Eastern & Western Armenians

[Lucin]

Re: Eastern & Western Armenians

As for vras kure (Վրաս գրէ), you basically say it when someone stresses something that is unimportant for you. Its kind of like saying 'write it on me, since I don't care'.

Yea, now it makes sense. Had you written in Armenian letters, I would have probably guessed.
'Kure' actually confused me. For 'kure', I had the verb 'ուռել'/ 'կուռէ' in mind not 'գրել'. But we have a similar expression ( to the one you mentioned), which is used in its negative form though. It's like "chem grum"(present) or "chgram" ( past) meaning "I don't care about something or somebody, pay no attention".

Do you know the meaning of the following expression; " Շան անունը տուր, փայտը վերցրու." ?

Theres also Kak gerank hos yegank (Քաք կէրանք հոս եկանք), which is when you go somewhere and things aren't turning out well, usually contrary to your expectations.

LOL, what's wrong with you guys?? All your expressions contain the word 'kak'??

Lucin jan, "foreign" words in Armenia come almost exclusively via Russia, and Russians have a different way of pronouncing words than westerners. The փ and the թ are used for hard 'P' and 'T' sounds. In Armenian and Russian speech the P and the T in the word "president" are soft. As a result, they use the Պ for the soft p and the տ for the soft t. Also, in Armenia, the letter ք is reserved exclusive for the q sound, which is more-or-less a hard k sound.

Right, it might be a Russian influence. But I wonder if 'hard' sounds such as 'փ' /'թ' /'ք' exist in Russian as well??

[ArmSurvival]

Re: Eastern & Western Armenians

Do you know the meaning of the following expression; " Շան անունը տուր, փայտը վերցրու." ?

Is it something like "if you insult someone, get ready to fight", or "mention his name and prepare to fight"?

LOL, what's wrong with you guys?? All your expressions contain the word 'kak'??

lol ya, you just reminded me, there is another piece of slang that is quite common among western Armenians. You can say "Շատ քաքեն բան մըն է" to refer to something that is amazing, crazy or just downright crappy (you will know which one the person means depending on the context).

[skhara]

Re: Eastern & Western Armenians

pointy, shiny shoes,

What the phuck are you guys talking about?

Ohh, Karo, I forgot... do you wear a black leather jacket too??

Is there something wrong with that? I wear one all the time, with black leather gloves, and a black winter hat.

Right, it might be a Russian influence. But I wonder if 'hard' sounds such as 'փ' /'թ' /'ք' exist in Russian as well??

What do you guys mean by "hard"? What makes them "hard"? Russian has both hard and soft sound for the consonants.

[Lucin]

Re: Eastern & Western Armenians

What the phuck are you guys talking about?



Is there something wrong with that? I wear one all the time, with black leather gloves, and a black winter hat.

Wow... I'm sorry Skhara but you need an 'extreme' makeover. Next time you go shopping, let me know.

What do you guys mean by "hard"? What makes them "hard"? Russian has both hard and soft sound for the consonants.

Apparentely, they have (soft) sounds such as 'պ' or ' տ' ( in Armenian) but do they have 'փ' or ' թ' like 'p' and 'T' in English as well??

Is it something like "if you insult someone, get ready to fight", or "mention his name and prepare to fight"?

It's a bit hard to guess this expression. It means you are talking about someone, you are mentioning his name that coincidentally he enters the room or you encounter him in the same place.

[skhara]

Re: Eastern & Western Armenians

Wow... I'm sorry Skhara but you need an 'extreme' makeover. Next time you go shopping, let me know.

So do I need to get the pointy shoes? They sound kind of gay.

Apparentely, they have (soft) sounds such as 'պ' or ' տ' ( in Armenian) but do they have 'փ' or ' թ' like 'p' and 'T' in English as well??

Russian has both harder and softer sounds for the constants, there just isn't any emphasis on differentiation. The russian letter 'п' may come off sounding as something in between 'պ' and 'փ', or leaning towards one or the other depending on the word.

I am still a bit confused by what you guys mean by "hard". To me this sounds hard: 'պ' or ' տ'.

[ArmSurvival]

Re: Eastern & Western Armenians

In Armenian and Russian speech the P and the T in the word "president" are soft.

Do you know what the phonetic rule is for deciding what is soft or hard in a certain word?

Or do you simply mean to say that the vast majority of Latin words come to Armenia via Russia, and thus Armenians pronounce them like Russians do?

Also, in Armenia, the letter ք is reserved exclusive for the q sound, which is more-or-less a hard k sound.

So what do they use for a regular "c" sound?

[Armenian]

Re: Eastern & Western Armenians

I am still a bit confused by what you guys mean by "hard". To me this sounds hard: 'պ' or ' տ'.

Hard P as in the P in Platoon. In Armenian initial letter of the word would be 'փ' not 'պ'. The 'պ' is a soft P or a hard B. There is no direct counterpart to the Armenian 'պ' in English.

Or do you simply mean to say that the vast majority of Latin words come to Armenia via Russia, and thus Armenians pronounce them like Russians do?

Yes, that's it.

So what do they use for a regular "c" sound?

C as in the "s" sound?

[ArmSurvival]

Re: Eastern & Western Armenians

C as in Canada. In western Armenian գ=c and ք=k, but you said that in eastern Armenian ք is reserved for a hard k sound like 'q'. So there is no soft k sound (like գ for western Armenian), in eastern Armenian?

[womble]

Re: Eastern & Western Armenians

In western Armenian գ=c and ք=k, but you said that in eastern Armenian ք is reserved for a hard k sound like 'q'. So there is no soft k sound (like գ for western Armenian), in eastern Armenian?

In Eastern Armenian, the letter կ is soft, like the 'k' in sky, while the letter ք is hard, like the 'k' in king.

It's a bit hard to guess this expression. It means you are talking about someone, you are mentioning his name that coincidentally he enters the room or you encounter him in the same place.

Like the English expression, 'talk of the Devil and he will appear'!

[ArmSurvival]

Re: Eastern & Western Armenians

Thanks for the clarification... I was guessing it was կ, but wasn't completely sure.