The Armenian written language stands out due to its interesting origin and an impressive number of people who speak this language of people. Their number reaches approximately 6-7 million people. The language has a rich history and interesting spelling of letters.
The origin of the Armenian script
The Armenian alphabet was created by Mesrop Mashtots in about 405-406. The language belongs to the Indo-European group, has a lively timbre and its specific "temperament". In connection with its origin, the language regularly contacted the languages โโof the Indo-European and non-Indo-European groups, which include the European (Romance, German), Slavic language groups. These contacts contributed to new changes in the Armenian script.
According to some sources, the development of the Armenian language began in the 7th century before the birth of Christ. The language has undergone repeated changes due to interference from the Urartians, Phrygians and Cimmerians.
Already in the VI century, the first recorded reference to Armenia as a territory and nationality arose. The future independent country was mentioned as a region that was part of the territory of the former Persian monarchs.
The Armenian language is a transformation and unification of the linguistic branches of the Indo-European and non-Indo-European language groups. This is due to the centuries-old history of the country and the influence on the Armenian script of other language groups whose representatives invaded this territory.
Armenian language distribution
Currently, the Armenian language is spoken primarily in Armenia (approximately 4 million speakers), in America (1 million), in France (250 thousand) and in countries such as Iran, Syria, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Lebanon, Argentina, Libya, Uzbekistan and others, where the number of speakers is relatively lower - from 200 thousand to 50 or less.
Periods of development of writing and literature
There are three periods:
- Ancient. It lasted from its inception until the eleventh century after the birth of Christ. Also called the ancient Armenian period; ancient period - the time of the beginning of the layering of other language groups in the Armenian language. According to the assumptions of modern scholars, the stratification arose at the time of the invasion of a nationality on the territory of Armenia, whose language deviated from the Indo-European branch. There is a theory that Armenia is a Phrygian colony, which it became after the invasion of the Cimmerians beyond the borders of the territory belonging to the Phrygians. Unfortunately, there is an extremely limited number of sources written by chroniclers that testify to the path of development of the Armenian language, so it is difficult to know exactly how it evolved, whether ancient books existed in the Armenian language and so on.
- Medium or Middle Armenian. It lasted throughout the XI-XVII centuries. At this time, the branching of languages โโinto dialects and forms developed. This is due to the versatile direction of movement. This process continued for several centuries and left its mark on contemporaries.
- New. It was during this period that the alphabet arose, branched into the eastern and western versions, used today. There are many dialects. The population of Armenia mainly uses the eastern version.
Armenian alphabet with translation of characters
The Armenian alphabet consists of 38 letters, of which nine are vowels. At the time of creation, the alphabet included 36 letters, including seven vowels, and later sounds such as "o" and the consonant letter ี, meaning the sound "f", were added. When the alphabet was just beginning to develop, the Armenians, taking into account the experience of the Greeks and Phoenicians, introduced the names of the letters, which facilitates the task of remembering them.
The language was changed when the Bolsheviks (the second group formed after the collapse of the RSDLP into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks; supporters of the position of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin) began to reform the alphabet, which began in 1921.
The innovations introduced by the Bolsheviks were not entirely competent. For example, a combination of letters (or ligature) ึ was called a consonant that did not have a capital letter. Also, the order of letters in the dictionary was disrupted. In this regard, a second reform was carried out in 1940. Despite carrying out the mentioned changes, native speakers of the Armenian language did not take them seriously. And they continued to use the Armenian language as they were used to.