The Spelling reform of the Armenian language 1922-1924 was a spelling reform of the Armenian alphabet conducted in the Armenian SSR. However, it is barely practiced outside of Armenia and the Post-Soviet states because it was not adopted by Armenians in the diaspora, which make up about half of the Armenian population.
Contents |
History
| Examples | |
|---|---|
| Classical Spelling | Reformed Spelling |
| Հայերէն | Հայերեն |
| Յակոբ | Հակոբ |
| բացուել | բացվել |
| քոյր | քույր |
| Արոնեան | Արոնյան |
| եօթ | յոթ |
| ազատութիւն | ազատություն |
| տէր | տեր |
| Արմէն | Արմեն |
| Արմինէ | Արմինե |
| խօսել | խոսել |
| Սարօ | Սարո |
| թիւ | թիվ |
| Եւրոպայ | Եվրոպա |
| Եւրոպային | Եվրոպային |
| կը գան | կգան |
In the Soviet Union during the 1920s, a majority of the population consisted of farmers and illiterates. To speed up the alphabetization throughout this variety of social classes, the orthography of many languages was simplified. These changes affected the Armenian language, which was the de facto official language of the Armenian SSR. The original orthography is known today as Classical orthography, also referred to as Mashdotsian orthography (Armenian: Դասական ուղղագրութիւն) (named after Saint Mesrob Mashdots); the reformed spelling is known as Reformed orthography (Armenian: հայաստանյան ուղղագրություն).
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.[1] Some members of the Armenian church in Armenia also support the use of the Classical spelling.[2] However, others in Armenia want to keep the Reformed spelling, and oppose any change.[3]
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.
In the following, more complex changes are made:
- If ye is spoken in the initial sound of a word, one writes "ե," when e, then "է."
- The letter pair "ու" becomes a full, independent letter in the 34th place of the alphabet.
- The "օ" is written only in the beginning of a word and in compound words. Otherwise, "ո" is used. The only exceptions are ով and ովքեր.
- The "ւ" is no longer an independent letter and appears only as a component of "ու". In its place, "վ" is written.
- The "և" becomes 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).
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. http://www.vem.am/en/topics/opinion/6/. Retrieved 2009-11-25.
- ^ ORTHOGRAPHY, STATE & DIASPORA: A Political Analyst's View on Unified Spelling Problem by Haroutiun Khachatrian
See also
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