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Font: Armenian
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The invention of the Armenian alphabet in the 5th century AD is attributed to Mesrop Mashtots, a cleric in the Armenian royal court. Mesrop's effort is believed to be the first attempt to put the Armenian language in writing. Until that time, all written communication in Armenia was done in either Greek or Syriac. Originally consisting of only 36 letters, the Armenian alphabet invented by Mesrop represented the phonology of Armenian so well that it has survived basically unchanged for 15 centuries. In the 12th century, phonetic changes and foreign loanwords led to the addition of two new letters for the sounds [o] and [f]. Unchanged since then, contemporary Armenian script consists of 38 basic letters, each of which can appear in either upper or lower case. Armenian is written from left to right and also utilizes a limited number of ligature forms. The order of the alphabet closely resembles that of Greek, demonstrating the then strong influence of that language. Since Armenian has a richer set of sounds than Greek, its alphabet has a larger set of symbols. In devising Armenian script, Mesrop provided a unique symbol for each sound. In spite of the phonetic changes which the language has undergone since then, Armenian script has remained a good phonological fit. In fact, the phonological model of the alphabet is broad enough to accommodate the two regional varieties of Modern Armenian: East and West dialects. The Armenian alphabet is used exclusively for the Armenian language. In contrast to Latin script, the inclined style is the most common typographic style used for Armenian. During the early years of the Soviet Union (1922-40), certain reforms to Armenian script were enacted in Armenia. However, the reforms were short-lived and never affected the practice and tradition of the large Armenian emigrant community. Since the independence of the Republic of Armenia in 1991, there has been a renewed interest in both the Armenian language and its script.
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