While Western and Eastern Armenian are often described as different dialects of the same language, some subdialects are not readily mutually intelligible. The site now counts over 7000 articles. Radio Garden. ( Log Out /  In reality, however, the relationship is more akin to that between Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk, which have their own standard written forms, their own separate three-letter ISO 639-3 codes, “nob” and “nno” (and even separate two-letter ISO 639-1 codes, “nb” and “nn”) and their own separate Wikipedia sites. Instead of treasuring the rich and diverse language that we speak, there is a constant debate as to which one of the two dialects, Eastern or Western Armenian, is the “proper” dialect. Mesrob Mashdots invented the Armenian alphabet in 406 AD. At first, articles written in Western grammar and classical spelling were being edited to make them more easily readable by people in Armenia. Therefore, Armenians should not debate over which is “proper” and “correct,” but rather should embrace this as an example of how diverse and rich our language truly is. She was personally involved in the ISO application and, finally, on April 1, 2019, launched the Western Armenian Wikipedia site. By Jano BoghossianJanoboghossian@ucla.edu. Adapting the language to the online world will be an important step to removing it from UNESCO’s endangered list and now anyone can play a role in the effort from the comfort of their living room. The course's main dialect is Western Armenian but Eastern Armenian is also available. In the same way that there is no “correct” dialect of Spanish, English, or Arabic, there is no “right” and “wrong” dialect of Armenian. The main differences are within phonology (pronunciation), morphology (components and changes in word forms) and vocabulary preference. Western Armenian radio stations, YouTube channels, podcasts, and movies that you can access online. Classical Armenian is the oldest written form of our language, and as every language inevitably does, it evolved through time to the two current dialects of today. You have really great taste on catch article titles, even when you are not interested in this topic you push to read it. Ghevont Alishan, a Mkhitarist monk from the monastery of San Lazarro in Venice is credited for the modernization of Western Armenian.

The thorn reminds the Turks and the Kurds of a people who lived and thrived in Turkey, and who played an enormous role in the unfolding of Turkey's history, writes Paul Mirabile. Jano, what an amazing piece. The golden age of Western Armenian culture ended in 1915. Those few Western Armenian speakers who do re-settle in the slice of historic Armenia where Armenian is still spoken inevitably learn Eastern Armenian instead, but also contribute words amd expressions and effectively force some dialect levelling. However, ISO 639-3 does assign three-letter codes to languages (“eng” for English, “est” for Estonian, etc.). EVN Report welcomes comments that contribute to a healthy discussion and spur an informed debate. But unlike Western Armenian, it was based on the dialect of the Ararat district of Russian Armenia. There is a foundation for the language to thrive since it is being used in the institutions in Armenia, giving it the opportunity to modernize with the times. Today Eastern Armenian is the official language of post-Soviet Armenia (green, #1); Western Armenian holds no official status and is classified as a “definitely endangered language.” The Armenian varieties encountered in Iran belong to the Eastern subgroup, as do the dialects of Georgia, Nagorno-Karabagh, and Russia.

Notably, the official language name was not changed to “Eastern Armenian” in the standard.