Armenian | |
---|---|
Հայերեն Hayeren | |
Native speakers | 5–7 million[1] |
Indo-European
| |
Early forms | Proto-Armenia
|
Dialects | |
Armenian alphabet | |
Official status | |
Official language in | Armenia Recognized and spoken in: Georgia Turkey Iran Russia Lebanon Cyprus Syria Greece United States |
Regulated by | National Academy of Sciences of Armenia |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 | hy |
ISO 639-2 | arm (B) hye (T) |
ISO 639-3 | Variously:hye – Modern Armenianxcl – Classical Armenianaxm – Middle Armenian |
Linguasphere | 57-AAA-a (31 varieties) |
Armenian (endonym: հայերեն (reformed), հայերէն (classical), hayeren, pronounced [hɑjɛˈɾɛn]) is an Indo-European language and the only member of an independent branch of that language family. It is the native language of the Armenian people and the official language of Armenia. Armenian is written in its own writing system, the Armenian alphabet, introduced in 405 AD by the canonized Saint Mesrop Mashtots. The estimated number of Armenian speakers worldwide is between five and seven million.[2][3]
It is the official language of Armenia, and was the officical language of the separatist Republic of Artsakh, which existed from 1991 until 2023.
The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities all over the world. It is written in its own Armenian alphabet. The language has two standard forms: Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian.
The total number of Armenians in the world is roughly estimated as 7–11 million, of which ca. 5-5.5 million speak Armenian.
About 7 million people speak the Armenian language worldwide.