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Spelling reform of the Armenian language 1922-1924

 

 
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Spelling reform of the Armenian language 1922-1924
 
 
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The Spelling reform of the Armenian language 1922-1924 was a spelling reform of the Armenian alphabetArmenian alphabet

This article was written by a non-native speaker....
 conducted in the Armenian SSRArmenian SSR

The Armenian SSR or Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia came into being when the Communist Party of Armenia proclaime...
. However, it is barely practiced outside of ArmeniaArmenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked mountainous country in the Southern Caucasus , bordered ...
 and the Post-Soviet statesPost-Soviet states

The Post-Soviet states, also commonly known as former Soviet republics, are the independent nations that split off fro...
 because it was not adopted by ArmeniansArmenians

The Armenians are a nation and an ethnic group originating in the Caucasus and eastern Anatolia....
 in the diasporaArmenian diaspora

The Armenian diaspora is a term used to describe the communities of Armenians living outside of Armenia....
, which make up about half of the Armenian population.

History

Examples
Mashdotsian Spelling Reformed Spelling
??????????
?????????????
?????????
??????????????
??????
?????????????????????
??????
??????????
????????????
??????????
????????
??????
?????????????
??????????????????
?? ???????


In the Soviet UnionSoviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , more commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a Communist state that existed...
 during the 1920s1920s

The 1920s was a decade sometimes referred to as the "Jazz Age" or the "Roaring Twenties," usually applied to America....
, a majority of the population consisted of farmers and illiterates. To speed up the alphabetization throughout this variety of social classes, the orthographyFacts About Orthography

The orthography of a language is the set of symbols used to write a language, as well as the set of rules describing how to...
 of many languages was simplified. These changes affected the Armenian languageArmenian language

The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people in the Republic of Armenia, in Georgia ,...
, which was the de facto official language of the Armenian SSR. The original orthography is known today as Mashdotsian orthography (named after Saint Mesrob MashdotsSaint Mesrob

Saint Mesrop Mashtots was an Armenian monk, theologian and linguist....
) and also as classical orthography ; the reformed spelling is known as Reformed orthography .

Social and political issues

Since the establishment of the third Republic of Armenia in 1991, there has been a fringe movement in some Armenian academic circles to reinstate the Mashdotsian spelling as official policy in Armenia. Some members of the Armenian church in Armenia also support the use of the Mashdotsian spelling. However, others in Armenia want to keep the Reformed spelling, and oppose any change.

Regulations of Reformed Spelling

In the cases where pronunciation has changed in the course of time, one should, today, write as one would speak. This issue concerns the letter pairs ?/?, ??/? and diphthongDiphthong

In phonetics, a diphthong is a vowel combination in a single syllable involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel ...
s ??/???, ??/??, ??/??, ??/???.

In the following, more complex changes are made:


  1. If ye is spoken in the initial sound of a word, one writes "?," when e, then "?."

  2. The letter pair "??" becomes a full, independent letter in the 34th place of the alphabet.

  3. The "?" is only written in the beginning of a word and in compound words. Otherwise, "?" is used. The only exceptions are ?? and ?????.

  4. The "?" is no longer an independent letter and appears only as a compenent of "??" and "?." In its place, "?" is written.

  5. The "?" becomes a full, independent letter in the 37th place of the alphabet. Some words originally written with "??" are now written with this letter, but the new letter is generally used as an ampersandAmpersand

    An ampersand , also commonly called an and sign, is a logogram representing the conjunction "and"....
    .

  6. In the spelling of conditionalConditional

    Conditional may refer to:*Causal conditional, if X then Y, where X is a cause of Y...
    s, "?" is added directly (without an apostrophe before vowels or "?" before consonants).


Opinions

In 2004, a ParisParis

native_name = Ville de Paris|common_name = Paris...
 daily Armenian newspaper Ashkharh (World) interviewed then National AssemblyNational Assembly of Armenia

The National Assembly is the legislative branch of the government of Armenia....
 Speaker Arthur Baghdassarian, when asked: "What do you think about the issue of the common Armenian orthography?" Baghdassarian responded:


See also

  • Traditional Armenian orthographyTraditional Armenian orthography

    Traditional Armenian orthography is the orthography developed during the early 19th century for the two modern dialects of ...
  • Armenian languageArmenian language

    The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people in the Republic of Armenia, in Georgia ,...
  • Armenian SSRArmenian SSR

    The Armenian SSR or Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia came into being when the Communist Party of Armenia proclaime...
  • Reforms of Russian orthographyReforms of Russian orthography

    The Old Russian language adopted the Cyrillic alphabet, approximately during the tenth century and at about the same time as the i...