{{Short description|Modern vernacular form of the Armenian language}} '''Modern Armenian''' ({{langx|hy|աշխարհաբար}}, ''ashkharhabar'' or ''ašxarhabar'', literally the "secular/lay language") is the modern vernacular (vulgar) form of the Armenian language.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nichanian |first1=Marc |title=Mourning Philology: Art and Religion at the Margins of the Ottoman Empire |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780823255245 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=IYjnCwAAQBAJ&dq=ashkharhabar+language&pg=PA41 41] Oxford University Press |quote=...our vulgar language [ashkharhabar]...}}</ref> Although it first appeared in the 14th century, it was not until the 18-19th centuries that it became the dominant form of written Armenian, as opposed to Classical Armenian (''grabar'' or the "language of the book").<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nersessian |first1=Vrej |authorlink1=Vrej Nersessian |title=The Bible in the Armenian Tradition |date=2001 |publisher=Getty Publications |isbn=9780892366408 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=7tSkalMzNvkC&dq=ashkharhabar+language&pg=PA36 36]}}</ref> It has two standardized forms: Western Armenian and Eastern Armenian, mostly spoken—in the 19th century—in the Ottoman and Russian empires, respectively.
The first novel written in Modern Armenian is Khachatur Abovian's ''Wounds of Armenia'', first published posthumously in 1858.<ref>{{cite book|last=Nichanian|first=Marc|title=Writers of Disaster: Armenian Literature in the Twentieth Century|year=2002|publisher=Gomidas Institute|location=Princeton, NJ|isbn=9781903656099|page=87}}</ref> Besides Abovian, other prominent advocates of the use of Modern Armenian were Mikayel Nalbandian<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Bardakjian |editor1-first=Kevork B. |title=A Reference Guide to Modern Armenian Literature, 1500-1920: With an Introductory History |date=2000 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |isbn=9780814327470 |page=[https://archive.org/details/referenceguideto00bard/page/138 138] |url=https://archive.org/details/referenceguideto00bard/page/138 }}</ref> and Raphael Patkanian.<ref>{{cite book|last=Adalian|first=Rouben Paul|title=Historical Dictionary of Armenia|year=2010|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Lanham, Maryland|isbn=978-0-8108-7450-3|authorlink=Rouben Paul Adalian|page=xlvii}}</ref> Pataknian's father, Gabriel, published ''Ararat'', the first Modern Armenian periodical in the Russian-controlled Caucasus.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hacikyan|first1=Agop Jack|authorlink1=Agop Jack Hacikyan|last2=Basmajian|first2=Gabriel|last3=Franchuk|first3=Edward S.|last4=Ouzounian|first4=Nourhan|title=The Heritage of Armenian Literature: From the eighteenth century to modern times|year=2005|publisher=Wayne State University Press|location=Detroit|isbn=9780814332214|page=316}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Suny |first1=Ronald Grigor |authorlink1=Ronald Grigor Suny |title=Looking Toward Ararat: Armenia in Modern History |date=1993 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=9780253207739 |page=[https://archive.org/details/lookingtowardara00rona/page/59 59] |url=https://archive.org/details/lookingtowardara00rona/page/59 }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Armenian language}} Category:Armenian language