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Revision as of 22:41, 15 March 2014 by Mack Ruled (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The orthography reform of the Armenian language in 1922–1924 was a spelling reform of the Armenian alphabet conducted in the Armenian SSR. Although it is barely practiced outside of Armenia and the Post-Soviet states because it was not adopted by Armenians in the diaspora, about half of the Armenian population in the world, it is the spelling of the current official language of the Republic of Armenia. The Armenian language has two contemporary equally popular literary branches, the Eastern Armenian and the Western Armenian, and one archaic literary form called the Grabar. The two contemporary literary branches of the Armenian language have distinctive, but not essential spelling and grammar differences and a more distinctive difference of language stylistics and lexicology, which do not contribute as significantly to language incomprehension.
History
| Examples | |
|---|---|
| Classical spelling | Reformed spelling |
| Հայերէն | Հայերեն |
| Յակոբ | Հակոբ |
| բացուել | բացվել |
| քոյր | քույր |
| Սարգսեան | Սարգսյան |
| եօթ | յոթ |
| ազատութիւն | ազատություն |
| տէր | տեր |
| Արմէն | Արմեն |
| Արմինէ | Արմինե |
| խօսել | խոսել |
| Սարօ | Սարո |
| թիւ | թիվ |
| Եւրոպայ | Եվրոպա |
One of the most significant and successfully achieved policies of the former Soviet Union was the rise in the overall population's literacy which began in the early 1920s and, most probably, this urgent need was one of the reasons for reforming Armenian spelling. This and a variety of other educational reforms resulted in almost 90% literacy throughout the country by the early 1950s. Although the orthography of the Armenian language was changed by this reform, it is hardly plausible to assess this change as a simplification. In fact, some other nations of the former USSR changed their entire scripts from Arabic (Central Asian nations) and Latin (Moldova) to Cyrillic. However, it was a rather progressive step in the spirit of these historical developments in that it did not hinder the ability of all of the former Soviet nations to develop literature, education, research and science. These changes in the official Armenian language have helped Armenia to develop a progressive system of education and to flourish in literature and sciences as well. The original orthography is known today as the classical orthography (Template:Lang-hy dasakan uġġagrut'yun), and sometimes referred to as Mashtotsian orthography (մաշտոցյան ուղղագրություն), named after Mesrop Mashtots, the inventor of the Armenian alphabet in the AD 405.
Social and political issues
Since the establishment of the third Republic of Armenia in 1991, there has been a fringe movement in some Armenian academic circles to reinstate the Classical spelling as official policy in Armenia. Some members of the Armenian church in Armenia also support the use of the Classical spelling. However, neither the official circles nor general population or pedagogical and scientific communities in Armenia see either the expediency or the rationale of turning back an almost hundred year old reform and restituting the old orthographic rules
Regulations of Reformed Spelling
In the cases where pronunciation has changed in the course of time, one should, today, write as one would speak. This issue concerns the letter pairs յ/հ, ու/վ and diphthongs ոյ/ույ, եա/յա, եօ/յո, իւ/յու.
The following, more complex changes are also made:
- The digraph ու /u/ becomes a full, independent letter in the 34th place of the alphabet.
- The letters "է" and "օ" were deleted from the alphabet, but reinstated in 1940. Since then, they are written only at the beginning of a word and in compound words. ե or ո are used respectively in their places. The only exceptions are ով /ov/ "who" and ովքեր /ovkɛɾ/ "those (people)".
- The letter "ւ" is no longer an independent letter and appears only as a component of "ու". In its place, "վ" is written.
- The ligature "և" was initially abolished, but in 1940 it became a full, independent letter in the 37th place of the alphabet. Some words originally written with "եվ" are now written with this letter.
- In the spelling of conditionals, "կ" is added directly (without an apostrophe before vowels or "ը" before consonants).
See also
References
- Khacherian, L. G. (1999). History of Armenian Orthography (V - XX cc.). Los Angeles: Yerevan Press.
- Fr. Mesrop Aramian (October 14, 2006). "Restoring the Orthography of the Armenian Nation: A Task for Our Generation". Vem. Retrieved 2009-11-25.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ORTHOGRAPHY, STATE & DIASPORA: A Political Analyst's View on Unified Spelling Problem by Haroutiun Khachatrian
- (Russian) http://baas.asj-oa.am/39/1/1940-4-5%28111%29.pdf
External links
Armenian Orthography converters
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