The distribution and historical development of 3SG aorist endings in Armenian dialects

This article investigates the evolution of the third-person singular (3sg) aorist endings in the Armenian dialects, focusing on the distribution and origin of the endings -av, -ec‘, -uc‘, -ə, and -u. Drawing on evidence from the Armenian dialects and comparative-historical analysis, it examines how inherited morphology, analogy, and paradigm restructuring have shaped the modern dialectal system. The study argues that only -av continues the Classical Armenian ending -aw, whereas the remaining endings emerged through distinct processes of reanalysis and analogy. Particular attention is devoted to the interaction between transitivity and analogy in the evolution of the aorist paradigm. Although the distribution of -av and -ec‘ was historically conditioned by transitivity in certain dialects, this conditioning was neither absolute nor stable, being subject to competing analogical pressure from synchronically n-suffixed verbs exhibiting mediopassive aorist inflection. The dialectal reflexes of Classical Armenian aṙnum ‘to gain, take’, together with competing forms in the descendants of gam ‘to come’ and berem ‘to carry, bring’, show how successive analogical developments produced diverse patterns of paradigm restructuring while preserving multiple historical layers within individual dialects. The Armenian evidence thus demonstrates that morphological change may unfold over prolonged periods of structured variation, making the Armenian dialects a valuable case study in the interaction of inherited morphology, analogy, and lexical diffusion in inflectional change.