Armenian language

Armenian is a redirect to this article. Further meanings are listed under Armenian (disambiguation) .

Armenian Hajeren lesu
Spoken in	Armenia , Russia , France , United States and 27 other countries
speaker	about 9 million
Linguistic classification	Indo-European languages Armenian
Official status
Official language in	Armenia Artsakh (not internationally recognized)
Recognized minority / regional language in	Turkey Georgia Cyprus California Iran Romania Ukraine Poland Hungary
Language codes
ISO 639 -1	hy
ISO 639 -2	( B ) poor	( T ) hye
ISO 639-3	hye

Today's areas with the majority language Armenian.

The Armenian language (Armenian: Հայերեն Hajeren ) is a branch of the Indo-European languages.

There are four different language forms of Armenian:

1. Altarmenisch ([XCL] Գրաբար - even Grabar ) set up since the 5th century is in written documents. It was used as a literary language well into the 19th century and is still in use today in the church sector (e.g. in church services). A rich literature on theological subjects, historical events, poetry and epic has been preserved in this language.
2. Middle Armenian / Cilician Armenian [axm] ( Միջին հայերէն Mijin hayeren ) is the transitional language form to today's modern Armenian, which lasted from the 12th to the 18th century and developed parallel to the frozen liturgical language of Old Armenian as an everyday language.
3. Eastern Armenian [hye] ( Արևելահայերեն Arevelahayeren ), the official language of the Republic of Armenia and the internationally unrecognized Republic of Artsakh , which is alsospokenby the Armenian community in Iran , Georgia , Russia and the former USSR in general.
4. Western Armenian [hyw] ( Արեւմտահայերէն Arevmtahayeren ), originally from Anatolia , isstill spoken by many Armenians in the diaspora , especially in Lebanon and the United States , after the genocide of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

Armenian has similarities in vocabulary with Greek (many parallels in etymological roots), which is why a closer relationship within the Indo-European languages ​​is assumed (see also Balkan Indo-European ). Armenian also contains a large number of loan words from Iranian languages ( Parthian , Middle Persian , Persian ).

Number of speakers

The total number of speakers is around 9 million, of which just over 3 million live in Armenia (2014), 1,182,388 - 2,900,000 in Russia (2010), 1,000,366 - 1,500,000 in the USA, 320,000 in Syria ( 1993), 248,929 in Georgia (2002), 150,000 in Lebanon (2014), 170,800 in Iran (1993), just under 140,000 in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (2002), just under 100,000 in Ukraine, 60,000 - 90,000 in Germany (2015), 70,000 in France, 60,000 in Turkey (2014), 60,000 in Iraq, 35,790 in Canada (2016), 8,000 in Jordan (1971), 3,000 in Israel (1971), 2,740 in Cyprus (1987) and other speakers in the diaspora, see above for example in Romania, Hungary and the Ukraine.

font

Armenian is written with its own Armenian alphabet , which was developed in the 5th century by the monk Mesrop Mashtots . It consists of 39 (originally 36) letters .

Phonology

Fricatives (Eastern, Western Armenian)

	Labiodental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
voiced	v	z	ʒ	ʝ
unvoiced	f	s	ʃ		x	H

In Armenian there are seven or six vowels: a, i, Schwa , o, u and two e, between which there is no pronunciation difference in New Armenian apart from a prefix at the beginning of the word. It is not clear to what extent they differed in Old Armenian, presumably there was either an open and a closed or a long and a short e. Plosives and affricates are voiced , unvoiced, or unvoiced aspirated . There is no glottal beat in Armenian . German native speakers can find it difficult not to speak intuitively during pronunciation.

There are 26 consonants and six affricates in Old Armenian, all of which are in the Armenian alphabet except for the voiced velar nasal (ŋ) . The f only occurs in foreign words, but the Armenians do not have any problems with pronunciation. Some dialects of Armenian have ejectives , which is atypical for Indo-European languages ​​and probably due to the influence of the surrounding languages. In most words, the emphasis is on the last syllable . The phonology of Armenian was influenced by the neighboring Caucasian languages and by Turkish .

Western Armenian sound shift

Plosives (Old, Eastern Armenian)

	labial	Lamino-Dental	Velar
voiced	b	d	G
unvoiced	p	t	k
voicelessly aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	kʰ

Affricates (Old, Eastern Armenian)

	Alveolar	Palatal
voiced	d͡z	d͡ʒ
unvoiced	t͡s	t͡ʃ
voicelessly aspirated	t͡sʰ	t͡ʃʰ

Due to the West Armenian sound shift, voiceless, non-aspirated consonants have disappeared from West Armenian. Typical are the voicelessly aspirated pronunciation of previously voiced non-aspirated sounds and the voiced non-aspirated pronunciation of previously non-aspirated voiceless sounds. This applies to the following letters:

The Lord's Prayer in Armenian in the Paternoster Church of Jerusalem

• Plosives
  • 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] )

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

See also : International Phonetic Alphabet

grammar

Armenian has a rich case system (seven cases, namely: nominative , accusative , locative , genitive , dative , ablative , instrumental ), but no gender distinction. Most of the old synthetic verb forms have been replaced by analytical constructions (with auxiliary verbs ). Armenian is an SPO language, which means that the word order is usually subject - predicate - object , but it is flexible, e.g. B. to emphasize a part of the sentence. The subjunctive is only available for the verb forms in the present and past tense. Its function, however, is different than in German, in principle it is not used for indirect speech. Alternative categories are therefore also optative (desired form) and desiderative . The indefinite article is մի mi in Eastern Armenian and is placed in front of the noun; in West Armenian follows behind the noun a մը mə or mən . The definite article is an appended -ängt -ə or (with preceding or following vowel) -n in both standards .

Lexicons

Examples

German	Eastern Armenian	Western Armenian
Yes.	այո Ayo	այո Ayo
No.	ոչ Voč '	ոչ Voč '
I see you.	քեզ եմ տեսնում K'ez em tesnum	կը տեսնեմ քեզ (ի) Gdesnem kez (i)
Hello!	բարև Barev	բարեւ Parev
I go.	գնում եմ Gnum em	կ՚երթամ (կոր) Gertam (gor)
Come over!	արի՛ Ari!	եկո՛ւր Yegur!
I'll eat.	ուտելու եմ Utelu em	պիտի ուտեմ Bidi udem
I have to do.	պիտի անեմ Piti anem	ընելու եմ Enelu em
I would have eaten.	ուտելու էի Utelu ei	պիտի ուտէի Bidi udei
Does this belong to you?	սա քո՞նն է Sa k'onn e?	ասիկա քո՞ւկդ է Asiga k'ugt e?
his grandmother	նրա տատիկը Nra tatikə	անոր նէնէն / մեծմաման Anornenes / mecmaman
Look at that!	դրան նայիր Dran nayir	ատոր նայէ Ador naye
Did you bring this	դո՞ւ ես բերել սրանց You berel sranc '?	դո՞ւն բերիր ասոնք Do perir asonk?
How are you? I am fine.	Ո՞նց ես։ Ոչինչ։ Vonc 'it? Voč'inč '	Ինչպէ՞ս ես։ Լաւ։ Inč'bes it? Lav
Did you say it Say it!	Ասացի՞ր։ Ասա՛։ Asac'ir? Asa!	Ըսի՞ր։ Ըսէ՛։ əsir? əse!
Did you take it from us	մեզանի՞ց ես առել Mezanic 'it arel?	մեզմէ՞ առած ես Mezme arac it?
Good Morning!	բարի լույս Bari louys	բարի լոյս Pari louys
Good evening!	բարի երեկո Bari yereko	բարի իրիկուն Pari irigoun
Good night!	բարի գիշեր Bari gišer	գիշեր բարի Kišer par
You love Me.	սիրում ես ինձ Siroum es inc '	զիս կը սիրես Zis gë sires
I am Armenian.	ես հայ եմ Yes hay em	ես հայ եմ Yes hay em
I missed you.	կարոտել եմ քեզ Karotel em k'ez	քեզ կարօտցեր եմ K'ez garodtser em

literature

• Margret Eggenstein-Harutunian : Textbook of the Armenian language. 3rd edition, Helmut Buske, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 3-87548-495-9 .
• Margret Eggenstein-Harutunian: Introduction to the Armenian script. 2nd edition, Helmut Buske, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 3-87548-639-0 .
• Margret Eggenstein-Harutunian: Dictionary Armenian-German. Helmut Buske, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 3-87548-497-5 .

Web links

Wikibooks: Armenian / Introduction  - Learning and Teaching Materials

Wiktionary: Armenian  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Wikiquote: Armenian Proverbs  - Quotes

• Armenian transliteration supports East Armenian and West Armenian language forms.
• Entry on the Armenian language in the Encyclopedia of the European East (PDF; 249 KiB)
• Armenian script at Omniglot .
• Brief description of the Armenian language
• Armenian-English, English-Armenian Dictionary
• TB Krause, J. Slocum: Classical Armenian Online (Linguistics Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin)
• Matthias Bedrosian: New Dictionary Armenian-English. S. Lazarus Armenian Academy, Venice 1875–79. (classical Armenian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://honorarkonsulat-armenien.de/sprache.htm
2. ^ Armenian language in Encyclopædia Britannica
3. ↑ Armenian. Ethnologue
4. ↑ Armenian-American clout buys genocide breakthrough . In: Reuters . October 12, 2016 (English, reuters.com [accessed March 5, 2017]).
5. ^ Matthew J. Gibney: Immigration and asylum. From 1900 to the present . tape 1 : Entries A to I . ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara 2005, ISBN 978-1-57607-796-2 (English).
6. ↑ 95% of 145,000, estimate, NKR Office in the USA
7. ↑ Ethnologue country index http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=UA ( Memento from May 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
8. ↑ http://www.ethnologue.com:80/show_country.asp?name=France ( Memento from July 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
9. ↑ http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dv-vd/lang/index-eng.cfm
10. ↑ This means that a j is pronounced before the vowel .