Armenian dialects explained
The Armenian language has two standardized forms: Western Armenian and Eastern Armenian. Before the Armenian genocide and other significant demographic changes that affected the Armenians, several dozen Armenian dialects existed in the areas historically populated by them.
Classification by Hrachia Acharian
Classification des dialectes arméniens (Classification of Armenian dialects) is a 1909 book by the Armenian linguist Hrachia Acharian, published in Paris.[1] It is Acharian's translation into French of his original work Hay Barbaṙagitutʿiwn ("Armenian Dialectology") that was later published as a book in 1911 in Moscow and New Nakhichevan. The French translation lacks dialectal examples. An English translation was published in 2024.[2]
Acharian surveyed the Armenian dialects in what is now Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Iran, Azerbaijan and other countries settled by Armenians.
Unlike the traditional division of Armenian into two dialect groups (Western Armenian and Eastern Armenian), he divided Armenian into three main dialect groups based on the present and imperfect indicative particles that were used. He called as the -owm (-ում) dialects, -gë (-կը) dialects, and -el (-ել) dialects.
After the Armenian genocide, linguists Gevorg Jahukyan, Jos Weitenberg, Bert Vaux and Hrach Martirosyan have extended the understanding of Armenian dialects.
-owm dialects
| | |
| 1 | Yerevan | Erivan, Novo-Bayazet, Ordubad, Shamshadin, Shulaver, Havlabar quarter (Tbilisi)
: Bayazid, Kulp
|
| 2 | Tbilisi | Tbilisi (except Havlabar quarter)
|
| 3 | Artsakh | Shusha, Elisabethpol, Nukha, Baku, Derbent, Ağstafa, Dilijan, Karakilis, Kazak, Lori, Jebrayil, Goris
Qajar Persia: Karadagh, Mujumbar; Lilava quarter of Tabriz
: Burdur, Ödemiş villages near Izmir
|
| 4 | Shamakha | Shamakhi, Kuba and nearby villages
|
| 5 | Astrakhan | Astrakhan, North Caucasus
Qajar Persia: Tabriz
|
| 6 | Julfa | Julfa
Qajar Persia: Isfahan (New Julfa quarter), Shiraz, Hamadan, Bushehr, Tehran, Qazvin, Rasht, Bandar-e Anzali
|
| 7 | Agulis | | |
-el dialects
|
| | |
| 1 | Maragha | Qajar Persia: Maragha and surrounding villages |
| 2 | Khoy | Qajar Persia: Khoy, Salmas, Maku, Urmia
: Igdir, Nakhichevan;
Zangezur settlements: Kori, Alighuli, Mughanjugh, Karashen, Alilu, Angeghakot, Ghushchi-Tazakend, Tazakend, Uz, Mazra, Balak, Shaghat, Ltsen, Sisian, Nerkin Kilisa |
| 3 | Artvin | Artvin, Ardahan, Artanuj, Olti
|
|
-gë dialects
| | |
| 1 | Erzurum | Erzurum, Ispir, Kaghzvan
: Kars, Alexandropol, Akhalkalak, Akhaltskha
|
| 2 | Mush | Mush, Sasun, Bitlis, Khizan, Khlat, Arjesh, Bulanikh, Manazkert, Khnus, Alashkert
: Aparan; Mets Kznut and surrounding villages;
4 villages in Javakhk: Eshtia, Ujmana, Toria, Martuni
|
| 3 | Van | Van, Diadin, Moks, Bashkale, Shatakh
: Basargechar and surrounding villages
|
| 4 | Diarbekir | Diarbekir, Lice, Hazro, Hazzo, Khizan, Severek, Urfa (Edesia)
|
| 5 | Kharberd-Yerznka | Kharpert, Yerznka, Balu, Tchapaghjur, Chmshkatsag, Charsanjak, Kghi, Dersim, Kamakh
|
| 6 | Shabin-Karahisar | Shabin-Karahisar, Akıncılar
|
| 7 | Trebizond | Trebizond, Bayburt, Gyumushkhane, Kirasun
|
| 8 | Hamshen | Hamshen, Ünye, Fatsa, Terme, Çarşamba
: Sukhumi, Sochi, Poti,
|
| 9 | Malatia | Malatia, Adıyaman
|
| 10 | Cilicia | Hadjin, Zeytun, Marash, Kilis, Alexandretta, Payas, Svedia
|
| 11 | Syria | Aramo
|
| 12 | Arabkir | Arabkir, Divrig, Gürün, Darende, villages of Kesaria
|
| 13 | Akn | Akn and surrounding villages
|
| 14 | Sivas | Sivas and 45 surrounding villages
|
| 15 | Tokat | Tokat, Amasia, Marsivan, Ordu, Samsun, Sinop
|
| 16 | Smyrna | Smyrna, Manisa, Menemen and surrounding villages
|
| 17 | Izmit | Nicomedia, Adapazar and the following villages: Yalova, Partizak, Geyve, Ortaköy, Sölöz, Benli, İznik, etc.,
|
| 18 | Constantinople | |
| 19 | Rodosto | Rodosto, Malgara
|
| 20 | Nakhichevan-on-Don | Nakhichevan-on-Don, Rostov-on-Don, Stavropol, Yekaterinodar, Yekaterinoslav, Anapa, Maykop, Taganrog, Dneprovskaya, Nogaysk, Novocherkassk, Theodosia, Simferopol, Karasubazar, Bakhchysarai, Eupatoria
|
| 21 | Austria-Hungary | Poland
Bukovina, Transylvania, Hungary |
|
Sources
- Book: Adjarian
, Hrachia
. Hrachia Acharian
. Hrachia Acharian. Classification des dialectes arméniens. Classification of Armenian dialects. PDF. July 8, 2012. 1909. Librairie Honore Champion. Paris. French.
Notes and References
- Book: Adjarian . Hrachia . Classification des dialectes arméniens . 1909 . Librairie Honore Champion . Paris.
- Book: Dolatian . Hossep . Adjarian’s Armenian dialectology (1911): Translation and commentary . 2024 . Language Science Press . Berlin .
