Armenian Language Reforms (?)

[yerazhishda]

Re: Armenian Language Reforms (?)

On Asbarez they recently posted an article entitled «Առաջնորդի Այցելութիւն ՀՅԴ Կեդրոնական Կոմիտէին». I was extremely confused as to this last word and even resorted to looking it up in the dictionary! This of course was until I realized that they were trying to say "committee". The proper word should have been «վարչութիւն»!

[Federate]

Re: Armenian Language Reforms (?)

Like I already mentioned, these foreign words exist mainly in the country's vernacular, they are not officially recognized as Armenian. Of the more annoying borrowed words I often hear in Armenia is "meeting" (ժողով/հանդիպում), "sportsman" (մարզիկ) and "team" (խումբ).

The word for parliament in Armenia is խորհրդարան, not պառլամենտ. Like I said, street language, in any nation, is quite different from the proper/literary language.

You'd be surprised ընկեր. I checked an English-Armenian dictionary from the Armenian SSR times (printed in 1991) for parliament just now and the ONLY word that appeared next to it in the translation is պառլամենտ. I hope this was changed now since it's from 1991 but for so long it was like that for absolutely no reason at all. Just checked communism too and կոմունիստ is the only word that appears. I mean the official party name for the Armenian Communist party is Հայաստանի կոմունիստական կուսակցություն abbreviated as ՀԿԿ.

People have been taught this way because somehow these words probably were slipped into the educational system which is why it's in the vernacular of so many.

[Armenian]

Re: Armenian Language Reforms (?)

On Asbarez they recently posted an article entitled «Առաջնորդի Այցելութիւն ՀՅԴ Կեդրոնական Կոմիտէին». I was extremely confused as to this last word and even resorted to looking it up in the dictionary! This of course was until I realized that they were trying to say "committee". The proper word should have been «վարչութիւն»!

Why stop there, Կեդրոնական is derived from Latin and it means central. So, the proper Armenian term for Central Committee would have to be - մեջտեղի վարչութիւն There are some borrowed words that you simply can't change because they have long ago embedded themselves into our vocabulary. The best thing to do is to stop further imports from taking root.

You'd be surprised ընկեր. I checked an English-Armenian dictionary from the Armenian SSR times (printed in 1991) for parliament just now and the ONLY word that appeared next to it in the translation is պառլամենտ.

I have see both words used in dictionaries in Armenia. All, however, recognize that խորհրդարան is the proper term. A lot has changed in the country since the chaos of the early 1990s. However, these is still a problem with people speaking proper Armenian. It almost seems as if all would much rather speak street slang. What's more, there is now a serious danger posed by the English language. Everything in the country, especially in Yerevan, is in Armenian and English, and in some cases only in English. For the past fifteen-twenty years the English language has saturated Armenia. The Russian language, perhaps the most important language Armenians need to learn, is actually dying out in the country.

[ArmSurvival]

Re: Armenian Language Reforms (?)

For the past fifteen-twenty years the English language has saturated Armenia.

Tell me about it... when I was in Armenia a couple of summers ago I met someone that I spent some time with over there. 3/4 of what he was telling me was in English. So basically, a native Yerevantsi was speaking English to me and my Amerigahye ass was answering him in Armenian... ironic and sad.


And I agree with you about what you're saying... proper Armenian has very little loan words, its the street talk that is steering completely in another direction. Its not a matter of reforming the language, its a matter of making people learn it properly and to have them use it. Although its unfortunate that even many of our journalists in newspapers use tons of Latin words when there are well-known Armenian words for them ('brezident' instead of nakhakah is a very common one, but there are so many even in a single article).

[ara87]

Re: Armenian Language Reforms (?)

cannot be taken because Armenian language is in nowhere close to Turkish, whether it's about the loan words or the vocabulary or...

This has nothing to do with how close a language is to another one. You could use the same argument for English. Obviously there are loan words from languages like french that go back almost 1000 years, that have become an integral part of the English language. I'm not talking about words like that. I mean the more recent loan words.

What is "Muslim" words by the way? "Muslim" is not a language.

i know Muslim is not a language, i was quoting a encyclopedia Britannica article, in which Muslim was the term deemed for certain Arabic and Persian words. They were using the word Muslim in how many people refer to certain Arabic, Persian, Turkish, etc names as "Muslim names."

What are you talking about? What Russian words? What Muslim words? How old are you?

I'm 20. and there are words that even if are not in "proper armenian" they are in the vernacular, and it's through the vernacular that they become embedded into "proper armenian" overtime. It doesn't matter if there's 1 russian/english/ect word or 100, they should be replaced with their Armenian counterpart, and if there isn't one a new word can be made using Armenian roots

[yerazhishda]

Re: Armenian Language Reforms (?)

And I agree with you about what you're saying... proper Armenian has very little loan words, its the street talk that is steering completely in another direction. Its not a matter of reforming the language, its a matter of making people learn it properly and to have them use it. Although its unfortunate that even many of our journalists in newspapers use tons of Latin words when there are well-known Armenian words for them ('brezident' instead of nakhakah is a very common one, but there are so many even in a single article).

That goes beyond just using loan words: it's just ignorant on their part. There's no reason they shouldn't be using նախագահ.

[ArmSurvival]

Re: Armenian Language Reforms (?)

I agree: my point was that its unfortunate that some of them are ignorant/lazy for not using proper Armenian, similar to Armenians who engage in street-talk. But its worse because they are journalists who should have a proper grasp of the language, but instead they are perpetuating the street-level standards.