| Zok | |
|---|---|
| Agulis–Meghri | |
| Native to | originally SENakhichevan |
| Ethnicity | Zoks |
Native speakers | (few) |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | agul1245 |
 Zok | |
Zok language (Armenian:Զոկերեն), also known asAgulis–Meghri, is a variety ofEastern Armenian. It is commonly considered adialect, but isunintelligible to speakers of Standard Eastern Armenian.[1][2] Its speakers refer to it aszokerēn or the "Zok language" or "Agulis dialect". Zok is significantly different from other Armenian varieties, leading to myths about its origins. However, in reality, theZoks are an indigenous Armenian community from theNakhichevan region.[3][4]
Originally spoken in Nakhijevan, which is now part ofAzerbaijan, the lastArmenians of Nakhijevan were forced to leave due to conflict in 1988.[2] In 1935, Zok had approximately 10,000 speakers according to Acharyan, but it is now certain that the number of speakers is much smaller, likely less than 1,000.[2] The Paraka dialect is estimated to have fewer than 50 living speakers based on the Armenian National Archive's data of a population of 90 residents in the village at the time of the last Armenian displacement in 1988.[2] Zok's vowel system is the most distinguishable feature that sets it apart from other Armenian dialects, with significant changes and the addition of a unique form of vowel harmony, according to Vaux (2008).[2]
Additionally, Zok has notable morphological and syntactic innovations, particularly in the organization of its tense-aspect-mood system, which is unparalleled in other Armenian dialects.[citation needed]
Zoks are Armenians who migrated from theSyunik region to theGoghtn region. They spoke the Zok or Agulis dialect of Armenian, which closely resembles the Syunik dialect. Although it is linguistically close to theEastern Armenian dialect, it is somewhat unintelligible to speakers of the latter.
In theArmenian language, there are severaldemonstrative pronouns such as "ays", "ayd", and "ayn" (meaning "this" and "that"). In the old Goghtn dialect, these were pronounced as "hok", "dok", and "nock". In the Agulis dialect spoken in the villages of Agulis,Dasht, Tsgna,Tanakert,Disar,Kakhakik, and Andamech, these pronouns were used with the prefix "z"—a feature typical of 18th- and 19th-century Armenian dialects. This gave rise to the pronoun "zhok" or "Zok", which eventually led to the creation of the ethnographic and linguistic term "Zok" in the 19th century. According tolinguist and academicianManuk Abeghyan, the name "Zok" derives from the pronoun "zhok" in their dialect.
In essence, the Zoks represent one of the indigenous Armenian communities ofNakhichevan. The uniqueness of their language is primarily due tovowel shifts. For example, the vowel "o" changed to "u" (e.g., gorts → gyurts, Markos → Marcus), and "u" changed to "o" (e.g., shun → shon, ptug → petog). The vowel "a". depending on surrounding consonants, could shift to "o", "u", "y", "i", "ai", or remain unchanged.[5]
The consonant system of the Zok dialect has remained unchanged since theClassical Armenian (Grabar) period and, in fact, best reflects the consonant structure of Old Armenian.[6][7] Moreover, the dialect preserves features ofProto-Armenian that are absent in Grabar. For example, the word kakhts' (fromProto-Indo-European "glkt-") retains the presence of the consonant "l", while in other forms of Armenian, such as Old Armenian, it appears as kat'.
The Zok (Agulis dialect) was first described in 1711 by the German linguist Johann Joachim Schröder in his grammatical workThesaurus Linguae Armenicae.[8]
Though closely related to it linguistically, Zok is completely unintelligible to speakers of Standard Eastern Armenian, and is therefore properly considered a separate language. Speakers of the language refer to it as zokerēn "Zok language". Because Zok is so different from other varieties of Armenian, many myths about its nature and origins have arisen in the Armenian community. Nevertheless, in certain other respects it is one of the most archaic dialects. Some notable archaisms include the preservation of the proto-Armenian consonant series (group 6); the survival of the reflex of proto-Armenian l in kakhts' 'milk' < IE *glkt- (cf. Greek galaktos; all other forms of Armenian show variants of kat', with no trace of the original *l)
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