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]^

Eastern Armenian A Textbook YZ

2

]^ Eastern Armenian A Textbook

YZ by

Kevork B. Bardakjian

Marie Manoogian Professor of Armenian Literature The University of Michigan and

Bert Vaux

University Lecturer in Phonology and Morphology University of Cambridge

CARAVAN BOOKS Ann Arbor

4

Published by Caravan Books Delmar, New York 12054-0344, U.S.A. First Edition 1999 Second Edition 2008 © 1999 Academic Resources Corporation All rights reserved Printed and made in the United States of America ∞ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements O of the American National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence of Paper for Publications and Documents in Libraries and Archives ANSI/NISO/Z39.48—1992 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Contents The Armenian Alphabet..................................................................................... 11 Pronunciation Notes ................................................................................. 12 Lesson 1 ............................................................................................................. 13 1. Personal pronouns ..................................................................................... 13 2. Present Indicative of the auxiliary verb ‘be’ ............................................. 13 2a. Declarative Sentences ......................................................................... 13 2b. Interrogative Sentences....................................................................... 14 3. The Negative ............................................................................................. 14 4. Articles ...................................................................................................... 15 Vocabulary .................................................................................................... 16 Greetings ....................................................................................................... 17 Lesson 2 ............................................................................................................. 21 1. The indefinite article ................................................................................. 21 2. Adjectives.................................................................................................. 21 3. Copular sentences..................................................................................... 21 Vocabulary .................................................................................................... 22 Lesson 3 ............................................................................................................. 26 1. The present indicative tense ...................................................................... 26 2. Word order ................................................................................................ 26 3. Demonstratives.......................................................................................... 26 A. Adjectives ............................................................................................ 26 B. Pronouns .............................................................................................. 27 4. Possessive suffixes .................................................................................... 27 5. Use of the definite article .......................................................................... 27 Vocabulary .................................................................................................... 29 Lesson 4 ............................................................................................................. 32 1. Plurals of nouns......................................................................................... 32 A. Monosyllables...................................................................................... 32 B. Polysyllables ........................................................................................ 32 2. Numbers : 1-10.......................................................................................... 33 3. Uses of the singular and plural .................................................................. 33 4. Adjectives as substantives ......................................................................... 34 5. Existential expressions .............................................................................. 34 6. Expressions of measure and quantity ........................................................ 35 Vocabulary .................................................................................................... 36 Lesson 5 ............................................................................................................. 40 1. Present Indicative of verbs (continued) ..................................................... 40 2. Negative of the Present Indicative............................................................. 40 3. The Imperfect Indicative ........................................................................... 41 4. Negative of the Imperfect Indicative......................................................... 41 Vocabulary .................................................................................................... 43 Lesson 6 ............................................................................................................. 46

6 1. Declension of Nouns (part A) ................................................................... 46 2. Uses of declined forms .............................................................................. 47 3. The diminutive suffix -ik ......................................................................... 49 Vocabulary .................................................................................................... 51 Lesson 7 ............................................................................................................. 55 1. Prepositions and postpositions .................................................................. 55 2. Expressions of motion ............................................................................... 56 3. The genitive of complement...................................................................... 57 Vocabulary .................................................................................................... 58 Lesson 8 ............................................................................................................. 62 1. Declension of Personal Pronouns.............................................................. 62 2. Possessive adjectives and pronouns .......................................................... 63 3. The Present and Imperfect Indicative of some common verbs.................. 64 4. Verbs with more than one subject ............................................................. 66 Vocabulary .................................................................................................... 67 Lesson 9 ............................................................................................................. 71 1. The Future Indicative ................................................................................ 71 2. The Future Indicative in the Past............................................................... 71 3. Declension of nouns (part B): the -ou declension..................................... 72 4. Expressions of time (part 1) ...................................................................... 73 Vocabulary .................................................................................................... 76 Lesson 10 ........................................................................................................... 80 1. The Aorist Indicative (part 1).................................................................... 80 2. Abstract nouns in -ouj\oun........................................................................ 81 Vocabulary .................................................................................................... 83 Lesson 11 ........................................................................................................... 87 1. The Relative/Interrogative Pronoun .......................................................... 87 2. The Imperative of regular verbs ................................................................ 88 Vocabulary .................................................................................................... 89 Lesson 12 ........................................................................................................... 93 1. Cardinal Numbers ..................................................................................... 93 2. Reduplicated numerals .............................................................................. 94 3. Ordinal Numbers ....................................................................................... 94 4. Fractions.................................................................................................... 95 5. Prices ......................................................................................................... 95 6. Use of numbers in expressions of dates..................................................... 96 Vocabulary .................................................................................................... 98 Lesson 13 ......................................................................................................... 101 1. Interrogative/relative pronouns ............................................................... 101 2. Object clauses.......................................................................................... 103 Vocabulary .................................................................................................. 105 Lesson 14 ......................................................................................................... 109 1. The Perfect and Pluperfect ...................................................................... 109

2. The Perfect and Pluperfect Negative....................................................... 109 3. Some kinship terms ................................................................................. 110 4. The declension of ser ‘love’................................................................... 112 Vocabulary .................................................................................................. 113 Lesson 15 ......................................................................................................... 117 1. Comparison ............................................................................................. 117 2. Indefinite pronouns ................................................................................. 118 3. Negative pronouns................................................................................... 119 4. Indefinite adjectives ................................................................................ 119 5. Indefinite pronouns ................................................................................. 119 Vocabulary .................................................................................................. 120 Lesson 16 ......................................................................................................... 124 1. The Aorist Indicative (part 2): Irregular verbs, A................................... 124 2. The Perfect and Pluperfect of irregular verbs, A..................................... 125 3. The -en plural ....................................................................................... 126 Vocabulary .................................................................................................. 127 Lesson 17 ......................................................................................................... 131 1. Uses of the -a6 participle....................................................................... 131 2. The declension of spatial postpositions ................................................... 132 3. Postpositions with articles ....................................................................... 133 Vocabulary .................................................................................................. 134 Lesson 18 ......................................................................................................... 137 1. Reciprocal pronouns................................................................................ 137 2. Reflexive pronouns ................................................................................. 137 3. Distributive pronouns.............................................................................. 137 4. Distributive numbers ............................................................................... 138 Vocabulary .................................................................................................. 139 Lesson 19 ......................................................................................................... 143 1. The Aorist Indicative (part 3): Irregular verbs, B................................... 143 2. The Perfect and Pluperfect of irregular verbs, B ..................................... 145 Vocabulary .................................................................................................. 147 Lesson 20 ......................................................................................................... 151 1. Formation of adverbs .............................................................................. 151 2. Imperatives of irregular verbs, A............................................................. 152 Category 1. Verbs with infixed -n- in the present stem.......................... 152 Category 7. Verbs with different roots for the present and aorist stems. 153 Vocabulary .................................................................................................. 154 Lesson 21 ......................................................................................................... 158 1. Nouns with Genitive in -an.................................................................... 158 2. The inner -a- declension ....................................................................... 159 3. Some irregular declensions .................................................................... 159 Vocabulary .................................................................................................. 161 Lesson 22 ......................................................................................................... 165

8 1. Imperatives of irregular verbs, B............................................................. 165 2. ‘To wear’................................................................................................. 166 Vocabulary .................................................................................................. 168 Lesson 23 ......................................................................................................... 172 1. The Subjunctive Mood ........................................................................... 172 1.1. Some uses of the Subjunctive .......................................................... 172 2. The Obligatory Mood.............................................................................. 175 2.1. Some uses of the Obligatory............................................................ 176 Vocabulary .................................................................................................. 177 Lesson 24 ......................................................................................................... 181 Uses of the Infinitive ................................................................................... 181 1. As a verbal participle the Infinitive is found in:...................................... 181 2. Substantivized infinitives ........................................................................ 181 Vocabulary .................................................................................................. 184 Lesson 25 ......................................................................................................... 187 1. The Passive.............................................................................................. 187 2. Uses of the Passive.................................................................................. 188 Vocabulary .................................................................................................. 192 Lesson 26 ......................................................................................................... 196 1. The Conditional Mood ............................................................................ 196 2. Some uses of the Conditional Mood ....................................................... 197 3. Conditional sentences.............................................................................. 199 Vocabulary .................................................................................................. 201 Lesson 27 ......................................................................................................... 205 1. Declension............................................................................................... 205 2. Time of day ............................................................................................. 206 3. Derivatives in -akan .............................................................................. 207 Vocabulary .................................................................................................. 209 Lesson 28 ......................................................................................................... 212 Participles (continued)................................................................................. 212 1. The present participle .............................................................................. 212 1.1. Examples of usage........................................................................... 212 2. The -is participle .................................................................................... 213 3. Verbal adjectives in -i ........................................................................... 213 Vocabulary .................................................................................................. 215 Lesson 29 ......................................................................................................... 219 1. Result clauses .......................................................................................... 219 2. Concessive clauses .................................................................................. 220 3. Some simple expressions of politeness ................................................... 220 Vocabulary .................................................................................................. 223 Lesson 30 ......................................................................................................... 227 Causative verbs ........................................................................................... 227 1. Causatives with -…n-................................................................................ 227

2. Causatives with tal................................................................................ 228 2.1. Examples of usage........................................................................... 228 2.2. The passive of causatives ................................................................ 229 Vocabulary .................................................................................................. 230 Lesson 31 ......................................................................................................... 234 1. Days and months ..................................................................................... 234 2. Usage of case forms (-i declension) ....................................................... 234 3. Dates........................................................................................................ 235 4. Age .......................................................................................................... 235 Lesson 32 ......................................................................................................... 237 Lesson 33 ......................................................................................................... 240 Lesson 34 ......................................................................................................... 244 Lesson 35 ......................................................................................................... 250 Lesson 36 ......................................................................................................... 253 Appendix 1: Vowel Alternations ..................................................................... 256 1. Vowel Sequences .................................................................................... 257 Appendix 2: Consonant Clusters...................................................................... 258 1. Clusters of two consonants...................................................................... 258 A. Word-initial ...................................................................................... 258 B. Word-medial ..................................................................................... 259 C. Word-final......................................................................................... 259 2. Clusters of three consonants.................................................................... 260 A. Word-initial ...................................................................................... 260 B. Word-medial ..................................................................................... 260 C. Word-final.......................................................................................... 260 3. Clusters of four consonants .................................................................... 261 A. Word-initial ...................................................................................... 261 B. Word-medial ..................................................................................... 261 C. Word-final.......................................................................................... 262 4. Clusters of five consonants...................................................................... 262 A. Word-initial ...................................................................................... 262 B. Word-medial ..................................................................................... 263 C. Word-final.......................................................................................... 263 5. Clusters of six consonants ....................................................................... 263 A. Word-initial ...................................................................................... 263 B. Word-medial ..................................................................................... 263 C. Word-final.......................................................................................... 263 6. Suffixes ................................................................................................... 263 Appendix 3: Countries and People................................................................... 265 1. The five continents (ma\r zamaqn;re)............................................... 265 2. The country suffix -stan...................................................................... 265 3. The country suffix -ia ........................................................................... 265 4. Miscellaneous countries .......................................................................... 266

10 5. Miscellaneous regions ............................................................................. 266 6. Some Armenian communities in the Diaspora ........................................ 266 Appendix 4: The Conjugation of Regular Verbs.............................................. 267 Appendix 5: The Most Common Declensions ................................................. 268 1. Genitive in -i .......................................................................................... 268 2. Genitive in -ou ......................................................................................... 268 3. Genitive in -an ....................................................................................... 268 4. Genitive in -o= ........................................................................................ 269 5. Genitive in -wa....................................................................................... 269 6. Genitive in -z .......................................................................................... 270 7. The inner -a-declension ........................................................................ 270 8. The inner -o-declension.......................................................................... 271 9. Some irregularities .................................................................................. 271 Appendix 6: Glossaries .................................................................................... 272 English-Armenian ....................................................................................... 272 Armenian-English ....................................................................................... 308

The Armenian Alphabet

1

UPPER CASE

lower case

A B G D :

a b g d ;

X H E J V I L > ^ K F } Ò Y M { N < O

x h e j v i l . 6 k f ] [ y m \ n , o

C P Ô Â S W T R Z — " Q Ó

c p = 5 s w t r z u ' q 7

Transcription Symbol a b g d e (word-initial) ye z e å (schwa) t zh i l kh ts k h dz gh ch m y n sh o (word-initial) vo ch p j r (trilled) s v t r ts v p k o

Except when followed by w.

English Example far Ben give dark pen yes zoo pen about top leisure magazine low German Bach hats skill hat adze Frenchrue mischief mat yes no ship note vote1 church spot judge Spanish carro seat vote steep rest hats vote pen kid note

Numerical value 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000

12 ‡ Ou

` ou

f u

fat chute

-

Pronunciation Notes • Eastern Armenian {' j q z c} are heavily aspirated. In other words, a large puff of air comes out of the mouth when these consonants are pronounced. The same is true of their English equivalents {p t k ts ch} when pronounced at the beginning of a word, as in par, tar, car, etc. • The consonants {p t k 6 y} are not aspirated; in other words, very little air comes out of the mouth when they are pronounced. This unaspirated set of consonants sounds very similar to English {p t k ts ch} when pronounced after an s, as in spar, star, scar, etc. • The difference between r and 5 is very similar to the difference between Spanish r and trilled rr, as in caro ‘expensive’ vs. carro ‘car’. • The uvular sounds . and [ are produced by pulling the back of the tongue very close to the uvula, which is the little flap of tissue hanging down from the back of the mouth. The Armenian [ sounds very much like the French, German, and Hebrew pronunciation of r.

Lesson 1 1. Personal pronouns The Armenian personal pronouns are: 1st person 2nd person 3rd person

Singular ;s dou na, inqe2

Plural m;nq douq nranq, ir;nq

There is no grammatical distinction of gender in Armenian; for example, na can mean ‘he’, ‘she’, or ‘it’. The demonstrative pronouns sa ‘this one’ and da ‘that one’ (plural sranq, dranq) can also be used in the 3rd person, especially when referring to inanimate objects. (See Lessons 3.3, 8.2). As in French and German, the 2nd person singular is used only to address friends or relatives, the polite form of address being the plural, which is capitalized when written: Douq. For detailed treatment of this point see Lesson 3.3b. 2. Present Indicative of the auxiliary verb ‘be’ 2a. Declarative Sentences 1st person 2nd person 3rd person

Singular ;m ;s h

Plural ;nq ;q ;n

The non-literary form a is often used instead of the literary 3rd person singular form h (except in negative sentences): e.g. Girqn o2ur a! Where is the book? As with the forms of the verb ‘be’ above, all other Armenian verbs are specified for person and number in all tenses and moods. Consequently, the subject of a sentence (particularly when it is a personal pronoun) need not accompany the verb, except when one wishes to convey emphasis or clarity. Note that the verbal forms ;m etc. are not stressed, and do not attach a glide to the initial ;-, which in this case is pronounced like the e in English pen, e.g.: 2

In fact, the pronoun inqe (pl. ir;nq) is historically related to the semantic component ‘self’, and is involved in the formation of reflexive pronouns; see Lesson 18.2.

14 A\st;[ ;m ([aystégh em], not *[aystégh yem]) ‘here I am’ Generally in Armenian the word order of narrative sentences is much less restricted than in English. e.g.

Na a\st;[ h! He is here. Na h a\st;[! He is here. (It is he who is here.) A\st;[ h na! Here he is.

Note that as a general rule the auxiliary verb ‘be’ immediately follows the word that is the focus of the sentence. 2b. Interrogative Sentences Questions are generally expressed by intonation rather than by changing word order. As a general rule, the word that is the focus of the question is pronounced with a high tone (noted by a question mark 2 after the stressed vowel). This word is normally an interrogative expression (a), but may also be a regular word (b) a)

(Douq) incp;2s ;q! Nranq o2ur ;n!

How are you? Where are they?

b)

Nranq a\st;2[ ;n! Nra2nq ;n a\st;[! A\st;2[ ;n nranq!

Are they here? (neutral word order) Are they here? Are they here?

As in 2a, the auxiliary verb immediately follows the word that is the focus of the sentence. 3. The Negative The negative particle is oc ‘no, not’. With verbs this reduces to c-, prefixed to the conjugated component of the verb. e.g.

A\st;[ ch! A\st;2[ ;n! Oc, a\st;[ c;n!

(S)he/it is not here. Are they here? No, they are not here.

Note the use of ch as a general negative in colloquial speech; the parallel of this usage in affirmative contexts is fa, roughly equivalent to English ‘yeah’. e.g.

A\st;2[ ;n!

Are they here?

Ch, a\st;[ c;n! No, they are not here. Yi,t h, ch2! That’s right, isn’t it? (In this phrase ch cannot be replaced by oc). Cf. also Lesson 2.4. 4. Articles a) The definite article in Armenian is the suffix -e (-n after a vowel or when the following word begins with a vowel). e.g.

fa\re girqe katoun jiwe

the father the book the cat the number

16 Vocabulary ampot a\nt;[ a\o a\st;[ an]r8ot ar8ot bar8 bari gi,;r girq gor6 dou douq ;[anak ;s ;w (8) ;r;ko hl jiw incp;2s inqe ir;nq law lou\s katou fa famar (n.) fa\ fa\;r;n fa\r yi,t ma\r mard m;nq na (inqe) nranq (ir;nq) ,at ,norfakalouj\oun ,og

cloudy there yes here rainy sunny hello! kind; well (response) night book work, job; task, business you (sing.) you (pl.); polite form weather; season I and evening also, too number, figure; year (colloquial) how? he/she/it they good; well light cat yes, yeah (colloq.) number; telephone number Armenian (n. and adj.) in the Armenian language (adverbial); the Armenian language (n.) father right, correct; exact, precise (adj. and adv.) mother man we he, she, it they very; (too) much, many thank you hot (adj. and noun.)

o2nz oc ort;2[ ch sa5e (sa5n before a vowel) wat taq t[a zt;souj\oun ou o2ur 7d

how (colloq.) no where? no cold bad(ly) (adj. and adv.) warm; hot boy; son (colloq.) good-bye; au revoir and where to? where?(colloq.) air

Greetings Bar8 jez! Bar8! Bari lou\s! Bari lou\s! Bari ;r;ko! Bari ;r;ko! Bari gi,;r! Bari gi,;r! (or Lou\s bari!) ;loqin m;k asa, fimarin` faxar!

254 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79.

>n]ore 6a5iz f;5ou ci enkni! ^a5n ir ptou[ow h yanacwoum! ^i6a[i w;r=e laz h! Katwi .a[, mkan maf! Karkoute 6;6a6 t;[n h 6;6oum! Karmir kowe ir ka,in ci 'o.i! Kou\rn inc h ouxoum` xou\g acq! Fala6 \ou[i t;[ endoun;l! Famb;rouj\oune k\anq h! Fast ou barak mi gin h! Far8ani farse siroun h linoum! Far\ouri k;se fisoun h! Fogse zaw h b;roum, zawe` maf! ¢;5qe 'ak h! ¢8;l cgiti, mkrate ];5qiz za6 ci dnoum! ¢ou go[azo[e ]i hl kgo[ana! ¢ouke gl.iz h fotoum! Ya,akin enk;r cka! Mardous acqe 6ak h! Mi .;lqe law h, ;rkousn` aw;li law! Mi 6a[kow garoun ci ga! Minc8 cga w;r=ine, ci fi,wi a5a=ine!