Eastern Armenian

Eastern Armenian is a standard form of the Armenian language. It serves as the official language of Armenia and is widely spoken in Armenian communities in Georgia, Russia, Iran, and the diaspora.^[1] It is mainly based on the Yerevan dialect and is jointly understandable with Western Armenian, through variations in pronunciation, grammar , and vocabulary .

Classification and history

Eastern Armenian belong to the Indo-European language. It developed from Classical Armenian (Grabar) and went through major changes in the 19th century, when it became standardized.^[2] While Western Armenian, which was traditionally spoken in the Ottoman Empire and is now mainly used in diaspora communities, Eastern Armenian has been influenced by Russian and Iranian languages due to Armenia's geopolitical history.

Phonology and Orthography

Eastern Armenian has six-vowels (a, e, ə, i, o, u) and a common inventory consisting of voiced, voiceless, and suctioned stops (e.G., բ /b/, պ /p/, փ /pʰ/). In differentiate to Western Armenian, it keeps a three-way distinction in stops (voiced, voiceless, and suctioned), much like Classical Armenian.^[3]

It was composed in the Armenian alphabet, created by Mesrop Mashtots in 405 A.D. It makes use of reformed orthography in Armenia, while Iranian Armenians keep traditional orthography.^[4][2]