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Mush dialect (Armenian: Մշոյ բարբառ, Mšo barbař) is a Western Armenian dialect formerly spoken in the city of Mush (Muş) and the historic region of Taron, in present-day eastern Turkey. As a result of the extermination of the native Armenian population during the genocide of 1915, the dialect is almost completely extinct today with only several thousand native speakers in a number of villages in Armenia and three Armenian-populated villages in the Samtskhe-Javakheti province of Georgia.

Mush dialect
Mush
Մշոյ բարբառ
Native to	Georgia, Armenia
Ethnicity	Armenian people
Native speakers	<~3,000[citation needed]
Language family	Indo-European Armenian Western Armenian Mush dialect
Writing system	Armenian alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	(included in hyw)
Glottolog	muss1244

Area spoken

According to Hrachia Adjarian in the early 20th century, the Mush dialect was spoken in the cities of Bitlis, Xizan (Hizan), Khlat (Xlat), Arjesh, Bulanikh, Manazkert, Khnus (Xnus), and Alashkert. The dialect was spread to the west of Lake Van.[2]

During the Russo-Turkish War of (1877–78), Armenians from Mush and Alashkert established villages in the Erivan Governorate: in Aparan and south of Novo-Bayazit (present-day Gavar). According to Adjarian there were 21 Armenian villages in the Erivan Governorate where the Mush dialect was spoken. Another group of Armenians from Khnus settled near Akhalkalaki, particularly in three villages: Heshtia, Toria and Ujmana.[2][3]

According to a 1955 article the Mush dialect was spoken in villages located in the following districts (raion) of Soviet Armenia: Talin, Aparan, Artik, Aghin, Ejmiatsin, and Martuni.[4]

One notable village in Armenia where the dialect is still spoken is Kamo in the northwestern Shirak Province.[5][6]

Notable speakers

• Gegham Ter-Karapetian (Msho Gegham) (1856–1918), writer, poet[7]
• Arabo (1863–1893), fedayi
• Aghbiur Serob (1864–1899), fedayi
• Hrayr Dzhoghk (1864–1904), fedayi
• Kevork Chavush (1870–1907), fedayi
• Makhluto (1872–1956), fedayi
• Armenak Shahmuradyan (1878–1939), singer
• William Saroyan (1908–1981), US-born writer[8]
• Khachik Dashtents (1910–1981), writer

Songs in Mush dialect

• "Zartir lao" - ashugh Fahrat (1890s)
• "Dle yaman" - written down by Komitas Vardapet in early 20th century, performed by Lusine Zakaryan, Flora Martirosian, Isabel Bayrakdarian,
• "Lily" - Armenoids (2007)
• Gulo - Hasmik Harutyunyan

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Baghdasarian, S. (1955). "Դիտողություններ Մշո բարբառի մասին". Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR: Social Sciences (in Armenian). Yerevan: Armenian National Academy of Sciences: 67–82.
• Antosian, S. (1958). "Ուսումնասիրություն Մշո բարբառի մասին". Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR: Social Sciences (in Armenian). Yerevan: Armenian National Academy of Sciences (11): 99–102. Retrieved 28 March 2013.

Further reading

• Patkanov, Kerovbe (1875). Mushkii dialekt [Dialect of Mush] (in Russian). St. Petersburg: Russian Academy of Sciences. — includes folklore genres in Mush dialect
• Mseriants, Levon (1897). Этюды по армянской диалектологии (in Russian). Moscow.
• Adjarian, Hrachia (1909). Classification des dialectes arméniens (in French). Paris: Librairie Honore Champion.
• Baghdasarian-Tapaltsian, S. H. (1958). Msho barbare [The Dialect of Mush] (in Armenian). Yerevan: Armenian National Academy of Sciences. — a wide study on the dialect, includes 15 stories, 710 proverbs, sayings, blessings

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