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I LOVE AMERICA |
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The '''Armenian language''' ({{lang-hy|հայերեն լեզու}}, ] {{IPA|}} — ''hayeren lezu,'' conventional short form ''hayeren)'' is an ] spoken by the ] in the ], in ] (especially in ]), Mountainous Karabakh (]) and also used by the ]. |
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Linguists standardly classify Armenian as an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. However, some Indo-Europeanists, notably Clackson (1994), have proposed Armenian and other branches may have been grouped together with the '''Hellenic''' branch (which contains ]). This is called the ]. Others suggest that there may be a '''late Indo-European''' branch which developed into Armenian, the Hellenic branch and the ] branch (Fortson 1994). Determining the historical evolution of Armenians is particularly difficult because Armenian borrowed so many words from ] and ] (both ]) as well as from Greek. |
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==History== |
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{{History of the Armenian language}} |
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{{Indo-European}} |
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===Origins=== |
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====Possible Connections to Greek and Phrygian==== |
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:''Main Article'': ] |
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Armenian is regarded by some linguists as a close relative of ]. Many scholars such as Clackson (1994) hold that ] is the most closely related surviving language to Armenian. The characteristically Greek representation of word-initial ] by prothetic vowels is shared by Armenian, which also shares other phonological and morphological peculiarities of Greek. The close relatedness of Armenian and Greek sheds light on the ] nature of the ]. Armenian also shares major ]es with Greek; some linguists propose that the linguistic ancestors of the Armenians and Greeks were either identical or in a close contact relation. However other linguistics including Fortson (2004) comment "by the time we reach our earliest Armenian records in the 5th century A.D., the evidence of any such early kinship has been reduced to a few tantalizing pieces." |
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====Anatolian Connection==== |
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Armenian, like ], ] and ], retains the third laryngeal initially and has no inherited long vowels, no palatal-velar distinction, and no feminine gender. These and other archaisms led linguists to conclude that there was an early contact between the languages. The Anatolian loan words within Armenian indicate that proto-Armenians were in contact with both Luwian speakers and with ].<ref>{{cite journal |
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| last =Austin |
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| first =William M. |
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| title =Is Armenian an Anatolian Language?:Language, Vol. 18, No. 1 |
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| publisher =Linguistic Society of America |
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| date =Jan. - Mar., 1942 |
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| pages =22-25 |
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| doi =10.2307/409074}} |
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</ref> |
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====Iranian Language Influence==== |
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The Classical Armenian language (often referred to as grabar, literally "written (language)") imported numerous words from Middle Iranian languages, primarily ], and contains smaller inventories of borrowings from Greek, Syriac, Latin, and autochthonous languages 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. |
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The large percentage of loans from Iranian languages initially led linguists to classify Armenian as an Iranian language. The distinctness of Armenian was only recognized when Hübschmann (1875) used the ] to distinguish two layers of Iranian loans from the true Armenian vocabulary. 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 ]. |
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====First Armenian Documents==== |
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Armenian is written in the ], created by Saint ] in ] AD. This alphabet, with two additional letters, is still used today. |
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Literature written in Armenian appeared by the ]. The written language of that time, called ] or ], remained the Armenian literary language, with various changes, until the 19th century. Meanwhile, spoken Armenian developed independently of the written language. Many dialects appeared when Armenian communities became separated by geography or politics, and not all of these dialects remained mutually intelligible. |
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==Phonology== |
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=== Vowels === |
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{{Armenian culture}} |
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] has eight monophthong vowel sounds. |
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{| class="wikitable" |
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! colspan=2| ] |
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! rowspan=2| ] |
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! colspan=2| ] |
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!|| ] || ] || ] || ] |
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! align="left" | ] |
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| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA|]}} |
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| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA|]}} |
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| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA|]}} |
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! align="left" | ] |
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| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA|]}} |
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| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA|]}} |
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| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA|]}} |
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| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center;" | {{IPA|]}} |
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! align="left" | ] |
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| class="nounderlines" style="text-align:center" | {{IPA|]}} |
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] distinguishes seven vowels: |
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{{IPA|/a/}}, {{IPA|/ɪ/}}, {{IPA|/ə/}} (]), {{IPA|/ɛ/}} (open ''e''), {{IPA|/e/}} (closed ''e''), {{IPA|/o/}}, and {{IPA|/u/}} (transcribed as ''a'', ''i'', ''ə'', ''e'', ''ē'', ''o'', ''ow'' and ''u'' respectively). |
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=== Consonants === |
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In the following table there is listed the Eastern Armenian consonantal system. The ] and ]s have a special aspirated series (transcribed with a Greek '']'' after the letter): ''{{unicode|p῾}}'', ''{{unicode|t῾}}'', ''{{unicode|c῾}}'', ''{{unicode|č῾}}'', ''{{unicode|k῾}}''. For each phoneme there are three symbols in the table. The topmost indicates the pronunciation in ] (IPA); in the middle there is the corresponding symbol in the ]; and the bottom one is its ] in ] (following ]). |
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{| class="wikitable" |
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!] /<br />] |
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| ''']''' |
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| style="text-align:center;"|{{IPA | p b}}<br /> պ բ<br /> p b |
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| style="text-align:center;" |{{IPA | t d}}<br /> տ դ<br /> t d |
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| style="text-align:center;"|{{IPA | k g}}<br /> կ գ<br /> k g |
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| '''] plosive''' |
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| style="text-align:center;"|{{IPA | pʰ}}<br /> փ<br /> p‘ |
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| style="text-align:center;" |{{IPA | tʰ}}<br /> թ<br /> t‘ |
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| style="text-align:center;"|{{IPA | kʰ}}<br /> ք<br /> k‘ |
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| ''']''' |
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| style="text-align:center;"|{{IPA | m}}<br /> մ<br /> m |
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| style="text-align:center;" |{{IPA | n}}<br /> ն<br /> n |
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| style="text-align:center;"|{{IPA | f v}}<br /> ֆ վ<br /> f v |
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| style="text-align:center;"|{{IPA | s z}}<br /> ս զ<br /> s z |
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| style="text-align:center;"|{{IPA | ʃ ʒ}}<br /> շ ժ<br /> š ž |
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| style="text-align:center;"|{{IPA | χ ʁ}}<br /> խ ղ<br /> x ġ |
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| style="text-align:center;"|{{IPA | h}}<br /> հ<br /> h |
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| ''']''' |
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| style="text-align:center;" |{{IPA | ʦ ʣ}}<br /> ծ ձ<br /> ç j |
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| style="text-align:center;" |{{IPA | tʃ ʤ}}<br /> ճ ջ<br /> č̣ j |
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| '''aspirated affricate''' |
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| style="text-align:center;" |{{IPA | ʦʰ}}<br /> ց<br /> c‘ |
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| style="text-align:center;" |{{IPA | tʃʰ}}<br /> չ<br /> č |
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| ''']''' |
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| style="text-align:center;" |{{IPA | ɹ}}<br /> ր<br /> r |
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| style="text-align:center;"|{{IPA | j}}<br /> -յ-<br /> y |
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| ''']''' |
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| style="text-align:center;"|{{IPA | r}}<br /> ռ<br /> ṙ |
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| ''']''' |
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| style="text-align:center;" |{{IPA | l}}<br /> լ<br /> l |
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==Morphology== |
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{{expand-section}} |
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] |
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Armenian resembles 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 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 classical Armenian. 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. Interestingly enough, it shares the common ''-tion'' suffix with Latin (the Armenian cognate is ''t'youn'', թյուն). |
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] studied the Armenian language. He helped to compile an Armenian grammar textbook and translated a few Armenian books into English. |
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===Noun=== |
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Classical Armenian has no ], not even in the pronoun. The nominal inflection, however, preserves several types of inherited stem classes. The noun may take seven cases, ], ], ], ], ], ], ]. |
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===Verb=== |
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{{Main|Armenian verbs}} |
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Verbs in Armenian have an expansive system of ] with two main verb types (three in Western Armenian) changing form based on ], ] and ]. |
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==Dialects== |
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The major division is between the Eastern and Western dialects. 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. |
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For example, Eastern Armenian speakers pronounce ({{Hayeren|թ}}) as an aspirated "t" as in "tiger", ({{Hayeren|դ}}) like the "d" in "develop", and ({{Hayeren|տ}}) as an unaspirated voiceless stop, sounding somewhere between the two as in "s'''t'''op." Western Armenian has simplified the stop system into a simple division between voiced stops and voiceless aspirate ones; the first series corresponds to the unaspirated voiceless series of Eastern Armenian, and the second corresponds to the Eastern voiced and aspirated voiceless series. Thus, the Western dialect pronounces both ({{Hayeren|թ}}) and ({{Hayeren|դ}}) as an aspirated "t" as in "tiger," and the ({{Hayeren|տ}}) letter is pronounced like the letter "d" as in "develop." |
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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). The main difference between both blocks are: |
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*''']''' (''Arevm'tahayeren''): |
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** example |
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*''']''' (''Arevelahayeren''): |
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** example |
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Armenian can be subdivided in two major dialectal blocks and those blocks into individual dialects, though many of the Western Armenian dialects have died due to the effects of the Armenian Genocide. In addition, neither dialect is completely homogeneous: any dialect can be subdivided into several subdialects. While Western and Eastern Armenian are often described as different dialects of the same language, some subdialects are not readily mutually intelligible. It is true, however, that a fluent speaker of two greatly varying subdialects who are exposed to the other dialect over even a short period of time will be able to understand the other with relative ease. |
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''English - Eastern Armenian'' |
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*Yes = Ayo ({{Hayeren|այո}}) |
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*No = Voch ({{Hayeren|ոչ}}) |
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*Excuse me = Neroghoutioun ({{Hayeren|ներողություն}}) |
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*Hello = Barev ({{Hayeren|բարև}}) |
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*Please = Khntrem ({{Hayeren|խնդրեմ}}) |
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*Thank you = Shnorhakal em ({{Hayeren|շնորհակալ եմ}}) |
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*Thank you very much = Shat shnorhakal em ({{Hayeren|շատ շնորհակալ եմ}}) |
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*Welcome = Bari galust ({{Hayeren|բարի գալուստ}}) / Barov eq yekel |
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*Goodbye = Tstesoutioun ({{Hayeren|ցտեսություն}}) |
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*Good morning = Bari louys ({{Hayeren|բարի լույս}}) |
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*Good afternoon = Bari or ({{Hayeren|բարի օր}}) |
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*Good evening = Bari yereko ({{Hayeren|բարի երեկո}}) |
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*Good night = Bari gisher ({{Hayeren|բարի գիշեր}}) |
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*I love you = Yes sirum em qez ({{Hayeren|ես սիրում եմ քեզ}}) |
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''English - Western Armenian'' |
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*Yes = Ayo ({{Hayeren|այո}}) |
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*No = Voch ({{Hayeren|ոչ}}) |
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*Excuse me = Neroghoutioun ({{Hayeren|ներողութիւն}}) |
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*Hello = Parev ({{Hayeren|բարեւ}}) |
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*Please = Hadjis ({{Hayeren|յաճիս}}) |
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*Thank you = Shnorhagal em ({{Hayeren|շնորհակալ եմ}}) |
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*Thank you very much = Shad shnorhagal em ({{Hayeren|շատ շնորհակալ եմ}}) |
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*Welcome = Pari yegar / Pari yegak ({{Hayeren|բարի եկար / բարի եկաք}}) |
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*Goodbye = Tsdesoutioun ({{Hayeren|ցտեսութիւն}}) |
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*Good morning = Pari louys ({{Hayeren|բարի լոյս}}) |
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*Good afternoon = Pari or ({{Hayeren|բարի օր}}) |
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*Good evening = Parirgoun / Pari irigoun ({{Hayeren|բարի իրկուն / բարի իրիկուն}}) |
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*Good night = Kisher pari ({{Hayeren|գիշեր բարի}}) |
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==See also== |
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*] |
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*] |
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*] |
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*] |
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*] |
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*] |
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==Footnotes== |
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<references /> |
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==References== |
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* Clackson, James. 1994. ''The Linguistic Relationship Between Armenian and Greek.'' London: Publications of the Philological Society, No 30. (and Oxford: Blackwell Publishing) |
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* Fortson, Benjamin W. (2004) ''Indo-European Language and Culture.'' Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. |
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* Hübschmann, Heinrich (1875) "Über die Stellung des armenischen im Kreise der indogermanischen Sprachen," ''Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Sprachforschung'' 23.5-42. |
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* ] (1989) ''In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth.'' London: Thames & Hudson. |
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* Vaux, Bert. 1998. ''The Phonology of Armenian.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press. |
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==External links== |
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{{sisterlinks|Armenian language}} |
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{{InterWiki|code=hy}} |
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{{Wiktionarylang|code=hy}} |
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* http://www.cilicia.com |
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Armenian Language Samples: |
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