Armenian

Where it’s spoken

Armenian is the official language of Armenia (Hayastan) and of the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh. About 3 million speak it in Armenia. The larger Armenian diaspora — Russia, the United States (Los Angeles has the largest US population), France, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Argentina, and Brazil — adds millions more. Two standard varieties exist: Eastern Armenian (Armenia, Iran, Russia) and Western Armenian (diaspora, especially Lebanon and Syria).

What it sounds like

Armenian forms its own branch of Indo-European, with no close relatives. It has a six-vowel system and 28–30 consonants. Distinctive features include the three-way stop contrast (voiced/voiceless/aspirated in Western Armenian, or voiced/voiceless aspirated/voiceless ejective in Eastern Armenian) — the two standards have inverted some sound correspondences. Stress is usually final.

How it’s written

The Armenian alphabet was created in 405 CE by the scholar-cleric Mesrop Mashtots specifically for the Armenian language. It has 36 original letters plus two added later (Ֆ, Օ). The script reads left to right. It is one of the world’s oldest still-used writing systems.

History

Armenian’s earliest extant literature begins with the 5th-century Bible translation. The medieval Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia and centuries of diaspora following the 1915 Armenian Genocide have shaped the modern language’s two literary varieties.