Armenian dialects

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

The title page of the 1909 French edition.

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.

Map

Map of Armenian dialects in the early 20th century:
  -owm dialects, roughly corresponding to Eastern Armenian.
  -el dialects.
  -gë dialects, roughly corresponding to Western Armenian.

List

-owm dialects

Dialect
Areas spoken (country and city names as of 1909)
1 Yerevan  Russian Empire: Erivan, Novo-Bayazet, Ordubad, Shamshadin, Shulaver, Havlabar quarter (Tbilisi)
 Ottoman Empire: Bayazid, Kulp
2 Tbilisi  Russian Empire: Tbilisi (except Havlabar quarter)
3 Artsakh  Russian Empire: Shusha, Elisabethpol, Nukha, Baku, Derbent, Ağstafa, Dilijan, Karakilis, Kazak, Lori, Jebrayil, Goris
Qajar Persia: Karadagh, Mujumbar; Lilava quarter of Tabriz
 Ottoman Empire: Burdur, Ödemiş villages near Izmir
4 Shamakha  Russian Empire: Shamakhi, Kuba and nearby villages
5 Astrakhan  Russian Empire: Astrakhan, North Caucasus
Qajar Persia: Tabriz
6 Julfa  Russian Empire: Julfa
Qajar Persia: Isfahan (New Julfa quarter), Shiraz, Hamadan, Bushehr, Tehran, Qazvin, Rasht, Bandar-e Anzali
7 Agulis  Russian Empire: Agulis, Tsghna, Handamej, Tanakert, Ramis, Dasht, Kaghaki

-el dialects

-el dialects
Dialect
Areas spoken (country and city names as of 1909)
1 Maragha Qajar Persia: Maragha and surrounding villages
2 Khoy Qajar Persia: Khoy, Salmas, Maku, Urmia
 Russian Empire: Igdir, Nakhichevan;
Zangezur settlements: Kori, Alighuli, Mughanjugh, Karashen, Alilu, Angeghakot, Ghushchi-Tazakend, Tazakend, Uz, Mazra, Balak, Shaghat, Ltsen, Sisian, Nerkin Kilisa
3 Artvin  Russian Empire: Artvin, Ardahan, Artanuj, Olti

-gë dialects

Dialect
Areas spoken (country and city names as of 1909)
1 Erzurum  Ottoman Empire: Erzurum, Ispir, Kaghzvan
 Russian Empire: Kars, Alexandropol, Akhalkalak, Akhaltskha
2 Mush  Ottoman Empire: Mush, Sasun, Bitlis, Khizan, Khlat, Arjesh, Bulanikh, Manazkert, Khnus, Alashkert
 Russian Empire: Aparan; Mets Kznut and surrounding villages;
4 villages in Javakhk: Eshtia, Ujmana, Toria, Martuni
3 Van  Ottoman Empire: Van, Diadin, Moks, Bashkale, Shatakh
 Russian Empire: Basargechar and surrounding villages
4 Diarbekir  Ottoman Empire: Diarbekir, Lice, Hazro, Hazzo, Khizan, Severek, Urfa (Edesia)
5 Kharberd-Yerznka  Ottoman Empire: Kharpert, Yerznka, Balu, Tchapaghjur, Chmshkatsag, Charsanjak, Kghi, Dersim, Kamakh
6 Shabin-Karahisar  Ottoman Empire: Shabin-Karahisar, Akıncılar
7 Trebizond  Ottoman Empire: Trebizond, Bayburt, Gyumushkhane, Kirasun
8 Hamshen  Ottoman Empire: Hamshen, Ünye, Fatsa, Terme, Çarşamba
 Russian Empire: Sukhumi, Sochi, Poti,
9 Malatia  Ottoman Empire: Malatia, Adıyaman
10 Cilicia  Ottoman Empire: Hadjin, Zeytun, Marash, Kilis, Alexandretta, Payas, Svedia
11 Syria  Ottoman Empire: Aramo
12 Arabkir  Ottoman Empire: Arabkir, Divrig, Gürün, Darende, villages of Kesaria
13 Akn  Ottoman Empire: Akn and surrounding villages
14 Sivas  Ottoman Empire: Sivas and 45 surrounding villages
15 Tokat  Ottoman Empire: Tokat, Amasia, Marsivan, Ordu, Samsun, Sinop
16 Smyrna  Ottoman Empire: Smyrna, Manisa, Menemen and surrounding villages
17 Izmit  Ottoman Empire: Nicomedia, Adapazar and the following villages: Yalova, Partizak, Geyve, Ortaköy, Sölöz, Benli, İznik, etc.,
18 Constantinople  Ottoman Empire: Constantinople
19 Rodosto  Ottoman Empire: Rodosto, Malgara
20 Nakhichevan-on-Don  Russian Empire: Nakhichevan-on-Don, Rostov-on-Don, Stavropol, Yekaterinodar, Yekaterinoslav, Anapa, Maykop, Taganrog, Dneprovskaya, Nogaysk, Novocherkassk, Theodosia, Simferopol, Karasubazar, Bakhchysarai, Eupatoria
21 Austria-Hungary Russian Empire Poland
Austria-Hungary Bukovina, Transylvania, Hungary

Sources

  • Adjarian, Hrachia (1909). Classification des dialectes arméniens [Classification of Armenian dialects] (PDF) (in French). Paris: Librairie Honore Champion. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
  • Dolatian, Hossep (2024). Adjarian’s Armenian dialectology (1911): Translation and commentary (PDF). Berlin: Language Science Press.
  1. ^ Adjarian, Hrachia (1909). Classification des dialectes arméniens. Paris: Librairie Honore Champion.
  2. ^ Dolatian, Hossep (2024). Adjarian’s Armenian dialectology (1911): Translation and commentary. Berlin: Language Science Press.