Three Things That Make Armenian Unique

By Sarah-Claire Jordan

Armenia is a country that shares borders with Turkey, Georgia, and Iran, among others. The eastern region of Armenia used to be part of the Soviet Union, until it broke away in 1918. Despite being influenced by many different cultures, Armenia still preserves its own unique culture. This may not have been possible, however, if it weren’t for the Armenian language itself.

Armenian is a unique language, classified as its own branch in the Indo-European language family. At first, it was thought to be an Indo-Iranian language, but later it was found that, despite many loanwords from Iranian languages, it didn’t share enough other characteristics to be classified as such. The fact of the matter is, Armenian can’t truly be classified any other way. This, among other things, makes it unique. Here are a few other facts about Armenian that further demonstrate its distinctive nature.

1. The Armenian alphabet is unlike any other

Though some say it may be based on the Greek alphabet, the result itself is very different. The Armenian alphabet was created by Mesrop Mashtots in approximately 405 AD. Mesrop Mashtots was an Armenian linguist who is also credited with creating the Georgian alphabet. It originally consisted of 36 letters, but a few more were added over the years, specifically in the Middle Ages and during the orthography reform of the 1920s. The Armenian alphabet was used to write some documents in Turkish for around 250 years, up until the 1950s. It was also used for official documents in the Ottoman Empire, along with Arabic.

2. There are two standard dialects of Armenian

Armenian is a pluricentric language, which means it has more than one standard form. In this case, there are two standard forms that each have different dialects. The two standard forms are Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian. Eastern Armenian is spoken in Armenia and small areas in Iran and Azerbaijan, while Western Armenian is spoken by Armenians in Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt, and wherever Armenians have migrated to. Since Eastern Armenia was part of the Soviet Union, the Eastern Armenian standard dialect shows some Russian influences. The two standards differ in spelling as well as some sounds. Some regional and local dialects are not mutually intelligible at all, while others are as similar as American and British English.

3. Armenian has some sounds that no other Indo-European language has

These sounds are called ejective sounds, and they are voiceless (meaning the larynx doesn’t vibrate) consonants where the vocal chords instead of the lungs are used to push the air out. No other Indo-European language has this type of sound, and some linguists believe it was adopted from neighboring countries with high numbers of Northeast Caucasian language speakers or Kartvelian language speakers.

As you can see, Armenian is a language with its own unique characteristics, which make it a bit more challenging in terms of translation and interpretation. Alpha Omega Translations, however, is perfectly equipped to handle Armenian translation and interpretation projects with its staff of translators, interpreters, proofreaders, editors, DTP experts, and more. All you need to do is get in touch and explain your needs.

Tags: armenian

Category: Foreign Language