This map shows the regions
of the world where Armenian is commonly spoken (red circle).
The Armenians penetrated this region near the Black Sea sometime
between 700 and 500 BCE, where they displaced the Thracians
and Macedonians. The language is marked by a shifting of certain
consonants unlike those of other Indo-European languages.
Like
the south Caucasus languages, Armenian also lacks grammatical
gender. Armenian vocabulary is something of a hodge-podge
with
borrowings from Greek, Turkish, and Semitic languages. Most
scholars place it its own unique branch of Indo-European,
but
some suggest it might have developed out of the Iranian branch.
| Daniel M. Short originally created this
map and the other Indo-European language charts for his website at http://www.danshort.com/.
I reproduce these images here with the author's permission, but they are
copyrighted by Daniel Short as of 2002. These charts should not be reproduced
or reused without Mr. Short's approval. You may contact him at danshort@gte.net
for more information. These images are not public domain. |