To speak pure Armenian today is a rare phenomenon. For centuries, Armenia was ruled by the Mongol–Tatarian rulers, by the Seljuk–Turks and the Persian Empire. Still, we managed to remain Armenian. Part of that is thanks to our mother tongue.
So what about today?
In the two decades since Soviet independence, we’ve lost our habit to speak true Armenian. Words like “OK” and “Bye” have made their way into the lexicon, particularly that of young boys and girls. They think that because this is the 21st century, we need to “develop” and adopt a new lingo. But is this really development? If we continue to develop this way, many Armenians will lose out on learning pure and true Armenian. As we let these changes seep into our society, our golden mother language will disappear; only to one day lay dormant behind the glass in Yerevan’s Matenadaran.
I don’t know what to do. Perhaps, we should let those with such mentality enjoy breaking our language apart.
The rest of us will fight back.
Satenik Asatryan is one of this year’s Margaret Ajemian Ahnert Journalism Scholars.