Armenian alphabet

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Armenian
Direction	Left-to-right
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Armn (230), ​Armenian
Unicode
Unicode alias	Armenian

The Armenian alphabet is an alphabet used for writing the Armenian language. It is one of six European alphabetic scripts identified in the Unicode standard (see Unicode Code Charts and Unicode Standard, Chapter 7).

History and evolution

File:Armenia.png

This word (Hayastan) means Armenia

The Armenian alphabet was created by Saint Mesrop Mashtots in AD 405. Various scripts have been credited with being the prototype for the Armenian alphabet, including Pahlavi, Syriac, and Phoenician. However, the order of the letters suggests that it was likely based on the Greek alphabet.

Armenian has two different dialects: Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian. Both use the same alphabet but due to the Western Armenian sound shift some letters are pronunced in a different way. This matters for the following letters (further information in the chart below):

• Stop consonants
  • բ ([b] to [pʰ]) and պ ([p] to [b])
  • դ ([d] to [tʰ]) and տ ([t] to [d])
  • գ ([g] to [kʰ]) and կ ([k] to [g])

• Affricate consonants
  • ջ ([d͡ʒ] to [t͡ʃʰ]) and ճ ([t͡ʃ] to [d͡ʒ])
  • ձ ([d͡z] to [t͡sʰ]), ծ ([t͡s] to [d͡z]), and ց ([t͡sʰ] to [d͡z])

Saint Mesrop Mashtots and a scholar, at the stone one can see the original letters (i.e. only uppercase) in their original shapes

The number and order of the letters have changed over time. In the Middle Ages two new letters (օ [o], ֆ[f]) were introduced in order to express the sound of foreign words correctly. Further more, the diphtong աւ at the beginning of a word (if followed by a consonant) used to be pronounced [au] (like in down) in Classical Armenian, f.e. աւր (awr, [auɹ], day). Due to a sound shift it became pronounced [oɹ] and is since the 13^th century written as օր (ōr). That is why there are not only foreign words whose initial letter is օ (ō) although this letter was taken from the Greek alphabet to express the pronounciation of foreign words beginning with o [o].

In Soviet Armenia the spelling reform of the Armenian language took place. It did not change the pronounciation. Therefore one can still obey the old rules (f.e. like many Armenians in Iran). The speakers of Western Armenian (f.e. in Lebanon) rejected and do not obey the new rules. They criticise some inaccuracies (see the footnotes of the chart) and assume political motives behind the reform.

As Petross Ter Matossian from Columbia University informs, for about 250 years, from the early 18th century until around 1950, more than 2000 books were printed in the Turkish language using letters of the Armenian alphabet. Not only Armenians read Armeno-Turkish, but also the non-Armenian (including the Ottoman Turkish) elite. The Armenian alphabet was also used alongside the Arabic alphabet on official documents of the Ottoman Empire, but was written in the Ottoman language. For instance, the first novel to be written in the Ottoman Empire was 1851's Akabi, written in the Armenian script by Hovsep Vartan. Also, when the Armenian Duzoglu family managed the Ottoman mint during the reign of Abdulmejid, they kept records in the Armenian script, but in the Turkish language.

The letters

The Armenian alphabet is identified in the Unicode standard (see Unicode Code Charts and Unicode Standard, Chapter 7).

N° 1	Majuscule	Minuscule	Transliteration (REArm)	Eastern Armenian		Western Armenian 2
				Transcription	Pronounciation (IPA)	Transcription	Pronounciation (IPA)
The original letters (plus minuscules)
1	Ա	ա	a	a	([a])
2	Բ	բ	b	b	([b])	p	aspirated p ([pʰ])
3	Գ	գ	g	g	([g])	k	aspirated k ([kʰ])
4	Դ	դ	d	d	([d])	t	aspirated t ([tʰ])
5	Ե	ե	e	(y)e 3	([jɛ], [ɛ])
6	Զ	զ	z	z	([z])
7	Է	է	ē	e	([ɛ])
8	Ը	ը	ě	e	like in about ([ə])
9	Թ	թ	t‘	t	aspirated t ([tʰ])
10	Ժ	ժ	ž	zh	like in pleasure ([ʒ])
11	Ի	ի	i	i, ee	like in deep ([i])
12	Լ	լ	l	l	like in lap ([l])
13	Խ	խ	x	kh	like in Loch Ness ([x])
14	Ծ	ծ	c	ts	not aspirated ([t͡s])	dz	([d͡z])
15	Կ	կ	k	k	not aspirated ([k])	g	([g])
16	Հ	հ	h	h	([h])
17	Ձ	ձ	j	dz	([d͡z])	ts	aspirated ([t͡sʰ])
18	Ղ	ղ	ł	gh	like a French r ([ʀ])
19	Ճ	ճ	č	ch	not aspirated ([t͡ʃ])	j, dj	like in jeans ([d͡ʒ])
20	Մ	մ	m	m	([m])
21	Յ	յ	y	y 4	like in you ([j] sic!)
22	Ն	ն	n	n	like in thin, think ([n], [ŋ])
23	Շ	շ	š	sh	([ʃ])
24	Ո	ո	o	(v)o 6	([vo], [o])
25	Չ	չ	č‘	ch	aspirated ([t͡ʃʰ])
26	Պ	պ	p	p	not aspirated [p]	b	(b)
27	Ջ	ջ	j	j	like in jeans ([d͡ʒ)	ch	aspirated ([t͡ʃʰ])
28	Ռ	ռ	ṙ	r	Rolled R ([r])
29	Ս	ս	s	s	like in see ([s])
30	Վ	վ	v	v	like in vet ([v])
31	Տ	տ	t	t	not aspirated ([t])	d	[d]
32	Ր	ր	r	r	([ɹ])
33	Ց	ց	c‘	ts	aspirated ([t͡sʰ])	dz	([d͡z])
34	Ւ	ւ	w	v, u 5	([v], [u])
35	Փ	փ	p‘	p	aspirated p ([pʰ])
36	Ք	ք	k‘	k	aspirated k ([kʰ])
Letters Added in the 13th century
37 (38)	Օ	օ 6	ō	o	like in ball ([o])
38 (39)	Ֆ	ֆ	f	f	like in fee ([f])
Letters Added due to the Spelling reform of the Armenian language 1922-1924 in Soviet Armenia
34	Ու	ու	ow	u, ou	([u])
37	9	և	e͡w	(y)ew 3	([jɛv], [ɛv])

¹Not the numerical value (see below) but the place in the alphabet.

²only adduced, if different.

³As initial sound ye [jɛ], in other respects e [ɛ]. The reason is that the y [j] falls out in compounds f.e. եղբայր (ełbayr, [jɛʀ'bajɹ] (brother)), but մորեղբայր (morełbayr, [moɹɛʀ'bajɹ] (brother of the mother).

⁴In some cases the traditional transcription is i (f.e. in Tigran Petrosian, whereas Tigran Petrosyan was more accurate); in other cases h, f.e. Hakob (in traditional and Western Armenian Յակոբ, transliteration: Yakob), the Armenian version of the name Jacob.

⁵Usually it is pronounced as v but there are some exceptions. 1. In Classical Armenian աւ at the beginning of a word (if followed by a consonant) is pronounced [au] (like in down), f.e. աւր (awr, [auɹ], day). (Due to a sound shift in the Middle Ages it is pronounced as [oɹ] and since the 13^th century written as օր (ōr); 2. the original diphtong ու (pronounced as [ov] or [ou]) became [u] (similar to ου (nowadays: [u]) in Greek); 3. The diphtong իւ (iw) is pronounced [ju] (the spelling reform in Soviet Armenia replaced ի (i) with յ (y) and ւ (w) with ու (ow), forming the diphtong յու).

⁶As initial sound vo [vo], in other respects o [o]. The reason is that the v [v] falls out in compounds f.e. որդի (ordi, [voɹ'tʰi] (son), but քեռորդի (k‘eṙordi, [kʰeroɹ'tʰi] (son of the ucle on the mother‘s side).

⁸Mainly (in case of reformed spelling: only) as initial letter and in compounds, f.e. այսօր (aysōrr, [aj'soɹ], today, literally this day), made up of այս (ays, [ajs], this) and օր (ōr, [oɹ], day).

⁹One cannot capitalise the ligature և (consitsting of ե and ւ). If necessary, it is replaced with Եվ (Ev) in the reformed spelling of Eastern Armenian. This may confuse people who learn contempory Eastern Armenian: In old Eastern Armenian dictionaries -- and in Western Armenian dictionaries in general -- one can find the words Եւրոպա (Ewropa, Europe) and ևրոպային (e͡wropayin (or եւրոպային, ewropayin), European) one after the other, whereas in contempory Eastern Armenian dictionaries one finds Եվրոպա (Evropa, Europe) and ևրոպային (e͡wropayin, European) in a completely different place. Further more, sometimes the ligature և does not reflect the origin of compounds: F.e. the city names Yerevan (traditional and Western Armenian diction: Երեվան, Erevan) and Stepanavan (Ստեպանավան, Stepanavan) both contain վան (van) but in the reformed diction Երևան (Ere͡wan) this is not visible any more.

Names of the letters

There are traditional names for the letters. But in Soviet Armenia they were not taught at school and therefore are not known by many Armenians. Adduced are at first the traditional Eastern Armenian/Western Armenian dictions. The reformed spelling is due to the above mentioned reason more or less theoretical.

• այբ, բէն, գիմ, դա, եչ, զա, է, ըթ, թո, ժէ, ինի, լիւն, խէ, ծա, կէն, հո, ձա, ղատ, ճէ, մէն, յի ¹, նու, շա, ո, չա, պէ, ջէ, ռա, սէ, վէվ, տիւն, րէ, ցո, վիւն ², փիւր, քէ; օ, ֆէ

¹ Pronounced as [hi].

²The alternative spelling is ւիւն (wiwn, [vjun]) but this may confuse people who learn Armenian because the letter ւ is generally not used as an initial one (one can say that the diction ւիւն breaks actually orthography rules).

• այբ, բեն, գիմ, դա, եչ, զա, է, ըթ, թո, ժե, ինի, լյուն, խե, ծա, կեն, հո, ձա, ղատ, ճե, մեն, հի, նու, շա, ո, չա, պե, ջե, ռա, սե, վեվ, տյուն, րե, ցո, ու (sic!), փյուր, քե; օ, ֆե; և

Armenian numerals

See main article Armenian numerals.

Until the Middle Ages the uppercases were used as numerals. The priciple was basically the same as that of the Greek numerals. Nowadays the Armenian numerals are more or less used like Roman numerals in the English language, f.e. Գարեգին Բ (Garegin B) means Garegin II, Գ գլուխ means third chapter).

Punctuation marks

Modifiers and punctuation:

Name	Character
Small Ligature Ech` Wiwn (functions as an ampersand)	Template:Hayeren
Modifier letters
Modifier Letter Left Half Ring	Template:Hayeren
Apostrophe = Armenian Modifier Letter Right Half Ring	Template:Hayeren
Modifier Emphasis Mark = Shesht	Template:Hayeren
Punctuation
Exclamation Mark = Bac`aganch`akan Nshan	Template:Hayeren
Comma = Bowt`	Template:Hayeren
Question Mark = Harc`akan Nshan	Template:Hayeren
Abbreviation Mark = Patiw	Template:Hayeren
Full Stop = Verjhaket	Template:Hayeren
Hyphen = Ent`amnay	Template:Hayeren

See also

• Armenian language
• Armenian calendar
• ISO 9985

External links

• theiling.de: Learn the Armenian alphabet online
• Armenian Apostolic (Orthodox) Church Library Online (in English, Armenian, and Russian)
• stnersess.edu: Bedross Der Matossian on the use of Armeno-Turkish

Unicode Support for Armenian

• Unicode Character Code Chart for Armenian