Western Armenian language

Western Armenian language

Western Armenian (արեւմտահայերէն) is one of the two modern dialects of Armenian, an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian diaspora, mainly in North America, Europe and most of the Middle East except for Iran. It is also spoken by the Armenian community in Turkey. It was developed in the early part of the 19th century, and is based on the Armenian dialect of Constantinople.

Phonology

Vowels

Monophthongs

Western Armenian has eight monophthong vowel 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: IPA| [b] (<բ>), IPA| [p] (<պ>), and IPA| [pʰ] (<փ>); Western Armenian, has two bilabial stops: IPA| [b] (<պ>) and IPA| [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:
# Bilabial stops:
## merging of Classical Armenian IPA|/b/ (բ) and IPA|/pʰ/ (փ) as IPA|/pʰ/
## voicing of Classical IPA|/p/ (պ) to IPA|/b/
# Alveolar stops:
## merging of Classical Armenian IPA|/d/ (դ) and IPA|/tʰ/ (թ) as IPA|/tʰ/
## voicing of Classical IPA|/t/ (տ) to IPA|/d/
# Velar stops:
## merging of Classical Armenian IPA|/g/ (գ) and IPA|/kʰ/ (ք) as IPA|/kʰ/
## voicing of Classical IPA|/k/ (կ) to IPA|/g/
# Alveolar affricates:
## merging of Classical Armenian IPA|/dz/ (ձ) and IPA|/tsʰ/ (ց) as IPA|/tsʰ/
## voicing of Classical IPA|/ts/ (ծ) to IPA|/dz/
# Post-alveolar affricates:
## merging of Classical Armenian IPA|/dʒ/ (ջ) and IPA|/tʃʰ/ (չ) as IPA|/tʃʰ/
## voicing of Classical IPA|/tʃ/ (ճ) to IPA|/dʒ/

As a result, a word like IPA| [dʒuɹ] (spelled ջուր in Classical Armenian, 'water') is cognate with Western Armenian IPA| [tʃʰuɹ] (also spelled ջուր). However, IPA| [tʰoɹ] ('grandson') and IPA| [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: IPA| [b] (<բ>), IPA| [pʼ] (ejective, <պ>), and IPA| [pʰ] (<փ>); Western Armenian, has two bilabial stops: IPA| [b] (<պ>) and IPA| [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:
# Bilabial stops:
## Eastern Armenian: IPA| [b] (բ), IPA| [pʰ] (փ), IPA| [pʼ] (պ)
## Western Armenian: IPA| [b] (պ), IPA| [pʰ] (փ and բ)
# Alveolar stops:
## Eastern Armenian: IPA| [d] (դ), IPA| [tʰ] (թ), IPA| [tʼ] (տ)
## Western Armenian: IPA| [d] (տ), IPA| [tʰ] (թ and դ)
# Velar stops:
## Eastern Armenian: IPA| [g] (գ), IPA| [kʰ] (ք), IPA| [kʼ] (կ)
## Western Armenian: IPA| [g] (կ), IPA| [kʰ] (ք and գ)
# Alveolar affricates:
## Eastern Armenian: IPA| [dz] (ձ), IPA| [tsʰ] (ց), IPA| [tsʼ] (ծ)
## Western Armenian: IPA| [dz] (ծ), IPA| [tsʰ] (ց or ձ)
# Post-alveolar affricates:
## Eastern Armenian: IPA| [dʒ] (ջ), IPA| [tʃʰ] (չ), IPA| [tʃʼ] (ճ)
## Western Armenian: IPA| [dʒ] (ճ), IPA| [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"):

tashd (field)kari (barley)

singularpluralsingularplural
Nom-Acc (Ուղղական-Հայցական)tashdtashderkarikariner
Gen-Dat (Սեռական-Տրական)tashditashderukarukarineru
Abl (Բացառական)tashdetashderekariekarinere
Instr (Գործիական)tashdovtashderovkariovkarinerov

Articles

Like English and some other languages, Armenian has definite and indefinite articles. The indefinite article in Western Armenian is IPA|/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):

sirel
'to love'		khôsil
'to speak'		gartal
'to read'

"yes" (I)siremkhôsimgartam

"tun" (you.sg)sireskhôsisgartas

"an" (he/she/it)sirêkhôsigarta

"menk"' (we)sirenk'khôsink'gartank'

"tuk"' (you.pl)sirêk'khôsik'gartak'

"anonk"' (they)sirenkhôsingartan

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) [In vernacular language, the particle "gor" is added after the verb to indicate present progressive tense. The distinction is not made in literary Armenian.]

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

personalgenitiveaccusativedativeablativeinstrumental
ԵսԻմԶիսԻնծիԻնծմէԻնծմով
ԴունՔուՔեզՔեզիՔեզմէՔեզմով
ԱնԱնորԶայնԱնորԱնկէԱնով
ՄենքՄերՄեզՄեզիՄեզմէՄեզմով
ԴուքՁերՁեզՁեզիՁեզմէՁեզմով
ԱնոնքԱնոնցԶանոնքԶանոնքԱնոնցմէԱնոնցմով

ee also

* Armenian verbs
* Traditional Armenian orthography
* Eastern Armenian
* Language families and languages

Notes

References

*

External links

* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_iso639.asp?code=hye Armenian] Ethnologue report


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