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EVOLUTION OF ARMENIAN LANGUAGE

Early in the fifth century, classical Armenian, or Krapar, was one of

the great languages of the Near East and Asia Minor. Although an

autonomous branch within the Indo-European family of languages,it had some affinities to Middle Iranian, Greek and the Balto-Slavic

languages, but belonged to none of them. It was characterized by a

system of inflection unlike the other languages, as well as a flexible

and liberal use of combining root words to create derivative and

compound words by the application of certain agglutinative affixes.

In the period that followed the invention of the alphabet and up to

the threshold of the modern era, Krapar(Classical Armenian) lived

on. An effort to modernize the language in Greater Armenia and the

Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (11-14th centuries) resulted in the

addition of two more characters to the alphabet, bringing the total

number to 38.

The Book of Lamentations by Gregory of Nareg (951-1003), that

could be considered a masterpiece of world literature, is perhaps a

good example of the development of a literature and writing style

that came to be known as Middle Armenian or Vernacular. In

addition to elevating the literary style of the Armenian language,

Gregory of Nareg paved the way for his successors to include

secular themes in their writings. The thematic shift from mainly

religious texts to writings with secular outlooks further enhanced

and enriched the vocabulary. A Word of Wisdom, a poem by

Hovhannes Sargavak devoted to a starling, legitimizes poetry

devoted to nature, love or female beauty. Gradually, the interests of

the vulgar population were also reflected in other literary works.

Konsdantin Yerzinkatsi and several others even take the unusual

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step of criticizing the ecclesiastic establishment and addressing the

social issues of the Armenian homeland. Not surprisingly, these

changes altered the nature of the literary style and syntax but they

did not constitute radical changes to the fundamentals of the

grammar or the morphology of the language.

The Treaty of Kermanchai of 1828 once again divided the traditional

Armenian homeland. This time, two thirds of historical Armenia fell

under Ottoman control, while the remaining territories were divided

between the Russian and Persian empires. The antagonistic

relationship between the Russian and Ottoman Empires led to

creation of two separate and different environments under which

Armenians lived and suffered. Halfway through the 19th century,

two important concentrations of Armenian communities were

constituted.

Because of persecutions or the search for better economic

opportunities, many Armenians living under Ottoman rule graduallymoved to Constantinople, the capitol of the Ottoman Empire, while

Tiflis (Tiblissi), in Georgia, became the center of Armenians living

under Russian rule. These two cosmopolitan cities very soon

became the primary poles of Armenian intellectual and cultural life.

The introduction of new literary forms and styles, as well as many

new ideas sweeping Europe reached Armenians living in bothregions. This created an ever-growing need to elevate the vulgar

language, Ashkharhabar, to the dignity of a modern literary

language, in contrast to the now-anachronistic Krapar. Numerous

dialects developed in the traditional Armenian regions, which,

different as they were, had certain morphological and phonetic

features in common. On the basis of these features two majorvariants emerged:

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Western Variant: The influx of immigrants from different parts of

the traditional Armenian homeland to Constantinople crystallized

the common elements of the regional dialects, paving the way to a

style of writing that required a shorter and more flexible learning

curve than Krapar.

Eastern Variant: The dialect of the Ararat plateau provided the

primary elements of Eastern Armenian, centered in Tiflis (Tiblissi,

Georgia). Similar to the Western Armenian variant, the Modern

Eastern was in many ways more practical and accessible to the

masses than Krapar.

Both centers vigorously pursued the promotion ofAshkharhapar.

The proliferation of newspapers in both versions (Eastern &

Western) and the development of a network of schools where

modern Armenian was taught, dramatically increased the rate of

literacy (in spite of the obstacles by the colonial administrators),

even in remote rural areas. The emergence of literary works

entirely written in the modern versions increasingly legitimized the

languages existence. By the turn of the 20th century both varieties

of the one modern Armenian language prevailed over Krapar and

opened the path to a new and simplified grammatical structure of

the language in the two different cultural spheres. Apart from minor

morphological, phonetic and grammatical differences, the largely

common vocabulary and identical rules of grammatical

fundamentals allows users of one variant to understand the other

easily.

After the First World War, the existence of the two modern versions

of the same language was sanctioned even more clearly. The Soviet

Republic of Armenia (1920-1990) used Eastern Armenian as its

official language, while the Diaspora created after the Genocide of

1915 carried with it the only thing survivors still possessed: its

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mother tongue, Western Armenian.

To appreciate the cultural-linguistic importance of Western

Armenian requires an understanding of the historical imperatives at

play: For years now, particularly with a new generation of

Armenians in America raised without the opportunity to learn the

language, Armenian identity for many began and ended with the

Turkish genocide of 1915, the genocide that spawned the birth of

Armenian dispersion. Armenian identity, politics, religious beliefs

and world vision have been dominated by this terrible event.

This dominance has been reinforced by a stubborn and self-serving

Turkish denial of the genocide, of responsibility for it, and even of

the historic existence of Armenia.

The historic aim in the Diaspora has been to re-convince the world

of the truth of a single event--in order to establish a past that can

explain the present Armenian condition.

For Armenians living in the Diaspora, in addition to defending thehistorical record, preserving the linguistic and literary heritage is an

important part of the struggle.

ARMENIAN GRAMMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

As an independent branch of the Indo-European languages,

Armenian is unique in terms of its grammar and more than half of

the etymological roots of its vocabulary. It is governed by a system

of inflection by declensions and conjugation dissimilar from many of

the languages that evolved within the vicinity of historical Armenia.Unlike many modern languages with roots in ancient times and

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contrary to the assertions that the language has gone through

radical changes through the ages, only few of the grammatical

fundamentals have been modified since the first surviving texts

while the basic vocabulary remained remarkably intact except the

addition of new loan words or coining of new derivatives or

compound words. As a matter of fact, an average knowledge of

Modern (Western or Eastern) Armenian is adequate to read and

fully understand the Armenian Bible, written in Classical Armenian

(circa 425 BC).

Since early in the 5th century, Armenian grammarians developed

the new fundamentals that contributed to the evolution and

advancement of Armenian grammatical and linguistic principles.

The word grammar was once a synonym for learning in general. In

early English usage, grammarmeant only Latin grammar. Not until

the 17th century was the word used generically. In the early

Armenian centers of higher learning (5th century and onwards),

Grammatical Structures as well as Rhetoric and Lexicology were

considered part of the Armenian linguistic tradition and heritage.

Ancient and medieval Armenian grammarians wrote extensively on

Armenian etymology, phonetics and syntax. In the fifth century, the

Armenian grammarian David was already developing his own

theories on etymology and had discarded the grammatical treatiesarticulated by Dionysius of Thrax.

Movses Kertoghahayr (5th-6th centuries) researched the phonetic

features of the Armenian language by elucidating the differing

aspects of the sounds and the letters they designate. Stepanos

Sunetsi (735) is known for his research on pronunciation and

etymology as well as his writings on the principles and rules of theexact articulation of separate sounds and syllables. He was also the

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first Armenian linguist known for his classification of the vowels and

diphthongs. Krikor Magistros Pahlavounis (990-1059) Definition of

Grammaris another monumental work on the subject of Armenian

grammar and syntax. Long before F. Bopp had established the

discipline of comparative languages in early 19th century, K.

Pahlavouni had written many comparative studies on Armenian and

Arabic languages.

In addition to pursuing the development of the classical

grammatical elements of the language, linguists in the Armenian

kingdom of Cilicia pioneered a new branch by developing the art of

writing. During this period, the first orthographic reform was

carried out. Aristages Kritch (12th century) introduced a

methodology and certain orthographic principles that served as the

basis for future linguists. Remarkably, two grammatical works by

Vartan Areveltsi (1269) are written in Middle Armenian, the

precursor of Modern Armenian. His Parts of Speech is the first

attempt to elaborate the principles of Armenian syntax.

Interestingly, Areveltsi predicted that in the future all mankind will

use one general language. Another grammarian of this era,

Hovhannes Yerzingatsi, the author ofA Collection of Definition of

Grammar, defies Platos contention that a power more than

human gave things their first namesand considers language as an

achievement of human intellect and not guided by divine

intervention.

Among the grammarians of 14th and 15th centuries, Essai Nshetsi,

Krikor Datevatsi, Hagop Khrimetsi and Arakel Sunetsi have made

more than a casual contribution to the fundamentals of Armenian

grammar.

It is perhaps worthy to note that Armenian grammarians,

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throughout the centuries, were in their own right also creative

writers, translators or experts on foreign languages.

The Words of Poetry, known in the 13th century, defining difficult

words in poetry and other grammatical works, as well as dialectal

words, can be considered one of the first dictionaries in the

Armenian language.

Considering this brief historical background, it is perhaps

appropriate to derive a conclusion: In all living languages, grammar

is certainly a palladium that foreign influence cannot touch or exert

any major impact. Armenian grammar is a good case in point. It

displays a relatively rich inflection for Armenian still has four cases

of nouns distinguished by endings and five of pronouns; in verbs,

without considering the infinitive and participles, it distinguishes by

means of inflection active and passive, indicative, subjunctive,

reflexive and imperative, present, imperfect, simple and compound

aorist. Consequently, a close scrutiny of the paradigm of Armenian

grammar only reveals the singular path of a language that evolved

throughout the ages by maintaining an evolutionary process of its

own. This aspect is an important element that only asserts the

maturity of a language.

FUNDAMENTALS OF MODERN ARMENIAN

GRAMMAR

The fundamentals of grammar, regardless of the language, are

based on function and usage, irrelevant to the levels of usage -

vulgar, colloquial or formal. Grammar also has logic, a definite form

and structure. Form and Structure are parts of speech where

words have certain functions in communicating thoughts. In Modern

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Armenian grammar, words are classified according to their function

in a sentence and are divided into eight groups, although there is

nothing necessary and eternal in this eight-fold division of words

(Aristotle counted only four):

Nouns Pronouns Verbs Adjectives Adverbs

Adpositions Conjunctions Interjections.

Although the fundamental elements of Eastern and Western

variants are almost identical, slight differences exist between the

two.

Fundamentals of Western Armenian:

NOUNS: Nouns in Armenian have no grammatical gender. They are

distinguished by two numbers (singular & plural). The declension of

the nouns uses suffixes and has six cases: Nominative, Accusative,

Genitive, Dative, Ablative and Instrumental. Being a highly

agglutinative language, the inflections of the nouns may include

multiple morphemes.

PRONOUNS: Similar to the nouns, pronouns have no gender and sixdistinct cases of declension.

VERBS: Verbs in the Armenian language are divided into three

groups. The conjugation of the verbs includes three moods: The

Indicative, Imperative and Obtative (subjunctive). Present, Present

Imperfect, Past Perfect, Past Imperfect, Past Pluperfect, Future andFuture Pluperfectare the tenses of the conjugation. In addition to

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Transitive and Neutral verbs, Armenian has Causative and

Reflective voices.

ADJECTIVES: Adjectives are used before the nouns they qualify.

ADVERBS: In general, Adverbs are used before the verbs they

qualify. It is also distinguished by the application of a cluster of

adverbs in a sentence.

ADPOSITIONS: In general, Armenian uses postpositions while

prepositions are very few and usually associated with the Dative

case of the declension.

As for the Noun( ) the following should be taken

into account (the following must be known or studied)

Nouns are names of objects, i.e. things, human beings, animals,

materials and abstract notions (e.g., table, house, man, girl, dog,

lion, snow, sugar, love, beauty).

Semantically all nouns can be divided into two main groups - proper

names (e.g., John, London) and common nouns. Proper names are

written with capital letter, e.g., - Ashot

Grigoryan, - Lake Sevan, - Ararat,

- Armenia, etc.

In Armenian, nouns answer the questions who () and what(). Those whose answers include a noun showing persons, e.g.,

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- who is reading? - student,

- pupil, - worker, answer the question who. All the other

nouns (animate, inanimate) answer the question what (), e.g.,

` - what's pretty? - - the sky,

- the square, - the field. -

what's running? - - the horse, - the wolf, - the

cat, - the dog, etc. In plural nouns answering the plural

questions (who all), (what all), e.g., -

who has come? - children, - lecturer,

- what's there? - books, - chairs,

- dogs, - cows.

Note: the interrogative pronouns who and what do not have plural

in the English language. The corresponding pronouns in Armenian

have singular and plural forms (, ).

The grammatical category of gender is missing in Armenian. To

differ female names, the suffix is often used, e.g.,

(pupil-male), (pupil-female), (worker-

male), (worker-female), (actor),

(actress), (student-male),

(student-female), etc.

The number ( )

Number is the form of the noun which shows whether one or more

than one object is meant. Nouns have two number forms - singular

() and plural (), e.g., - (tree - trees),

- (town - towns), - (street -

streets), etc.

: The leaf is green.

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: The leaves are green.

: The worker is working.

: The workers are working

The plural of nouns is formed by particles - or -. is added

to monosyllabic nouns, e.g.

- cloud - clouds - word - words -

village - villages - song - songs -

hour - hours - news - news - thought -

thoughts - heart - hearts - place - places

is added to polysyllabic nouns, e.g.

- knife - knives - spring -

spring - worker - workers -

table - tables - chair - chairs -

room - rooms - hostel - hostels -

apartment - apartments -

classroom - classrooms

Note: In case a polysyllabic word ends with , in plural it is written

with double , e.g., - (table - tables),

- (restaurant - restaurants), -

(country - countries), etc.

Some monosyllabic words in plural take - and not -. Some of

them are:

- door - doors - fish - fish -

mouse - mice - ox - oxen - lamb - lambs

- grandchild - grandchildren - mountain -

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mountains - finger - fingers - bride -

brides

In old Armenian language these words ended with - ,

, , , etc. In present (modern) Armenian appears

while forming the plural and in derivative words, e.g., ,

, etc. Note: the plural of (Russian) is formed by

suffix : - (Russian - Russians).

In some cases the plural is built by the suffix : is generally added

to nouns with suffix , e.g., - or

(peasant - peasants), - or

(Yerevan inhabitant - inhabitants), -

or (English - English), etc.

The plural form with is mostly particular to spoken language.

Words man and woman in plural have (men), (women) forms, and represent remainders of old

Armenian.

When the plural of monosyllabic words is formed, automatic

alternation takes place, e.g., - (water - water), -

(heart - hearts), etc. In many words alternation of vowels

doesn't appear, e.g., - (baby - babies),

- (combatant - combatants), etc. Exception is

the word , country, which in plural has the form .

Category of Definite and Indefinite

Definite Article

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Armenian nouns have the categories of definite and indefinite.The definite article is the letter (uh) added to the end of the nounif the last letter of the noun is a consonant. If the last letter of thenoun is a vowel, then the definite article is formed by adding the

letter (n) at the end of the noun. However, if the noun is followedby any of the words , , , , , , (verb to be, presenttense) , , , , , , (verb to be, past tense) or (el,meaning also) [see succeeding lessons for all the preceding], thenthe letter is used for the definite article, even if the noun ends ina consonant.

The definite category shows that the object is known to the

speaker. The indefinite article is the word , which precedes thenoun, for example: (mi gavat tey - a cup of tea).

Often, however, the indefinite article is not used, as a noun which is

not in the definite or posessive article is assumed to be indefinite.

The indefinite category ( ) shows that the object is

unknown to the speaker. The definite category is expressed by

means of articles () or , and the indefinite category bymeans of article or by absence of any article.

Examples:

Expression of definite

:

The rose grows in the garden

:

The old man came.

Expression of indefinite

:

A rose grows in the garden.

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:

An old man came.

Words that end with a consonant take the article "", e.g., -

(tree), - (book), - (paper), and

those that end with a vowel take the article "", e.g. -

(horse), - (gutter), - (child), -

(boy), - (gold), etc.

Sometimes instead of the article "", the article "" is used. This

happens when the first sound of the coming word is a vowel, e.g.,

- the student went away, but -

the student said, - the room is light, but

- the room is sunny, etc.

Only the Nominative, Dative and Accusative cases take a definite

article.

Cases of the Armenian Language

There are seven cases in the Armenian language:

- Nominative

- Genetive - Dative

- Accusative

- Ablative

- Instrumental

- Locative

Nominative Case *

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The nominative case, as the case of the object, shows the doer or

the subject, e.g.

:

The pupil went to school.

:

The spring came.

:

The lessons are over.

The nominative case may also be the nominal part of the compound

predicate ( ) and attribute (),

e.g.

:

Aram and Suren are friends.

:

Teacher Grigoryan read a report.

The nominative case answers the questions who? and

what?

Genitive case

The genitive case is used to determine belonging and is usually an

uncoordinated attribute () in the sentence, e.g.

:

The books of the pupil are new.

:The doors of the room opened.

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The uncoordinated attribute in the Armenian language usually

stands before the attributive (definable) word.

The genitive case has the following endings:

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Definite articles are not used with the genitive case. The genitive

case answers the question who's? and why?

Dative Case

The dative case shows a person or a subject, to which concerns or

towards which is directed the action. The dative case answers

questions (to who?) () (to what?). If the dative case is

used in indefinite form ( ) it coincides with thegenitive case. In order not to confuse the dative indefinite with the

genitive, it should be remembered that genitive shows belonging

and is connected with nouns, and dative shows the subject to which

the action is directed, and that's why it is mostly connected with

verbs. Compare: - the book of the student

is new: - I came up to a student.

In the sentence, the dative case can be the:

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Indirect object:

:

The student went to the blackboard.

:

The teacher gave the book to the student.

Adverbial modifier of place:

:

They were laying on the riverbank.

Adverbial modifier of time:

:

We will go to Moscow in spring.

Adverbial modifier of purpose:

:

Ashot went to the library for a book.

Accusative case

The accusative case shows the object on which directly falls theaction of the subject. The accusative case of direct modifier is used

with transitive verbs, e.g.

:

Aram loves his teacher.

:

Aram took the book.

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:

The tutor praises the student.

In Armenian the accusative case has the following peculiarity. If the

noun shows or means a person, the accusative coincides with the

dative case in form, e.g.

:

He respects his professor.

And if the noun shows an object or means one, the accusative case

coincides with the nominative case in form, e.g.

:

He respects his work.

A noun showing a person in Armenian can also be used in the

meaning of a thing, compare:

- :

He called the doctor. - He called a doctor.

: :

I saw that man in the street. I saw a man in the street.

In Armenian, nouns indicating animate (except persons) and

inanimate objects, are taken as things. The accusative case

answers the questions (whos) (what).

In a sentence the accusative case of a direct modifier can also be

an:

Adverbial modifier of place:

:

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Workers went to the field.

Adverbial modifier of time:

:It snowed last night.

Adverbial modifier of measure and quantity:

:

We covered 20 km in one hour.

Ablative case

The ablative case shows the subject from which starts, proceeds the

action, and answers the questions (from who) (from

what), e.g.

:

Anush got a present from her mother.

:

Aram left Moscow.

:

It was raining since morning.

The ablative is formed by endings of - or -, e.g., -

, - , - , etc.

In sentences the ablative is usually an indirect object

:

Suren received a letter from his friend.

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:

I picked a leaf from the tree.

It can also be:

Modifier of place:

:

The train left the station.

Modifier of time:

:

We study Armenian starting this year.

Modifier of reason:

:

He got red from the cold.

In literary language ablative doesn't take definite article.

Instrumental Case

The instrumental case shows the instrument of the action and

answers the questions by who? and by what? in the

sentence.

The instrumental case is an indirect object, e.g.

:

The student writes with a pencil. :

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He is engaged in reading.

The instrumental case forms by endings , in some cases

(), e.g., - , - , - ,

- , etc. Besides the indirect object in the

sentence, the instrumental case can also be:

Modifier of place:

:

The tramway is crossing the street.

Modifier of time:

:

We left the house at night.

Modifier of action:

:

They reached the square running.

In literary language the instrumental case doesn't take definite

article.

Note: Verbs to set, fix, to count, to

choose, to be, to govern and some others rule

the nominative case or the dative, but not the instrumental.

:

Mr. Grigoryan was chosen the president of the committee.

:

Suren was the student of the second course.

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Locative Case

The locative case shows the place where the action takes place,and answers on questions where, rarely in who. In

the sentence locative case is the modifier of place, e.g.

:

The student studies in the Armenian language cabinet.

:

My brother works in the factory.

The locative case forms by ending , e.g., -

, - , - , etc. In

literary language the locative case doesn't take definite article. In

the sentence locative case can be modifier of time, e.g.

:

I finished my work in a day.

Note: Not infrequently, genitive case + postposition express the

meaning of the locative case, e.g., in the book,

in the letter, in a friend, in a

relative, etc.

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