Western Armenian language

Western Armenian
Արեւմտահայերէն Arevmdahayeren
Spoken in	United States  France  Syria  Lebanon  Argentina  Turkey  Canada[1]
Total speakers	879,612[2]
Language family	Indo-European Armenian Western Armenian
Writing system	Armenian alphabet
Official status
Official language in	---- Minority language:
Regulated by
Language codes
ISO 639-1	hy
ISO 639-2	arm (B)	hye (T)
ISO 639-3	variously: hye – Modern Armenian xcl – Classical Armenian axm – Middle Armenian
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Western Armenian (Armenian: Արեւմտահայերէն, Արեւմտեան աշխարհաբար, or Թրքահայերէն, "Turkish-Armenian")^{[footnotes 1]} is one of the two standardized forms of modern Armenian, the other being Eastern Armenian. The two standard forms form a diasystem.

Western Armenian is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian diaspora, mainly in North America and South America, Europe and most of the Middle East except for Iran. It is also spoken by the Armenian community in Turkey with estimated number of speakers of 50.000.^[3] It was developed in the early part of the 19th century, and is based on the Armenian dialect of Istanbul.

On February 21, 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 where the Western Armenian language in Turkey is defined as a definitely endangered language.^[3][4]

Phonology

Vowels

Monophthongs

Western Armenian has eight monophthong vowel sounds.

Monophthongs examples

Diphthongs

The Western Armenian language has nine diphthong sounds.

Consonants

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

Differences in phonology from Classical Armenian

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

First, while Classical Armenian has a three-way distinction of stops and affricates: one voiced and two voiceless — a plain version and an aspirated one — Western Armenian has kept only a two-way distinction — one voiced and one aspirated. For example, Classical has three bilabial stops: [b] (<բ>), [p] (<պ>), and [pʰ] (<փ>); Western Armenian, has two bilabial stops: [b] (<պ>) and [pʰ] (<բ> or <փ>).

Second, Western Armenian has shifted the Classical Armenian voiced stops and voiced affricates into aspirated stops and aspirated affricates, and replaced the plain stops and plain affricates with voiced ones.

Specifically, the following are the changes 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] (spelled ջուր in Classical Armenian, 'water') is cognate with Western Armenian [tʃʰuɹ] (also spelled ջուր). However, [tʰoɹ] ('grandson') and [kʰaɹ] ('stone') are pronounced identically in Classical and Western Armenian.

Differences in phonology from Eastern Armenian

The difference in phonology between Western Armenian and Eastern Armenian phonology also lies in the distinction of stops and affricates (as in the difference with Classical Armenian).

First, Eastern Armenian is notable for shifting the plain stops and plain affricates from Classical Armenian to ejective consonants. Therefore, while Eastern Armenian has a three-way distinction of stops and affricates: one voiced and two voiceless — an ejective version and an aspirated one — Western Armenian has only a two-way distinction — one voiced and one aspirated. For example, Eastern Armenian has three bilabial stops: [b] (<բ>), [pʼ] (ejective, <պ>), and [pʰ] (<փ>); Western Armenian, has two bilabial stops: [b] (<պ>) and [pʰ] (<բ> or <փ>).

Second, Western Armenian has shifted the Classical Armenian voiced stops and voiced affricates into aspirated stops and aspirated affricates, and replaced the plain stops and plain affricates with voiced ones.

The following is a comparison of the stops and affricates in Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian:

1. Bilabial stops:
   1. Eastern Armenian: [b] (բ), [pʰ] (փ), [pʼ] (պ)
   2. Western Armenian: [b] (պ), [pʰ] (փ and բ)
2. Alveolar stops:
   1. Eastern Armenian: [d] (դ), [tʰ] (թ), [tʼ] (տ)
   2. Western Armenian: [d] (տ), [tʰ] (թ and դ)
3. Velar stops:
   1. Eastern Armenian: [ɡ] (գ), [kʰ] (ք), [kʼ] (կ)
   2. Western Armenian: [ɡ] (կ), [kʰ] (ք and գ)
4. Alveolar affricates:
   1. Eastern Armenian: [dz] (ձ), [tsʰ] (ց), [tsʼ] (ծ)
   2. Western Armenian: [dz] (ծ), [tsʰ] (ց or ձ)
5. Post-alveolar affricates:
   1. Eastern Armenian: [dʒ] (ջ), [tʃʰ] (չ), [tʃʼ] (ճ)
   2. Western Armenian: [dʒ] (ճ), [tʃʰ] (չ or ջ)

Consonant examples

Orthography

Western Armenian uses traditional Armenian orthography, also known as classical orthography or Mashdotsian orthography. Reformed Armenian orthography (introduced in Soviet Armenia and still used by most Eastern Armenian speakers from the Republic of Armenia) has not been adopted in Western Armenian.

Morphology

Nouns

Western Armenian nouns have six cases: Nominative (subject), Accusative (direct object), Genitive (possession), Dative (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 two are the most used (genitive in i, and genitive in u):

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:

mart mə ('a man', Nom.sg), martu mə ('of a man', Gen.sg)

The definite article is a suffix attached to the noun, and is one of two forms, either -ə or -n, depending on whether the final sound is a vowel or a consonant, and whether a preceding word begins with a vowel or consonant:

martə ('the man', Nom.sg)
karin ('the barley' Nom.sg)
but:
Sa martn e ('This is the man')
Sa karin e ('This is the barley')

The indefinite article becomes mən under the same circumstance as -ə becomes -n:

mart mə ('a man', Nom.sg)
but:
Sa mart mən e ('This is a man')

Adjectives

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

lav martə ('the good man', Nom.sg)
lav martun ('to the good man', Gen.sg)

Verbs

Verbs in Armenian are based on two basic series of forms, a "present" form and a "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 tense in its own right, and takes no other particles or constructions. (See also Armenian verbs for more detailed information.)

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

The present tense (as we know it in English) is made by adding the particle gə before the "present" form, except yem (I am), 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, apparently borrowed from Turkish -yor-: cf. seviyorum: gə sirem gor (I love). The distinction is not made in literary Armenian.

" Yes kirk'ə gə gartam gor (I am reading the book) ^[9]

The verb without any particles constitutes the subjunctive mood:

Udem (if I eat, should I eat, that I eat, I wish I eat)

Udes (if you eat, etc.)

Udê (if it eats)

Udenk' (if we eat)

Udêk' (if you all eat)

Uden (if they eat)

Pronouns

See also

• Armenian verbs
• Traditional Armenian orthography
• Eastern Armenian
• Language families and languages
• Western Armenia

• IETF language tag: hy-arevmda

Notes

1. ^ Armenians per country
2. ^ Ethnologue report for Armenia
3. ^ ^{a b} UNESCO Culture Sector, UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, 2009
4. ^ UNESCO: 15 Languages Endangered in Turkey, by T. Korkut, 2009
5. ^ ^{a b c d e} The choice of Armenian symbol depends on the vowel's context in the word. See the Orthography section below for details.
6. ^ ^{a b c d e} These symbols 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.
7. ^ ^{a b c d e} This symbol has undergone a sound shift from Classical Armenian to Western Armenian. See the Differences in Phonology from Classical and Eastern Armenian section below for details.
8. ^ Although Western Armenians are taught to pronounce two different rhotics (represented by <ր> and <ռ>), the two have merged in many dialects to a flap consonant.
9. ^ In vernacular language, the particle "gor" is added after the verb to indicate present progressive tense. The distinction is not made in literary Armenian.

Footnotes

Bibliography

• Melkonian, Zareh (1990) (in Armenian). Գործնական Քերականութիւն - Արդի Հայերէն Լեզուի (Միջին եւ Բարձրագոյն Դասընթացք) [Practical Grammar - For Modern Armenian (Intermediate and Advanced Course)] (Fourth ed.). Los Angeles. 
• Sakayan, Dora (2000). Modern Western Armenian For the English-speaking World: A Contrastive Approach. Montreal: Arod Books. ISBN 0969987927. 
• Samuelian, Thomas J. (1989). A Course in Modern Western Armenian: Dictionary and Linguistic Notes. New York City, New York: Armenian National Education Committee. ISBN 0961793325. 

External links

• Armenian Ethnologue report
• Videos of people speaking Armenian