Language and Dialect
Guess in how many languages the driver's license test can be taken in California. Guess how many of them are Armenian. Here is the list I found at http://www.us-english.org/dl.htm:
Languages Used for Driver's License Exams in California (33): English, Arabic, Eastern Armenian, Assyrian, Cambodian, Chinese, Ethiopian (Amneric), Filipino (Tagalog), French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Persian (Farsi), Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Spanish, Thai, Tongan, Vietnamese, Western Armenian, Serbo-Croatian.
Interesting, isn't it? Can you tell me more about the complexities of the Armenian language?


You can develop one of the following projects or invent your own approach.

A Do you know people who pronounce Armenian words differently from the way you do? What about their manner of speaking, the words they use and their grammar? Is there a difference in the way they write Armenian? Record, describe and explain some different manners of speaking and writing Armenian.

B When you speak Armenian do you use words that we would not find in the dictionary? What slang, jargon, dialect or foreign words do you -and people you know- employ when speaking Armenian? Can you discover the origins of some of those words, and why they are used? Tell me all you know about Armenian slang, recording and analyzing words and their usage.

C Are you familiar with both Eastern and Western Armenian? How do they differ? Who uses each? Can you uncover the origins of the differences? Are there people comfortable with reading and speaking both? Compare and contrast Eastern and Western Armenian, recording and analyzing aspects in which they are different.

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