The distortions of the mother language concern most Armenian intellectuals, and among them is well-known linguist and one of those fighting against distortion of the Armenian language, Davit Gyurjinyan. In an interview for Hayern Aysor, Gyurjinyan and I talked about the distortions of the mother language and the way to eliminate them-an issue that still needs to be solved.

Karine Avagyan: Mr. Gyurjinyan, as a well-known and reputable linguist, how would you assess the current state of the Armenian language?

Davit Gyurjinyan: As a language, a means of formation of thinking and communication and a way of accumulating the life experiences of us Armenians and Armenian culture, the Armenian language is in an excellent state. Our national language is perfect and strictly statutory. It has a rich vocabulary, a number of locutions and words and combinations, and we all know this. The Armenian language continues to develop.

However, when we touch upon the use of the Armenian language, the picture is totally different. We the users of the Armenian language don’t fully use the rich vocabulary of our language. We often distort spoken Armenian with foreignisms, vulgarities and street expressions…We are not attentive when choosing this or that grammatical form, and we combine sentences with mistakes.

Armenian is being distorted everywhere and at every step of the way.

If we walk on the streets of our cities, we will see foreign words on the tops of shops and diners, and very often those words are in foreign languages.

If we turn on the television, we will be terrified by the Armenian used during television programs. As for the Armenian used in soap operas, some soap operas deserve to be cancelled.

If we turn on the radio, we won’t want to turn it on again after listening to the insipid and pointless lyrics of the songs that are broadcast on certain radio stations.

If we read, say, an Armenian language textbook of a 9^th grader, we will immediately ask ourselves the following question: Which century are we living in?

If we sit in an Armenian language class, we will definitely think to ourselves-Where is the precious and “royal” Armenian language?

Even after we briefly get acquainted with Armenian language exams, we won’t want to improve our knowledge of Armenian, even though those exams have nothing to do with knowledge of Armenian.

If we listen to some deputies of the National Assembly, we won’t come back to our senses to seek the meaning…

Karine Avagyan: How can we start fighting against distortions of the language? Could you indicate the paths?

Davit Gyurjinyan: It seems as though the problems that I mentioned can be solved one-by-one, but in reality, they are all interconnected. It is necessary to radically change our attitude towards the Armenian language. The establishment of law and order and the formation of a healthy atmosphere will highly contribute to that. You might ask yourself how. If elections are fair, certain people must not enter the National Assembly. If people are hired based on their knowledge and abilities, there shouldn’t be so many “enemies” of the Armenian language. If the tenders for the development of textbooks are fair, schools won’t have bad textbooks, and so on…

Karine Avagyan: Is it possible to give a clear solution by moving this issue to the legal level?

Davit Gyurjinyan: I already mentioned (perhaps indirectly) the paths for legal solutions. We must also make efforts for the development of national self-awareness. The citizen of Armenia, who will be vested with high level of national self-awareness, must not open a diner with a sign in a foreign language and must not have an establishment that is foreign. If we work hard in this direction, we will most probably be in a better situation at least in terms of the external appearance of cities.

Karine Avagyan: On February 21, we celebrate International Mother Language Day. The RA Ministry of Diaspora introduced the holiday and best celebrates the holiday with various events, including a visit to Oshakan, an essay contest for Diaspora Armenian schoolchildren, book presentations, roundtable discussions, a teleconference, etc. However, unfortunately, few members of our society are aware of this holiday. What else do you think is necessary to do to make the holiday more popular?

Davit Gyurjinyan: During the discussions, the participants must analyze the proposals and criticism and clearly record what was done and not done, why it was not done and when it will be done. If not, we will continue to say the same things, but make few changes. The problems must be solved in practice.

Karine Avagyan: Will we be able to combine our efforts to preserve the mother language and make sure the Armenian on television, websites, in the National Assembly, in schools and in homes is pure?

Davit Gyurjinyan: If those efforts are goal-oriented, then we surely will. But if we only talk about the problems every year, the situation could become worse. However, I will never let my gun down.

Our interview ended with these words of Davit Gyurjinyan the patriot and the person who loves the Armenian language, with the hope that intellectuals and the society will share their views and combined their efforts to fight against all assaults against the Armenian language, distortions and to make sure the mother language is protected through legislation.

 Karine Avagyan