastic establishment and addressing the social issues of the Armenian homeland. Not surprisingly, these changes altered the nature of the literary style and syntax, but they did not constitute radical changes to the fundamentals of the grammar or the morphology of the language.
{{cite book|last=Renfrew|first=Colin|year=1987|title=Archaeology and Language: The Puzzle of Indo-European Origins|location=London|publisher=Pimlico|isbn=0-7126-6612-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gamkrelidze|first1=Thomas V.|author-link1=Tamaz V. Gamkrelidze|last2=Ivanov|first2=V. V.|author-link2=Vyacheslav Ivanov (philologist)|title=The Early History of Indo-European Languages|journal=Scientific American|date=March 1990|volume=262|issue=3|pages=110–117|jstor=24996796|doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0390-110|bibcode=1990SciAm.262c.110G }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Renfrew | first = Colin | year = 2003 | chapter = Time Depth, Convergence Theory, and Innovation in Proto-Indo-European | title = Languages in Prehistoric Europe | publisher = Winter | isbn = 3-8253-1449-9}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://language.psy.auckland.ac.nz/files/gray_and_atkinson2003/grayatkinson2003.pdf |first1=Russell D.|last1=Gray|first2=Quentin D.|last2=Atkinson|title=Language-tree divergence times support the Anatolian theory of Indo-European origin|journal=Nature|volume=426|year=2003|issue=6965 |pages=435–439 |access-date=20 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520041256/http://language.psy.auckland.ac.nz/files/gray_and_atkinson2003/grayatkinson2003.pdf |archive-date=20 May 2011 |url-status=dead|doi=10.1038/nature02029|pmid=14647380 |bibcode=2003Natur.426..435G |s2cid=42340 }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Mallory|first=James P.|author-link=J. P. Mallory|editor-last1=Mallory|editor-first1=James P.|editor-last2=Adams|editor-first2=Douglas Q.|title=Kuro-Araxes Culture|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture|year=1997|pages=341–42|publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn|url=https://archive.org/details/EncyclopediaOfIndoEuropeanCulture/page/n369/mode/2up|isbn= 1-884964-98-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Bammesberger|first=Alfred|chapter=The Place of Europe in Germanic and Indo-European|title=The Cambridge History of the English language|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|year=1992|isbn=978-0-521-26474-7|page=32|doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521264747.003 }} The model "still remains the background of much creative work in Indo-European reconstruction" even though it is "by no means uniformly accepted by all scholars."</ref> Early and strong evidence was given by Euler's 1979 examination on shared features in Greek and Sanskrit nominal flection.<ref>Indoiranisch-griechische Gemeinsamkeiten der Nominalbildung und deren indogermanische Grundlagen (= Aryan-Greek Communities in Nominal Morphology and their Indoeuropean Origins; in German) (282 p.), Innsbruck, 1979</ref>


Used in tandem with the Graeco-Armenian hypothesis, the Armenian language would also be included under the label '''Aryano-Greco-Armenic''', splitting into Proto-Greek/Phrygian and "Armeno-Aryan" (ancestor of Armenian and ]).<ref name="p. 6"/><ref name="public.iastate.edu"/>
The ] of 1828 once again divided the traditional Armenian homeland. This time, two thirds of historical Armenia fell under Ottoman control, while the remaining territories were divided between the Russian and Persian empires. The antagonistic relationship between the Russian and Ottoman Empires led to creation of two separate and different environments under which Armenians lived and suffered. Halfway through the 19th century, two important concentrations of Armenian communities were constituted.


===Evolution===
Because of persecutions or the search for better economic opportunities, many Armenians living under Ottoman rule gradually moved to ], the capital of the ], while Tiflis (Tbilisi) in ] became the center of Armenians living under Russian rule. These two cosmopolitan cities very soon became the primary poles of Armenian intellectual and cultural life.
] (Arm: ''grabar''), attested from the 5th century to the 19th century as the literary standard (up to the 11th century also as a spoken language with different varieties), was partially superseded by ], attested from the 12th century to the 18th century. Specialized literature prefers "Old Armenian" for ''grabar'' as a whole, and designates as "Classical" the language used in the 5th century literature, "Post-Classical" from the late 5th to 8th centuries, and "Late Grabar" that of the period covering the 8th to 11th centuries. Later, it was used mainly in religious and specialized literature, with the exception of a revival during the early modern period, when attempts were made to establish it as the language of a literary renaissance, with neoclassical inclinations, through the creation and dissemination of literature in varied genres, especially by the ]. The first Armenian periodical, '']'', was published in ''grabar'' in 1794.


The classical form borrowed numerous words from ], primarily ],<ref name="Diakonoff597">{{cite journal|title=Hurro-Urartian Borrowings in Old Armenian|first=I. M. |last=Diakonoff|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=105|issue=4|year=1985|pages=597–603 |doi=10.2307/602722 |jstor=602722 |s2cid=163807245 }}</ref> and contains smaller inventories of ]s from Greek,<ref name="Diakonoff597" /> Syriac,<ref name="Diakonoff597" /> Aramaic,<ref>{{harvnb|Fortson|2004}}</ref> Arabic,<ref>{{cite book|chapter=How Did New Persian and Arabic Words Penetrate the Middle Armenian Vocabulary? Remarks on the Material of Kostandin Erznkac'i's Poetry|year=1995|first=Andrzej|last=Pisowicz|title=New Approaches to Medieval Armenian Language and Literature|doi=10.1163/9789004455139_008|series=
The introduction of new literary forms and styles, as well as many new ideas sweeping Europe, reached Armenians living in both regions. This created an ever-growing need to elevate the vernacular, Ašxarhabar, to the dignity of a modern literary language, in contrast to the now-anachronistic Grabar. Numerous dialects developed in the traditional Armenian regions, which, different as they were, had certain morphological and phonetic features in common. On the basis of these features two major variants emerged:
Dutch Studies in Armenian Language and Literature|volume=3|page=96|isbn=9789004455139 |editor-last=Weitenberg|editor-first=Joseph Johannes Sicco}}</ref> Mongol,<ref>{{cite journal|title=Tangsux in Armenia|last=Schütz|first=E.|journal=Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae|volume=17|issue=1|year=1964|page=106|publisher=Akadémiai Kiadó|jstor=23656665}}</ref> Persian,<ref>{{cite book|last=Panossian|first=Razmik|title=The Armenians: From Kings and Priests to Merchants and Commissars|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York|page=39|isbn=9780231139267}}</ref> and ]s such as ]. An effort to modernize the language in ] and the ] (11–14th centuries) resulted in the addition of two more characters to the alphabet ("{{lang|hy|օ}}" and "{{lang|hy|ֆ}}"), bringing the total number to 38.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ouzounian|first1=Nourhan|editor1-last=Hacikyan|editor1-first=Agop Jack|editor2-last=Basmajian|editor2-first=Gabriel|editor3-last=Franchuk|editor3-first=Edward S.|editor4-last=Ouzounian|editor4-first=Nourhan| display-editors = 3|title=The heritage of Armenian literature|year=2000|publisher=Wayne State Univ. Press|location=Detroit|isbn=0814328156|page=|url=https://archive.org/details/heritageofarmeni00ajha|url-access=registration}}</ref>
* Western variant: The influx of immigrants from different parts of the traditional Armenian homeland to Constantinople crystallized the common elements of the regional dialects, paving the way to a style of writing that required a shorter and more flexible learning curve than Grabar.
* Eastern variant: The ] provided the primary elements of Eastern Armenian, centered in Tiflis (], Georgia). Similar to the Western Armenian variant, the Modern Eastern was in many ways more practical and accessible to the masses than Grabar.


The ''Book of Lamentations'' by ] (951–1003) is an example of the development of a literature and writing style of Old Armenian by the 10th century. In addition to elevating the literary style and vocabulary of the Armenian language by adding well above a thousand new words,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mirzoyan |first=H. |date=2005 |title=Նարեկացու բառաշխարհը |trans-title=Narekatsi's World of Words |language=hy |journal=Banber Erewani Hamalsarani |volume=1 |issue=115 |pages=85–114 }}</ref> through his other hymns and poems Gregory paved the way for his successors to include secular themes and vernacular language in their writings. The thematic shift from mainly religious texts to writings with secular outlooks further enhanced and enriched the vocabulary. "A Word of Wisdom", a poem by Hovhannes Sargavak devoted to a starling, legitimizes poetry devoted to nature, love, or female beauty. Gradually, the interests of the population at large were reflected in other literary works as well. Konsdantin Yerzinkatsi and several others took the unusual step of criticizing the ecclesiastic establishment and addressing the social issues of the Armenian homeland. These changes represented the nature of the literary style and syntax, but they did not constitute immense changes to the fundamentals of the grammar or the morphology of the language. Often, when writers codify a spoken dialect, other language users are then encouraged to imitate that structure through the literary device known as ].<ref>{{cite book|last=Švejcer|first=Aleksandr D.|title=Contemporary Sociolinguistics: Theory, Problems, Methods|year=1986|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company|location=Amsterdam/Philadelphia|isbn=9027215189|page=70|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TQhCAAAAQBAJ}}</ref>
Both centers vigorously pursued the promotion of Ašxarhabar. The proliferation of newspapers in both versions (Eastern & Western) and the development of a network of schools where modern Armenian was taught, dramatically increased the rate of literacy (in spite of the obstacles by the colonial administrators), even in remote rural areas. The emergence of literary works entirely written in the modern versions increasingly legitimized the language’s existence. By the turn of the 20th century both varieties of the one modern Armenian language prevailed over Grabar and opened the path to a new and simplified grammatical structure of the language in the two different cultural spheres. Apart from minor morphological, phonetic, and grammatical differences, the largely common vocabulary and identical rules of grammatical fundamentals allows users of one variant to understand the other easily.


In the 19th century, the traditional Armenian homeland was once again divided. This time ] was conquered from ] by the ], while ], containing two thirds of historical Armenia, remained under ] control. The antagonistic relationship between the Russian and Ottoman empires led to creation of two separate and different environments under which Armenians lived. Halfway through the 19th century, two important concentrations of Armenian communities were further consolidated.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Khachaturian|first1=Lisa|title=Cultivating nationhood in imperial Russia the periodical press and the formation of a modern Armenian identity|year=2009|publisher=Transaction Publishers|location=New Brunswick, N.J.|isbn=978-1412813723|page=1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A0uY_tuRcx8C}}</ref> Because of persecutions or the search for better economic opportunities, many Armenians living under Ottoman rule gradually moved to ], whereas ] became the center of Armenians living under Russian rule. These two cosmopolitan cities very soon became the primary poles of Armenian intellectual and cultural life.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Krikor Beledian|editor1-last=Berghaus|editor1-first=Günter|title=International Yearbook of Futurism|year=2014|publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG|isbn=978-3110334104|page=264|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nQPpBQAAQBAJ}}</ref>
After the ], the existence of the two modern versions of the same language was sanctioned even more clearly. The ] (1920–1990) used Eastern Armenian as its official language, while the Diaspora created after the ] carried with it the only thing survivors still possessed: their native language, Western Armenian.


The introduction of new literary forms and styles, as well as many new ideas sweeping Europe, reached Armenians living in both regions. This created an ever-growing need to elevate the vernacular, Ashkharhabar, to the dignity of a modern literary language, in contrast to the now-anachronistic Grabar. Numerous dialects existed in the traditional Armenian regions, which, different as they were, had certain morphological and phonetic features in common. On the basis of these features two major standards emerged:
===Modern changes===

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 ].
* Western standard: The influx of immigrants from different parts of the traditional Armenian homeland to Istanbul crystallized the common elements of the regional dialects, paving the way for a style of writing that required a shorter and more flexible learning curve than Grabar.
* Eastern standard: The ] provided the primary elements of Eastern Armenian, centered in Tbilisi, Georgia. Similar to the Western Armenian variant, the Modern Eastern was in many ways more practical and accessible to the masses than Grabar.

Both centers vigorously pursued the promotion of Ashkharhabar. The proliferation of newspapers in both versions (Eastern & Western) and the development of a network of schools where modern Armenian was taught, dramatically increased the rate of literacy (in spite of the obstacles by the colonial administrators), even in remote rural areas. The emergence of literary works entirely written in the modern versions increasingly legitimized the language's existence. By the turn of the 20th century both varieties of the one modern Armenian language prevailed over Grabar and opened the path to a new and simplified grammatical structure of the language in the two different cultural spheres. Apart from several morphological, phonetic, and grammatical differences, the largely common vocabulary and generally analogous rules of grammatical fundamentals allows users of one variant to understand the other as long as they are fluent in one of the literary standards.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Waters|first1=Bella|title=Armenia in pictures|year=2009|publisher=VGS/Twenty-First Century Books|location=Minneapolis|isbn=978-0822585763|page=48|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BFN6SuymI00C}}</ref>

After ], the existence of the two modern versions of the same language was sanctioned even more clearly. The ] (1920–1990) used Eastern Armenian as its official language, whereas the diaspora created after the ] preserved the Western Armenian dialect.

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 ] in the 20th century, primarily following the ].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x9KoAkzfVqIC&q=armenian%20lexical%20purification&pg=PA315|title=Progress in language planning: International Perspectives|last1=Cobarrubias|first1=Juan|last2=Fishman|first2=Joshua A.|publisher=Mouton Publishers|year=1983|isbn=902793388X|location=Berlin|pages=315, 319}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Manuscript arm 5-6AD.jpg|Armenian manuscript, 5th–6th centuries.
File:Gandzasar 01.jpg|Armenian inscription in ]
File:The Four Gospels, 1495, Portrait of St Mark Wellcome L0031107.jpg|The Four Gospels, 1495, Portrait of St Mark Wellcome with Armenian inscriptions
File:The first Bible printed in the Armenian language.jpg|First printed Armenian language Bible, 1666
File:Panneau près d'Ohanavan.JPG|Armenian language road sign.
</gallery>

==Geographic distribution==
In addition to Armenia and Turkey, where it is ], Armenian is spoken among the ]. According to '']'', globally there are {{sigfig|1.582290|2}} million Western Armenian speakers and {{sigfig|3.699000|2}} million Eastern Armenian speakers, totalling {{sigfig|5.28129|2}} million Armenian speakers.<ref name=e26/>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Armenian speakers, ''Ethnologue'' (26th ed., 2023){{efn|Only countries with at least 10,000 speakers are listed.}}<ref name=e26/>
! Country || Armenian speakers || Main variety
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Armenia}} || {{sigfig|2,960,000|2}} || Eastern
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Russia}} || {{sigfig|508,000|2}} || Eastern
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Lebanon}} || {{sigfig|336,000|2}} || Western
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|United States}} || {{sigfig|239,000|2}} || Western
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Argentina}} || {{sigfig|149,000|2}} || Western
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Georgia}} || {{sigfig|145,000|2}} || Western
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Azerbaijan}} || {{sigfig|120,000|2}} || Eastern
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Iran}} || {{sigfig|111,000|2}} || Eastern
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Turkmenistan}} || {{sigfig|84,000|2}} || Western
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|France}} || {{sigfig|70,000|2}} || Western
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Iraq}} || {{sigfig|70,000|2}} || Western
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Turkey}} || {{sigfig|67,300|2}} || Western
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Uzbekistan}} || {{sigfig|65,700|2}} || Western
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Syria}} || {{sigfig|60,000|2}} || Western
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Ukraine}} || {{sigfig|50,400|2}} || Western
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Brazil}} || {{sigfig|47,000|2}} || Western
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Canada}} || {{sigfig|44,500|2}} || Western
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Germany}} || {{sigfig|26,800|2}} || Western
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Greece}} || {{sigfig|20,000|2}} || Western
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Kazakhstan}} || {{sigfig|16,000|2}} || Western
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Spain}} || {{sigfig|12,000|2}} || Western
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Australia}} || {{sigfig|11,000|2}} || Western
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Kuwait}} || {{sigfig|10,600|2}} || Western
|-
| {{flag+link|Armenians in|Jordan}} || {{sigfig|10,000|2}} || Western
|}

In Georgia, Armenian speakers are concentrated in ] and ] districts where they represent over 90% of the population.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hille|first=Charlotte|title=State Building and Conflict Resolution in the Caucasus|url=https://archive.org/details/statebuildingcon00hill|url-access=limited|year=2010|publisher=]|location=Leiden, Netherlands|isbn=9789004179011|page=241}}</ref>

== Status and usage ==
The short-lived ] declared Armenian its official language. ] was then dominating in institutions and among the population. When Armenia was incorporated into the USSR, the ] made Eastern Armenian the language of the courts, government institutions and schools. Armenia was also ]. The current ] upholds the official status of the Armenian language. ] is the official variant used, making it the ] while other variants have been excluded from national institutions. Indeed, ] is perceived by some as a mere dialect.<ref name=Karamanian2019>{{Cite journal |last=Karamanian |first=Armen Samuel |date=2019-11-13 |title='He Wasn't Able to Understand What I Was Saying': The Experiences of Returnees' Speaking Western Armenian in 'Eastern' Armenia |journal=PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies |volume=16 |issue=1–2 |pages=120–140 |doi=10.5130/pjmis.v16i1-2.6290 |s2cid=211676057 |issn=1449-2490|doi-access=free |hdl=10453/141096 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Armenian was also official in the ]. It is recognized as an official language of the ] although Russian is the working language.

Armenian (without reference to a specific variety) is officially recognized as a ] in ],<ref name=CYP1/><ref name=CYP2/> ],<ref name=HUN/> ],<ref name=IRQ/> ],<ref name=POL1/><ref name=POL2/> ],<ref name=ROU/> and ].<ref name=UKR/> It is recognized as a minority language and protected in ] by the 1923 ].<ref name=Toktaş2006>{{Cite journal |last= Toktaş |first= Şule |date=2006 |title=EU enlargement conditions and minority protection : a reflection on Turkey's non-Muslim minorities |url=https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/42732 |journal=East European Quarterly |language=en |volume=40|issue=4 |pages=489–519 |issn=0012-8449|quote-page=514|quote=This implies that Turkey grants educational right in minority languages only to the recognized minorities covered by the Lausanne who are the Armenians, Greeks and the Jews.}}</ref><ref name=Bayır2013>{{Cite book |last=Bayır |first=Derya |title=Minorities and nationalism in Turkish law |date=2013 |publisher=] |isbn=978-1-4094-7254-4 |series=Cultural Diversity and Law |location=Farnham|url=https://www.academia.edu/37557239| pages=89–90 |quote=Oran farther points out that the rights set out for the four categories are stated to be the ‘fundamental law’ of the land, so that no legislation or official action shall conflict or interfere with these stipulations or prevail over them (article 37). According to the Turkish state, only Greek, Armenian and Jewish non-Muslims were granted minority protection by the Lausanne Treaty. Except for non-Muslim populations - that is, Greeks, Jews and Armenians - none of the other minority groups’ language rights have been ''de jure'' protected by the legal system in Turkey. }}</ref><ref name=HRWLanguageRights>{{cite book |title = Questions and Answers: Freedom of Expression and Language Rights in Turkey |publisher = Human Rights Watch |date = April 2002 |location = New York |url =https://www.hrw.org/news/2002/04/19/qa-freedom-expression-and-language-rights-turkey |quote=The Turkish government accepts the language rights of the Jewish, Greek and Armenian minorities as being guaranteed by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne.}}</ref><ref name=Uzum2017>{{Cite journal |last1=Uzum |first1=Melike |last2=Demir |first2=Nurettin |date=2017-10-24 |title=Minority Language Education and Policy in Turkey: The Case of Cankiri Poshas |url=https://ugei-ojs-shsu.tdl.org/ugei/article/view/16 |journal=Journal of Universality of Global Education Issues |language=en |volume=4 |issn=2575-9388|pages=5–6|quote=In the Lausanne treaty, people of the republic were defined through a religion based definition, similar to the Ottoman concept of millet (nation). For example, the non-Muslim minorities such as Armenians, Greeks, and Jews were recognized as minorities, and their language rights were identified in articles 39, 40, and 41.}}</ref>

Western Armenian is the language of the ], it is the ] in the majority of ].<ref name=Karamanian2019/> In particular, in the ] region of ], although Armenian has no legal status, there were 144 state-funded schools in the area as of 2010 where Armenian is the main language of instruction.<ref>{{cite news|title=Javakhk Armenians Looks Ahead to Local Elections|url=http://asbarez.com/78867/georgias-armenian-minority-looks-ahead-toward-local-elections/|access-date=26 May 2014|newspaper=]|date=31 March 2010|quote=Javakheti for use in the region's 144 Armenian schools&nbsp;...}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Mezhdoyan|first=Slava|title=Challenges and problems of the Armenian community of Georgia|url=http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/MinorityIssues/Session5/statements/ItemV/3.%20EuropeanArmenianFederationJustice%20andDemocracy.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/MinorityIssues/Session5/statements/ItemV/3.%20EuropeanArmenianFederationJustice%20andDemocracy.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|publisher=European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy|access-date=26 May 2014|location=Tbilisi|date=28 November 2012|quote=Armenian schools in Georgia are fully funded by the government&nbsp;...}}</ref> The Lebanese curriculum allows Armenian schools to teach the Armenian language as a basic language.<ref>{{cite web|title=Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Article 44 of the Convention. Third periodic reports of states parties due in 2003: Lebanon|url=http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/45377eb00.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/45377eb00.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|publisher=]|access-date=26 May 2014|page=108|date=25 October 2005|quote=Right of minorities to learn their language. The Lebanese curriculum allows Armenian schools to teach the Armenian language as a basic language.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Sanjian|first=Ara|title=Armenians and the 2000 Parliamentary Elections in Lebanon|url=http://www.groong.org/ro/ro-20000907.html|work=Armenian News Network / Groong|publisher=]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140526153117/http://www.groong.org/ro/ro-20000907.html|archive-date=26 May 2014|quote=Moreover, the Lebanese government approved a plan whereby the Armenian language was to be considered from now on as one of the few 'second foreign languages' that students can take as part of the official Lebanese secondary school certificate (Baccalaureate) exams.}}</ref> In ], home to a large ] community, various ] government agencies provide Armenian translations of their documents: the ],<ref>{{cite web |title=Armenian Translations |url=http://www.cdss.ca.gov/cdssweb/PG25.htm |publisher=California Department of Social Services |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140526153235/http://www.cdss.ca.gov/cdssweb/PG25.htm |archive-date=26 May 2014 }}</ref> ],<ref>{{cite web |title=Վարորդների ձեռնարկ |url=https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/wcm/connect/09a5b933-9869-4504-ac90-fe54366771b3/dl600A.pdf?MOD=AJPERES |publisher=California Department of Motor Vehicles |year=2016 |access-date=October 29, 2016 |archive-date=January 12, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180112155947/https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/wcm/connect/09a5b933-9869-4504-ac90-fe54366771b3/dl600A.pdf?MOD=AJPERES |url-status=dead }}</ref> ].<ref>{{cite web |title=English/Armenian Legal Glossary |url=http://www.saccourt.ca.gov/general/legal-glossaries/docs/armenian-western-legal-glossary.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.saccourt.ca.gov/general/legal-glossaries/docs/armenian-western-legal-glossary.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |publisher=Superior Court of California, County of Sacramento |access-date=26 May 2014 |date=22 June 2005}}</ref> In the city of ], there are street signs in Armenian.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rocha |first=Veronica |title=New Glendale traffic safety warnings in English, Armenian, Spanish |url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/01/glendales-new-traffic-safet-signs-in-english-armenian-and-spanish.html |access-date=26 May 2014 |newspaper=] |date=11 January 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Aghajanian |first=Liana |title=Intersections: Bad driving signals a need for reflection |url=http://articles.glendalenewspress.com/2012-09-04/opinion/tn-gnp-0904-intersections-bad-driving-signals-a-need-for-reflection_1_luxury-cars-car-accident-bad-drivers |access-date=26 May 2014 |newspaper=Glendale News-Press |date=4 September 2012 |quote=...&nbsp;trilingual street signs in English, Armenian, and Spanish at intersections&nbsp;... |archive-date=25 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525141440/http://articles.glendalenewspress.com/2012-09-04/opinion/tn-gnp-0904-intersections-bad-driving-signals-a-need-for-reflection_1_luxury-cars-car-accident-bad-drivers |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In Lebanon, Syria and Iran, Armenian communities were given greater autonomy than other groups, namely Assyrians and Kurds. In practice, Armenians were the only ethnic minority group of these countries that were allowed to teach their language in their schools.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tK2GMRf-sY |title=How Syrian-Armenians Preserved Western Armenian |date=2020-05-31 |last=Rerooted Archive |access-date=2024-10-12 |via=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2016 |title=Armenians, Kurds in Lebanon hold on to their languages |url=https://thearabweekly.com/armenians-kurds-lebanon-hold-their-languages |access-date=October 12, 2024}}</ref> In ], article 15 of the ] allows the use of "regional and tribal languages" in the mass media as well as within the schools. However, these languages do not receive formal status and are not officially regulated by the authorities.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yesiltas |first=Ozum |date=2016-07-02 |title=Contested Notions of National Identity, Ethnic Movements And Democratization in Iran |url=http://publications.tlu.ee/index.php/stss/article/view/255 |journal=Studies of Transition States and Societies |language=en |volume=8 |issue=1 |doi=10.58036/stss.v8i1.255 |issn=1736-8758}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Riazi |first=Abdolmehdi |title=Decolonisation, Globalisation |chapter=6. The Four Language Stages in the History of Iran |date=2005-07-04 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234705882 |pages=98–114 |access-date=2023-10-07 |publisher=Multilingual Matters |language=en |doi=10.21832/9781853598265-008 |isbn=978-1-85359-826-5}}</ref> ] are de facto the only non-Persian ethnic group in Iran enjoying this right. They have their own private schools, where Armenian is the medium of instruction.<ref>{{cite web |title=Legal Aspects of Education in Mother Language for Iranian Azerbaijani Students |url=https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=30582350 |website=eLIBRARY.RU|language=en|pages=284–294|year=2017}}</ref>


==Phonology== ==Phonology==
{{see also|Armenian alphabet|Armenian braille}} {{See also|Western Armenian#Phonology}}
]
] voiceless ] are aspirated in ], one of the circumstances that is often linked to the ], part of which postulated that the voiceless occlusives of Proto-Indo-European were aspirated.<ref>James Clackson, ''Indo-European Linguistics, An Introduction'' (2007, Cambridge)<br>Robert S.P. Beekes, ''Comparative Indo-European Linguistics, An Introduction'' (1995, John Benjamins)<br>Oswald J.L. Szemerényi, ''Introduction to Indo-European Linguistics'' (1996, Oxford)</ref>

] voiceless ]s are aspirated in the ], one of the circumstances that is often linked to the ], a version of which postulated that some voiceless occlusives of Proto-Indo-European were aspirated.<ref>{{cite book |first=James |last=Clackson |title=Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction |year=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511808616|isbn=9780521653671 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Robert S.P. |last=Beekes |title=Comparative Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction |year=1995 |publisher=John Benjamins |doi=10.1075/z.72 |isbn=9781556195051}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Oswald J.L. |last=Szemerényi |title=Introduction to Indo-European Linguistics |year=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198238706}}</ref>


===Stress=== ===Stress===
In Armenian the stress falls on the last syllable unless the last syllable contains {{IPA|}}, in which case it falls on the penultimate one. For instance, <nowiki>]<nowiki>]</nowiki>, <nowiki>]<nowiki>]</nowiki>, <nowiki>]<nowiki>]</nowiki> but <nowiki>]<nowiki>]</nowiki> and <nowiki>]<nowiki>]</nowiki>. Exceptions to this rule are some words with the final letter է (ե in the reformed orthography) (մի՛թէ, մի՛գուցե, ո՛րեւէ) and sometimes the ordinal numerals (վե՛ցերորդ, տա՛սներորդ, etc.). In Armenian, the stress falls on the last syllable unless the last syllable contains the definite article {{IPA|}} or {{IPA|}}, and the possessive articles {{lang|hy|ս}} and {{lang|hy|դ}}, in which case it falls on the penultimate one. For instance, |cat=no}}]], |cat=no}}]], |cat=no}}]] but |cat=no}}]] and |cat=no}}]]. Exceptions to this rule are some words with the final letter {{lang|hy|է}} ({{lang|hy|ե}} in the reformed orthography) ({{lang|hy|մի՛թէ, մի՛գուցե, ո՛րեւէ}}) and sometimes the ordinal numerals ({{lang|hy|վե՛ցերորդ, տա՛սներորդ}}, etc.), as well as {{lang|hy|նաեւ, նամանաւանդ, հիմա, այժմ}}, and a small number of other words.


===Vowels=== ===Vowels===
All varieties of Armenian employ only ]. Eastern Armenian has six vowels, while Western Armenian has an additional two front rounded vowels.
{{Armenians}}
Modern Armenian has six monophthongs. Each vowel phoneme in the table is represented by three symbols. The first indicates the phoneme's pronunciation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). After that appears the corresponding letter of the Armenian alphabet. The last symbol is its Latin transliteration (according to ISO 9985).


{| class="wikitable" {| class="wikitable"
|+Armenian vowel phonemes<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Dum-Tragut|2009|p=13}}</ref> |+Eastern Armenian vowel phonemes<ref>{{Harvnb|Dum-Tragut|2009|p=13}}</ref>
! !
! ] ! ]
Line 101: Line 239:
|- |-
! style="text-align:left;"| ] ! style="text-align:left;"| ]
| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA link|i}} <br>]<br>i | class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA|/{{IPA link|i}}/}} <br />{{lang|hy|]}}<br />i
| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | | class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" |
| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA link|u}} <br>]<br>u | class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA|/{{IPA link|u}}/}} <br />{{lang|hy|]}}<br />u
|- |-
! style="text-align:left;"| ] ! style="text-align:left;"| ]
| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA link|ɛ}} <br>], ]<br>e, ē | class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɛ}}/}} <br />{{lang|hy|]}}, {{lang|hy|]}}<br />e, ē
| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA link|ə}} <br>]<br>ë | class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ə}}/}} <br />{{lang|hy|]}}<br />ë
| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center;" | {{IPA link|ɔ}} <br>], ]<br>o, ò | class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center;" | {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɔ}}/}} <br />{{lang|hy|]}}, {{lang|hy|]}}<br />o, ō
|- |-
! style="text-align:left;"| ] ! style="text-align:left;"| ]
|
|
| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɑ}}/}} <br />{{lang|hy|]}}<br />a
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+Western Armenian vowel phonemes
!
! colspan=2| ]
! rowspan=2| ]
! colspan=2| ]
|-
!|| ] || ] || ] || ]
|-
! align="left" | ]
| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA link|i}}&nbsp;&nbsp;{{angbr|ի}}
| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA link|ʏ}}&nbsp;&nbsp;{{angbr|իւ}}
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA link|u}}&nbsp;&nbsp;{{angbr|ու}}
|-
! align="left" | ]
| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA link|ɛ}}&nbsp;&nbsp;{{angbr|է, ե}}<ref name="context_sensitive">The choice of Armenian symbol depends on the vowel's context in the word. See the ''Orthography'' section ] for details.</ref>
| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA link|œ}}&nbsp;&nbsp;{{angbr|էօ}}
| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA link|ə}}&nbsp;&nbsp;{{angbr|ը}}
| &nbsp;
| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center;" | {{IPA link|o}}&nbsp;&nbsp;{{angbr|ո, օ}}<ref name="context_sensitive"/>
|-
! align="left" | ]
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp;
| &nbsp; | &nbsp;
| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA link|ɑ}}&nbsp;&nbsp;{{angbr|ա}}
| &nbsp; | &nbsp;
| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA link|ɑ}} <br>]<br>a
|} |}


===Consonants=== ===Consonants===
The following table lists the Eastern Armenian consonantal system. The occlusives and ] have a special aspirated series (transcribed with a Greek '']'' after the letter): ''p’'', ''t’'', ''c’'', ''k’'' (but ''č''). Each phoneme in the table is represented by three symbols. The first indicates the phoneme's pronunciation in the ] (IPA), after that appears the corresponding letter of the ], and the last symbol is its ] ] (according to ]). The following table lists the Eastern Armenian consonantal system. The occlusives and ] have an aspirated series, commonly transcribed with a reversed ] after the letter. Each phoneme in the table is represented by IPA, Armenian script and romanization.


{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center {| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+Eastern Armenian consonant phonemes<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Dum-Tragut|2009|pp=17–20}}</ref> |+Eastern Armenian consonant phonemes<ref>{{Harvnb|Dum-Tragut|2009|pp=17–20}}</ref>
! colspan="2" | ! colspan="2" |
!] !]
!]/<br>] !]/<br />]
!]
!] !]
!] !]
Line 130: Line 298:
!] !]
|- |-
! colspan="2" | ] ! colspan="2" | ]
| {{IPA|/m/}} մ – m | {{IPAslink|m}} {{lang|hy|մ}} – m
| {{IPA|/n/}} ն – n | {{IPAslink|n}} {{lang|hy|ն}} – n
|
|
| |
| ({{IPA link|ŋ}}){{efn-lr|Occurs before velars.}}
| |
| |
|- |-
! rowspan="3" | ] ! rowspan="3" | ]
! <small>]</small>{{efn-lr|name=plosives|/pʰ p b/ in Eastern Armenian dialects generally correspond to /pʰ b pʰ/ in Western dialects (more detailed table given below).}}
! <small>]</small>
| {{IPA|/p/}} պ – p | {{IPAslink|b}} {{lang|hy|բ}} – b
| {{IPA|/t/}} տ – t | {{IPAslink|d}} {{lang|hy|դ}} – d
| |
| {{IPAslink|ɡ}} {{lang|hy|գ}} – g
|
| {{IPA|/k/}} կ – k
| |
| |
|- |-
! <small>]</small>{{efn-lr|name=ejectives|Some of the dialects may release the voiceless stops and affricates as ejectives.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dum-Tragut|2009|pp=17–18}}</ref>}}{{efn-lr|name=plosives}}
! <small>]</small>
| {{IPA|/b/}} բ – b | {{IPAslink|p}} {{lang|hy|պ}} – p
| {{IPA|/d/}} դ – d | {{IPAslink|t}} {{lang|hy|տ}} – t
| |
| {{IPAslink|k}} {{lang|hy|կ}} – k
|
| {{IPA|/ɡ/}} գ – g
| |
| |
|- |-
! <small>]</small> ! <small>]</small>{{efn-lr|name=plosives}}
| {{IPA|/pʰ/}} փ – p’ | {{IPAslink|pʰ}} {{lang|hy|փ}} – pʻ
| {{IPA|/tʰ/}} թ – t’ | {{IPAslink|tʰ}} {{lang|hy|թ}} – tʻ
| |
| {{IPAslink|kʰ}} {{lang|hy|ք}} – kʻ
|
| {{IPA|/kʰ/}} ք – k’
| |
| |
|- |-
! rowspan="3" | ] ! rowspan="3" | ]
! <small>]</small> ! <small>]</small>{{efn-lr|name=plosives}}
| |
| {{IPA|/t͡s/}} ծ – ç | {{IPAslink|d͡z}} {{lang|hy|ձ}} – j
| {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}} ճ – č̣ | {{IPAslink|d͡ʒ}} {{lang|hy|ջ}} – ǰ
|
| |
| |
| |
|- |-
! <small>]</small> ! <small>]</small>{{efn-lr|name=ejectives}}{{efn-lr|name=plosives}}
| |
| {{IPA|/d͡z/}} ձ – j | {{IPAslink|t͡s}} {{lang|hy|ծ}} – c
| {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}} ջ – ǰ | {{IPAslink|t͡ʃ}} {{lang|hy|ճ}} – č
|
| |
| |
| |
|- |-
! <small>]</small> ! <small>]</small>{{efn-lr|name=plosives}}
| |
| {{IPA|/t͡sʰ/}} ց – c’ | {{IPAslink|t͡sʰ}} {{lang|hy|ց}} – cʻ
| {{IPA|/t͡ʃʰ/}} չ – č | {{IPAslink|t͡ʃʰ}} {{lang|hy|չ}} – čʻ
|
| |
| |
| |
|- |-
! rowspan="2" | ] ! rowspan="2" | ]
! <small>]</small> ! <small>]</small>
| {{IPA|/f/}} ֆ – f | {{IPAslink|f}} {{lang|hy|ֆ}} – f
| {{IPA|/s/}} ս – s | {{IPAslink|s}} {{lang|hy|ս}} – s
| {{IPA|/ʃ/}} շ – š | {{IPAslink|ʃ}} {{lang|hy|շ}} – š
|colspan=2| /{{IPA link|x}} ~ {{IPA link|χ}}/{{efn-lr|name=velar_uvular|Sources differ on the place of articulation of these consonants.}} {{lang|hy|խ}} – x
|
|colspan=2| {{IPA|/x ~ χ/}}<sup>1</sup> խ – x | {{IPAslink|h}} {{lang|hy|հ}} – h
| {{IPA|/h/}} հ – h
|- |-
! <small>]</small> ! <small>]</small>
| {{IPA|/v/}} վ – v | {{IPAslink|v}} {{lang|hy|վ}} – v
| {{IPA|/z/}} զ – z | {{IPAslink|z}} {{lang|hy|զ}} – z
| {{IPA|/ʒ/}} ժ – ž | {{IPAslink|ʒ}} {{lang|hy|ժ}} – ž
|colspan=2| /{{IPA link|ɣ}} ~ {{IPA link|ʁ}}/{{efn-lr|name=velar_uvular}} {{lang|hy|ղ}} – ġ
|
|colspan=2| {{IPA|/ɣ ~ ʁ/}}<small><sup>1</sup></small> ղ – ġ
| |
|- |-
! colspan="2" | ] ! colspan="2" | ]
| {{IPA|}} | ({{IPA link|ʋ}})
| {{IPA|/l/}} լ – l | {{IPAslink|l}} {{lang|hy|լ}} – l
| {{IPAslink|j}} {{lang|hy|յ}} – y
|
| {{IPA|/j/}} -յ- – y
| |
| |
Line 223: Line 381:
! colspan="2" | ] ! colspan="2" | ]
| |
| {{IPA|/r/}} ռ – ṙ | {{IPAslink|r}} {{lang|hy|ռ}} – ṙ
|
| |
| |
Line 230: Line 387:
| |
|- |-
! colspan="2" | ] ! colspan="2" |]
|
| {{IPA|/ɾ/}} ր – r
| |
|/{{IPA link|ɾ}}/ {{lang|hy|ր}} – r
| |
| |
Line 239: Line 395:
| |
|} |}
{{notelist-lr}}


The major phonetic difference between dialects is in the reflexes of Classical Armenian ]. The seven dialect types have the following correspondences, illustrated with the t–d series:<ref>{{Harvnb|Price|2005}}</ref>
# Sources differ on the place of articulation of these consonants.
:{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center

The major phonetic difference between dialects is in the reflexes of Classical Armenian ]. The seven dialect types have the following correspondences, illustrated with the t/d series:<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Price|1998}}</ref>
::{| class="wikitable"
|+Correspondence in initial position |+Correspondence in initial position
!Armenian Letter
|Թ
|Տ
|Դ
|-
!] !]
|*{{IPA|t}}
|*{{IPA|d}} |*{{IPA|d}}
|*{{IPA|dʰ}} |*{{IPA|dʰ}}
|*{{IPA|t}}
|- |-
!] !], ]
| rowspan="6" |{{IPA|tʰ}}
|{{IPA|d}} |{{IPA|d}}
|{{IPA|dʱ}} |{{IPA|dʱ}}
|{{IPA|tʰ}}
|-
!]
|{{IPA|t}}
|{{IPA|dʱ}}
|{{IPA|tʰ}}
|- |-
!] !]
|{{IPA|d}} |colspan=2|{{IPA|d}}
|{{IPA|d}}
|{{IPA|tʰ}}
|- |-
!], ] !], ]
|{{IPA|d}} | rowspan="2" |{{IPA|d}}
|{{IPA|t}} |{{IPA|t}}
|{{IPA|tʰ}}
|- |-
!], ] !], ]
|{{IPA|d}}
|{{IPA|tʰ}}
|{{IPA|tʰ}} |{{IPA|tʰ}}
|- |-
!], ], ] !], ], ], ]
|{{IPA|t}} |{{IPA|t}}
|{{IPA|d}} |{{IPA|d}}
|{{IPA|tʰ}}
|- |-
!], ] !], Artsakh
|{{IPA|t}} |colspan=2|{{IPA|t}}
|{{IPA|t}}
|{{IPA|tʰ}}
|} |}
The consonants transcribed {{angle bracket|{{IPA|dʱ}}}} are ]d.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}}


==Morphology== ==Morphology==


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 ] region. Armenian is ], one of only two Indo-European languages with this characteristic, the other one being ].<ref></ref> 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 ]. 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 ] and ], 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 ]) to a typical analytic language (Modern Armenian) with Middle Armenian as a midpoint in this transition. Armenian corresponds to other Indo-European languages in structure, but it shares distinctive sounds and grammatical features with neighboring ]. Armenian orthography is rich in consonant clusters, but in pronunciation, they are broken up with schwas.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kortmann|first1=Bernd|last2=van der Auwera|first2=Johan|title=The Languages and Linguistics of Europe: A Comprehensive Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vi_VCm51kpkC|year=2011|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3110220261|page=129}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The New Armenia, Vol. 11-12|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3nLnAAAAMAAJ|year=1919|publisher=New Armenia Publishing Company|isbn=1248372786|page=160}}</ref> Both classical Armenian and the modern spoken and literary dialects have a system of noun declensions, with six or seven cases but no gender. In modern Armenian, the use of auxiliary verbs to show tense (comparable to "will" in "he will go") has generally supplanted the inflected verbs of ]. Negative verbs are conjugated differently from positive ones (as in English "he goes" and "he does not go") in many tenses, otherwise adding only the negative {{lang|hy|չ}} to the positive conjugation. Grammatically, early forms of Armenian had much in common with classical ] and ], but the modern language has undergone many ] transformations like modern Greek.


===Noun=== ===Nouns===
Classical Armenian has no ], not even in the pronoun, but there is a feminine suffix (-ուհի "-uhi"). For example, ուսուցիչ (''usuts'ich'', "teacher") becomes ուսուցչուհի (''usuts'chuhi'', female teacher). This suffix, however, does not have a grammatical effect on the sentence. The nominal inflection, however, preserves several types of inherited stem classes. Nouns are declined for one of seven cases: ], ], ], ], ], ], or ]. Armenian has no ], not even in pronouns, but there is a feminine suffix ({{lang|hy|-ուհի}} "-uhi") which has no grammatical effect. For example, {{lang|hy|ուսուցիչ}} (''usucʻičʻ'', "teacher") becomes {{lang|hy|ուսուցչուհի}} (''usucʻčʻuhi'', female teacher). The nominal inflection preserves several types of inherited stem classes. Historically, nouns were declined for one of seven cases: ] (ուղղական ''uġġakan''), ] (հայցական ''haycʻakan''), ] (ներգոյական ''nergoyakan''), ] (սեռական ''seṙakan''), ] (տրական ''trakan''), ] (բացառական ''bacʻaṙakan''), or ] (գործիական ''gorciakan''), but in the modern language, the nominative and accusative cases, as well as the dative and genitive cases, have merged.


;Examples of noun declension in Eastern Armenian
===Verb===

{| class="wikitable"
|+{{lang|hy|Հեռախոս}} {{transliteration|hy|''Heṙaxos''}} (telephone)
!Case
!Singular
!Plural
|-
!Nominative
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|հեռախոս'''(ը/ն)*'''|heṙaxos'''(ë/n)*'''|}}
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|հեռախոսներ'''(ը/ն)*'''|heṙaxosner'''(ë/n)*'''|}}
|-
!Dative
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|հեռախոս'''ի(ն)'''|heṙaxos'''i(n)'''|}}
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|հեռախոսներ'''ի(ն)'''|heṙaxosner'''i(n)'''|}}
|-
!Ablative
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|հեռախոս'''ից'''|heṙaxos'''icʻ'''|}}
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|հեռախոսներ'''ից'''|heṙaxosner'''icʻ'''|}}
|-
!Instrumental
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|հեռախոս'''ով'''|heṙaxos'''ov'''|}}
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|հեռախոսներ'''ով'''|heṙaxosner'''ov'''|}}
|-
!Locative
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|հեռախոս'''ում'''|heṙaxos'''um'''|}}
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|հեռախոսներ'''ում'''|heṙaxosner'''um'''|}}
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+{{lang|hy|Մայր}} {{transliteration|hy|''Mayr''}} (mother)
!Case
!Singular
!Plural
|-
!Nominative
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|մայր'''(ը/ն)*'''|mayr'''(ë/n)*'''|}}
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|մայրեր'''(ը/ն)*'''|mayrer'''(ë/n)*'''|}}
|-
!Dative
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|մ'''որ(ը/ն)*'''|m'''or(ë/n)*'''|}}
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|մայրեր'''ի(ն)'''|mayrer'''i(n)'''|}}
|-
!Ablative
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|մ'''որից'''|m'''oricʻ'''|}}
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|մայրեր'''ից'''|mayrer'''icʻ'''|}}
|-
!Instrumental
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|մ'''որով'''|m'''orov'''|}}
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|մայրեր'''ով'''|mayrer'''ov'''|}}
|}

Which case the direct object takes is split based on animacy (a phenomenon more generally known as ]). Inanimate nouns take the nominative, while animate nouns take the dative. Additionally, animate nouns can never take the locative case.

{| class="wikitable"
|+{{lang|hy|Հանրապետություն}} {{transliteration|hy|''Hanrapetut'yun''}} (republic)
!Case
!Singular
!Plural
|-
!Nominative
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|հանրապետություն'''(ը/ն)*'''|hanrapetutʻyun'''(ë/n)*'''|}}
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|հանրապետություններ'''(ը/ն)*'''|hanrapetutʻyunner'''(ë/n)*'''|}}
|-
!Dative
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|հանրապետությ'''ան(ը/ն)*'''|hanrapetutʻy'''an(ë/n)*'''|}}
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|հանրապետություններ'''ի(ն)'''|hanrapetutʻyunner'''i(n)'''|}}
|-
!Ablative
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|հանրապետություն'''ից'''|hanrapetutʻyun'''icʻ'''|}}
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|հանրապետություններ'''ից'''|hanrapetut'yunner'''icʻ'''|}}
|-
!Instrumental
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|հանրապետությ'''ամբ'''|hanrapetutʻy'''amb'''|}}
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|հանրապետություններ'''ով'''|hanrapetutʻyunner'''ov'''|}}
|-
!Locative
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|հանրապետություն'''ում'''|hanrapetut'yun'''um'''|}}
|{{fs interlinear|lang=hy|հանրապետություններ'''ում'''|hanrapetut'yunner'''um'''|}}
|}

;Examples of noun declension in Western Armenian

{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | {{lang|hy|դաշտ}} {{transliteration|hy|''tašd''}} (field)
! colspan="2" | {{lang|hy|կով}} {{transliteration|hy|''gov''}} (cow)
|-
! singular || plural
! singular || plural
|-
! Nom-Acc<br />(Ուղղական-Հայցական)
| {{fs interlinear|դաշտ|tašd|}}
| {{fs interlinear|դաշտեր|tašder|}}
| {{fs interlinear|կով|gov|}}
| {{fs interlinear|կովեր|gover|}}
|-
! Gen-Dat<br />(Սեռական-Տրական)
| {{fs interlinear|դաշտ'''ի'''|tašd'''i'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|դաշտեր'''ու'''|tašder'''u'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|կով'''ու'''|gov'''u'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|կովեր'''ու'''|gover'''u'''|}}
|-
! Abl<br />(Բացառական)
| {{fs interlinear|դաշտ'''է'''|tašd'''ē'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|դաշտեր'''է'''|tašder'''ē'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|կով'''է'''|gov'''ē'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|կովեր'''է'''|gover'''ē'''|}}
|-
! Instr<br />(Գործիական)
| {{fs interlinear|դաշտ'''ով'''|tašd'''ov'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|դաշտեր'''ով'''|tašder'''ov'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|կով'''ով'''|gov'''ov'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|կովեր'''ով'''|gover'''ov'''|}}
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | {{lang|hy|գարուն}} {{transliteration|hy|''karun''}} (spring)
! colspan="2" | {{lang|hy|օր}} {{transliteration|hy|''ōr''}} (day)
! colspan="2" | {{lang|hy|Քոյր}} {{transliteration|hy|''koyr''}} (sister)
|-
! singular || plural
! singular || plural
! singular || plural
|-
! Nom-Acc<br />(Ուղղական-Հայցական)
| {{fs interlinear|գարուն|''karun''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|գարուններ|''karunner''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|օր|''ōr''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|օրեր|''ōrer''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|քոյր|''koyr''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|քոյրեր|''koyrer''|}}
|-
! Gen-Dat<br />(Սեռական-Տրական)
| {{fs interlinear|գարն'''ա'''ն|''karn'''an'''''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|գարուններ'''ու'''|''karunner'''u'''''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|օր'''ուայ'''|''ōr'''uay'''''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|օրեր'''ու'''|''ōrer'''u'''''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|քր'''ոջ'''|''kr'''oč'''''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|քոյրեր'''ու'''|''koyrer'''u'''''|}}
|-
! Abl<br />(Բացառական)
| {{fs interlinear|գարուն'''է'''|''karun'''ē'''''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|գարուններ'''է'''|''karunner'''ē'''''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|օր'''ուընէ'''|''ōr'''uënē'''''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|օրեր'''է'''|''ōrer'''ē'''''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|քր'''ոջմէ'''|''kr'''očmē'''''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|քոյրեր'''է'''|''koyrer'''ē'''''|}}
|-
! Instr<br />(Գործիական)
| {{fs interlinear|գարուն'''ով'''|''karun'''ov'''''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|գարուններ'''ով'''|''karunner'''ov'''''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|օր'''ով'''|''ōr'''ov'''''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|օրեր'''ով'''|''ōrer'''ov'''''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|քր'''ոջմով'''|''kr'''očmov'''''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|քոյրեր'''ով'''|''kuyrer'''ov'''''|}}
|}
{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="2" | &nbsp;
! colspan="2" | '''հայր''' / '''''hayr''''' (father)
! colspan="2" | '''Աստուած''' / '''''Asdvaj''''' (God)
! colspan="2" | '''գիտութիւն''' / '''''kidutiwn''''' (science)
|-
! singular || plural
! singular || plural
! singular || plural
|-
! Nom-Acc<br />(Ուղղական-Հայցական)
| {{fs interlinear|հայր|hayr|}}
| {{fs interlinear|հայրեր|hayrer|}}
| {{fs interlinear|Աստուած|Asdvaj|}}
| {{fs interlinear|աստուածներ|asdvajner|}}
| {{fs interlinear|գիտութիւն|kidutiwn|}}
| {{fs interlinear|գիտութիւններ|kidutiwnner|}}
|-
! Gen-Dat<br />(Սեռական-Տրական)
| {{fs interlinear|հ'''օ'''ր|h'''ō'''r|}}
| {{fs interlinear|հայրեր'''ու'''|hayrer'''u'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|Աստուծ'''ոյ'''|Asduj'''oy'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|աստուածներ'''ու'''|asdvajner'''u'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|գիտութ'''եան'''|kidut'''ean'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|գիտութիւններ'''ու''' / գիտութ'''եանց'''|kidutiunner'''u''' / kidut'''eancʻ'''|}}
|-
! Abl<br />(Բացառական)
| {{fs interlinear|հ'''օ'''ր'''մէ'''|h'''ō'''r'''mē'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|հայրեր'''է'''|hayrer'''ē'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|Աստուծ'''մէ'''|Asduj'''mē'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|աստուածներ'''է'''|asdvajner'''ē'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|գիտութ'''ենէ'''|kidut'''enē'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|գիտութիւններ'''է'''|kidutiwnner'''ē'''|}}
|-
! Instr<br />(Գործիական)
| {{fs interlinear|հ'''օ'''ր'''մով'''|h'''ō'''r'''mov'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|հայրեր'''ով'''|hayrer'''ov'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|Աստուծ'''մով'''|Asduj'''mov'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|աստուածներ'''ով'''|asdvajner'''ov'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|գիտութ'''եամբ''' / գիտութիւն'''ով'''|kidut'''eamp''' / kidutiwn'''ov'''|}}
| {{fs interlinear|գիտութիւններ'''ով'''|kidutiwnner'''ov'''|}}
|}

===Verbs===
{{Main|Armenian verbs}} {{Main|Armenian verbs}}


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


==Dialects== ==Dialects==
]: {{Main|Armenian dialects}}
]:
{{legend|#00FF00|-owm dialects, corresponding to Eastern Armenian.}} {{legend|#00FF00|-owm dialects, nearly corresponding to Eastern Armenian}}
{{legend|#808080|-el dialects.}} {{legend|#808080|-el dialects (intermediate)}}
{{legend|#FFD800|-gë dialects, corresponding to Western Armenian.}}]] {{legend|#FFD800|-gë dialects, nearly corresponding to Western Armenian}}]]
Armenian is a ], having two modern ] forms: ] and ]. 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. Armenian is a ], having two modern ] forms: ] and ]. And numerous other non-standard dialects, many of which are extinct.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dolatian |first1=Hossep |title=Adjarian’s Armenian dialectology (1911): Translation and commentary |date=2024 |publisher=Language Science Press |location=Berlin |url=https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/385}}</ref> 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 ({{lang|hy|թ}}) as an aspirated "t" as in "tiger", ({{lang|hy|դ}}) like the "d" in "develop", and ({{lang|hy|տ}}) as a ] occlusive, sounding somewhere between the two as in "s'''t'''op." Western Armenian has simplified the occlusive system into a simple division between voiced occlusives and aspirated ones; the first series corresponds to the tenuis series of Eastern Armenian, and the second corresponds to the Eastern voiced and aspirated series. Thus, the Western dialect pronounces both ({{lang|hy|թ}}) and ({{lang|hy|դ}}) as an aspirated "t" as in "tiger", and the ({{lang|hy|տ}}) letter is pronounced like the letter "d" as in "develop".
Classical Armenian (Grabar), which remained the standard until the 18th century, was quite homogeneous across the different regions that works in it were written; it may have been a cross-regional standard.<ref name="Fortson 2004 338–340">{{harvnb|Fortson|2004|pp=338–340}}</ref> The Middle Armenian variety used in the court of Cilician Armenia (1080–1375) provides a window into the development of Western Armenian, which came to be based on what became the dialect of Istanbul, while the standard for Eastern Armenian was based on the dialect around Mount Ararat and Yerevan.<ref name="Fortson 2004 338–340"/> Although the Armenian language is often divided into "east" and "west", the two standards are actually relatively close to each other in light of wealth of the diversity present among regional non-standard Armenian dialects. The different dialects have experienced different degrees of ] effects, often with Turkic and Caucasian languages; for some, the result has been significant phonological and syntactic changes.<ref name="Fortson 2004 338–340"/> Fortson notes that the modern standard as well has now attained a subordinate clausal structure that greatly resembles a Turkic language.<ref>{{harvnb|Fortson|2004|p=340}}:"The modern standard language has not been free of these influences either; in many areas of syntax, such as subordinate clausal structure, it more greatly resembles a Turkic language than a European one."</ref>

Eastern Armenian speakers pronounce ({{lang|hy|թ}}) as , ({{lang|hy|դ}}) as , and ({{lang|hy|տ}}) as a ] occlusive . Western Armenian has simplified the occlusive system into a simple division between voiced occlusives and aspirated ones; the first series corresponds to the tenuis series of Eastern Armenian, and the second corresponds to the Eastern voiced and aspirated series. Thus, the Western dialect pronounces both ({{lang|hy|թ}}) and ({{lang|hy|դ}}) as , and the ({{lang|hy|տ}}) letter as .


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. 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.


Armenian can be divided into two major dialectal blocks and those blocks into individual dialects, though many of the Western Armenian dialects have become extinct due to the effects of the Armenian Genocide. In addition, neither dialect is completely homogeneous: any dialect can be subdivided into several subdialects. Although Western and Eastern Armenian are often described as different dialects of the same language, some subdialects are not readily mutually intelligible. Nevertheless, a fluent speaker of one of two greatly varying dialects who is exposed to the other dialect for even a short period of time will be able to understand the other with relative ease. Armenian can be divided into two major dialectal blocks and those blocks into individual dialects, though many of the Western Armenian dialects have become extinct due to the effects of the Armenian genocide. In addition, neither dialect is completely homogeneous: any dialect can be subdivided into several subdialects. Although Western and Eastern Armenian are often described as different dialects of the same language, many subdialects are not readily mutually intelligible. Nevertheless, a fluent speaker of one of two greatly varying dialects who is also literate in one of the standards, when exposed to the other dialect for a period of time will be able to understand the other with relative ease.


Distinct Western Armenian varieties currently in use include ], spoken by the ];<ref>{{cite book |first1=Victor A. |last1=Friedman|editor1-last=Ball|editor1-first=Martin J.|title=The Routledge Handbook of Sociolinguistics Around the World: A Handbook|year=2009|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415422789|page=128|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AtCNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA128 |chapter=Sociolinguistics in the Caucasus}}</ref> the dialects of Armenians of ] (]), ] and ] (Syria), ], and ] (Turkey), part of the "Sueidia" dialect (]).
{|

Forms of the ] of Western Armenian are spoken by several hundred thousand people in Northern Armenia, mostly in ], ], ], and around 130 villages in ],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Baghdassarian-Thapaltsian|first=S. H.|script-title=hy:Շիրակի դաշտավայրի բարբառային նկարագիրը|journal=Լրաբեր հասարակական գիտությունների (Bulletin of Social Sciences)|volume=6|year=1970|issue=6|pages=51–60|url=http://lraber.asj-oa.am/1696/|access-date=24 March 2013|language=hy|archive-date=15 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190915004421/http://lraber.asj-oa.am/1696/|url-status=dead}}</ref> and by ] province of Georgia (], ]).<ref name="Hovannisian">{{cite book|editor=]|title=Armenian Karin/Erzerum|year=2003|publisher=Mazda Publ.|location=Costa Mesa, California|isbn=9781568591513|page=48|quote=Thus, even today the Erzerum dialect is widely spoken in the northernmost districts of the Armenian republic as well as in the Akhalkalak (Javakheti; Javakhk) and Akhaltskha (Akhaltsikh) districts of southern Georgia}}</ref>

] Armenians speak another Western Armenian variety based on the dialect of ], where they came from in order to establish the town and surrounding villages in 1779 (]).

Western Armenian dialects are currently spoken also in ] (formerly Nor Bayazet and Kamo, on the western shore of ]), ], and ] in Armenia (]), and by the large Armenian population residing in ], where they are considered to be the first or second ethnic minority, or even equal in number to the local Abkhaz population<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/islam-tekushev/unlikely-home|title=An unlikely home|first=Islam |last=Tekushev|publisher=]|date=5 January 2016|access-date=22 August 2016|archive-date=20 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920130336/https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/islam-tekushev/unlikely-home|url-status=dead}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+Examples |+Examples
!English !English
! ''']''' ! ]
!''']''' !]
|- |-
| Yes | Yes
| Ayo ({{lang|hy|այո}}) | Ayo ({{lang|hy|Այո}})
| Ayo ({{lang|hy|այո}}) | Ayo ({{lang|hy|Այո}})
|- |-
| No | No
| Voč' ({{lang|hy|ոչ}}) | Vočʻ ({{lang|hy|Ոչ}})
| Voč' ({{lang|hy|ոչ}}) | Voč ({{lang|hy|Ոչ}})
|- |-
| I see you
| Excuse me
| Neroġout'ioun ({{lang|hy|ներողություն}}) | Yes kʻez tesnum em ({{lang|hy|Ես քեզ տեսնում եմ}})
| Neroġout'ioun ({{lang|hy|ներողութիւն}}) | Yes kez(i) gë desnem ({{lang|hy|Ես քեզ(ի) կը տեսնեմ}})
|- |-
| Hello | Hello
| Barev ({{lang|hy|բարև}}) | Barev ({{lang|hy|Բարեւ}})
| Parev ({{lang|hy|բարև}}) | Parev ({{lang|hy|Բարեւ}})
|- |-
| I'm going
| How are you (formal)
| Vonts' ek ({{lang|hy|ո՞նց եք}}) | Gnum em ({{lang|hy|Գնում եմ}})
| Inč'bes ek ({{lang|hy|ինչպէ՞ս էք}}) | G'ertam (gor) ({{lang|hy|Կ՚երթամ (կոր)}})
|- |-
| Come!
| How are you (informal)
| Inč' ka č'ka ({{lang|hy|ի՞նչ կա չկա}}) | Ari! ({{lang|hy|Արի՛}})
| Inč' ga č'ga ({{lang|hy|ի՞նչ կայ չկայ}}) | Yegur! ({{lang|hy|Եկո՛ւր}})
|- |-
| I will eat
| Please
| Khntrem ({{lang|hy|խնդրեմ}}) | Utelu em ({{lang|hy|Ուտելու եմ}})
| Khntrem ({{lang|hy|խնդրեմ}}), Hadjiss ({{lang|hy|հաճիս}}) | Bidi udem ({{lang|hy|Պիտի ուտեմ}})
|- |-
| I must do
| Thank you
| Šnorhakal em ({{lang|hy|շնորհակալ եմ}}) | Piti/petkʻ ē anem ({{lang|hy|Պիտի/պետք է անեմ}})
| Šnorhagal em ({{lang|hy|շնորհակալ եմ}}) | Bēdk ē ënem ({{lang|hy|Պէտք է ընեմ}})
|- |-
| Thank you very much | I was going to eat
| Šat šnorhakal em ({{lang|hy|շատ շնորհակալ եմ}}) | Utelu ēi ({{lang|hy|Ուտելու էի}})
| Šad šnorhagal em ({{lang|hy|շատ շնորհակալ եմ}}) | Bidi udēi ({{lang|hy|Պիտի ուտէի}})
|- |-
| Is this yours?
| Welcome (to a place)
| Bari galoust ({{lang|hy|բարի գալուստ}}) | Sa kʻonn ē? ({{lang|hy|Սա քո՞նն է}})
| singular: Pari yegar ({{lang|hy|բարի եկար}}) | Asiga kugt ē? ({{lang|hy|Ասիկա քո՞ւկդ է}})
|- |-
| His grandma
|
| Nra tatikë ({{lang|hy|Նրա տատիկը}})
|
| plural or polite: Pari yegak' ({{lang|hy|բարի եկաք}}) | Anor nēnēn / mej maman ({{lang|hy|Անոր նէնէն / մեծ մաման}})
|- |-
| Look at that one!
| Welcome (as a response to 'thank you')
| Khntrem ({{lang|hy|խնդրեմ}}) | Dran nayir ({{lang|hy|Դրան նայիր}})
| Khntrem ({{lang|hy|խնդրեմ}}) | Ador nayē / Anor nayē ({{lang|hy|Ատոր նայէ / Անոր նայէ}})
|- |-
| Have you brought these?
| Goodbye
| C'tesout'ioun ({{lang|hy|ցտեսություն}}) | Du es berel srankʻ? ({{lang|hy|Դո՞ւ ես բերել սրանք}})
| C'desout'ioun ({{lang|hy|ցտեսութիւն}}) | Asonk tun peraj es? ({{lang|hy|Ասոնք դո՞ւն բերած ես}})
|- |-
| How are you? I'm fine.
| Good morning
| Inčʻpes es? / Voncʻ es? Lav em ({{lang|hy|Ինչպե՞ս ես։ / Ո՞նց ես։ Լավ եմ։}})
| Bari louys ({{lang|hy|բարի լույս}})
| Pari louys ({{lang|hy|բարի լոյս}}) | Inčbēs es? Lav em ({{lang|hy|Ինչպէ՞ս ես։ Լաւ եմ։}})
|- |-
| Did you say it? Say it!
| Good afternoon
| Du asacʻir (asecʻir)? Asa! ({{lang|hy|Դո՞ւ ասացիր (ասեցիր): Ասա՛։}})
| Bari òr ({{lang|hy|բարի օր}})
| Pari ges òr ({{lang|hy|բարի կէս օր}}) | Tun ësir? Ësē! ({{lang|hy|Դո՞ւն ըսիր։ Ըսէ՛։}})
|-
| Have you taken it from us?
| Mezanicʻ es vercʻrel? ({{lang|hy|Մեզանի՞ց ես վերցրել}})
| Mezmē araj es? ({{lang|hy|Մեզմէ՞ առած ես}})
|-
| Good morning
| Bari luys ({{lang|hy|Բարի լույս}})
| Pari luys ({{lang|hy|Բարի լոյս}})
|- |-
| Good evening | Good evening
| Bari yereko ({{lang|hy|բարի երեկո}}) | Bari yereko ({{lang|hy|Բարի երեկո}})
| Pari irigoun ({{lang|hy|բարի իրիկուն}}) | Pari irigun / Parirgun ({{lang|hy|Բարի իրիկուն / Բարիրկուն}})
|- |-
| Good night | Good night
| Bari gišer ({{lang|hy|բարի գիշեր}}) | Bari gišer ({{lang|hy|Բարի գիշեր}})
| Kišer pari ({{lang|hy|գիշեր բարի}}) | Kišer pari ({{lang|hy|Գիշեր բարի}})
|- |-
| I love you | You love me
| Yes k'ez siroum em ({{lang|hy|ես քեզ սիրում եմ}}) | Sirum es inj ({{lang|hy|Սիրում ես ինձ}})
| Yes ëzk'ez gë sirem ({{lang|hy|ես զքեզ կը սիրեմ}}) | Inji gë sires ({{lang|hy|Ինծի կը սիրես}})
|- |-
| I am Armenian | I am Armenian
| Yes hay em ({{lang|hy|ես հայ եմ}}) | Yes hay em ({{lang|hy|Ես հայ եմ}})
| Yes hay em ({{lang|hy|ես հայ եմ}}) | Yes hay em ({{lang|hy|Ես հայ եմ}})
|- |-
| I miss you | I missed you
| Yes k'ez karotum em ({{lang|hy|ես քեզ կարոտում եմ}}) | Karotel em kʻez ({{lang|hy|Կարոտել եմ քեզ}})
| Yes k'ezi garodtzadz em ({{lang|hy|ես քեզի կարօտցած եմ}}) | Garōdcay kezi ({{lang|hy|Կարօտցայ քեզի}})
|} |}


==Orthography==
Other distinct dialects include the ] language of the ] and ] of the ] people, both of which are categorized as belonging to the Armenian ].
{{Main|Armenian alphabet|Armenian Braille}}
{{See also|History of the Armenian alphabet}}
] using the ].]]
The ] ({{langx|hy|Հայոց գրեր|translit=Hayots grer}} or {{langx|hy|Հայոց այբուբեն|translit=Hayots aybuben}}) is a graphically unique ]ical writing system that is used to write the Armenian language. It was introduced around AD 405 by ], an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader, and originally contained 36 letters. Two more letters, օ (ō) and ֆ (f), were added in the Middle Ages.

During the ] in Soviet Armenia, a new letter և (capital ԵՎ) was added, which was a ligature before ե+ւ, whereas the letter Ւ ւ was discarded and reintroduced as part of a new letter ՈՒ ու (which was a digraph before). This alphabet and associated orthography is used by most Armenian speakers of ] and the countries of the former Soviet Union. Neither the alphabet nor the orthography has been adopted by Diaspora Armenians, including Eastern Armenian speakers of Iran and all Western Armenian speakers, who keep using the traditional alphabet and spelling.

==Vocabulary==
===Indo-European cognates===
Armenian is an ], so many of its ]-descended words are ]s of words in other Indo-European languages such as ], ], ], and ].

Due to extensive loaning, only around 1,500 words (G. Jahukyan) are known to have been inherited from Indo-European by the Classical Armenian stage; the rest were lost, a fact that presents a major challenge to endeavors to better understand Proto-Armenian and its place within the family, especially as many of the sound changes along the way from Indo-European to Armenian remain quite difficult to analyze.<ref>{{harvnb|Fortson|2004|p=338}}:"Armenian is still difficult for IE studies. This is primarily due to the small number of native forms left in the language by the time of its earliest attestation: no more than about 450 words are inherited. The small stock of native words has left precious few examples of many Armenian sound changes, some of which are among the most bizarre in the whole family..."</ref>


This table lists some of the more recognizable cognates that Armenian shares with English words descended from ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=a |title=Online Etymology Dictionary |publisher=etymonline.com |access-date=2007-06-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613145930/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=a |archive-date=13 June 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Indo-European cognates==
Armenian is an ], so many of its ]-descended words are ]s of words in other Indo-European languages such as ], ], ], and ]. This table lists only some of the more recognizable cognates that Armenian shares with English (more specifically, with English words descended from the ] language). (Source: Online Etymology Dictionary.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=a |title=Online Etymology Dictionary |publisher=etymonline.com |accessdate=2007-06-07| archiveurl= //web.archive.org/web/20070613145930/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=a| archivedate= 13 June 2007 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref>)
{| class="wikitable" {| class="wikitable"
! Armenian || ]|| ] || ] || ] || ] || ] || ] ! Armenian || ]|| ] || ] || ] || ] || ] || ] || ]
|- |-
| ''']''' "mother" || '''mother''' ( ← ] ''mōdor'')|| '''māter''' "mother"|| '''mādar''' "mother"|| '''mētēr''' "mother"|| '''mātṛ''' "mother" || '''mat'''' || '''{{PIE|*máH₂ter-}}''' "mother" | {{wikt-lang|hy|մայր}} ''mayr'' "mother" || '''mother''' ( ← ] ''mōdor'')|| '''māter''' || μήτηρ '''mētēr''' || {{lang|fa|مادر}} '''mâdar''' || मातृ '''mātṛ''' || мать '''mat'''' || '''máthair''' || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*méh₂tēr}}''' "mother"
|- |-
| ''']''' "father" || '''father''' ( ← ] ''fæder'')|| '''pater''' "father"|| '''pedar''' "father"|| '''patēr''' "father"|| '''pitṛ''' "father" || || '''{{PIE|*pH₂tér-}}''' "father" | {{wikt-lang|hy|հայր}} ''hayr'' "father" || '''father''' ( ← ] ''fæder'')|| '''pater''' || πατήρ '''patēr''' || {{lang|fa|پدر}} '''pedar''' || पितृ '''pitṛ''' || || '''athair''' || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*ph₂tḗr}}''' "father"
|- |-
| ''']''' "brother" || '''brother''' ( ← ] ''brōþor'')|| '''frāter''' "brother"|| '''barādaṛ''' "brother" || '''phrātēr''' "brother"|| '''bhrātṛ''' "brother" || '''brat''' || '''{{PIE|*bʱráH₂ter-}}''' "brother" | {{wikt-lang|hy|եղբայր}} ''eġbayr'' "brother" || '''brother''' ( ← ] ''brōþor'')|| '''frāter''' || φράτηρ '''phrātēr''' "brother-in-arms, comrade" || {{lang|fa|برادر}} '''barâdar''' || भ्रातृ '''bhrātṛ''' || брат '''brat''' || '''bráthair''' || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*bʰréh₂tēr}}''' "brother"
|- |-
| ''']''' "daughter" || '''daughter''' ( ← ] ''dohtor'')|| Latin cognate lost<ref name='Oscan'>However, an ] ] called ] preserved the form "futrei" (daughter).</ref>|| '''doxtar''' "daughter" || '''thugatēr''' "daughter"|| '''duhitṛ''' "daughter" || '''doč'''' || '''{{PIE|*dʱugH₂-tér-}}''' "daughter" | {{wikt-lang|hy|դուստր}} ''dustr'' "daughter" || '''daughter''' ( ← ] ''dohtor'')|| (Oscan '''futrei''') || θυγάτηρ '''thugátēr''' || {{lang|fa|دختر}} '''doxtar''' || दुहितृ '''duhitṛ''' || дочь '''doč'''' || '''der, Dar-''' "daughter (of)" || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*dʰugh₂tḗr}}''' "daughter"
|- |-
| ''']''' "woman" || '''queen''' ( ← ] ''cwēn "queen, woman, wife"'')|| cognate is unknown || Old Persian '''kiana''' "woman, wife"|| '''gunē''' "a woman, a wife"|| '''gnā/jani''' "woman" || '''žena''' "wife" || '''{{PIE|*gʷén-eH₂-}}''' "woman, wife" | {{wikt-lang|hy|կին}} ''kin'' "woman, wife" || '''queen''' ( ← ] ''cwēn "queen, woman, wife"'')|| || γυνή '''gunē''' || {{lang|fa|زن}} '''zan''' || ग्ना '''gnā'''/ जनि '''jani''' || жена '''žena''' "wife" || '''ben''' "woman" || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*gʷḗn}}''' "woman, wife"
|- |-
| ''']''' "my" || '''my, mine''' ( ← ] ''min'')|| '''mei''' "my"|| '''man/am''' "my"|| '''emeo''' "my, of mine"|| '''mama''' "my"|| '''moy''' || '''{{PIE|*mene-}}''' "my, mine" | {{wikt-lang|hy|իմ}} ''im'' "my, mine" || '''my, mine''' ( ← ] ''min'')|| '''me-us''', '''-a''', '''-um''' etc. || ἐμ-ός, -ή, -όν '''em-ós''', '''-ē''', '''-ón''' etc. || {{lang|fa|من، ـم}} '''man,-am''' || मम '''mama''' || мой '''moy''' || '''mo''' "my, me" || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*h₁me-}}''' "my, mine"
|- |-
| ''']''' "name" || '''name''' ( ← ] ''nama'')|| '''nōmen''' "name"|| '''nām''' "name"|| '''onoma''' "name"|| '''nāman''' "name" || '''im'a''' || '''{{PIE|*H₁noH₃m-n̥-}}''' "name" | {{wikt-lang|hy|անուն}} ''anun'' "name" || '''name''' ( ← ] ''nama'')|| '''nōmen''' || ὄνομα '''ónoma''' || {{lang|fa|نام}} '''nâm''' || नामन् '''nāman''' || имя '''im'a''' || '''ainm''' || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*h₃nom-n̥-}}''' "name"
|- |-
| ''']''' "8" || '''eight''' ( ← ] ''eahta'')|| '''octō''' "eight"|| '''(h)aşt''' "eight"|| '''oktō''' "eight"|| '''aṣṭa''' "eight" || '''vosem'''' || '''{{PIE|*H₁oḱtō(u)}}''' "eight" | {{wikt-lang|hy|յոթ}} ''yotʻ'' ( ← եաւթն "eawtʻn") "seven" ||'''seven''' ( ← ] seofon) ||'''septem''' || ἑπτά '''heptá''' || {{lang|fa|هفت}} '''haft''' || सप्तन् '''saptán''' || семь '''sem'''' || '''secht''' || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*septḿ̥}}''' "seven"
|- |-
| ''']''' "9" || '''nine''' ( ← ] ''nigon'')|| '''novem''' "nine"|| '''noh''' "nine"|| '''ennea''' "nine"|| '''nava''' "nine" || '''dev'at'''' || '''{{PIE|*(H₁)néwn̥}}''' "nine" | {{wikt-lang|hy|ութ}} ''utʻ'' "eight" || '''eight''' ( ← ] ''eahta'')|| '''octō''' || ὀκτώ '''óktō''' || {{lang|fa|هشت}} '''hašt''' || अष्ट '''aṣṭa''' || во́семь '''vosem'''' || '''ocht''' || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*oḱtṓw}}''' "eight"
|- |-
| ''']''' "10" || '''ten''' ( ← ] ''tien'') ( ← ] ''*tekhan'')|| '''decem''' "ten"|| '''dah''' "ten"|| '''deka''' "ten"|| '''daśa''' "ten" || '''des'at'''' || '''{{PIE|*déḱm̥}}''' "ten" | {{wikt-lang|hy|ինն}} ''inn'' "nine" || '''nine''' ( ← ] ''nigon'')|| '''novem''' || ἐννέα '''ennéa''' || {{lang|fa|نه}} '''noh''' || नवन् '''navan''' || де́вять '''dev'at'''' || '''noí''' || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*h₁néwn̥}}''' "nine"
|- |-
| ''']''' "eye" || '''eye''' ( ← ] ''ēge'')|| '''oculus''' "eye"|| '''čaşm''' "eye"|| '''ophthalmos''' "eye"|| '''akṣan''' "eye"|| '''oko''' || '''{{PIE|*H₃okʷ-}}''' "to see" | {{wikt-lang|hy|տասը}} ''tas'' (<տասն "tasn") "ten" ||'''ten''' ( ← ] ''tien'') ( ← ] ''*tehun'')|| '''decem''' || δέκα '''déka''' || {{lang|fa|ده}} '''dah''' || दश '''daśa''' || де́сять '''des'at'''' || '''deich''' || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*déḱm̥}}''' "ten"
|- |-
| ''']''' "elbow" || '''arm''' ( ← ] ''earm "joined body parts below shoulder"'')|| '''armus''' "shoulder" || '''arenj''' "elbow" || '''arthron''' "a joint"|| '''īrma''' "arm"|| '''ramo''' "shoulder" (''archaic'') || '''{{PIE|*H₁ar-mo-}}''' "fit, join (that which is fitted together)" | {{wikt-lang|hy|աչք}} ''ačʻkʻ'' "eye" || '''eye''' ( ← ] ''ēge'')|| '''oculus''' || ὀφθαλμός '''ophthalmós''' || ] 𐬀𐬱𐬌 (''aši'', “eyes”)|| अक्षि '''akṣi''' || око '''oko''' (''archaic'') || || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*H₃okʷ-}}''' "to see"
|- |-
| ''']'''<ref name='c'>The letter {{angle bracket|c}} represents {{IPA|/ts/}}. In the Armenian words ''cunk'', ''gorc'', ''mec'', and ''ancanotʿ'', it corresponds to the PIE *ǵ-.</ref> "knee" || '''knee''' ( ← ] ''cnēo'')|| '''genū,''' "knee"|| '''zānu''' "knee"|| '''gonu''' "knee"|| '''jānu''' "knee"|| '''knitsa''' "bracket" || '''{{PIE|*ǵénu-}}''' "knee" | {{wikt-lang|hy|արմունկ}} ''armunk'' ''(<*h₂(e)rH-mo-+ -ուկն)'' "elbow"<br />||'''arm''' ( ← ] ''earm "joined body parts below shoulder"'')|| '''armus''' "shoulder" || ἁρμός '''harmós''' "a joint" || {{lang|fa|ارم}} '''arm''' "arm" || ईर्म '''īrma''' "arm" || рамя '''ram'a''' "shoulder" (''archaic'') || || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*h₂er-}}''' "fit, join (that which is fitted together)"
|- |-
| ''']''' "foot" || '''foot''' ( ← ] ''fōt'')|| '''pedis''' "foot" || '''pā''' "foot" || '''podi''' "foot"|| '''pāda''' "foot" || '''p'ata''' "heel" || '''{{PIE|*pod-, *ped-}}''' "foot" | {{wikt-lang|hy|ծունկ}} ''cunk'' "knee" || '''knee''' ( ← ] ''cnēo'')|| '''genū''' || γόνυ '''gónu''' || {{lang|fa|زانو}} '''zânu''' || जानु '''jānu''' || || '''glún''' || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*ǵénu-}}''' "knee"
|- |-
| ''']''' "heart"|| '''heart''' ( ← ] ''heorte'')|| '''cor''' "heart"|| '''del''' "heart" || '''kardia''' "heart"|| '''hṛdaya''' "heart"|| '''serdtse''' || '''{{PIE|*ḱerd-}}''' "heart" | {{wikt-lang|hy|ոտք}} ''otkʻ'' "foot, leg" || '''foot''' ( ← ] ''fōt'')|| '''pēs, pedis''' || πούς, πόδος '''poús''', '''pódos''' || {{lang|fa|پا، پای}} '''pâ, pây''' "foot" || पाद् '''pād''' "foot" || || (Gaul. '''ades''' "feet") || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*pod-, *ped-}}''' "foot, leg"
|- |-
| ''']''' "skin" || '''hide''' ( ← ] ''hȳdan "animal skin cover"'')|| '''cutis''' "skin"|| '''pust''' "skin"|| '''keuthō''' "I cover, I hide"|| '''kuṭīra''' "hut"|| || '''{{PIE|*keu-}}''' "to cover, conceal" | {{wikt-lang|hy|սիրտ}} ''sirt'' "heart"|| '''heart''' ( ← ] ''heorte'')|| '''cor, cordis''' || καρδία '''kardía''' || {{lang|fa|دل}} '''del''' || हृदय '''hṛdaya''' || се́рдце '''serdce''' || '''cride''' || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*ḱerd-}}''' "heart"
|- |-
| ''']''' "mouse" || '''mouse''' ( ← ] ''mūs'')|| '''mūs''' "mouse"|| '''muş''' "mouse" || '''mus''' "mouse"|| '''mūṣ''' "mouse" || '''myš'''' || '''{{PIE|*muH₁s-}}''' "mouse, small rodent" | {{wikt-lang|hy|մուկ}} ''muk'' "mouse" || '''mouse''' ( ← ] ''mūs'')|| '''mūs, mūris''' || μῦς '''mûs''' "mouse, muscle" || {{lang|fa|موش}} '''muš''' || मूष् '''mūṣ''' || мышь '''myš'''' || ||'''*múh₂s''' "mouse, muscle"
|- |-
| ''']''' "cow" || '''cow''' ( ← ] ''cū'')|| '''bos''' "cattle", '''bum'''<ref name='Umbrian'>The words "bum" (cow), "pir" (fire) and "utur" (water) in the Latin column are actually from an ] ] called ].</ref> "cow" || '''gāv''' "cow" || '''bous''' "cow" || '''gauḥ''' "cow" || '''gov'adina''' "beef" || '''{{PIE|*gʷou-}}''' "cow" | {{wikt-lang|hy|կով}} ''kov'' "cow" || '''cow''' ( ← ] ''cū'')|| '''bōs, bovis''' || βοῦς '''boûs''' || {{lang|fa|گاو}} '''gâv''' || गो '''go''' || говядина '''gov'adina''' "beef" || '''bó''' || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*gʷṓws}}''' "cow"
|- |-
| ''']''' "dog" || '''hound''' ( ← ] ''hund "hound, dog"'')|| '''canis''' "hound, dog" (canine)|| '''sag''' "dog" || '''kuōn''' "hound, dog"|| '''śvan''' "dog" || '''suka''' "bitch" || '''{{PIE|*ḱwon-}}''' "hound, dog" | {{wikt-lang|hy|շուն}} ''šun'' "dog" || '''hound''' ( ← ] ''hund "hound, dog"'')|| '''canis''' || κύων '''kúōn''' || {{lang|fa|سگ}} '''sag''' || श्वन् '''śvan''' || сука '''suka'''{{efn|etymology debated, see }} "bitch" || '''cú''' || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*ḱwṓ}}''' "hound, dog"
|- |-
| ''']''' "year" || '''year''' ( ← ] ''gēar'')|| '''hōrnus''' "of this year"|| '''yare'''<ref name='Avestan'>The word "yare" (year) in the Persian and Sanskrit columns is actually from an ] sister language called ].</ref> "year"|| '''hōra''' "time, year"|| '''yare'''<ref name="Avestan"/> "year"|| '''jara''' "springtime" (''archaic'') || '''{{PIE|*yeH₁r-}}''' "year" | {{wikt-lang|hy|ամիս}} ''amis'' "month" || '''moon, month''' ( ← ] ''mōnaþ'')|| '''mēnsis''' || μήν '''mēn''' "moon, month" || {{lang|fa|ماه}} '''mâh''' "moon, month" || मास '''māsa''' "moon, month" || месяц '''mes'ac''' || '''mí''' || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*meH₁ns- }}''' "moon, month"
|- |-
| ''']''' "month" || '''moon, month''' ( ← ] ''mōnaþ'')|| '''mēnsis''' "month"|| '''māh''' "moon, month"|| '''mēn''' "moon, month"|| '''māsa''' "moon, month"|| '''mes'ats''' || '''{{PIE|*meH₁ns- }}''' "moon, month" | {{wikt-lang|hy|ամառ}} ''amaṙ'' ( ← Proto-Armenian ''*sm̥h₂er-m̥'' <''*s(e)m-eh₂-'') "summer" ||'''summer''' ( ← OE sumor) || || || {{lang|fa|هامین}} '''hâmin''' (''archaic'') ||समा '''samā''' "season" || ||'''sam''' "summer" ||'''*semh₂-''' "summer, hot season"
|- |-
| ''']''' "summer" || '''summer''' ( ← ] ''sumor'')|| ''' ''' || ''' ''' || ''' ''' || '''samā''' "season"|| ''' ''' || '''{{PIE|*sem-}}''' "hot season of the year" | {{wikt-lang|hy|ջերմ}} ''ǰerm'' "warm" || '''warm''' ( ← ] ''wearm'')|| '''formus''' || θερμός '''thermós''' || {{lang|fa|گرم}} '''garm''' || घर्म '''gharma''' "heat" || жарко '''žarko''' "hot" || '''geirid''' "warm (v)" || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*gʷʰerm-}}''' "warm"
|- |-
| ''']''' "warm" || '''warm''' ( ← ] ''wearm'')|| '''formus''' "warm"|| '''garm''' "warm"|| '''thermos''' "warm"|| '''gharma''' "heat" || '''žarko''' "hot" || '''{{PIE|*gʷʰerm-}}''' "warm" | {{wikt-lang|hy|լույս}} ''luys'' "light" || '''light''' ( ← ] ''lēoht "brightness"'')|| '''lūx''' || λευκός '''leukós''' "bright, shining, white" || {{lang|fa|روز}} '''ruz''' "day" || रोक '''roka''' || луч '''luč'''' "beam" || '''lóch''' "bright" || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*leuk-}}''' "light, brightness"
|- |-
| ''']''' "light" || '''light''' ( ← ] ''lēoht "brightness"'')|| '''lucere, lux, lucidus''' "to shine, light, clear"|| '''ruz''' "day"|| '''leukos''' "bright, shining, white"|| '''roca''' "shining"|| '''luč'''' "beam" || '''{{PIE|*leuk-}}''' "light, brightness" | {{wikt-lang|hy|հուր}} ''hur'' "flame" || '''fire''' ( ← ] ''fȳr'') || (Umbrian '''pir''' "fire") || πῦρ '''pûr''' "fire" || || || || || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*péh₂wr̥}}''' "fire"
|- |-
| ''']''' "flame" || '''fire''' ( ← ] ''fȳr'')|| '''pir'''<ref name='Umbrian'/> "fire"|| '''{{not a typo|azer}}''' "fire"|| '''pur''' "fire"|| '''pu''' "fire"|| || '''{{PIE|*péH₂wr̥- }}''' "fire" | {{wikt-lang|hy|հեռու}} ''heṙu'' "far" || '''far''' ( ← ] ''feor "to a great distance"'')|| '''per''' "through" || πέρα '''péra''' "beyond" || {{lang|fa|فرا}} '''farâ''' "forward" || परस् '''paras''' "beyond" || пере- '''pere-''' "through", про- '''pro-''' "forth" || '''íre''' "further" || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*per-}}''' "through, across, beyond"
|- |-
| ''']''' "far" || '''far''' ( ← ] ''feor "to a great distance"'')|| '''per''' "through"|| '''farā''' "beyond"|| '''pera''' "beyond"|| '''paras''' "beyond"|| '''pere-''', '''pro-''' || '''{{PIE|*per-}}''' "through, across, beyond" | {{wikt-lang|hy|լվանալ}} ''lvanal'' "to wash" || '''flow''' ( ← ] ''flōwan'') || '''pluĕre''' "to rain" || πλύνω '''plúnō''' "I wash" || || प्लु '''plu''' "to float, swim" || плавать '''plavat'''' "swim" || '''luí''' "rudder" || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*pleu-}}''' "to flow, float, wash"
|- |-
| ''']''' "to pour" || '''flow''' ( ← ] ''flōwan'')|| '''pluĕre''' "to rain"|| '''pur''' "pour" || '''plenō''' "I wash"|| '''plu''' "to swim"|| '''plavat'''' "swim" || '''{{PIE|*pleu-}}''' "flow, float" | {{wikt-lang|hy|ուտել}} ''utel'' "to eat" || '''eat''' ( ← ] ''etan'')|| '''edō''' || ἔδω '''édō''' || || अद्मि '''admi''' || есть '''jest'''' || '''ithid''' || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*h₁ed-}}''' "to eat"
|- |-
| ''']''' "to eat" || '''eat''' ( ← ] ''etan'')|| '''edō''' "I eat", '''edulis''' "edible"|| '''xur''' "eat"|| '''edō''' "I eat"|| '''admi''' "I eat"|| '''jest'''' || '''{{PIE|*ed-}}''' "to eat" | {{wikt-lang|hy|գիտեմ}} ''gitem'' "I know" || '''wit''' ( ← ] ''wit, witan "intelligence, to know"'')|| '''vidēre''' "to see" || οἶδα '''oîda''' || {{lang|fa|ویده}} '''vida''' "knowledge" || विद् '''vid''' || видеть '''videt'''' "see, understand" || '''adfet''' "tells" || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*weyd-}}''' "to see"
|- |-
| ''']''' "I know" || '''wit''' ( ← ] ''wit, witan "intelligence, to know"'')|| '''vidēre''' "to see" || Old Persian '''vida''' "knowledge" || '''eidenai''' "to know"|| '''vid''' "to know" || '''videt'''' "see" || '''{{PIE|*weid-}}''' "to know, to see" | {{wikt-lang|hy|գետ}} ''get'' "river" || '''water''' ( ← ] ''wæter'')|| (Umbrian '''utur''' "water") || ὕδωρ '''húdōr''' "water" || '''bārān''' باران
"rain"
| उदन् '''udan''' "water" || вода '''voda''' "water" || '''uisce''' "water" || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|(*wodor, *wedor, *uder-) from *wed-}}''' "water"
|- |-
| ''']''' "river" || '''water''' ( ← ] ''wæter'')|| '''utur'''<ref name='Umbrian'/> "water"|| '''rōd''' "river"|| '''hudōr''' "water"|| '''udan''' "water"|| '''voda''' || '''{{PIE|(*wodor, *wedor, *uder-) from *wed-}}''' "water" | {{wikt-lang|hy|գործ}} ''gorc'' "work" || '''work''' ( ← ] ''weorc'')|| || ἔργον '''érgon''' || ورز '''varz''' || || || || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*werǵ-}}''' "to work"
|- |-
| ''']'''<ref name='c'/> "work " || '''work''' ( ← ] ''weorc'')|| '''urgēre''' "push, drive"|| '''kār''' "work"|| '''ergon''' "work"|| '''varcas''' "activity"|| || '''{{PIE|*werǵ-}}''' "to work" | {{wikt-lang|hy|մեծ}} ''mec'' "big, great" || '''much''' ( ← ] ''mycel "great, big, many"'')|| '''magnus''' || μέγας '''mégas''' || {{lang|fa|مه، مهست}} '''meh, mahest''' || मह '''maha''' || много '''mnogo''' "many" || '''maige''' "great, mighty" || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*meǵ-}}''' "great"
|- |-
| ''']'''<ref name='c'/> "great " || '''much''' ( ← ] ''mycel "great, big, many"'')|| '''magnus''' "great"|| '''mega''' "great, large"|| '''megas''' "great, large"|| '''mahant''' "great"|| '''mnogo''' "many" || '''{{PIE|*meǵ-}}''' "great" | {{wikt-lang|hy|ճանաչել}} ''čanačʻel''' ( ← *ծանաչել '''canačʻel''') "to recognize" || '''know''' ( ← ] ''cnawan'')|| '''nōscere''' "to learn, recognize" || γιγνώσκω '''gignōskō''' "I know" || {{lang|fa|شناختن}} '''šenâxtan''' "to know" || जानाति '''jānāti''' "to know" || знать '''znat'''' "to know" || '''ad·gnin''' "to know" || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*ǵneH₃-}}''' "to know"
|- |-
| ''']'''<ref name='c'/> "stranger, unfamiliar" || '''unknown''' ( ← ] ''uncnawen'')|| '''ignōtus''',<ref name='not'>The prefixes for "not" in Latin are "in-" and "i-", and "an-" and "a-" in Greek and Sanskrit, which correspond to the PIE *n-.</ref> '''ignōrāntem'''<ref name='not'/> "unknown, ignorant"|| '''ajnabi''' "stranger, unfamiliar" || '''agnōstos'''<ref name='not'/> "unknown"|| '''ajñāta'''<ref name='not'/> "unfamiliar" || '''neznakomyj''' || '''{{PIE|*n- + *ǵneH₃-}}''' "not" + "to know" | {{wikt-lang|hy|մեռնել}} ''meṙnel'' "to die" || '''murder''' ( ← ] ''morþor'')|| '''morī''' || βροτός '''brotós''' "mortal" || {{lang|fa|مردن}} '''mordan''' "death" || मरति '''marati''' || мереть '''meret'''' || '''marb''' "dead" || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*mer-}}''' "to die"
|- |-
| ''']''' "to die" || '''murder''' ( ← ] ''morþor'')|| '''mors''' "death", '''mortalis''' "mortal" || '''marg''' "death" / '''morde''' "dead" || '''ambrotos''' "immortal"|| '''mṛta''' "dead" || '''mertvyj''' || '''{{PIE|*mrtro-, from (*mor-, *mr-)}}''' "to die" | {{wikt-lang|hy|միջին}} ''miǰin'' "middle" || '''mid, middle''' ( ← ] ''mid, middel'')|| '''medius''' || μέσος '''mésos''' ||{{lang|fa|میان}} '''miyân''' || मध्य '''madhya''' || меж '''mež''' "between" || '''mide''' || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*médʰyos from *me-}}''' "mid, middle"
|- |-
| ''']''' "middle" || '''mid, middle''' ( ← ] ''mid, middel'')|| '''medius''' "middle"|| '''meyān''' "middle"|| '''mesos''' "middle"|| '''madhya''' "middle"|| '''meždu''' "between" || '''{{PIE|*medʱyo- from *me-}}''' "mid, middle" | {{wikt-lang|hy|այլ}} ''ayl'' "other" || '''else''' ( ← ] ''elles "other, otherwise, different"'')|| '''alius''' || ἄλλος '''állos''' || || || || '''aile''' "other" ||'''*h₂élyos''' "other"
|- |-
| ''']''' "other" || '''else''' ( ← ] ''elles "other, otherwise, different"'')|| '''alius, alienus''' "other, another"|| ''' ''' || '''allos''' "other, another"|| '''anya''' "other"|| || '''{{PIE|*al-}}''' "beyond, other" | {{wikt-lang|hy|նոր}} ''nor'' "new" || '''new''' ( ← ] ''nīwe'')|| '''novus''' || νέος '''néos''' || {{lang|fa|نو}} '''now''' || नव '''nava''' || новый '''novyj''' || '''núae''' || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*néwo-}}''' "new"
|- |-
| ''']''' "new" || '''new''' ( ← ] ''nīwe'')|| '''novus''' "new" || '''now''' "new" || '''neos''' "new"|| '''nava''' "new" || '''novyj''' || '''{{PIE|*néwo-}}''' "new" | {{wikt-lang|hy|դուռ}} ''duṙ'' "door" || '''door''' ( ← ] ''dor, duru'')|| '''foris''' || θύρα '''thúrā''' || {{lang|fa|در}} '''dar''' || द्वार '''dvāra''' || дверь '''dver''''|| '''dorus''' || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*dʰwer-}}''' "door, doorway, gate"
|- |-
| ''']''' "door" || '''door''' ( ← ] ''dor, duru'')|| '''fores''' "door"|| '''dar''' "door" || '''thura''' "door"|| '''dvār''' "door" || '''dver''''|| '''{{PIE|*dʱwer-}}''' "door, doorway, gate" | {{wikt-lang|hy|տուն}} ''tun'' "house" || '''timber''' ( ← ] ''timber "trees used for building material, structure"'')|| '''domus''' || δόμος '''domos''' || '''mān''' مان
"house" Avestan: '''dąm''' 𐬛𐬄𐬨
| दम '''dama''' || дом '''dom''' || ||'''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*domo-, *domu-}}''' "house"
|- |-
| ''']''' "house" || '''timber''' ( ← ] ''timber "trees used for building material, structure"'')|| '''domus''' "house"|| '''khune''' "home"|| '''domos''' "house"|| '''dama''' "house" || '''dom''' || '''{{PIE|*domo-, *domu-}}''' "house" | {{wikt-lang|hy|բերել}} ''berel'' "to bring" || '''bear''' ( ← ] ''beran "give birth, carry"'')|| '''ferre''' "to carry" || φέρω '''phérō''' || {{lang|fa|بردن، برـ}} '''bordan, bar-''' "to carry" || भरति '''bharati''' "to carry" || брать '''brat'''' "to take" || '''beirid''' "carry" || '''{{lang|ine-x-proto|*bʱer-}}''' "to carry"
|}

== Sample texts ==
The following texts are the translations of the Article 1 of ]:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Article 1 of the UDHR |url=https://omniglot.com/udhr/ie-other.htm#armenian |access-date=2024-09-07 |website=omniglot.com}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!English
!Eastern Armenian
!Transliteration
!Western Armenian
!Transliteration
|- |-
|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.
| '''], ]''' "fertile, to carry" || '''bear''' ( ← ] ''beran "give birth, carry"'')|| '''ferre, fertilis''' "to bear, fertile"|| '''bordan, bar-''' "to bear, carry"|| '''pherein''' "to carry"|| '''bharati''' "he/she/it carries" || '''brat'''' "to take" || '''{{PIE|*bʱer-}}''' "to bear, to carry"
|Բոլոր մարդիկ ծնվում են ազատ ու հավասար` իրենց արժանապատվությամբ և իրավունքներով: Նրանք օժտված են բանականությամբ ու խղճով, և պարտավոր են միմյանց նկատմամբ վարվել եղբայրության ոգով:
|Bolor mardik c'nvowm en azat ow havasar' irenc arjhanapatvowt'yamb ew iravownqnerov: Nranq o'jhtvac' en banakanowt'yamb ow xghtwov, ew partavor en mimyanc nkatmamb varvel eghbayrowt'yan ogov:
|Բոլոր մարդիկ կը ծնուին ազատ եւ հաւասար իրենց արժանապատուութեամբ եւ իրաւունքներով: Իրենք օժտուած են բանականութեամբ ու խիղճով, եւ պարտաւորուած են միմեանց հանդէպ եղբայրութեան ոգիով վարուիլ:
|Polor martig gy' dz'nowin azad ew hawasar irenc arjhanabadowowt'eamp ew irawownqnerov. Irenq o'jhtowadz' en panaganowt'eamp ow xightwov, ew bardaworowadz' en mimeanc hante'b eghpayrowt'ean oqiov varowil.
|} |}


==See also== ==See also==
{{Portal|Language}}
* ]
* ] * ], electronic text corrector
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
* ]
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
* ] * ]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}


==Footnotes== ==Footnotes==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}} {{reflist|33em}}


==References== ==References==
{{refbegin}}
<div class="references-small">
*{{citation *{{cite book
| last = Dolatian
| first = Hossep

| title = Adjarian’s Armenian dialectology (1911): Translation and commentary
| url = https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/385
| format = PDF
| year = 2024
| publisher = Language Science Press
| location = Berlin
}}
*{{cite book
|last=Dum-Tragut |last=Dum-Tragut
|first=Jasmine |first=Jasmine
|year=2009 |year=2009
|title=Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian |title=Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian
|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |publisher=]
|place=Amsterdam |place=Amsterdam
|oclc=593240232
|isbn=978-90-272-8879-0
|series=London Oriental and African language library
}} }}
* {{citation * {{cite book
|last=Fortson |last=Fortson
|first=Benjamin W. |first=Benjamin W.
|year=2004 |year=2004
|title=Indo-European Language and Culture |title=Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction
|place=Oxford |place=Malden
|publisher=Blackwell Publishing |publisher=Blackwell Publishing
|series=Blackwell textbooks in linguistics
|isbn=978-1-4051-0316-9
|oclc=863202575
|edition=1st
}} }}
* {{citation * {{citation
|last=Hübschmann |last=Hübschmann
|first=Heinrich |first=Heinrich
|year=1875 |year=1875
|title=Über die Stellung des armenischen im Kreise der indogermanischen Sprachen |title=Über die Stellung des armenischen im Kreise der indogermanischen Sprachen
|url=http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/lrc/iedocctr/ie-docs/lehmann/reader/Chapter12.html |url=http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/lrc/iedocctr/ie-docs/lehmann/reader/Chapter12.html
|journal=Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Sprachforschung |journal=Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Sprachforschung
|volume=23 |volume=23
|pages=5–42 |pages=5–42
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051221170107/http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/lrc/iedocctr/ie-docs/lehmann/reader/Chapter12.html
|archive-date=2005-12-21
}} }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Livshits |first=Vladimir |date=2006 |title=Armeno-Partho-Sogdica |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/ic/10/1/article-p77_6.xml |journal=Iran and the Caucasus |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=77–86 |doi=10.1163/157338406777979412 |issn=1609-8498}}
*
* {{Cite book |title=Encyclopedia of the languages of Europe |year=2005|orig-year=1998 |publisher=Blackwell |isbn=978-0-631-19286-2 |last=Price |first=Glanville |edition=1st |location=Oxford}}
*{{citation
{{refend}}
|last=Price
|first=G.
|year=1998
|title=Encyclopedia of European languages
|publisher=]
}}
</div>


==Further reading== ==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* Adjarian, Herchyah H. (1909) ''Classification des dialectes arméniens, par H. Adjarian.'' Paris: Honoro Champion.
* {{Cite book |last=Achaṛean |first=Hrachʻeay H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5MoDAAAAIAAJ |title=Classification des dialectes arméniens |date=1909|location=Paris |publisher=] |language=fr|oclc=5018723}}
* Clackson, James. 1994. ''The Linguistic Relationship Between Armenian and Greek.'' London: Publications of the Philological Society, No 30. (and Oxford: Blackwell Publishing)
* {{Cite book |last=Clackson |first=James|author-link=James Clackson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nnStQgAACAAJ |title=The Linguistic Relationship Between Armenian and Greek |year=1994 |series=] |edition=1st |location=Oxford |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-631-19197-1 |language=en|oclc=30701694}}
* Holst, Jan Henrik (2009) ''Armenische Studien.'' Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
* {{Cite book |last=Holst |first=Jan Henrik |title=Armenische Studien |date=2009 |publisher=] |isbn=978-3-447-06117-9 |location=Wiesbaden|language=de}}
* ] (1989) ''In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth.'' London: Thames & Hudson.
* {{Cite book |last=Mallory |first=J. P.|author-link=J.P. Mallory |title=In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth |date=1989 |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-500-27616-7 |location=London|oclc=24710469}}
* ]. 1998. ''The Phonology of Armenian.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press.
* {{cite thesis |last=Nielsen |first=R. T. |date=2023 |title=Prehistoric loanwords in Armenian: Hurro-Urartian, Kartvelian, and the unclassified substrate |hdl=1887/3656151 |publisher=Leiden University |url=https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/3656151?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=977b49d72b890b755f82&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=0}} (PhD Thesis)
* Vaux, Bert. 2002. "The Armenian dialect of Jerusalem." in Armenians in the Holy Land. "Louvain: Peters.
* {{Cite book |first1=Bert |last1=Vaux| author-link=Bert Vaux |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CfVjAAAAMAAJ |title=The Phonology of Armenian |date=1998 |publisher=]|location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-823661-0 |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |chapter=The Armenian Dialects of Jerusalem | chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/300620 |first1=Bert |last1=Vaux| author-link=Bert Vaux|editor-last1=Stone |editor-first1=Michael Edward|editor-link1=Michael E. Stone |title=Armenians in Jerusalem and the Holy Land |editor-last2=Ervine |editor-first2=Roberta R. |editor-last3=Stone |editor-first3=Nira |date=2002 |publisher=] |isbn=978-90-429-1078-2 |series=Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Armenian studies |location=Leuven}}
* {{Cite JIPA|last=Seyfarth |first=Scott |last2=Dolatian |first2=Hossep |last3=Guekguezian |first3=Peter |last4=Kelly |first4=Niamh |last5=Toparlak |first5=Tabita |title=Armenian (Yerevan Eastern Armenian and Beirut Western Armenian)|pages=1–34|doi=10.1017/S0025100323000130|onlinedate=2023-10-09|soundfiles=yes}}
{{refend}}


==External links== ==External links==
* {{dead link|date=September 2022}} ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216045300/http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/armol-0-X.html |date=2016-02-16 }}) (free online through the at UT Austin)
{{sisterlinks|voy=Armenian (Eastern) phrasebook|Armenian language}}
{{InterWiki|code=hy}}
{{WikisourceWiki|code=hy}}
{{Wikivoyage|Armenian_(Eastern)_phrasebook|Armenian}}
* (from Wiktionary's ) * (from Wiktionary's )
* *
* (Library of Armenian dictionaries)
*
*
* (Organization teaching grammar vocabulary and phrases)

'''Armenian Online Dictionaries'''
* Armenian–English dictionary with pronunciations, etymologies and inflection tables.
* Armenian–English dictionary.
* (Library of Armenian dictionaries):
** (about 18,000 terms; definitions in Armenian).
** (ՀԱՅԵՐԷՆ ԲԱՑԱՏՐԱԿԱՆ ԲԱՌԱՐԱՆ) by ] (about 130,000 entries). One of the definitive Armenian dictionaries.
** (ՀԱՅԵՐԷՆ ԱՐՄԱՏԱԿԱՆ ԲԱՌԱՐԱՆ) by ] (5,062 word roots). The definitive study of the history and origins of word roots in Armenian. Also includes explanations of each word root as it is used today.
** (ԺԱՄԱՆԱԿԱԿԻՑ ՀԱՅՈՑ ԼԵԶՎԻ ԲԱՑԱՏՐԱԿԱՆ ԲԱՌԱՐԱՆ) published by the Armenian SSR Academy of Sciences between 1969 and 1980. In Eastern Armenian, reformed orthography (about 125,000 headwords).
** , Western Armenian dictionary published in two volumes in Beirut in 1992 (about 56,000 headwords).
** (ԱՐԴԻ ՀԱՅԵՐԵՆԻ ԲԱՑԱՏՐԱԿԱՆ ԲԱՌԱՐԱՆ) by ] (about 135,600 headwords). In Eastern Armenian and Soviet Armenian orthography.
** (ՀԱՅՈՑ ԼԵԶՎԻ ՀՈՄԱՆԻՇՆԵՐԻ ԲԱՌԱՐԱՆ) by ] (about 83,000 entries). In Eastern Armenian and Soviet Armenian orthography.
** (about 70,000 entries).
** (about 96,000 entries).
** (about 18,000 entries).
** (about 20,000 entries).
* Armenian–English Dictionary, more than 17,000 terms.
* Collection of Armenian ] and ] dictionaries * Collection of Armenian ] and ] dictionaries
* (Brief introduction to Classical Armenian also known as Grabar)
* Armenian–English Dictionary, more than 9,000 terms.
* – Armenian dictionary
*
* - mobile Armenian OCR dictionary


{{Armenian language}}
{{sister bar|auto=1|voy=Armenian (Eastern) phrasebook |Armenian language |wikt=Category:Armenian language|s=hy:Main Page|iw=hy}}
{{Indo-European languages}}
{{Languages of Armenia}}
{{Armenia topics}} {{Armenia topics}}
{{Languages of the Caucasus}}
{{Armenian language}}
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Revision as of 07:30, 14 December 2024

Indo-European language
Armenian
հայերեն
"Armenian language" in the Armenian alphabet
Pronunciation[hɑjɛˈɾɛn]
Native to
EthnicityArmenians
Native speakers5.3 million (2013–2021)
Language familyIndo-European
  • Armenian
Early formsProto-Indo-European
Standard forms
Dialects
Writing system
Official status
Official language in
Recognised minority
language in
Regulated by
Language codes
ISO 639-1hy
ISO 639-2arm (B)
hye (T)
ISO 639-3Variously:
hye – Eastern Armenian
hyw – Western Armenian
xcl – Classical Armenian
axm – Middle Armenian
Glottologarme1241
Linguasphere57-AAA-a
The current distribution of the Armenian language in the southern Caucasus
  Official language spoken by the majority   Recognized minority language   Significant number of speakers
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Armenian (endonym: հայերեն, hayeren, pronounced [hɑjɛˈɾɛn] ) is an Indo-European language and the sole member of the independent branch of the Armenian language family. It is the native language of the Armenian people and the official language of Armenia. Historically spoken in the Armenian highlands, today Armenian is also widely spoken throughout the Armenian diaspora. Armenian is written in its own writing system, the Armenian alphabet, introduced in 405 AD by Saint Mesrop Mashtots. The estimated number of Armenian speakers worldwide is between five and seven million.

History

Classification and origins

Main article: Proto-Armenian language See also: Armenian hypothesis, History of the Armenian alphabet, and Urartian language
History of the Armenian language
Armenian alphabet
Romanization of Armenian
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Sign languages: Armenian Sign • Caucasian Sign
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Armenian is an independent branch of the Indo-European languages. It is of interest to linguists for its distinctive phonological changes within that family. Armenian exhibits more satemization than centumization, although it is not classified as belonging to either of these subgroups. Some linguists tentatively conclude that Armenian, Greek (and Phrygian), Albanian and Indo-Iranian were dialectally close to each other; within this hypothetical dialect group, Proto-Armenian was situated between Proto-Greek (centum subgroup) and Proto-Indo-Iranian (satem subgroup). Ronald I. Kim has noted unique morphological developments connecting Armenian to Balto-Slavic languages.

The Armenian language has a long literary history, with a 5th-century Bible translation as its oldest surviving text. Another text translated into Armenian early on, and also in the 5th-century, was the Armenian Alexander Romance. The vocabulary of the language has historically been influenced by Western Middle Iranian languages, particularly Parthian; its derivational morphology and syntax were also affected by language contact with Parthian, but to a lesser extent. Contact with Greek, Persian, and Syriac also resulted in a number of loanwords. There are two standardized modern literary forms, Eastern Armenian (spoken mainly in Armenia) and Western Armenian (spoken originally mainly in modern-day Turkey and, since the Armenian genocide, mostly in the diaspora). The differences between them are considerable but they are mutually intelligible after significant exposure. Some subdialects such as Homshetsi are not mutually intelligible with other varieties.

Although Armenians were known to history much earlier (for example, they were mentioned in the 6th-century BC Behistun Inscription and in Xenophon's 4th century BC history, The Anabasis), the oldest surviving Armenian-language writing is etched in stone on Armenian temples and is called Mehenagir. The Armenian alphabet was created by Mesrop Mashtots in 405, at which time it had 36 letters. He is also credited by some with the creation of the Georgian alphabet and the Caucasian Albanian alphabet.

While Armenian constitutes the sole member of the Armenian branch of the Indo-European family, Aram Kossian has suggested that the hypothetical Mushki language may have been a (now extinct) Armenic language.

Early contacts

Armenian Birds Mosaic from Jerusalem with Armenian language and alphabet
Armenian language writing in Haghpat Monastery

W. M. Austin (1942) concluded that there was early contact between Armenian and Anatolian languages, based on what he considered common archaisms, such as the lack of a feminine gender and the absence of inherited long vowels. Unlike shared innovations (or synapomorphies), the common retention of archaisms (or symplesiomorphy) is not considered conclusive evidence of a period of common isolated development. There are words used in Armenian that are generally believed to have been borrowed from Anatolian languages, particularly from Luwian, although some researchers have identified possible Hittite loanwords as well. One notable loanword from Anatolian is Armenian xalam, "skull", cognate to Hittite ḫalanta, "head".

In 1985, the Soviet linguist Igor M. Diakonoff noted the presence in Classical Armenian of what he calls a "Caucasian substratum" identified by earlier scholars, consisting of loans from the Kartvelian and Northeast Caucasian languages. Noting that Hurro-Urartian-speaking peoples inhabited the Armenian homeland in the second millennium BC, Diakonoff identifies in Armenian a Hurro-Urartian substratum of social, cultural, and animal and plant terms such as ałaxin "slave girl" ( ← Hurr. al(l)a(e)ḫḫenne), cov "sea" ( ← Urart. ṣûǝ "(inland) sea"), ułt "camel" ( ← Hurr. uḷtu), and xnjor "apple (tree)" ( ← Hurr. ḫinzuri). Some of the terms he gives admittedly have an Akkadian or Sumerian provenance, but he suggests they were borrowed through Hurrian or Urartian. Given that these borrowings do not undergo sound changes characteristic of the development of Armenian from Proto-Indo-European, he dates their borrowing to a time before the written record but after the Proto-Armenian language stage.

Contemporary linguists, such as Hrach Martirosyan, have rejected many of the Hurro-Urartian and Northeast Caucasian origins for these words and instead suggest native Armenian etymologies, leaving the possibility that these words may have been loaned into Hurro-Urartian and Caucasian languages from Armenian, and not vice versa. A notable example is arciv, meaning "eagle", believed to have been the origin of Urartian Arṣibi and Northeast Caucasian arzu. This word is derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂r̥ǵipyós, with cognates in Sanskrit (ऋजिप्य, ṛjipyá), Avestan (ərəzifiia), and Greek (αἰγίπιος, aigípios). Hrach Martirosyan and Armen Petrosyan propose additional borrowed words of Armenian origin loaned into Urartian and vice versa, including grammatical words and parts of speech, such as Urartian eue ("and"), attested in the earliest Urartian texts and likely a loan from Armenian (compare to Armenian եւ yev, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi). Other loans from Armenian into Urartian includes personal names, toponyms, and names of deities.

Loan words from Iranian languages, along with the other ancient accounts such as that of Xenophon above, initially led some linguists to erroneously classify Armenian as an Iranian language. Scholars such as Paul de Lagarde and F. Müller believed that the similarities between the two languages meant that Armenian belonged to the Iranian language family. The distinctness of Armenian was recognized when philologist Heinrich Hübschmann (1875) used the comparative method to distinguish two layers of Iranian words from the older Armenian vocabulary. He showed that Armenian often had two morphemes for one concept, that the non-Iranian components yielded a consistent Proto-Indo-European pattern distinct from Iranian, and that the inflectional morphology was different from that of Iranian languages.

Graeco-Armenian hypothesis

Main article: Graeco-Armenian

The hypothesis that Greek is Armenian's closest living relative originates with Holger Pedersen (1924), who noted that the number of Greek-Armenian lexical cognates is greater than that of agreements between Armenian and any other Indo-European language. Antoine Meillet (1925, 1927) further investigated morphological and phonological agreement and postulated that the parent languages of Greek and Armenian were dialects in immediate geographical proximity during the Proto-Indo-European period. Meillet's hypothesis became popular in the wake of his book Esquisse d'une histoire de la langue latine (1936). Georg Renatus Solta (1960) does not go as far as postulating a Proto-Graeco-Armenian stage, but he concludes that considering both the lexicon and morphology, Greek is clearly the dialect to be most closely related to Armenian. Eric P. Hamp (1976, 91) supports the Graeco-Armenian thesis and even anticipates a time "when we should speak of Helleno-Armenian" (meaning the postulate of a Graeco-Armenian proto-language). Armenian shares the augment and a negator derived from the set phrase in the Proto-Indo-European language *ne h₂oyu kʷid ("never anything" or "always nothing"), the representation of word-initial laryngeals by prothetic vowels, and other phonological and morphological peculiarities with Greek. Nevertheless, as Fortson (2004) comments, "by the time we reach our earliest Armenian records in the 5th century AD, the evidence of any such early kinship has been reduced to a few tantalizing pieces".

Greco-Armeno-Aryan hypothesis

Main article: Graeco-Aryan

Graeco-(Armeno)-Aryan is a hypothetical clade within the Indo-European family, ancestral to the Greek language, the Armenian language, and the Indo-Iranian languages. Graeco-Aryan unity would have become divided into Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian by the mid-3rd millennium BC. Conceivably, Proto-Armenian would have been located between Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian, consistent with the fact that Armenian shares certain features only with Indo-Iranian (the satem change) but others only with Greek (s > h).

Graeco-Aryan has comparatively wide support among Indo-Europeanists who believe the Indo-European homeland to be located in the Armenian Highlands, the "Armenian hypothesis". Early and strong evidence was given by Euler's 1979 examination on shared features in Greek and Sanskrit nominal flection.

Used in tandem with the Graeco-Armenian hypothesis, the Armenian language would also be included under the label Aryano-Greco-Armenic, splitting into Proto-Greek/Phrygian and "Armeno-Aryan" (ancestor of Armenian and Indo-Iranian).

Evolution

Classical Armenian (Arm: grabar), attested from the 5th century to the 19th century as the literary standard (up to the 11th century also as a spoken language with different varieties), was partially superseded by Middle Armenian, attested from the 12th century to the 18th century. Specialized literature prefers "Old Armenian" for grabar as a whole, and designates as "Classical" the language used in the 5th century literature, "Post-Classical" from the late 5th to 8th centuries, and "Late Grabar" that of the period covering the 8th to 11th centuries. Later, it was used mainly in religious and specialized literature, with the exception of a revival during the early modern period, when attempts were made to establish it as the language of a literary renaissance, with neoclassical inclinations, through the creation and dissemination of literature in varied genres, especially by the Mekhitarists. The first Armenian periodical, Azdarar, was published in grabar in 1794.

The classical form borrowed numerous words from Middle Iranian languages, primarily Parthian, and contains smaller inventories of loanwords from Greek, Syriac, Aramaic, Arabic, Mongol, Persian, and indigenous languages such as Urartian. An effort to modernize the language in Bagratid Armenia and the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (11–14th centuries) resulted in the addition of two more characters to the alphabet ("օ" and "ֆ"), bringing the total number to 38.

The Book of Lamentations by Gregory of Narek (951–1003) is an example of the development of a literature and writing style of Old Armenian by the 10th century. In addition to elevating the literary style and vocabulary of the Armenian language by adding well above a thousand new words, through his other hymns and poems Gregory paved the way for his successors to include secular themes and vernacular language in their writings. The thematic shift from mainly religious texts to writings with secular outlooks further enhanced and enriched the vocabulary. "A Word of Wisdom", a poem by Hovhannes Sargavak devoted to a starling, legitimizes poetry devoted to nature, love, or female beauty. Gradually, the interests of the population at large were reflected in other literary works as well. Konsdantin Yerzinkatsi and several others took the unusual step of criticizing the ecclesiastic establishment and addressing the social issues of the Armenian homeland. These changes represented the nature of the literary style and syntax, but they did not constitute immense changes to the fundamentals of the grammar or the morphology of the language. Often, when writers codify a spoken dialect, other language users are then encouraged to imitate that structure through the literary device known as parallelism.

In the 19th century, the traditional Armenian homeland was once again divided. This time Eastern Armenia was conquered from Qajar Iran by the Russian Empire, while Western Armenia, containing two thirds of historical Armenia, remained under Ottoman control. The antagonistic relationship between the Russian and Ottoman empires led to creation of two separate and different environments under which Armenians lived. Halfway through the 19th century, two important concentrations of Armenian communities were further consolidated. Because of persecutions or the search for better economic opportunities, many Armenians living under Ottoman rule gradually moved to Istanbul, whereas Tbilisi became the center of Armenians living under Russian rule. These two cosmopolitan cities very soon became the primary poles of Armenian intellectual and cultural life.

The introduction of new literary forms and styles, as well as many new ideas sweeping Europe, reached Armenians living in both regions. This created an ever-growing need to elevate the vernacular, Ashkharhabar, to the dignity of a modern literary language, in contrast to the now-anachronistic Grabar. Numerous dialects existed in the traditional Armenian regions, which, different as they were, had certain morphological and phonetic features in common. On the basis of these features two major standards emerged:

  • Western standard: The influx of immigrants from different parts of the traditional Armenian homeland to Istanbul crystallized the common elements of the regional dialects, paving the way for a style of writing that required a shorter and more flexible learning curve than Grabar.
  • Eastern standard: The Yerevan dialect provided the primary elements of Eastern Armenian, centered in Tbilisi, Georgia. Similar to the Western Armenian variant, the Modern Eastern was in many ways more practical and accessible to the masses than Grabar.

Both centers vigorously pursued the promotion of Ashkharhabar. The proliferation of newspapers in both versions (Eastern & Western) and the development of a network of schools where modern Armenian was taught, dramatically increased the rate of literacy (in spite of the obstacles by the colonial administrators), even in remote rural areas. The emergence of literary works entirely written in the modern versions increasingly legitimized the language's existence. By the turn of the 20th century both varieties of the one modern Armenian language prevailed over Grabar and opened the path to a new and simplified grammatical structure of the language in the two different cultural spheres. Apart from several morphological, phonetic, and grammatical differences, the largely common vocabulary and generally analogous rules of grammatical fundamentals allows users of one variant to understand the other as long as they are fluent in one of the literary standards.

After World War I, the existence of the two modern versions of the same language was sanctioned even more clearly. The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (1920–1990) used Eastern Armenian as its official language, whereas the diaspora created after the Armenian genocide preserved the Western Armenian dialect.

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.

  • Armenian manuscript, 5th–6th centuries. Armenian manuscript, 5th–6th centuries.
  • Armenian inscription in Gandzasar Monastery Armenian inscription in Gandzasar Monastery
  • The Four Gospels, 1495, Portrait of St Mark Wellcome with Armenian inscriptions The Four Gospels, 1495, Portrait of St Mark Wellcome with Armenian inscriptions
  • First printed Armenian language Bible, 1666 First printed Armenian language Bible, 1666
  • Armenian language road sign. Armenian language road sign.

Geographic distribution

In addition to Armenia and Turkey, where it is indigenous, Armenian is spoken among the diaspora. According to Ethnologue, globally there are 1.6 million Western Armenian speakers and 3.7 million Eastern Armenian speakers, totalling 5.3 million Armenian speakers.

Armenian speakers, Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
Country Armenian speakers Main variety
 Armenia 3,000,000 Eastern
 Russia 510,000 Eastern
 Lebanon 340,000 Western
 United States 240,000 Western
 Argentina 150,000 Western
 Georgia 150,000 Western
 Azerbaijan 120,000 Eastern
 Iran 110,000 Eastern
 Turkmenistan 84,000 Western
 France 70,000 Western
 Iraq 70,000 Western
 Turkey 67,000 Western
 Uzbekistan 66,000 Western
 Syria 60,000 Western
 Ukraine 50,000 Western
 Brazil 47,000 Western
 Canada 45,000 Western
 Germany 27,000 Western
 Greece 20,000 Western
 Kazakhstan 16,000 Western
 Spain 12,000 Western
 Australia 11,000 Western
 Kuwait 11,000 Western
 Jordan 10,000 Western

In Georgia, Armenian speakers are concentrated in Ninotsminda and Akhalkalaki districts where they represent over 90% of the population.

Status and usage

The short-lived First Republic of Armenia declared Armenian its official language. Eastern Armenian was then dominating in institutions and among the population. When Armenia was incorporated into the USSR, the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic made Eastern Armenian the language of the courts, government institutions and schools. Armenia was also russified. The current Republic of Armenia upholds the official status of the Armenian language. Eastern Armenian is the official variant used, making it the prestige variety while other variants have been excluded from national institutions. Indeed, Western Armenian is perceived by some as a mere dialect. Armenian was also official in the Republic of Artsakh. It is recognized as an official language of the Eurasian Economic Union although Russian is the working language.

Armenian (without reference to a specific variety) is officially recognized as a minority language in Cyprus, Hungary, Iraq, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine. It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne.

Western Armenian is the language of the diaspora, it is the medium of instruction in the majority of Armenian-language schools outside Armenia. In particular, in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia, although Armenian has no legal status, there were 144 state-funded schools in the area as of 2010 where Armenian is the main language of instruction. The Lebanese curriculum allows Armenian schools to teach the Armenian language as a basic language. In California, home to a large Armenian American community, various state government agencies provide Armenian translations of their documents: the California Department of Social Services, California Department of Motor Vehicles, California superior courts. In the city of Glendale, there are street signs in Armenian.

In Lebanon, Syria and Iran, Armenian communities were given greater autonomy than other groups, namely Assyrians and Kurds. In practice, Armenians were the only ethnic minority group of these countries that were allowed to teach their language in their schools. In Iran, article 15 of the constitution allows the use of "regional and tribal languages" in the mass media as well as within the schools. However, these languages do not receive formal status and are not officially regulated by the authorities. Iranian Armenians are de facto the only non-Persian ethnic group in Iran enjoying this right. They have their own private schools, where Armenian is the medium of instruction.

Phonology

See also: Western Armenian § Phonology
Spoken Eastern Armenian

Proto-Indo-European voiceless stop consonants are aspirated in the Proto-Armenian language, one of the circumstances that is often linked to the glottalic theory, a version of which postulated that some voiceless occlusives of Proto-Indo-European were aspirated.

Stress

In Armenian, the stress falls on the last syllable unless the last syllable contains the definite article or , and the possessive articles ս and դ, in which case it falls on the penultimate one. For instance, , , but and . Exceptions to this rule are some words with the final letter է (ե in the reformed orthography) (մի՛թէ, մի՛գուցե, ո՛րեւէ) and sometimes the ordinal numerals (վե՛ցերորդ, տա՛սներորդ, etc.), as well as նաեւ, նամանաւանդ, հիմա, այժմ, and a small number of other words.

Vowels

All varieties of Armenian employ only monophthongs. Eastern Armenian has six vowels, while Western Armenian has an additional two front rounded vowels.

Eastern Armenian vowel phonemes
Front Central Back
Close /i/
ի
i 		/u/
ու
u
Mid /ɛ/
ե, է
e, ē 		/ə/
ը
ë 		/ɔ/
ո, օ
o, ō
Open /ɑ/
ա
a
Western Armenian vowel phonemes
Front Central Back
Unrounded Rounded Unrounded Rounded
Close i  ⟨ի⟩ ʏ  ⟨իւ⟩     u  ⟨ու⟩
Mid ɛ  ⟨է, ե⟩ œ  ⟨էօ⟩ ə  ⟨ը⟩   o  ⟨ո, օ⟩
Open       ɑ  ⟨ա⟩  

Consonants

The following table lists the Eastern Armenian consonantal system. The occlusives and affricates have an aspirated series, commonly transcribed with a reversed apostrophe after the letter. Each phoneme in the table is represented by IPA, Armenian script and romanization.

Eastern Armenian consonant phonemes
Labial Dental/
Alveolar 		Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal /m/ մ – m /n/ ն – n (ŋ)
Plosive voiced /b/ բ – b /d/ դ – d /ɡ/ գ – g
voiceless /p/ պ – p /t/ տ – t /k/ կ – k
aspirated /pʰ/ փ – pʻ /tʰ/ թ – tʻ /kʰ/ ք – kʻ
Affricate voiced /d͡z/ ձ – j /d͡ʒ/ ջ – ǰ
voiceless /t͡s/ ծ – c /t͡ʃ/ ճ – č
aspirated /t͡sʰ/ ց – cʻ /t͡ʃʰ/ չ – čʻ
Fricative voiceless /f/ ֆ – f /s/ ս – s /ʃ/ շ – š /x ~ χ/ խ – x /h/ հ – h
voiced /v/ վ – v /z/ զ – z /ʒ/ ժ – ž /ɣ ~ ʁ/ ղ – ġ
Approximant (ʋ) /l/ լ – l /j/ յ – y
Trill /r/ ռ – ṙ
Flap /ɾ/ ր – r
  1. Occurs before velars.
  2. ^ /pʰ p b/ in Eastern Armenian dialects generally correspond to /pʰ b pʰ/ in Western dialects (more detailed table given below).
  3. ^ Some of the dialects may release the voiceless stops and affricates as ejectives.
  4. ^ Sources differ on the place of articulation of these consonants.

The major phonetic difference between dialects is in the reflexes of Classical Armenian voice-onset time. The seven dialect types have the following correspondences, illustrated with the t–d series:

Correspondence in initial position
Armenian Letter Թ Տ Դ
Indo-European *t *d *dʰ
Karin, Sebastia tʰ d dʱ
Istanbul d
Kharberd, Middle Armenian d t
Malatya, SWA tʰ
Classical Armenian, Agulis, SEA, Yerevan t d
Van, Artsakh t

Morphology

Armenian corresponds to other Indo-European languages in structure, but it shares distinctive sounds and grammatical features with neighboring languages of the Caucasus region. Armenian orthography is rich in consonant clusters, but in pronunciation, they are broken up with schwas. Both classical Armenian and the modern spoken and literary dialects have a system of noun declensions, with six or seven cases but no gender. In modern Armenian, the use of auxiliary verbs to show tense (comparable to "will" in "he will go") has generally supplanted the inflected verbs of Classical Armenian. Negative verbs are conjugated differently from positive ones (as in English "he goes" and "he does not go") in many tenses, otherwise adding only the negative չ to the positive conjugation. Grammatically, early forms of Armenian had much in common with classical Greek and Latin, but the modern language has undergone many analytic transformations like modern Greek.

Nouns

Armenian has no grammatical gender, not even in pronouns, but there is a feminine suffix (-ուհի "-uhi") which has no grammatical effect. For example, ուսուցիչ (usucʻičʻ, "teacher") becomes ուսուցչուհի (usucʻčʻuhi, female teacher). The nominal inflection preserves several types of inherited stem classes. Historically, nouns were declined for one of seven cases: nominative (ուղղական uġġakan), accusative (հայցական haycʻakan), locative (ներգոյական nergoyakan), genitive (սեռական seṙakan), dative (տրական trakan), ablative (բացառական bacʻaṙakan), or instrumental (գործիական gorciakan), but in the modern language, the nominative and accusative cases, as well as the dative and genitive cases, have merged.

Examples of noun declension in Eastern Armenian
Հեռախոս Heṙaxos (telephone)
Case Singular Plural
Nominative

հեռախոս(ը/ն)*

heṙaxos(ë/n)*

հեռախոս(ը/ն)*

heṙaxos(ë/n)*

հեռախոսներ(ը/ն)*

heṙaxosner(ë/n)*

հեռախոսներ(ը/ն)*

heṙaxosner(ë/n)*

Dative

հեռախոսի(ն)

heṙaxosi(n)

հեռախոսի(ն)

heṙaxosi(n)

հեռախոսների(ն)

heṙaxosneri(n)

հեռախոսների(ն)

heṙaxosneri(n)

Ablative

հեռախոսից

heṙaxosicʻ

հեռախոսից

heṙaxosicʻ

հեռախոսներից

heṙaxosnericʻ

հեռախոսներից

heṙaxosnericʻ

Instrumental

հեռախոսով

heṙaxosov

հեռախոսով

heṙaxosov

հեռախոսներով

heṙaxosnerov

հեռախոսներով

heṙaxosnerov

Locative

հեռախոսում

heṙaxosum

հեռախոսում

heṙaxosum

հեռախոսներում

heṙaxosnerum

հեռախոսներում

heṙaxosnerum

Մայր Mayr (mother)
Case Singular Plural
Nominative

մայր(ը/ն)*

mayr(ë/n)*

մայր(ը/ն)*

mayr(ë/n)*

մայրեր(ը/ն)*

mayrer(ë/n)*

մայրեր(ը/ն)*

mayrer(ë/n)*

Dative

մոր(ը/ն)*

mor(ë/n)*

մոր(ը/ն)*

mor(ë/n)*

մայրերի(ն)

mayreri(n)

մայրերի(ն)

mayreri(n)

Ablative

մորից

moricʻ

մորից

moricʻ

մայրերից

mayrericʻ

մայրերից

mayrericʻ

Instrumental

մորով

morov

մորով

morov

մայրերով

mayrerov

մայրերով

mayrerov

Which case the direct object takes is split based on animacy (a phenomenon more generally known as differential object marking). Inanimate nouns take the nominative, while animate nouns take the dative. Additionally, animate nouns can never take the locative case.

Հանրապետություն Hanrapetut'yun (republic)
Case Singular Plural
Nominative

հանրապետություն(ը/ն)*

hanrapetutʻyun(ë/n)*

հանրապետություն(ը/ն)*

hanrapetutʻyun(ë/n)*

հանրապետություններ(ը/ն)*

hanrapetutʻyunner(ë/n)*

հանրապետություններ(ը/ն)*

hanrapetutʻyunner(ë/n)*

Dative

հանրապետության(ը/ն)*

hanrapetutʻyan(ë/n)*

հանրապետության(ը/ն)*

hanrapetutʻyan(ë/n)*

հանրապետությունների(ն)

hanrapetutʻyunneri(n)

հանրապետությունների(ն)

hanrapetutʻyunneri(n)

Ablative

հանրապետությունից

hanrapetutʻyunicʻ

հանրապետությունից

hanrapetutʻyunicʻ

հանրապետություններից

hanrapetut'yunnericʻ

հանրապետություններից

hanrapetut'yunnericʻ

Instrumental

հանրապետությամբ

hanrapetutʻyamb

հանրապետությամբ

hanrapetutʻyamb

հանրապետություններով

hanrapetutʻyunnerov

հանրապետություններով

hanrapetutʻyunnerov

Locative

հանրապետությունում

hanrapetut'yunum

հանրապետությունում

hanrapetut'yunum

հանրապետություններում

hanrapetut'yunnerum

հանրապետություններում

hanrapetut'yunnerum

Examples of noun declension in Western Armenian
դաշտ tašd (field) կով gov (cow)
singular plural singular plural
Nom-Acc
(Ուղղական-Հայցական)

դաշտ

tašd

դաշտ

tašd

դաշտեր

tašder

դաշտեր

tašder

կով

gov

կով

gov

կովեր

gover

կովեր

gover

Gen-Dat
(Սեռական-Տրական)

դաշտի

tašdi

դաշտի

tašdi

դաշտերու

tašderu

դաշտերու

tašderu

կովու

govu

կովու

govu

կովերու

goveru

կովերու

goveru

Abl
(Բացառական)

դաշտէ

tašdē

դաշտէ

tašdē

դաշտերէ

tašderē

դաշտերէ

tašderē

կովէ

govē

կովէ

govē

կովերէ

goverē

կովերէ

goverē

Instr
(Գործիական)

դաշտով

tašdov

դաշտով

tašdov

դաշտերով

tašderov

դաշտերով

tašderov

կովով

govov

կովով

govov

կովերով

goverov

կովերով

goverov

գարուն karun (spring) օր ōr (day) Քոյր koyr (sister)
singular plural singular plural singular plural
Nom-Acc
(Ուղղական-Հայցական)

գարուն

karun

գարուն

karun

գարուններ

karunner

գարուններ

karunner

օր

ōr

օր

ōr

օրեր

ōrer

օրեր

ōrer

քոյր

koyr

քոյր

koyr

քոյրեր

koyrer

քոյրեր

koyrer

Gen-Dat
(Սեռական-Տրական)

գարնան

karnan

գարնան

karnan

գարուններու

karunneru

գարուններու

karunneru

օրուայ

ōruay

օրուայ

ōruay

օրերու

ōreru

օրերու

ōreru

քրոջ

kroč

քրոջ

kroč

քոյրերու

koyreru

քոյրերու

koyreru

Abl
(Բացառական)

գարունէ

karunē

գարունէ

karunē

գարուններէ

karunnerē

գարուններէ

karunnerē

օրուընէ

ōruënē

օրուընէ

ōruënē

օրերէ

ōrerē

օրերէ

ōrerē

քրոջմէ

kročmē

քրոջմէ

kročmē

քոյրերէ

koyrerē

քոյրերէ

koyrerē

Instr
(Գործիական)

գարունով

karunov

գարունով

karunov

գարուններով

karunnerov

գարուններով

karunnerov

օրով

ōrov

օրով

ōrov

օրերով

ōrerov

օրերով

ōrerov

քրոջմով

kročmov

քրոջմով

kročmov

քոյրերով

kuyrerov

քոյրերով

kuyrerov

  հայր / hayr (father) Աստուած / Asdvaj (God) գիտութիւն / kidutiwn (science)
singular plural singular plural singular plural
Nom-Acc
(Ուղղական-Հայցական)

հայր

hayr

հայր

hayr

հայրեր

hayrer

հայրեր

hayrer

Աստուած

Asdvaj

Աստուած

Asdvaj

աստուածներ

asdvajner

աստուածներ

asdvajner

գիտութիւն

kidutiwn

գիտութիւն

kidutiwn

գիտութիւններ

kidutiwnner

գիտութիւններ

kidutiwnner

Gen-Dat
(Սեռական-Տրական)

հօր

hōr

հօր

hōr

հայրերու

hayreru

հայրերու

hayreru

Աստուծոյ

Asdujoy

Աստուծոյ

Asdujoy

աստուածներու

asdvajneru

աստուածներու

asdvajneru

գիտութեան

kidutean

գիտութեան

kidutean

գիտութիւններու

kidutiunneru

/

/

գիտութեանց

kiduteancʻ

գիտութիւններու / գիտութեանց

kidutiunneru / kiduteancʻ

Abl
(Բացառական)

հօրմէ

hōrmē

հօրմէ

hōrmē

հայրերէ

hayrerē

հայրերէ

hayrerē

Աստուծմէ

Asdujmē

Աստուծմէ

Asdujmē

աստուածներէ

asdvajnerē

աստուածներէ

asdvajnerē

գիտութենէ

kidutenē

գիտութենէ

kidutenē

գիտութիւններէ

kidutiwnnerē

գիտութիւններէ

kidutiwnnerē

Instr
(Գործիական)

հօրմով

hōrmov

հօրմով

hōrmov

հայրերով

hayrerov

հայրերով

hayrerov

Աստուծմով

Asdujmov

Աստուծմով

Asdujmov

աստուածներով

asdvajnerov

աստուածներով

asdvajnerov

գիտութեամբ

kiduteamp

/

/

գիտութիւնով

kidutiwnov

գիտութեամբ / գիտութիւնով

kiduteamp / kidutiwnov

գիտութիւններով

kidutiwnnerov

գիտութիւններով

kidutiwnnerov

Verbs

Main article: Armenian verbs

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

Dialects

Main article: Armenian dialects
Map of the Armenian dialects in early 20th century:   -owm dialects, nearly corresponding to Eastern Armenian   -el dialects (intermediate)   -gë dialects, nearly corresponding to Western Armenian

Armenian is a pluricentric language, having two modern standardized forms: Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian. And numerous other non-standard dialects, many of which are extinct. 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.

A man speaking in Western Armenian

Classical Armenian (Grabar), which remained the standard until the 18th century, was quite homogeneous across the different regions that works in it were written; it may have been a cross-regional standard. The Middle Armenian variety used in the court of Cilician Armenia (1080–1375) provides a window into the development of Western Armenian, which came to be based on what became the dialect of Istanbul, while the standard for Eastern Armenian was based on the dialect around Mount Ararat and Yerevan. Although the Armenian language is often divided into "east" and "west", the two standards are actually relatively close to each other in light of wealth of the diversity present among regional non-standard Armenian dialects. The different dialects have experienced different degrees of language contact effects, often with Turkic and Caucasian languages; for some, the result has been significant phonological and syntactic changes. Fortson notes that the modern standard as well has now attained a subordinate clausal structure that greatly resembles a Turkic language.

Eastern Armenian speakers pronounce (թ) as , (դ) as , and (տ) as a tenuis occlusive . Western Armenian has simplified the occlusive system into a simple division between voiced occlusives and aspirated ones; the first series corresponds to the tenuis series of Eastern Armenian, and the second corresponds to the Eastern voiced and aspirated series. Thus, the Western dialect pronounces both (թ) and (դ) as , and the (տ) letter as .

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.

Armenian can be divided into two major dialectal blocks and those blocks into individual dialects, though many of the Western Armenian dialects have become extinct due to the effects of the Armenian genocide. In addition, neither dialect is completely homogeneous: any dialect can be subdivided into several subdialects. Although Western and Eastern Armenian are often described as different dialects of the same language, many subdialects are not readily mutually intelligible. Nevertheless, a fluent speaker of one of two greatly varying dialects who is also literate in one of the standards, when exposed to the other dialect for a period of time will be able to understand the other with relative ease.

Distinct Western Armenian varieties currently in use include Homshetsi, spoken by the Hemshin peoples; the dialects of Armenians of Kessab (Քեսապի բարբառ), Latakia and Jisr al-Shughur (Syria), Anjar, Lebanon, and Vakıflı, Samandağ (Turkey), part of the "Sueidia" dialect (Սուէտիայի բարբառ).

Forms of the Karin dialect of Western Armenian are spoken by several hundred thousand people in Northern Armenia, mostly in Gyumri, Artik, Akhuryan, and around 130 villages in Shirak Province, and by Armenians in Samtskhe–Javakheti province of Georgia (Akhalkalaki, Akhaltsikhe).

Nakhichevan-on-Don Armenians speak another Western Armenian variety based on the dialect of Armenians in Crimea, where they came from in order to establish the town and surrounding villages in 1779 (Նոր Նախիջևանի բարբառ).

Western Armenian dialects are currently spoken also in Gavar (formerly Nor Bayazet and Kamo, on the western shore of Lake Sevan), Aparan, and Talin in Armenia (Mush dialect), and by the large Armenian population residing in Abkhazia, where they are considered to be the first or second ethnic minority, or even equal in number to the local Abkhaz population

Examples
English Eastern Armenian Western Armenian
Yes Ayo (Այո) Ayo (Այո)
No Vočʻ (Ոչ) Voč (Ոչ)
I see you Yes kʻez tesnum em (Ես քեզ տեսնում եմ) Yes kez(i) gë desnem (Ես քեզ(ի) կը տեսնեմ)
Hello Barev (Բարեւ) Parev (Բարեւ)
I'm going Gnum em (Գնում եմ) G'ertam (gor) (Կ՚երթամ (կոր))
Come! Ari! (Արի՛) Yegur! (Եկո՛ւր)
I will eat Utelu em (Ուտելու եմ) Bidi udem (Պիտի ուտեմ)
I must do Piti/petkʻ ē anem (Պիտի/պետք է անեմ) Bēdk ē ënem (Պէտք է ընեմ)
I was going to eat Utelu ēi (Ուտելու էի) Bidi udēi (Պիտի ուտէի)
Is this yours? Sa kʻonn ē? (Սա քո՞նն է) Asiga kugt ē? (Ասիկա քո՞ւկդ է)
His grandma Nra tatikë (Նրա տատիկը) Anor nēnēn / mej maman (Անոր նէնէն / մեծ մաման)
Look at that one! Dran nayir (Դրան նայիր) Ador nayē / Anor nayē (Ատոր նայէ / Անոր նայէ)
Have you brought these? Du es berel srankʻ? (Դո՞ւ ես բերել սրանք) Asonk tun peraj es? (Ասոնք դո՞ւն բերած ես)
How are you? I'm fine. Inčʻpes es? / Voncʻ es? Lav em (Ինչպե՞ս ես։ / Ո՞նց ես։ Լավ եմ։) Inčbēs es? Lav em (Ինչպէ՞ս ես։ Լաւ եմ։)
Did you say it? Say it! Du asacʻir (asecʻir)? Asa! (Դո՞ւ ասացիր (ասեցիր): Ասա՛։) Tun ësir? Ësē! (Դո՞ւն ըսիր։ Ըսէ՛։)
Have you taken it from us? Mezanicʻ es vercʻrel? (Մեզանի՞ց ես վերցրել) Mezmē araj es? (Մեզմէ՞ առած ես)
Good morning Bari luys (Բարի լույս) Pari luys (Բարի լոյս)
Good evening Bari yereko (Բարի երեկո) Pari irigun / Parirgun (Բարի իրիկուն / Բարիրկուն)
Good night Bari gišer (Բարի գիշեր) Kišer pari (Գիշեր բարի)
You love me Sirum es inj (Սիրում ես ինձ) Inji gë sires (Ինծի կը սիրես)
I am Armenian Yes hay em (Ես հայ եմ) Yes hay em (Ես հայ եմ)
I missed you Karotel em kʻez (Կարոտել եմ քեզ) Garōdcay kezi (Կարօտցայ քեզի)

Orthography

Main articles: Armenian alphabet and Armenian Braille See also: History of the Armenian alphabet
Armenian keyboard layout using the Armenian alphabet.

The Armenian alphabet (Armenian: Հայոց գրեր, romanized: Hayots grer or Armenian: Հայոց այբուբեն, romanized: Hayots aybuben) is a graphically unique alphabetical writing system that is used to write the Armenian language. It was introduced around AD 405 by Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader, and originally contained 36 letters. Two more letters, օ (ō) and ֆ (f), were added in the Middle Ages.

During the 1920s orthography reform in Soviet Armenia, a new letter և (capital ԵՎ) was added, which was a ligature before ե+ւ, whereas the letter Ւ ւ was discarded and reintroduced as part of a new letter ՈՒ ու (which was a digraph before). This alphabet and associated orthography is used by most Armenian speakers of Armenia and the countries of the former Soviet Union. Neither the alphabet nor the orthography has been adopted by Diaspora Armenians, including Eastern Armenian speakers of Iran and all Western Armenian speakers, who keep using the traditional alphabet and spelling.

Vocabulary

Indo-European cognates

Armenian is an Indo-European language, 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.

Due to extensive loaning, only around 1,500 words (G. Jahukyan) are known to have been inherited from Indo-European by the Classical Armenian stage; the rest were lost, a fact that presents a major challenge to endeavors to better understand Proto-Armenian and its place within the family, especially as many of the sound changes along the way from Indo-European to Armenian remain quite difficult to analyze.

This table lists some of the more recognizable cognates that Armenian shares with English words descended from Old English.

Armenian English Latin Classical and Hellenistic Greek Persian Sanskrit Russian Old Irish PIE
մայր mayr "mother" mother ( ← OE mōdor) māter μήτηρ mētēr مادر mâdar मातृ mātṛ мать mat' máthair *méh₂tēr "mother"
հայր hayr "father" father ( ← OE fæder) pater πατήρ patēr پدر pedar पितृ pitṛ athair *ph₂tḗr "father"
եղբայր eġbayr "brother" brother ( ← OE brōþor) frāter φράτηρ phrātēr "brother-in-arms, comrade" برادر barâdar भ्रातृ bhrātṛ брат brat bráthair *bʰréh₂tēr "brother"
դուստր dustr "daughter" daughter ( ← OE dohtor) (Oscan futrei) θυγάτηρ thugátēr دختر doxtar दुहितृ duhitṛ дочь doč' der, Dar- "daughter (of)" *dʰugh₂tḗr "daughter"
կին kin "woman, wife" queen ( ← OE cwēn "queen, woman, wife") γυνή gunē زن zan ग्ना gnā/ जनि jani жена žena "wife" ben "woman" *gʷḗn "woman, wife"
իմ im "my, mine" my, mine ( ← OE min) me-us, -a, -um etc. ἐμ-ός, -ή, -όν em-ós, -ē, -ón etc. من، ـم man,-am मम mama мой moy mo "my, me" *h₁me- "my, mine"
անուն anun "name" name ( ← OE nama) nōmen ὄνομα ónoma نام nâm नामन् nāman имя im'a ainm *h₃nom-n̥- "name"
յոթ yotʻ ( ← եաւթն "eawtʻn") "seven" seven ( ← OE seofon) septem ἑπτά heptá هفت haft सप्तन् saptán семь sem' secht *septḿ̥ "seven"
ութ utʻ "eight" eight ( ← OE eahta) octō ὀκτώ óktō هشت hašt अष्ट aṣṭa во́семь vosem' ocht *oḱtṓw "eight"
ինն inn "nine" nine ( ← OE nigon) novem ἐννέα ennéa نه noh नवन् navan де́вять dev'at' noí *h₁néwn̥ "nine"
տասը tas (<տասն "tasn") "ten" ten ( ← OE tien) ( ← P.Gmc. *tehun) decem δέκα déka ده dah दश daśa де́сять des'at' deich *déḱm̥ "ten"
աչք ačʻkʻ "eye" eye ( ← OE ēge) oculus ὀφθαλμός ophthalmós Avestan 𐬀𐬱𐬌 (aši, “eyes”) अक्षि akṣi око oko (archaic) *H₃okʷ- "to see"
արմունկ armunk (<*h₂(e)rH-mo-+ -ուկն) "elbow"
 arm ( ← OE earm "joined body parts below shoulder") armus "shoulder" ἁρμός harmós "a joint" ارم arm "arm" ईर्म īrma "arm" рамя ram'a "shoulder" (archaic) *h₂er- "fit, join (that which is fitted together)"
ծունկ cunk "knee" knee ( ← OE cnēo) genū γόνυ gónu زانو zânu जानु jānu glún *ǵénu- "knee"
ոտք otkʻ "foot, leg" foot ( ← OE fōt) pēs, pedis πούς, πόδος poús, pódos پا، پای pâ, pây "foot" पाद् pād "foot" (Gaul. ades "feet") *pod-, *ped- "foot, leg"
սիրտ sirt "heart" heart ( ← OE heorte) cor, cordis καρδία kardía دل del हृदय hṛdaya се́рдце serdce cride *ḱerd- "heart"
մուկ muk "mouse" mouse ( ← OE mūs) mūs, mūris μῦς mûs "mouse, muscle" موش muš मूष् mūṣ мышь myš' *múh₂s "mouse, muscle"
կով kov "cow" cow ( ← OE cū) bōs, bovis βοῦς boûs گاو gâv गो go говядина gov'adina "beef" bó *gʷṓws "cow"
շուն šun "dog" hound ( ← OE hund "hound, dog") canis κύων kúōn سگ sag श्वन् śvan сука suka "bitch" cú *ḱwṓ "hound, dog"
ամիս amis "month" moon, month ( ← OE mōnaþ) mēnsis μήν mēn "moon, month" ماه mâh "moon, month" मास māsa "moon, month" месяц mes'ac mí *meH₁ns- "moon, month"
ամառ amaṙ ( ← Proto-Armenian *sm̥h₂er-m̥ <*s(e)m-eh₂-) "summer" summer ( ← OE sumor) هامین hâmin (archaic) समा samā "season" sam "summer" *semh₂- "summer, hot season"
ջերմ ǰerm "warm" warm ( ← OE wearm) formus θερμός thermós گرم garm घर्म gharma "heat" жарко žarko "hot" geirid "warm (v)" *gʷʰerm- "warm"
լույս luys "light" light ( ← OE lēoht "brightness") lūx λευκός leukós "bright, shining, white" روز ruz "day" रोक roka луч luč' "beam" lóch "bright" *leuk- "light, brightness"
հուր hur "flame" fire ( ← OE fȳr) (Umbrian pir "fire") πῦρ pûr "fire" *péh₂wr̥ "fire"
հեռու heṙu "far" far ( ← OE feor "to a great distance") per "through" πέρα péra "beyond" فرا farâ "forward" परस् paras "beyond" пере- pere- "through", про- pro- "forth" íre "further" *per- "through, across, beyond"
լվանալ lvanal "to wash" flow ( ← OE flōwan) pluĕre "to rain" πλύνω plúnō "I wash" प्लु plu "to float, swim" плавать plavat' "swim" luí "rudder" *pleu- "to flow, float, wash"
ուտել utel "to eat" eat ( ← OE etan) edō ἔδω édō अद्मि admi есть jest' ithid *h₁ed- "to eat"
գիտեմ gitem "I know" wit ( ← OE wit, witan "intelligence, to know") vidēre "to see" οἶδα oîda ویده vida "knowledge" विद् vid видеть videt' "see, understand" adfet "tells" *weyd- "to see"
գետ get "river" water ( ← OE wæter) (Umbrian utur "water") ὕδωρ húdōr "water" bārān باران

"rain"

उदन् udan "water" вода voda "water" uisce "water" *(*wodor, *wedor, *uder-) from *wed- "water"
գործ gorc "work" work ( ← OE weorc) ἔργον érgon ورز varz *werǵ- "to work"
մեծ mec "big, great" much ( ← OE mycel "great, big, many") magnus μέγας mégas مه، مهست meh, mahest मह maha много mnogo "many" maige "great, mighty" *meǵ- "great"
ճանաչել čanačʻel' ( ← *ծանաչել canačʻel) "to recognize" know ( ← OE cnawan) nōscere "to learn, recognize" γιγνώσκω gignōskō "I know" شناختن šenâxtan "to know" जानाति jānāti "to know" знать znat' "to know" ad·gnin "to know" *ǵneH₃- "to know"
մեռնել meṙnel "to die" murder ( ← OE morþor) morī βροτός brotós "mortal" مردن mordan "death" मरति marati мереть meret' marb "dead" *mer- "to die"
միջին miǰin "middle" mid, middle ( ← OE mid, middel) medius μέσος mésos میان miyân मध्य madhya меж mež "between" mide *médʰyos from *me- "mid, middle"
այլ ayl "other" else ( ← OE elles "other, otherwise, different") alius ἄλλος állos aile "other" *h₂élyos "other"
նոր nor "new" new ( ← OE nīwe) novus νέος néos نو now नव nava новый novyj núae *néwo- "new"
դուռ duṙ "door" door ( ← OE dor, duru) foris θύρα thúrā در dar द्वार dvāra дверь dver' dorus *dʰwer- "door, doorway, gate"
տուն tun "house" timber ( ← OE timber "trees used for building material, structure") domus δόμος domos mān مان

"house" Avestan: dąm 𐬛𐬄𐬨

दम dama дом dom *domo-, *domu- "house"
բերել berel "to bring" bear ( ← OE beran "give birth, carry") ferre "to carry" φέρω phérō بردن، برـ bordan, bar- "to carry" भरति bharati "to carry" брать brat' "to take" beirid "carry" *bʱer- "to carry"

Sample texts

The following texts are the translations of the Article 1 of UDHR:

English Eastern Armenian Transliteration Western Armenian Transliteration
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. Բոլոր մարդիկ ծնվում են ազատ ու հավասար` իրենց արժանապատվությամբ և իրավունքներով: Նրանք օժտված են բանականությամբ ու խղճով, և պարտավոր են միմյանց նկատմամբ վարվել եղբայրության ոգով: Bolor mardik c'nvowm en azat ow havasar' irenc arjhanapatvowt'yamb ew iravownqnerov: Nranq o'jhtvac' en banakanowt'yamb ow xghtwov, ew partavor en mimyanc nkatmamb varvel eghbayrowt'yan ogov: Բոլոր մարդիկ կը ծնուին ազատ եւ հաւասար իրենց արժանապատուութեամբ եւ իրաւունքներով: Իրենք օժտուած են բանականութեամբ ու խիղճով, եւ պարտաւորուած են միմեանց հանդէպ եղբայրութեան ոգիով վարուիլ: Polor martig gy' dz'nowin azad ew hawasar irenc arjhanabadowowt'eamp ew irawownqnerov. Irenq o'jhtowadz' en panaganowt'eamp ow xightwov, ew bardaworowadz' en mimeanc hante'b eghpayrowt'ean oqiov varowil.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Spelled in classical orthography as հայերէն.
  2. 1.6 million for Western Armenian and 3.7 million for Eastern Armenian
  3. Though Russian is the working language of the Union according to the Treaty on Eurasian Economic Union, Armenian and the languages of other member states are officially recognized. The websites of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Eurasian Economic Commission are available in Armenian, among other languages.
  4. Only countries with at least 10,000 speakers are listed.
  5. etymology debated, see

Footnotes

  1. ^ Eastern Armenian at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
    Western Armenian at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
    Classical Armenian at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
    Middle Armenian at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
  2. "Treaty on Eurasian Economic Union" (PDF). eaeunion.org. Eurasian Economic Union. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 February 2021. Article 110 Working Language of the Bodies of the Union. Language of International Treaties within the Union and Decisions of the Commission: 2. International treaties within the Union and decisions of the Commission that are binding on the Member States shall be adopted in Russian with subsequent translation into the official languages of the Member States, if it is provided for by their legislation, in the procedure determined by the Commission.
  3. "Եվրասիական տնտեսական միություն". eaeunion.org (in Armenian). Eurasian Economic Union. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  4. "Եվրասիական Տնտեսական Հանձնաժողով". eurasiancommission.org (in Armenian). Eurasian Economic Commission. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  5. ^ "Western Armenian – Cypriot Arabic: new century, new speakers?". ec.europa.eu. European Commission. 21 February 2017. Dedicated to the two officially recognized minority languages of Cyprus, the event will focus on the teaching aspect of Western Armenian and Cypriot Arabic as mother tongues.
  6. ^ Hadjilyra, Alexander – Michael. "The Armenians of Cyprus" (PDF). publications.gov.cy. Press and Information Office, Republic of Cyprus. p. 15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 December 2019. According to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of the Council of Europe, Armenian was recognised as a minority language of Cyprus as of 1 December 2002.
  7. ^ Kenesei, István (2009). "Minority languages in Hungary" (PDF). efnil.org. European Federation of National Institutions for Language. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 December 2019. As far as indigenous (autochthonous) minority languages are concerned, Hungarian legislation acknowledges the languages in the following list ...: Armenian, Boyash, Bulgarian, Croatian, German, Greek, Polish, Romani, Romanian, Ruthenian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Ukrainian, and Hungarian Sign Language (HSL).
  8. ^ "Iraqi Constitution: Article 4" (PDF). The Republic of Iraq Ministry of Interior General Directorate for Nationality. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 November 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2014. The right of Iraqis to educate their children in their mother tongue, such as Turkmen, Syriac, and Armenian shall be guaranteed in government educational institutions in accordance with educational guidelines, or in any other language in private educational institutions.
  9. ^ Zych, Maciej. "New Polish legislation regarding national, ethnic and linguistic minorities" (PDF). gugik.gov.pl. Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography of Poland. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 December 2019. There are 9 national minorities: Belorussian, Czech, Lithuanian, German, Armenian, Russian, Slovak, Ukrainian and Jewish; and 4 ethnic minorities – Karait, Lemko, Roma and Tartar.
  10. ^ Pisarek, Walery (2009). "The relationship between official and minority languages in Poland" (PDF). efnil.org. European Federation of National Institutions for Language. p. 118. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 December 2019. In a Statement made by the Republic of Poland with relation to the ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, Belarusian, Czech, Hebrew, Yiddish, Karaim, Kashubian, Lithuanian, Lemkian, German, Armenian, Romani, Russian, Slovak, Tatar and Ukrainian were recognized as minority languages.
  11. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae; Nevaci, Manuela (2009). "MULTILINGVISM ȘI LIMBI MINORITARE ÎN ROMÂNIA [MULTILINGUALISM AND MINORITY LANGUAGES IN ROMANIA]" (PDF) (in Romanian). Institute of Linguistics "Iorgu Iordan – Alexandru Rosetti", Romanian Academy. p. 25. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-12-14. Retrieved 2019-12-14. În cazul României, 10 limbi beneficiază de protecție generală (albaneză, armeană, greacă, italiană, idiș, macedoneană, poloneză, romani, ruteană, tătară) și 10 limbi beneficiază de protecție sporită (bulgară, cehă, croată, germană, maghiară, rusă, sârbă, slovacă, turcă, ucraineană).
  12. ^ Toktaş, Şule (2006). "EU enlargement conditions and minority protection : a reflection on Turkey's non-Muslim minorities". East European Quarterly. 40 (4): 489–519. ISSN 0012-8449. p. 514: This implies that Turkey grants educational right in minority languages only to the recognized minorities covered by the Lausanne who are the Armenians, Greeks and the Jews.
  13. ^ Bayır, Derya (2013). Minorities and nationalism in Turkish law. Cultural Diversity and Law. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing. pp. 89–90. ISBN 978-1-4094-7254-4. Oran farther points out that the rights set out for the four categories are stated to be the 'fundamental law' of the land, so that no legislation or official action shall conflict or interfere with these stipulations or prevail over them (article 37). According to the Turkish state, only Greek, Armenian and Jewish non-Muslims were granted minority protection by the Lausanne Treaty. Except for non-Muslim populations - that is, Greeks, Jews and Armenians - none of the other minority groups' language rights have been de jure protected by the legal system in Turkey.
  14. ^ Questions and Answers: Freedom of Expression and Language Rights in Turkey. New York: Human Rights Watch. April 2002. The Turkish government accepts the language rights of the Jewish, Greek and Armenian minorities as being guaranteed by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne.
  15. ^ Uzum, Melike; Demir, Nurettin (2017-10-24). "Minority Language Education and Policy in Turkey: The Case of Cankiri Poshas". Journal of Universality of Global Education Issues. 4: 5–6. ISSN 2575-9388. In the Lausanne treaty, people of the republic were defined through a religion based definition, similar to the Ottoman concept of millet (nation). For example, the non-Muslim minorities such as Armenians, Greeks, and Jews were recognized as minorities, and their language rights were identified in articles 39, 40, and 41.
  16. ^ "Law of Ukraine "On Principles of State Language Policy" (Current version – Revision from 01.02.2014)". Document 5029-17, Article 7: Regional or minority languages Ukraine, Paragraph 2 (in Ukrainian). rada.gov.ua. 1 February 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2014. Стаття 7. Регіональні мови або мови меншин України ... 2. У контексті Європейської хартії регіональних мов або мов меншин до регіональних мов або мов меншин України, до яких застосовуються заходи, спрямовані на використання регіональних мов або мов меншин, що передбачені у цьому Законі, віднесені мови: російська, білоруська, болгарська, вірменська, гагаузька, ідиш, кримськотатарська, молдавська, німецька, новогрецька, польська, ромська, румунська, словацька, угорська, русинська, караїмська, кримчацька.
  17. "H. Acharian Institute of Language". sci.am. Archived from the original on 5 October 2014. Main Fields of Activity: investigation of the structure and functioning, history and comparative grammar of the Armenian language, exploration of the literary Eastern and Western Armenian Language, dialectology, regulation of literary language, development of terminology
  18. Borjian, Maryam (2017). Language and Globalization: An Autoethnographic Approach. Routledge. p. 205. ISBN 9781315394619. At the forefront of the development of Western Armenian in everyday life as well as in arts and technology is the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
  19. Yesayan, Catherine (June 19, 2019). "Unraveling the Life of Calouste Gulbenkian". Asbarez. Archived from the original on 2 May 2021. The 'core' activity of the Armenian Department is the preservation, advancement and revitalization of Western Armenian.
  20. Martirosyan, Hrach (March 2, 2020). "All You Need to Know about Armenian Language". aspirantum.com. ASPIRANTUM: Armenian School of Languages and Cultures. Archived from the original on 2 May 2021. The total number of Armenians in the world is roughly estimated as 7–11 million, of which ca. 5-5.5 million speak Armenian.
  21. "Language Monday: Armenian". World Book Encyclopedia. April 23, 2018. Archived from the original on 2 May 2021. About 7 million people speak the Armenian language worldwide.
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  32. Vaux, B. (2010). "Armenian". In Brown, Keith; Ogilvie, Sarah (eds.). Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World. Elsevier. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-08-087774-7. The relationship between the two modern literary dialects is somewhat complicated; there are many grammatical differences and lexical differences , and most Western speakers have difficulty understanding Eastern, but many Eastern speakers are relatively comfortable with the Western dialect. The fact that there is some mutual intelligibility in both directions can also be linked to the fact that the literary dialects tend to borrow the same forms from Classical Armenian, and (at least in recent decades) employ the same newly coined words.
  33. Dolatian, Hossep; Sharifzadeh, Afsheen; Vaux, Bert (2023-05-22). "Introduction". A grammar of Iranian Armenian (PDF). Language Science Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-3-96110-419-2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2023-10-14. Retrieved 2023-10-08. There are two standardized dialects that are mutually intelligible after significant exposure: Standard Western Armenian (SWA) and Standard Eastern Armenian (SEA); henceforth Standard Western and Standard Eastern.
  34. Comrie, Bernard (2020). "Languages of the World". In Aronoff, Mark; Rees-Miller, Janie (eds.). The Handbook of Linguistics. Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-119-30207-0. Armenian, spoken primarily in Armenia though also in the Armenian diaspora originating in eastern Turkey, is another branch of Indo-European consisting of a single language, although the differences between Eastern Armenian (spoken mainly in Armenia) and Western Armenian (spoken originally mainly in Turkey) are considerable, and there are two written languages.
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