Spelling reform of the Armenian language 1922–1924

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In the Armenian SSR , a spelling reform of the Armenian language was carried out between 1922 and 1924 , but it is still rarely followed outside Armenia because it is largely rejected by the Armenians in the diaspora , around half of the Armenian speakers.

aims

In the Soviet Union in the 1920s, a large part of the population, especially the farmers, was illiterate. In order to accelerate literacy among large sections of the population, the spelling of several languages ​​has been simplified, including that of the Armenian language , which was spoken by the majority of Armenians in the Armenian SSR. Presumably, the reform was also based on a political motive, because only around half of the Armenians lived in the Soviet Union, the rest lived in the diaspora, mainly in the Middle East, Iran, France and North America. The spelling reform therefore resulted in an "orthographic separation". However, the dividing line does not run consistently along the distinction “Diaspora” / “Republic of Armenia”, but rather along the distinction “ Western Armenian / Eastern Armenian ”; however, in Iran, for example, where Eastern Armenian is also spoken, the spelling reform has not been adopted. Lately (i.e. after the independence of the Republic of Armenia in 1991) efforts have been made to reintroduce the old orthography in the Republic, but these have failed because of the immense costs of such a measure.

The changes

old New
Յ ակոբ J akob Հ ակոբ H acob
բաց ու ել baz u jel բաց վ ել baz w el
ք ոյ ր k oj r ք ույ ր k uj r
Արոն եա ն Aron ea n Արոն յա ն Aron yes n
եօ թ eo t յո թ jo t
ազատութ իւ ն asatut iu n ազատութ յու ն asatut ju n
տ է ր t e r տ ե ր t e r
Արմ է ն Arm e n Արմ ե ն Arm e n
Արմին է Armin e Արմին ե Armin e
խ օ սել ch o sel խ ո սել ch o sel
Սար օ Sar o Սար ո Sar o
թի ւ ti u թի վ ti w
Եր եւ ան Jer ew an Եր և ան Jer ew an
Ե ւ րոպա Je w ropa Ե վ րոպա Je w ropa
կ ը գան K e gan կգան Kgan
կ ' երգեմ K ' ergem կերգեմ Kergem

In those cases where the pronunciation has changed over time, since the reform people write as they speak. This applies to the letter pairs յ / հ (j / h), ու / վ (u / w), the diphthongs ոյ / ույ (oj / uj), եա / յա (ea / ja), եօ / յո (eo / jo) and իւ / յու (iu / ju).

Below are the more complicated changes.

  1. If you ever speak initially , write “ե”, if e, then “է”. "Է" only appears in the original in compound words, in principle not in the final.
  2. The "ու" moves as an independent, full-fledged letter to the 34th position in the alphabet.
  3. The "օ" is only written at the beginning of the word and in compound words, otherwise "ո".
  4. The "ւ" has been abolished as an independent letter and only appears as a component of "ու" and "և". Instead, “վ” is always written.
  5. The "և" moves as an independent, full-fledged letter to the 37th position in the alphabet. It must be written even if a word was originally written with a “եվ”.
  6. Only when words end with “ա” or “ո” is a “յ” inserted in the declination, there is no silent “յ”.
  7. When writing the conditional , the "կ" is added directly (without an apostrophe before vowels or "ը" before consonants).

See also

literature