The development of the Classical Armenian aorist in modern dialects

Martirosyan G. Razvitiye drevnearmyanskogo aorista v sovremennykh dialektakh. Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. 153.

This paper aims to present a sketch on the development of the Classical Armenian aorist in the dialects with particular attention on Hamšen, Aramo, and other peripheral dialects, as well as some related issues, such as the aorist augment e- and the vowel -a- of the first person plural endings in the aorist and imperfect paradigms. The treatment of paradigms demonstrates that various analogical developments have taken place in dialects. Some peripheral dialects preserve archaic features. One finds more than one line of developments from Classical Armenian to modern dialects (not always through Middle Armenian). Inscriptions from North-East of historical Armenia in the 11th century onwards deviate from Middle Armenian but correspond to a dialectal development in Aramo (Syria), the farthest and most isolated dialect in the South-West corner.