The conference entitled “Our Language is Our Homeland” kicked off at the Session Hall of the chairmanship of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA) on February 20. The conference is organized by the RA Ministry of Diaspora and the Hrachya Atcharyan Language Institute of the NAS RA.

In her opening remarks, RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan congratulated everyone on International Mother Language Day and mentioned that this year’s events were being held as part of the events dedicated to the 100^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. “This conveys a new nuance to the event because the death of the language is also the result of genocide. We must first and foremost state with great pain the loss of the nearly 30 dialects of the Armenian language. The dialects of Akn, Kharberd, Yerznka, Tigranakert, Shapin-Garahisar, Van, Hajn, Sebastia, Marash and several other dialects no longer exist. Those dialects served as the unique manifestations of the Armenian language and were the original expressions of how our nation spoke, thought and created. Most young Armenians today don’t speak Armenian, and that is also due to the genocide,” the minister added.

The minister mentioned that the RA Ministry of Diaspora has declared the dissemination of the Armenian language and improvement of Armenian youth’s knowledge of the Armenian language as the major objectives for this year. She set aside the steps that the Ministry of Diaspora is taking to preserve and disseminate the Mother Language in the Armenian Diaspora and particularly touched upon the “Diaspora” Summer School Program and the “Ari Tun” Program through which Diaspora Armenian children and youth visit the Homeland, start their days by attending lessons on Armenian language and have the unique opportunity to communicate in Armenian. The minister also attached importance to the role of the e-library of the Ministry of Diaspora in preserving the Armenian identity.

“The Ministry of Diaspora has always attached importance to the establishment of one-day Armenian schools in the Armenian Diaspora, and I am pleased to mention that thanks to our efforts, nearly 600 one-day Armenian schools have been established in different Armenian communities over the past six years. One of our great achievements was the creation of Armenian language lessons on television that are broadcast via satellite by Armenian Public Television,” the minister said.

The RA Minister of Diaspora also talked about the Syrian-Armenians and Iraqi-Armenians having settled in Armenia and mentioned that the Ministry of Diaspora organizes accelerated Armenian language courses to help them become socially integrated more quickly and in the right way.

In closing, Minister Hranush Hakobyan called on Armenian youth to consider learning and speaking Armenian their most important and pro-national act, especially on the occasion of the 100^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and to celebrate Mother Language Day not only on February 21^st, but every day of the year.

The RA Minister of Diaspora expressed gratitude to the NAS RA and the Institute of Language of the NAS RA for helping organize these conferences that have already become a tradition every year on International Mother Language Day.

Academician of the Armenian Studies and Social Sciences Division of the NAS RA Yuri Suvaryan gave his welcome speech on behalf of the NAS RA. In his speech, Suvaryan said he was pleased to mention that the RA Ministry of Diaspora not only organizes these conferences, but also organizes a visit to the tomb of Mesrop Mashtots and other events dedicated to International Mother Language Day. Suvaryan mentioned that new problems and new terms are emerging in this age of globalization and that the Armenification and Armenian translations of those terms need to be coordinated. Suvaryan also suggested creating a Supreme Council for the Coordination of the Armenian Language.

In his speech on “Homeland and Language”, Director of the Hrachya Atcharyan Institute of Language at the NAS RA Victor Katvalyan mentioned that the goal of the past two conferences and the current conference is to not only appreciate the role of the mother language in forming a mindset and world views, developing, preserving and maintaining Armenian national identity and cultural originality, consolidating all Armenians and maintaining Armenian statehood and sovereignty, but also discuss and raise various issues relating to the language policy, the functioning and regulation of language, as well as the teaching and study of language that may become topics for professional debates and serve as an impetus for the solution to the existing problems.

Touching upon the issue of the nearly 30 lost dialects, Katvalyan added that whereas a couple of years ago it was possible to gather pieces of those dialects from bearers of those dialects having survived the Armenian Genocide, now there are more and more limited opportunities to do that. Katvalyan also assured that setting norms for and developing the language will be more effective with the presence of a state center for coordination such as the Supreme Council for the Armenian Language.

Director of the Manuk Abeghyan Institute of Literature at the NAS RA Avik Isahakyan delivered a speech on “Avetik Isahakyan and the Armenian Language” and read the following words by the great writer Avetik Isahakyan: “We feel and experience the words in the mother language, but we learn, understand and remember the words in a foreign language…”

Head of the State Language Inspectorate Sergo Yeritsyan talked about the issues relating to books and writings, while President of the Union of Writers of Armenia Eduard Militonyan talked about the characteristics of speech in Armenian poetry.

Head of the Chair of Modern and Contemporary Armenian Literature at the Armenian State Pedagogical University, Director of “Diaspora” Scientific-Educational Center Suren Danielyan talked about the current problems with Western Armenian and mentioned that it was necessary to make Western Armenian a state language, create a state and pan-Armenian council for the Armenian language that will have extraordinary powers and will regulate the database for Western Armenian orthography.

Head of the Chair of Armenian Language of the Faculty of Armenian Philology at Yerevan State University Yuri Avetisyan talked about the main areas of research on modern Armenian.

Professor of Yerevan State University Ruben Sakapetoyan delivered a speech entitled “Western Armenian is not a Disappearing Language”, corresponding member of the NAS RA Aelita Dolukhanyan touched upon Belgian Armenologist Felix Nev’s position on the Armenian language, and lecturer of the Gevorgyan Spiritual Lyceum of Etchmiadzin David Gyurjinyan talked about how the historical fate of the Armenian nation is reflected in the Armenian vocabulary.

Head of the Chair of Armenian Language at Yerevan State Medical University Henrieta Sukiasyan talked about the losses that the Armenian language suffered as a result of the Armenian Genocide, and linguist Hovhannes Zakaryan particularly touched upon those losses. Sukiasyan called the Arab, Persian and Indian students of Yerevan State Medical University to the podium, after which the foreign students expressed their admiration of the Armenian language in Armenian and stressed the fact that they felt more confident and accepted in Armenia after having learned Armenian. They recited the famous poems that great Armenian poets had devoted to the Armenian language.

Several other well-known linguists delivered speeches devoted to the topic.

Summing up the conference, the participants issued a statement calling on all Armenians to love, preserve, use, disseminate the Armenian language and transmit it to the generations, making the greatest contribution to the preservation of the Armenian identity.

The events scheduled for February 20^th will end with a concert devoted to the Mother Language at Arno Babajanyan Concert Hall. The concert will be hosted by Merited Artist of the Republic of Armenia Sargis Najaryan and will feature performances by Merited Artist of the Republic of Armenia Silva Yuzbashyan, soloist Tatevik Yengibaryan from the Arevik Children’s Ensemble of the Public Radio of Armenia, Garni Vocal Ensemble, Tsakhkazard Ensemble, the Mesrop Mashtots Speech Culture Center (Artistic Director Nadya Antonyan), composer Anahit Shahzadeyan, as well as the students of Siamanto School N 162, Varujan School N 89, the schools after Sevak, Siamanto and Varujan and others.