History and recent developments in the classification of Armenian dialects

The aim of this paper is to outline the history of the classification of numerous Armenian dialects and to identify current trends in the field. The dialects are classified according to several principles, including geographical, morphological, phonetic, and multi-feature approaches. Hrachya Acharyan’s morphological classification is based on the formation of the present tense. It distinguishes three kinds of such formations, and, accordingly, three groups of dialects. This approach was developed in the works of Ararat Gharibyan, who identified new branches. However, it was later criticized for neglecting the historical principle, and today there is no general consensus on the number of groups. Within Gharibyan’s phonetic classification, dialects are distinguished based on the changes in plosives and affricates, yielding four groups and seven subtypes. Gevorg Jahukyan’s multi‑feature approach takes into account 100 phonetic and morphological features, classifying the idioms of 120 sites into 44 dialects and “transitional dialects”. When extending the multi‑feature approach to new data, it needs to be improved to overcome the limitations of the original study—for example, by studying dialectal differences not only in terms of phonetics and morphology but also in terms of syntax.