The Dialect of Hadjin and its Characteristics

Author: Nora Sarafian-Tachjian, 25/08/20 (Last modified 25/08/20) - Translator: Simon Beugekian

The region known as Hadjin, and which has historically been called Harkan and Ache, has given birth to its own unique dialect of Armenian. This dialect is an amalgam of classical Armenian and Cilician vernacular. Hadjin, alongside the neighboring city of Zeytun, was located in the Armenian-speaking region of Cilicia.

The people of Hadjin historically spoke a purer form of Armenian. However, due to the natural and often forced movements and displacements of the population, the local language evolved into a discrete dialect. Like other provincial Armenian dialects, the Hadjin dialect borrows from Greek, Farsi, Kurdish, and Turkish.

There is still a small number of people around the world who speak the Hadjin dialect. Their ability to retain their native tongue was predicated on many factors, including the environment in which they grew up, their knowledge and use of conventional Armenian, and the type of relationship they had with their elders (who used the dialect as a language of daily communication). The dialect used by these surviving speakers has changed over time, due to outside influences.

Etymological investigations, including dialectological studies, can only be undertaken properly when we establish the applicable dialect’s geographic range, the historical patterns of movement and travel of the population that speaks it, and the interactions that this population had with other people and languages. The usage of the same dialect in geographically disconnected areas is evidence of the speakers’ migratory movements. From a linguistic perspective, the study of dialects offers a crucial opportunity to study the influence of environment on language and to determine the origins of non-native words. Thus, dialectological investigations also contribute to our understanding of demography and anthropology.

The first comprehensive, theoretical study of Armenian dialects was Hrachia Acharian’s Hay Parparakidoutyun (Ourvakidz yev Tasavoroutyun Hay Parparneri) [Armenian Dialectology (Overview and Classification of Armenian Dialects)] (Moscow, Nor Nakhichevan, 1911). This was the first documented attempt to codify and classify Armenian dialects based on a single essential linguistic attribute: how they formed the indicative present tense and indicative past progressive tense.

According to Acharian’s system, Armenian dialects can be classified into three main branches – ԿԸ [gu], ՈՒՄ [oum], and ԵԼ [el-yel]. Based on this taxonomy, the Hadjin dialect belongs to the ԿԸ branch.

This classification system, based on a single defining trait, leads to an effective taxonomy. However, it does not fully explain the complications of and inter-relations between various Armenian dialects. It also makes no distinctions between the categories of dialect groups, dialects, and vernacular. After studying these issues, Kevork Djahougian created the foundations for a multi-faceted scientific classification of Armenian dialects in his work Hay Parparakidoutyan Neradzoutyun [An Overview of Armenian Dialectology] (Yerevan, 1972). According to Djahougian’s taxonomy, the Hadjin dialect is a sub-branch of the southwestern (Cilician) dialect group.

Djahougian’s classification takes into account various lexical, grammatical, and phonetic characteristics of spoken languages, which are then compared during the process of classification. In this article, we will attempt to use these same principles to analyze the Hadjin dialect, or, as its practitioners call it, the Hadjno lizou.

Those who are not proficient in this dialect often find it odd and difficult to understand. However, once they become accustomed to its inflections and other characteristics, they quickly grasp that it is simply a derivative of conventional Armenian.

The variety of phonetic permutations in the Hadjin dialect can be compared to the variety found in the Zeytun dialect.

In this article, we will examine many of the characteristics of the Hadjin dialect. We have omitted any technical study of the dialect’s phonetic system.

A defining characteristic of Cilician dialects is the replacement of the stressed vowel ա (a) with օ (o). For example, panal (to open) becomes panol (Zeytun dialect); g’ertam (I’m going) becomes gashdom (Hadjin dialect); kaghak (city) becomes kaghok (Marash dialect).

The people of Hadjin pronounced the consonant ռ (ṙ) as ր (r). As for the consonant ր, it was replaced by the semivowel յ (y).

Most Armenian consonants retained their original pronunciation in the Hadjin dialect, with the following exceptions and special cases:

The declension of nouns follows conventional Armenian grammatical rules – with the addition of suffixes to the end of the words.

For example, dzar (tree), dzari (of the tree), dzare (from the tree), dzarov (with the tree). Hats (bread), hatsi (of the bread), hatse (from the bread), hatsov (with the bread).

Of course, in the Hadjin dialect, the words are pronounced dzor, dzori, dzore, dzorov/hots, hotsi, hotse, hotsov.

Like conventional Armenian, the Hadjin dialect has two classes of verbs, regular and irregular. They are conjugated accordingly, just as they are in conventional Armenian.

In the present tense, verbs retain the particle ge. In the future tense, the particle bidi is replaced by bi. In the subjunctive, yete is replaced by te. In the negative imperative, the particle mi remains unchanged. For example:

Kalel (to walk): ge kelem (I am walking), bikelem (I will walk), te kelem (if I walk), mi kele (don’t walk).

When the verb begins with a vowel, the ge became a g’. For example, g’enie, meaning he/she/it does.

The verbs oudel (to eat), yertal (to go), and ouzel (to want) are exceptions and do not require the use of the particle ge.

The conjugation of irregular verbs is more complicated, as it is in every language. For example, the conjugation of the verb oudel (to eat):

• Present tense: g’avdiem, g’avdies, g’avdie
• Simple past tense: geyo, geyoy, geyov
• Future tense: b’oudiem, b’oudes, b’oude
• Imperative: m’oudey, m’oudek
• Subjunctive:  te oudem, te oudes, te oude

Examples of the conjugation of the three main types of Armenian verbs:

• Example of verbs with the ել (el) suffix: vazel-vaziel (to run)
• Example of verbs with the իլ (il) suffix: haknil (to dress)
• Example of verbs with the ալ (al) suffix: hazal-hazol (to cough)

- vi – archuvi (in the Hadjin dialect); archevi (conventional Armenian); in front (English).
- vouey – halivouey; alevor; grizzled | dzoutsvouey; dzotsvor; pregnant.
- oued – yeghoued; yughod; oily | mazoued; mazod; hairy.
- gon – lalgon; lalgan; weepy | baydgon; bardagan; indebted.
- von – iygvon; irigvan; of the evening | shiyvon; kishervan; of the night.
- onk – meyonk; mayrenk; of the mothers.
- vodzk – khosvodzk; khosvadzk; speech | kilvodzk; kalvadzk; gait.
- vouts – idivouts; yedeven; from behind.

In the Hadjin dialect, plurals are formed in several ways:

• - ni: tkalni; tkalner; spoons | urzanki; Abrankner; possessions | tsyanni; tsyer; horses.
• - sdanni: hikisdanni; hokiner; souls | ekisdanni; aykiner; orchards.
• - niey: lerniey; lerner; mountains | dzarniey; dzaraner; servants | turniey; trner; doors.
• - iey: koughiey; kogher; thieves | khoudiey; khoder; grasses | goutiey; goter; handles.
• - dek: aghpiydek; yeghpayrner; brothers | aghchgundek; aghchigner; girls | bulzdek; bzdigner; children | gundek; giner; women.
• - ik: osgik; vosginer; golds | moytik; marter; people.
• - vuni: tservuni; tserker; hands | kutvuni; kiter; noses.
• - vouenk: tservouenk; tserkerov; with the hands.

Giyegi (Giragi; Sunday)
Eygoushepti (Yergoushapti; Monday)
Iyekshepti (Yerekshapti; Tuesday)
Bakey (Chorekshapti; Wednesday)
Hinkshepti (Hinkshapti; Thursday)
Ouypot (Ourpat; Friday)
Shapot (Shapat; Saturday)

Vaygyon (vayrgyan; minute)
Sahat (jam; hour)
Dihiy (tar; century)
Ey (meg; one)
Eygey (yergou; two)
Amis (amis; month)
Dayi (dari; year)
Shafokh (ardou ganoukh; early morning)
Geaey (gesor; noon)
Iyguvon (irigoun; evening)

Below, we present the transcripts of two recorded conversations with two different speakers of the Hadjin dialect, alongside their English translations. The first speaker is Boghos Ganachian (1929-2017), born in the Nor Hadjin (New Hadjin) neighborhood of Lebanon. The second speaker is Yeghisapet Tapanian-Oghloukian (1943-2019), also born in the Nor Hadjin neighborhood of Lebanon.

These two conversations are evidence that the Hadjin dialect, despite some of the changes it sustained over time, always retained its nature as a fundamentally Armenian dialect. The two transcripts are snapshots of the dialect as spoken by different generations.