Western Armenian

Western Armenian (Classical spelling: արեւմտահայերէն, arevmdahayerēn)[3] is one of the two standardized forms of Modern Armenian, the other being Eastern Armenian. It is based mainly on the Istanbul Armenian dialect contrary to Eastern Armenian which is mainly based on the Yerevan Armenian dialect.

This article is about the Armenian dialect. For the historical region, see Western Armenia.

Western Armenian
արեւմտահայերէն arevmdahayerēn
Native to	Armenian Highlands, Lebanon, Turkey, Syria
Native speakers	1.4 million (2001–2016)[1]
Language family	Indo-European Armenian Western Armenian
Writing system	Armenian alphabet (virtually always in the Classical Armenian orthography)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	hyw
Glottolog	homs1234[2]
Linguasphere	57-AAA-aca to 57-AAA-act
Map of the Armenian dialects in early 20th century: -gë dialects, corresponding to Western Armenian, are in yellow.

Until the early 20th century, various Western Armenian dialects were also spoken in the Ottoman Empire, especially in the eastern regions historically populated by Armenians known as Western Armenia. The spoken or dialectal varieties of Western Armenian currently in use include Homshetsi, spoken by the Hemshin peoples;[4] the dialects of Armenians of Kessab, Latakia and Jisr al-Shughur of Syria, Anjar of Lebanon, and Vakıflı, of Turkey (part of the "Sueidia" dialect).

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 the Shirak province,[5] and by Armenians in Samtskhe–Javakheti province of Georgia (Akhalkalaki, Akhaltsikhe).[6]

As mostly a diasporic language, and as a language that is not an official language of any state, Western Armenian faces extinction as its native speakers lose fluency in Western Armenian amid pressures to assimilate into their host countries. Estimates place the number of fluent speakers of Western Armenian outside Armenia and Georgia at less than one million.

Distinguishing forms of Armenian

Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian are, for the most part, mutually intelligible for educated or literate users of the other, while illiterate or semi literate users of lower registers of each one may have difficulty understanding the other variant. An example of differences in phonology, the "b" in Eastern Armenian is pronounced "p" in Western Armenian, similarly with "g" in Eastern Armenian that is pronounced "k" in Western Armenian.[7] Same goes for "d" in Eastern Armenian that is pronounced "t" in Western Armenian and "dj" in Eastern Armenian that is pronounced "tch" in Western Armenian.

Speakers

Western Armenian is an Indo-European language spoken by Armenians of most of the Middle East except for Iran, and Rostov-on-Don in Russia. It is spoken by only a small percentage of Armenians in Turkey as a first language, with 18 percent among the community in general and 8 percent among younger people.[8] Western Armenian used to be the dominant Armenian variety, but after the Armenian Genocide, Western Armenia was wiped clean of Western Armenians. Those who fled to Eastern Armenia now speak either Eastern Armenian or have a diglossic situation between Western Armenian dialects in informal usage and an Eastern Armenian standard. The only Western Armenian dialect still spoken in Western Armenia is the Homshetsi dialect, the Hemshin peoples, who speak it, did not fall victim to the Armenian Genocide since they were Muslim converts.

On 21 February 2009, International Mother Language Day has been marked with the publication of a new edition of the Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger by UNESCO in which the Western Armenian language in Turkey is defined as a definitely endangered language.[9][10]

Phonology

Vowels

Monophthongs

Western Armenian has eight monophthongs.

	Front		Central	Back
	Unrounded	Rounded		Unrounded	Rounded
Close	i  ⟨ի⟩	ʏ  ⟨իւ⟩			u  ⟨ու⟩
Mid	ɛ  ⟨է, ե⟩[11]	œ  ⟨էօ⟩	ə  ⟨ը⟩		o  ⟨ո, օ⟩[11]
Open				ɑ  ⟨ա⟩

IPA	Example (IPA)	Example (written)	Meaning	Notes
ɑ	[ɑɾɛv]	արեւ	"sun"	Similar to the English vowel in the word car.
ɛ	[ɛtʃ]	էջ	"page"	Similar to the English vowel in the word bed.
i	[im]	իմ	"my"	Similar to the English vowel in the word eat.
o	[tʃoɾ]	չոր	"dry"	Similar to the English vowel in bore.
u	[uɾ]	ուր	"where"	Similar to the English vowel in the word shoot.
ə	[əsɛl]	ըսել	"to say"	Similar to the English vowel in the word about.
ʏ	[hʏɾ]	հիւր	"guest"	Similar to the German vowel in the word schützen.
œ	[œʒɛni]	Էօժենի	a female name	This vowel sound is rare in Armenian, and is used in foreign words.

Diphthongs

Western Armenian has nine environments in which two vowels in the orthography appear next to each other, called diphthongs. By definition, they appear in the same syllable. The following examples are sometimes across syllable and morpheme boundaries, and gliding is then expected:

IPA	Example (IPA)	Example (written)	Meaning	Notes
jɑ	sɛnjɑɡ	սենեակ	"room"	Similar to English yard.
jɛ	jɛɾɑz	երազ	"dream"	Similar to English yell.
jə	hɑjə	հայը	"armenian" (definite form, nominative)	Similar to English fire /faɪə(ɹ)/.
ji	mɑjis	Մայիս	"May"	Similar to English year.
jo	jotə	եօթը	"seven"	Similar to English your.
ju	ɡɑjun	կայուն	"firm"	Similar to English you.
aj	majɾ	մայր	"mother"	Similar to English my.
ej	tej	թէյ	"tea"	Similar to English day.
iə	iənɑl	իյնալ	"to fall"	Similar to English near.
uj	kujr	քոյր	"sister"	Similar to French grenouille (frog)

Consonants

This is the Western Armenian Consonantal System using letters from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), followed by the corresponding Armenian letter in brackets.

		Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m   ⟨մ⟩		n   ⟨ն⟩
Stop	aspirated	pʰ   ⟨բ, փ⟩[12]		tʰ   ⟨դ, թ⟩[12]			kʰ   ⟨գ, ք⟩[12]
	voiced	b   ⟨պ⟩[13]		d   ⟨տ⟩[13]			ɡ   ⟨կ⟩[13]
Affricate	aspirated			tsʰ   ⟨ձ, ց⟩[12]	tʃʰ   ⟨չ, ջ⟩[12]
	voiced			dz   ⟨ծ⟩[13]	dʒ   ⟨ճ⟩[13]
Fricative	unvoiced		f   ⟨ֆ⟩	s   ⟨ս⟩	ʃ   ⟨շ⟩			χ   ⟨խ⟩	h   ⟨հ, յ⟩[11]
	voiced		v   ⟨վ, ւ, ու, ո⟩[11]	z   ⟨զ⟩	ʒ   ⟨ժ⟩			ʁ   ⟨ղ⟩
Approximant				l   ⟨լ⟩		j   ⟨յ, ե, ի, է⟩[11]
Flap				ɾ   ⟨ռ, ր⟩[14]

Differences from Classical Armenian

Differences in phonology between Western Armenian and Classical Armenian include the distinction of stops and affricates.

Firstly, while Classical Armenian has a three-way distinction of stops and affricates (one voiced and two voiceless: one plain and one aspirated, Western Armenian has kept only a two-way distinction (one voiced and one aspirated). For example, Classical Armenian has three bilabial stops (/b/ ⟨բ⟩, /p/ ⟨պ⟩, and /pʰ/ ⟨փ⟩), but Western Armenian has only two bilabial stops (/b/ ⟨պ⟩ and /pʰ/ ⟨բ⟩/⟨փ⟩).

Secondly, Western Armenian has both changed the Classical Armenian voiced stops and voiced affricates to aspirated stops and aspirated affricates and replaced the plain stops and affricates with voiced consonants.

Specifically, here are the shifts from Classical Armenian to Western Armenian:

1. Bilabial stops:
   1. merging of Classical Armenian /b/ ⟨բ⟩ and /pʰ/ ⟨փ⟩ as /pʰ/
   2. voicing of Classical /p/ ⟨պ⟩ to /b/
2. Alveolar stops:
   1. merging of Classical Armenian /d/ ⟨դ⟩ and /tʰ/ ⟨թ⟩ as /tʰ/
   2. voicing of Classical /t/ ⟨տ⟩ to /d/
3. Velar stops:
   1. merging of Classical Armenian /ɡ/ ⟨գ⟩ and /kʰ/ ⟨ք⟩ as /kʰ/
   2. voicing of Classical /k/ ⟨կ⟩ to /ɡ/
4. Alveolar affricates:
   1. merging of Classical Armenian /dz/ ⟨ձ⟩ and /tsʰ/ ⟨ց⟩ as /tsʰ/
   2. voicing of Classical /ts/ ⟨ծ⟩ to /dz/
5. Post-alveolar affricates:
   1. merging of Classical Armenian /dʒ/ ⟨ջ⟩ and /tʃʰ/ ⟨չ⟩ as /tʃʰ/
   2. voicing of Classical /tʃ/ ⟨ճ⟩ to /dʒ/

As a result, a word like [dʒuɹ] 'water' (spelled ⟨ջուր⟩ in Classical Armenian) is cognate with Western Armenian [tʃʰuɹ] (also spelled ⟨ջուր⟩). However, [tʰoɹ] 'grandson' and [kʰaɹ] 'stone' are pronounced similarly in both Classical and Western Armenian.

Orthography

Main article: Classical Armenian orthography

Western Armenian uses Classical Armenian orthography, also commonly known as traditional Mashtotsian orthography. The Armenian orthography reform introduced in the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic and still used by most Eastern Armenian speakers from modern Armenia and commonly known as the Abeghian orthography has not been adopted by Eastern Armenian speakers of Iran and their diaspora, and by Western Armenian, with the exception of periodical publications published in Romania and Bulgaria while under Communist regimes.

Morphology

Nouns

Western Armenian nouns have four grammatical cases: nominative-accusative (subject / direct object), genitive-dative (possession / indirect object), ablative (origin) and instrumental (means). Of the six cases, the nominative and accusative are the same, except for personal pronouns, and the genitive and dative are the same, meaning that nouns have four distinct forms for case. Nouns in Armenian also decline for number (singular and plural), but do not decline for gender (i.e. masculine or feminine).

Declension in Armenian is based on how the genitive is formed. There are several declensions, but one is dominant (the genitive in i) while a half-dozen other forms are in gradual decline and are being replaced by the i-form, which has virtually attained the status of a regular form:

	դաշտ / tašd (field)		կով / gov (cow)
	singular	plural	singular	plural
Nom-Acc (Ուղղական-Հայցական)	դաշտ / tašd	դաշտեր / tašder	կով / gov	կովեր / gover
Gen-Dat (Սեռական-Տրական)	դաշտի / tašdi	դաշտերու / tašderu	կովու / govu	կովերու / goveru
Abl (Բացառական)	դաշտէ / tašde	դաշտերէ / tašdere	կովէ / gove	կովերէ / govere
Instr (Գործիական)	դաշտով / tašdov	դաշտերով / tašderov	կովով / govov	կովերով / goverov

	գարուն / karun (Spring)		օր / or (day)		Քոյր / kuyr (sister)
	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural
Nom-Acc (Ուղղական-Հայցական)	գարուն	գարուններ	օր	օրեր	քոյր	քոյրեր
Gen-Dat (Սեռական-Տրական)	գարնան	գարուններու	օրուայ	օրերու	քրոջ	քոյրերու
Abl (Բացառական)	գարունէ	գարուններէ	օրուընէ	օրերէ	քրոջմէ	քոյրերէ
Instr (Գործիական)	գարունով	գարուններով	օրով	օրերով	քրոջմով	քոյրերով

	մայր / mayr (mother)		Աստուած / Asdvadz (God)		գիտութիւն / kidutiun (science)
	singular	plural	singular	plural
Nom-Acc (Ուղղական-Հայցական)	մայր	մայրեր	Աստուած	աստուածներ	գիտութիւն	գիտութիւններ
Gen-Dat (Սեռական-Տրական)	մօր	մայրերու	Աստուծոյ	աստուածներու	գիտութեան	գիտութիւններու
Abl (Բացառական)	մօրմէ	մայրերէ	Աստուծմէ	աստուածներէ	գիտութենէ	գիտութիւններէ
Instr (Գործիական)	մօրմով	մայրերով	Աստուծմով	աստուածներով	գիտութեամբ/ գիտութիւնով	գիտութիւններով

Articles

Like English and some other languages, Armenian has definite and indefinite articles. The indefinite article in Western Armenian is /mə/, which follows the noun:

ator mə ('a chair', Nom.sg), atori mə ('of a chair', Gen.sg)

The definite article is a suffix attached to the noun, and is one of two forms, either -n (when the final sound is a vowel) or -ə (when the final sound is a consonant). When the word is followed by al (ալ = also, too), the conjunction u (ու), or the present or imperfect conjugated forms of the verb em (to be); however, it will always take -n:

kirkə ('the book', Nom.sg)

karin ('the barley' Nom.sg)

but:

Sa kirkn e ('This is the book')

Parin u charə ('The good and the bad')

Inkn al ('S/he too')

The indefinite article becomes mən when it is followed by al (ալ = also, too) or the Present or imperfect conjugated forms of the verb em (to be):

kirk mə ('a book', Nom.sg)

but:

Sa kirk mən e ('This is a book')

Kirk mən al ('A book as well')

Adjectives

Adjectives in Armenian do not decline for case or number, and precede the noun:

agheg martə ('the good man', Nom.sg)

agheg martun ('to the good man', Gen.sg)

Verbs

Further information: Armenian verbs

Verbs in Armenian are based on two basic series of forms, a "present" form and an "imperfect" form. From this, all other tenses and moods are formed with various particles and constructions. There is a third form, the preterite, which in Armenian is a tense in its own right, and takes no other particles or constructions.

The "present" tense in Western Armenian is based on three conjugations (a, e, i):

	sirel (to love)	xōsil (to speak)	gartal (to read)
yes (I)	sirem	xōsim	gartam
tun (you.sg)	sires	xōsis	gartas
an (she/she/it)	sirē	xōsi	garta
menk (we)	sirenk	xōsink	gartank
tuk (you.pl)	sirēk	xōsik	gartak
anonk (they)	siren	xōsin	gartan

The present tense (as we know it in English) is made by adding the particle gə before the "present" form, except the defective verbs em (I am), gam (I exist, I'm there), unim (I have), kidem (I know) and gərnam (I can), while the future is made by adding bidi:

Yes kirk′ə gə gartam (I am reading the book or I read the book, Pres)

Yes kirk′ə bidi gartam (I will read the book, Fut).

For the exceptions: bidi əllam, unenam, kidnam, garenam (I shall be, have, know, be able). In vernacular language, the particle "gor" is added after the verb to indicate present progressive tense. The distinction is not made in literary Armenian.

Yes kirk′ə gə gartam gor (I am reading the book)[15]

The verb without any particles constitutes the subjunctive mood, such as "if I eat, should I eat, that I eat, I wish I eat":

	Sing.	Pl.
1st	Udem (if I eat etc)	Udenk′ (if we eat)
2nd	Udes (if you eat)	Udēk′ (if you all eat)
3rd	Udē (if it eats)	Uden (if they eat)

Personal pronouns

Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Ablative	Instrumental
ես 'I'	զիս	իմ	ինծի	ինձմէ / ինծմէ	ինձմով / ինծմով
դուն 'you'	քեզ	քու	քեզի	քեզմէ	քեզմով
ինք 'she/he/it'	զինք	իր	իրեն	իրմէ	իրմով
ան 'she/he/it'	զայն	անոր	անոր	անկէ	անով
մենք 'we'	մեզ	մեր	մեզի	մեզմէ	մեզմով
դուք 'you'	ձեզ	ձեր	ձեզի	ձեզմէ	ձեզմով
իրենք 'they'	զիրենք	իրենց	իրենց	իրենցմէ	իրենցմով
անոնք 'they'	զանոնք	անոնց	անոնց	անոնցմէ	անոնցմով

Demonstrative pronouns

	Proximal		Medial		Distal
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ասիկա	ասոնք	ատիկա	ատոնք	անիկա	անոնք
Accusative	ասիկա	ասոնք	ատիկա	ատոնք	անիկա	անոնք
Genitive	ասոր	ասոնց	ատոր	ատոնց	անոր	անոնց
Dative	ասոր	ասոնց	ատոր	ատոնց	անոր	անոնց
Ablative	ասկէ	ասոնցմէ	ատկէ	ատոնցմէ	անկէ	անոնցմէ
Instrumental	ասով	ասոնցմով	ատով	ատոնցմով	անով	անոնցմով

Relative pronouns

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	որ	որոնք
Accusative	զոր	զորոնք / զորս
Genitive	որու(ն)	որոնց
Dative	որուն	որոնց
Ablative	որմէ	որոնցմէ
Instrumental	որ(մ)ով	որոնցմով

See also

• Armenian verbs
• Homshetsi dialect
• Language family
• IETF language tag

References

1. Western Armenian at Ethnologue (21st ed., 2018)
2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Western Armenian". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
3. Pronounced arevmtahayeren in Eastern Armenian and spelled արևմտահայերեն in the reformed orthography.
4. Victor A. Friedman (2009). "Sociolinguistics in the Caucasus". In Ball, Martin J. (ed.). The Routledge Handbook of Sociolinguistics Around the World: A Handbook. Routledge. p. 128. ISBN 978-0415422789.
5. Baghdassarian-Thapaltsian, S. H. (1970). Շիրակի դաշտավայրի բարբառային նկարագիրը. Bulletin of Social Sciences (in Armenian) (6): 51–60. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
6. Hovannisian, Richard, ed. (2003). Armenian Karin/Erzerum. Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publ. p. 48. ISBN 9781568591513. 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
7. "Armenian alphabet, language and pronunciation". Omniglot.com. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
8. LLC, Helix Consulting. "Turkologist Ruben Melkonyan publishes book "Review of Istanbul's Armenian community history"". Panorama.am. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
9. UNESCO Culture Sector, UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, 2009
10. "UNESCO: 15 Languages Endangered in Turkey, by T. Korkut, 2009". Bianet.org. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
11. The choice of Armenian symbol depends on the vowel's context in the word. See the Orthography section below for details.
12. These letters represent the same consonant due to a sound shift in Western Armenian from Classical Armenian. See the Differences in Phonology from Classical and Eastern Armenian section below for details.
13. This letter has undergone a sound shift from Classical Armenian to Western Armenian. See #Differences in Phonology from Classical and Eastern Armenian for details.
14. Although Western Armenians are taught to pronounce two different rhotics (written ⟨ր⟩ and ⟨ռ⟩), the two have merged in many dialects into a flap.
15. In vernacular language, the particle gor is added after the verb to indicate present progressive tense. The distinction is not made in literary Armenian.

Bibliography

• Melkonian, Zareh (1990). Գործնական Քերականութիւն - Արդի Հայերէն Լեզուի (Միջին եւ Բարձրագոյն Դասընթացք) [Practical Grammar - For Modern Armenian (Intermediate and Advanced Course)] (in Armenian) (Fourth ed.). Los Angeles.
• Sakayan, Dora (2000). Modern Western Armenian For the English-speaking World: A Contrastive Approach. Montreal: Arod Books. ISBN 0-9699879-2-7.
• Samuelian, Thomas J. (1989). A Course in Modern Western Armenian: Dictionary and Linguistic Notes. New York City, New York: Armenian National Education Committee. ISBN 0-9617933-2-5.
• Chahinian, Talar; Anny Balakian (16 December 2015). "Language in Armenian American communities: Western Armenian and efforts for preservation". International Journal of the Sociology of Language. 2016 (237). doi:10.1515/ijsl-2015-0034.

External links

• Arak29 Eastern Armenian
• Arak29 Western Armenian
• Arak29 A Course in Modern Western Armenia
• Arak29 On-Line Dictionaries
• Arak29 Etymology
• Videos of people speaking Armenian

Western Armenian Online Dictionaries

• Nayiri.com (Library of Armenian dictionaries):
  • Բառգիրք հայերէն լեզուի by Rev. Antranig Granian (about 18,000 terms; published in 1998 in Beirut). Great dictionary for students.
  • ՀԱՅՈՑ ԼԵԶՈՒԻ ՆՈՐ ԲԱՌԱՐԱՆ published in two volumes in Beirut in 1992 (about 56,000 headwords). Arguably the best Western Armenian dictionary currently available.
  • ՀԱՅԵՐԷՆ ԲԱՑԱՏՐԱԿԱՆ ԲԱՌԱՐԱՆ by Stepan Malkhasiants (about 130,000 entries). One of the definitive Armenian dictionaries. (Definitions are in Eastern Armenian, but include Western Armenian meanings of headwords.)
  • ՀԱՅԵՐԷՆ ԱՐՄԱՏԱԿԱՆ ԲԱՌԱՐԱՆ by Hrachia Acharian (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. (Explanations are in Eastern Armenian, but root words span the entire Armenian language, including Western Armenian.)
  • Armenian-English dictionary (about 70,000 entries).
  • English-Armenian dictionary (about 96,000 entries).
  • Armenian-French dictionary (about 18,000 entries).
  • French-Armenian dictionary (about 20,000 entries).