VCE Armenian cheat sheet

The Armenian alphabet was created by Mesrop Mashtots around 405 CE; it has 38 letters (31 consonants, 7 vowels), with three added letters (և ligature and օ, ֆ) completing the modern set.

Armenian is an independent branch of Indo-European, not Slavic or Iranian; its closest relative is Greek by many analyses, though the relationship is distant.

Classical Armenian (grabar) is the literary language of the 5th-century Golden Age; the modern standard languages are Eastern Armenian (Armenia, Iran) and Western Armenian (diaspora, formerly Ottoman lands).

Eastern Armenian distinguishes aspirated, unaspirated, and voiced stops (e.g., թ/տ/դ); Western Armenian merged these into a two-way voiced/voiceless contrast, so spelling is shared but pronunciation differs.

Armenian is written left to right with a distinctive alphabet; capital letters correspond to the initial position of proper nouns and sentence starts, with punctuation such as the full stop (։) placed on the baseline.

Basic sentence order in Eastern Armenian is Subject-Object-Verb; modifiers precede nouns, and postpositions (not prepositions) follow their objects.

The verb agrees with the subject in person and number; Armenian lacks grammatical gender, so adjectives and pronouns do not inflect for masculine/feminine.

Key identity markers: the Armenian Apostolic Church (established tradition traced to Gregory the Illuminator, 301 CE), the 5th-century translation of the Bible, and the shared alphabet as a unifying cultural institution.

Historic Armenian homeland (Western Armenia/Anatolia, and Eastern Armenia) lies in the highlands between the Black, Caspian, and Mediterranean seas; Mount Ararat (5,137 m) is the national symbol but lies in present-day Turkey.

The Armenian Genocide of 1915–1918, perpetrated by the Ottoman Young Turk government, killed an estimated 1.5 million Armenians and dispersed survivors into the diaspora.

April 24 is commemorated as Genocide Remembrance Day, marking the arrest of Armenian intellectuals in Constantinople in 1915.

The first Armenian Republic (1918–1920) was followed by Soviet rule (1920–1991); the modern Republic of Armenia declared independence on 21 September 1991.

Diaspora communities are large in Russia, the United States, France, Lebanon, Argentina, and Georgia; the worldwide Armenian population is often estimated at 7–11 million, with roughly 3 million in Armenia.

The Armenian Apostolic Church is a non-Chalcedonian (Oriental Orthodox) church; its head, the Catholicos of All Armenians, resides at Etchmiadzin.

Armenian cuisine and customs: lavash (flatbread, UNESCO-listed), dolma, khorovats; hospitality customs include toasting and the breaking of bread at the table.

Key cultural figures: Sayat-Nova (18th-century ashugh poet), Komitas (ethnomusicologist, 1869–1935), Hovhannes Tumanyan (writer), and Aram Khachaturian (composer).

Register matters: դու (du, informal 'you') vs. դուք (duk, polite/plural 'you'); formal address also uses plural verb forms with singular meaning.

Armenian has no grammatical articles; definiteness is marked by the suffix -ը/-ն (e.g., տունը 'the house'), and indefiniteness by the numeral մեկ or context.

Noun cases include nominative, genitive-dative, accusative, ablative, instrumental, and locative; plural is marked by -ներ or -եր depending on the stem.

The genitive-dative case marks possession and indirect objects; the ablative expresses 'from' and the instrumental expresses 'with/by means of'.

Verb tenses: present (ներկա), past imperfect, simple past (անցյալ կատարյալ), future, and perfect; aspect is expressed through prefix and auxiliary combinations.

Text types for study include personal letters, diary entries, news reports, interviews, advertisements, and literary extracts; each has characteristic layout, register, and formulaic openings/closings.

Cohesion devices: conjunctions such as և ('and'), բայց ('but'), որովհետև ('because'), and discourse markers like ուրեմն ('therefore') organize argument and narrative.

Direct speech is marked with quotation dashes (-) in Armenian typography; reported speech shifts pronouns and verb tense.

Analytical writing requires a clear thesis, evidence from the text (quotation or close reference), and commentary linking evidence to the claim.

When analysing a literary text, distinguish theme (the idea) from motif (a recurring element) and from plot (the sequence of events).

Characterisation can be direct (authorial description) or indirect (through action, dialogue, and others' reactions); cite specific textual moments.

Poetic devices in Armenian verse include alliteration, assonance, metaphor, simile (նման), personification, and repetition; note the effect, not just the label.

Comparing two texts: organise by point of comparison rather than by text, so each paragraph addresses both works.

Persuasive production uses a stated position, ordered arguments, counterargument acknowledgement, and a conclusion that restates the position without new evidence.

Summarising requires condensing to main ideas in one's own words while retaining key names, dates, and causal links; direct quotation should be minimal and attributed.

Editing checklist for Armenian prose: consistent register, correct case endings, agreement of subject and verb, and correct use of the definite suffix -ը/-ն.