Classical Armenian Orthography

Classical Armenian orthography, traditional orthography or Mashtotsian orthography ( in classical orthography and in reformed orthography, ''Hayereni tasagan ughakrutyun''), is the orthography that was developed by Mesrop Mashtots in the 5th century for writing Armenian and reformed during the early 19th century. Today, it is used primarily by the Armenian diaspora, including all Western Armenian speakers and Eastern Armenian speakers in Iran, which has rejected the Armenian orthography reform of Soviet Armenia during the 1920s. In the Armenian diaspora, some linguists and politicians allege political motives behind the reform of the Armenian alphabet.

Classical Armenian orthography uses 38 letters: the original 36 letters of the Armenian alphabet invented by Mesrop Mashtots during the 5th century, and the 2 additional letters included later in the Armenian alphabet during the Middle Ages.

It uses also 2 letters that were added to the Armenian alphabet in the 13th century:

Vowels

Monophthongs

Armenian has eight monophthongs () and ten symbols to represent them (). The pronunciation in the examples is Western Armenian. They will be shown here with International Phonetic Alphabet:

:

— ,

— ,

#At the end of a word, is always written (never ). For example: , , .
#At the beginning of a word, is written . For example: , .
#In the middle of a word before a vowel, is written . For example: , .
#When followed by two consonants within a root word, is written . For example: , , , .
#When making a noun plural, or is added to the end of the noun. For example: → , → .
#When followed by , , , , or , is written (and not ). The following are exceptions: , and foreign proper nouns: , .

—

is always written . For example: ("his"/"her") is written .

— , ,

—

is always written . For example: ("house") is written .

— , epenthetical

The vowel is usually not written. For example: ("thought") is written (not ), and ("marvelous") is written (not ).

is written in the following cases:
# At the start of a word if the following sound is a () or (). For example: ("to choose") is written , ("friend") is written , ("defiant") is written and ("to comprehend") is written .
# At the start of a word if the vowel stems from the or sound. For example: ("to desire") is written because it stems from the noun ("desire", ). Also, ("to drink") is written because it stems from the noun ("mouthful", ).
# At the start or the middle of a monosyllabic word whose only vowel is . For example: ("according to") is written , and ("a" or "an", indefinite article) is written .
# In derivative and compound words if their second part starts with . For example: ("inadmissible") is written because it is a derivative word that is formed from the prefix ("un-", ) and the root ("friend", ). Also, ("swift") is written արագընթաց because it is a compound word that is formed from the root words ("quick") and ("gait").
# Within a word after the letters , if they are not followed by a vowel they represent . For example: ( "to hide") and ( "from tomorrow").
# In line-breaking. For example: (, "harm") becomes , and (, "to feel") becomes .
# At the end of words, to specify the article "the". For example: (, "the light") is formed by adding to the end of . Also, (, "the statues") does the same.

—

is always written . For example: ("village") is written .

—

is a rare sound to write foreign words and is always written . For example: the female name ("Eugenie") is written , a transcription of letters.

Diphthongs

Armenian has nine diphthongs: , , , , , , , , .

— , , ; occurs in ,

is written differently depending on its context.

# at the start of a word is written . For example: ("Yanikian", a family name) is written .
#Preceded by a consonant, it is written . For example: ("room") is written . However, at the end of a word, is written . For example: ("daily") is written .
#When is preceded by a vowel other than or , it is written . For example: ("station") is written .
#Besides that, presents in the endings of Classical Armenian surnames , for example in .
#A disyllabic sequence of a monophthong () and a diphthong () is written ( when at the end of a word). For example: ("together") is written .
#A disyllabic sequence of a monophthong () and a diphthong () is written (or at the end of a word). For example: ("being", the noun) is written .

— , ,

is written differently depending on its context.
#At the start of a word, it is written . For example: ("dream") is written . between two consonants represents (see above for details).
#In the middle of a word, is written . For example: ("mirror") is written . at the start of a word represents (see below for details).
#At the end of a word, is written (never ). For example: ("look!") is written .

— ; occurs in

is never at the start of a word and is written differently depending on its context:
#A disyllabic sequence of a monophthong () and a diphthong () is written . For example: ("I was") is written , and ("they wanted") is written .
#Otherwise, is written . For example: ("May") is written . at the start of a word represents (see below for details).

—

is always written . For example: ("seven") is written .

— , ; occurs in ,

is written differently depending on its context:
#At the start of a word, is written . For example: ("oil") is written .
#After a vowel other than or , it is written . For example: ("firm") is written . at the start of a word represents (see below for an example).
#The disyllabic sequence of the monophthong and the diphthong is written . For example: ("union") is written .
#The disyllabic sequence of the monophthong and the diphthong is written . For example: ("essence") is written .
#To write the suffix , is used. For example: ("knowledge") is written .

—

can occur at the end of a word only for monosyllabic words. It is written . For example: ("field") is written , ("mother") is written and ("verb") is written . A polysyllabic word ending in is pronounced , the becoming silent (see above for an example).

—

is written . For example: ("tea") is written .

—

is written . For example: ("to fall") is written .

—

usually occurs in the middle of a word, and is written . For example: ("sister") is written .

Consonants

The International Phonetic Alphabet shows the consonants, by the corresponding Armenian letter in parentheses. Both Classical And Eastern Armenian maintain a three-way distinction between voiced, voiceless, and aspirated stops and affricates. In Western Armenian, voiced and aspirated stops and affricates have undergone a merger, and voiceless stops and affricates have become voiced.

Notes

References

*

External links

Arak29 Learn Classical OrthographyArak29 Etymology


an online collection of video lectures on Ancient Indo-European languages, including videos the writing system of Classical Armenian

Armenian Orthography converters

Nayiri.com
(integrated orthography converter: reformed to traditional)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Traditional Armenian Orthography
Armenian alphabet