Mapping Armenian Dialects: State of the Arts

The study of dialects is crucial for understanding the history of a language. Attempts to study Armenian dialects began in the mid-twentieth century and have included single-characteristic and multi-characteristic classifications. However, to this day, there are unresolved issues regarding the complex relationships between dialect units. The creation of a dialectological atlas is an essential tool for a comprehensive examination of dialectological issues. Many languages already have such atlases. Unfortunately, the investigation of Armenian, in this sense, is falling behind, and linguistic geography, which is a research method that can help to study the spatial distribution of linguistic phenomena, has only recently been applied in Armenian studies. Fortunately, efforts are currently underway in Armenian studies to create an Armenian dialectical atlas to fill this gap.