Armenian dialects

The Armenian language has two standardized forms: Western Armenian and Eastern Armenian. Before the Armenian genocide and other significant demographic changes that affected the Armenians, several dozen Armenian dialects existed in the areas historically populated by them.

Classification by Hrachia Acharian

The title page of the 1909 French edition.

Classification des dialectes arméniens (Classification of Armenian dialects) is a 1909 book by the Armenian linguist Hrachia Acharian, published in Paris. It is Acharian's translation into French of his original work Hay Barbaṙagitutʿiwn ("Armenian Dialectology") that was later published as a book in 1911 in Moscow and New Nakhichevan. The French translation lacks dialectal examples. An English translation was published in 2024.

Acharian surveyed the Armenian dialects in what is now Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Iran, Azerbaijan and other countries settled by Armenians.

Unlike the traditional division of Armenian into two dialect groups (Western Armenian and Eastern Armenian), he divided Armenian into three main dialect groups based on the present and imperfect indicative particles that were used. He called as the -owm (-ում) dialects, -gë (-կը) dialects, and -el (-ել) dialects.

After the Armenian genocide, linguists Gevorg Jahukyan, Jos Weitenberg, Bert Vaux and Hrach Martirosyan have extended the understanding of Armenian dialects.

Map

Map of Armenian dialects in the early 20th century:

  -owm dialects, roughly corresponding to Eastern Armenian.

  -el dialects.

  -gë dialects, roughly corresponding to Western Armenian.

-owm dialects

	Dialect	Areas spoken (country and city names as of 1909)
1	Yerevan	Russian Empire: Erivan, Novo-Bayazet, Ordubad, Shamshadin, Shulaver, Havlabar quarter (Tbilisi) Ottoman Empire: Bayazid, Kulp
2	Tbilisi	Russian Empire: Tbilisi (except Havlabar quarter)
3	Artsakh	Russian Empire: Shusha, Elisabethpol, Nukha, Baku, Derbent, Ağstafa, Dilijan, Karakilis, Kazak, Lori, Jebrayil, Goris Qajar Persia: Karadagh, Mujumbar; Lilava quarter of Tabriz Ottoman Empire: Burdur, Ödemiş villages near Izmir
4	Shamakha	Russian Empire: Shamakhi, Kuba and nearby villages
5	Astrakhan	Russian Empire: Astrakhan, North Caucasus Qajar Persia: Tabriz
6	Julfa	Russian Empire: Julfa Qajar Persia: Isfahan (New Julfa quarter), Shiraz, Hamadan, Bushehr, Tehran, Qazvin, Rasht, Bandar-e Anzali
7	Agulis	Russian Empire: Agulis, Tsghna, Handamej, Tanakert, Ramis, Dasht, Kaghaki

-el dialects

-el dialects
	Dialect	Areas spoken (country and city names as of 1909)
1	Maragha	Qajar Persia: Maragha and surrounding villages
2	Khoy	Qajar Persia: Khoy, Salmas, Maku, Urmia Russian Empire: Igdir, Nakhichevan; Zangezur settlements: Kori, Alighuli, Mughanjugh, Karashen, Alilu, Angeghakot, Ghushchi-Tazakend, Tazakend, Uz, Mazra, Balak, Shaghat, Ltsen, Sisian, Nerkin Kilisa
3	Artvin	Russian Empire: Artvin, Ardahan, Artanuj, Olti

-gë dialects

	Dialect	Areas spoken (country and city names as of 1909)
1	Erzurum	Ottoman Empire: Erzurum, Ispir, Kaghzvan Russian Empire: Kars, Alexandropol, Akhalkalak, Akhaltskha
2	Mush	Ottoman Empire: Mush, Sasun, Bitlis, Khizan, Khlat, Arjesh, Bulanikh, Manazkert, Khnus, Alashkert Russian Empire: Aparan; Mets Kznut and surrounding villages; 4 villages in Javakhk: Eshtia, Ujmana, Toria, Martuni
3	Van	Ottoman Empire: Van, Diadin, Moks, Bashkale, Shatakh Russian Empire: Basargechar and surrounding villages
4	Diarbekir	Ottoman Empire: Diarbekir, Lice, Hazro, Hazzo, Khizan, Severek, Urfa (Edesia)
5	Kharberd-Yerznka	Ottoman Empire: Kharpert, Yerznka, Balu, Tchapaghjur, Chmshkatsag, Charsanjak, Kghi, Dersim, Kamakh
6	Shabin-Karahisar	Ottoman Empire: Shabin-Karahisar, Akıncılar
7	Trebizond	Ottoman Empire: Trebizond, Bayburt, Gyumushkhane, Kirasun
8	Hamshen	Ottoman Empire: Hamshen, Ünye, Fatsa, Terme, Çarşamba Russian Empire: Sukhumi, Sochi, Poti,
9	Malatia	Ottoman Empire: Malatia, Adıyaman
10	Cilicia	Ottoman Empire: Hadjin, Zeytun, Marash, Kilis, Alexandretta, Payas, Svedia
11	Syria	Ottoman Empire: Aramo
12	Arabkir	Ottoman Empire: Arabkir, Divrig, Gürün, Darende, villages of Kesaria
13	Akn	Ottoman Empire: Akn and surrounding villages
14	Sivas	Ottoman Empire: Sivas and 45 surrounding villages
15	Tokat	Ottoman Empire: Tokat, Amasia, Marsivan, Ordu, Samsun, Sinop
16	Smyrna	Ottoman Empire: Smyrna, Manisa, Menemen and surrounding villages
17	Izmit	Ottoman Empire: Nicomedia, Adapazar and the following villages: Yalova, Partizak, Geyve, Ortaköy, Sölöz, Benli, İznik, etc.,
18	Constantinople	Ottoman Empire: Constantinople
19	Rodosto	Ottoman Empire: Rodosto, Malgara
20	Nakhichevan-on-Don	Russian Empire: Nakhichevan-on-Don, Rostov-on-Don, Stavropol, Yekaterinodar, Yekaterinoslav, Anapa, Maykop, Taganrog, Dneprovskaya, Nogaysk, Novocherkassk, Theodosia, Simferopol, Karasubazar, Bakhchysarai, Eupatoria
21	Austria-Hungary	Poland Bukovina, Transylvania, Hungary

Sources

• Adjarian, Hrachia (1909). Classification des dialectes arméniens [Classification of Armenian dialects] (PDF) (in French). Paris: Librairie Honore Champion. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
• Dolatian, Hossep (2024). Adjarian’s Armenian dialectology (1911): Translation and commentary (PDF). Berlin: Language Science Press.