Classical Armenian orthography, traditional orthography or Mashtotsian orthography ( in classical orthography and in reformed orthography, ''Hayereni tasagan ughakrutyun''), is the

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and mos ...

that was developed by

Mesrop Mashtots Mesrob or Mesrop ( hy, Մեսրոպ) is an Armenian given name. Mesrob / Mesrop may refer to: * Mesrop Mashtots, also Saint Mesrop, Armenian monk, theologian and linguist. Inventor of the Armenian alphabet ** Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient M ...

in the 5th century for writing

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

and reformed during the early 19th century. Today, it is used primarily by the

Armenian diaspora The Armenian diaspora refers to the communities of Armenians outside Armenia and other locations where Armenians are considered an indigenous population. Since antiquity, Armenians have established communities in many regions throughout the world. ...

, including all

Western Armenian Western Armenian ( Classical spelling: , ) is one of the two standardized forms of Modern Armenian, the other being Eastern Armenian. It is based mainly on the Istanbul Armenian dialect, as opposed to Eastern Armenian, which is mainly based ...

speakers and

Eastern Armenian Eastern Armenian ( ''arevelahayeren'') is one of the two standardized forms of Modern Armenian, the other being Western Armenian. The two standards form a pluricentric language. Eastern Armenian is spoken in Armenia, Artsakh, Russia, as we ...

speakers in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkme ...

, which has rejected the

Armenian orthography reform The Armenian orthography reform occurred between 1922 and 1924 in Soviet Armenia and was partially reviewed in 1940. Its main features were neutralization of classical etymological writing and the adjustment of phonetic realization and writing. Th ...

Soviet Armenia The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...

during the 1920s. In the Armenian diaspora, some linguists and politicians allege political motives behind the reform of the

Armenian alphabet The Armenian alphabet ( hy, Հայոց գրեր, ' or , ') is an alphabetic writing system used to write Armenian. It was developed around 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader. The system originally had ...

. Classical Armenian orthography uses 38 letters: the original 36 letters of the Armenian alphabet invented by

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 A monophthong ( ; , ) is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation. The monophthongs can be contrasted with diphthongs, wh ...

() and ten symbols to represent them (). The pronunciation in the examples is Western Armenian. They will be shown here with

International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation of ...

: :

— ,

#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 Below may refer to: *Earth * Ground (disambiguation) *Soil *Floor * Bottom (disambiguation) *Less than *Temperatures below freezing *Hell or underworld People with the surname *Ernst von Below (1863–1955), German World War I general *Fred 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

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

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