Western Armenian
Western Armenian 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.
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; the dialects of Armenians of Kessab, Latakia and Jisr al-Shughur of Syria, Anjar of Lebanon, and Vakıflı, of Turkey.
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, and by Armenians in Samtskhe–Javakheti province of Georgia.
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. 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. 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.
Phonology
Vowels
Monophthongs
Western Armenian has eight monophthongs.| IPA | Example | Example | Meaning | Notes |
| արեւ | "sun" | Similar to the English vowel in the word car. | ||
| էջ | "page" | Similar to the English vowel in the word bed. | ||
| իմ | "my" | Similar to the English vowel in the word eat. | ||
| չոր | "dry" | Similar to the English vowel in bore. | ||
| ուր | "where" | Similar to the English vowel in the word shoot. | ||
| ըսել | "to say" | Similar to the English vowel in the word about. | ||
| հիւր | "guest" | Similar to the German vowel in the word schützen. | ||
| 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 | Example | Meaning | Notes |
| սենեակ | "room" | Similar to English yard. | ||
| երազ | "dream" | Similar to English yell. | ||
| հայը | "armenian" | Similar to English fire /faɪə/. | ||
| Մայիս | "May" | Similar to English year. | ||
| եօթը | "seven" | Similar to English your. | ||
| կայուն | "firm" | Similar to English you. | ||
| մայր | "mother" | Similar to English my. | ||
| թէյ | "tea" | Similar to English day. | ||
| իյնալ | "to fall" | Similar to English near. | ||
| քոյր | "sister" | Similar to French grenouille |
Consonants
This is the Western Armenian Consonantal System using letters from the International Phonetic Alphabet, followed by the corresponding Armenian letter in brackets.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. For example, Classical Armenian has three bilabial stops, but Western Armenian has only two bilabial stops.
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:
- Bilabial stops:
- # merging of Classical Armenian and as
- # voicing of Classical to
- Alveolar stops:
- # merging of Classical Armenian and as
- # voicing of Classical to
- Velar stops:
- # merging of Classical Armenian and as
- # voicing of Classical to
- Alveolar affricates:
- # merging of Classical Armenian and as
- # voicing of Classical to
- Post-alveolar affricates:
- # merging of Classical Armenian and as
- # voicing of Classical to
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, genitive-dative, ablative and instrumental. 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, but do not decline for gender.Declension in Armenian is based on how the genitive is formed. There are several declensions, but one is dominant 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:
Articles
Like English and some other languages, Armenian has definite and indefinite articles. The indefinite article in Western Armenian is, which follows the noun:ator mə, atori mə
The definite article is a suffix attached to the noun, and is one of two forms, either -n or -ə. When the word is followed by al, the conjunction u, or the present or imperfect conjugated forms of the verb em ; however, it will always take -n:
but:
The indefinite article becomes mən when it is followed by al or the Present or imperfect conjugated forms of the verb em :
but:
Adjectives
Adjectives in Armenian do not decline for case or number, and precede the noun: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 :
| sirel | xōsil | gartal | |
| yes | sirem | xōsim | gartam |
| tun | sires | xōsis | gartas |
| an | sirē | xōsi | garta |
| menk | sirenk | xōsink | gartank |
| tuk | sirēk | xōsik | gartak |
| anonk | siren | xōsin | gartan |
The present tense is made by adding the particle gə before the "present" form, except the defective verbs em, gam, unim, kidem and gərnam, while the future is made by adding bidi:
For the exceptions: bidi əllam, unenam, kidnam, garenam.
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, such as "if I eat, should I eat, that I eat, I wish I eat":
| Sing. | Pl. | |
| 1st | Udem | Udenk′ |
| 2nd | Udes | Udēk′ |
| 3rd | Udē | Uden |