Abstract

None of the eight Old Armenian diphthongs (comp. եա, էա, էի, էո, իա, իե, իէ, իո) is a direct representative of the common Indo-European diphthongal system. Though the comparative Indo-European Studies restores the diphthong Վէմ համահայկական հանդես, ԺԵ (ԻԱ) տարի, թիվ 2 (82), ապրիլ-հունիս, 2023 in the IE base language, the Armenian էի (Ɲi) does not reflect either this or any other IE diphthong. As a matter of fact, it comes to represent the IE pattern of the verb stem *-oi (> է) +*-i (-ի) ending. The other diphthongs also display a varied origin. Two of them - էա (Ɲa) and իե (ie)- are the results of word forming processes observed within the Armenian language, though certain Greek borrowings also contain examples with this phonemic sequence. Etymologically, եա (ea) and իա (ia) diphthongs are not homogenous, either.

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