Harvard
University professor of linguistics Bert Vaux gave a talk on “Nagorno-Karabagh:
Population, Language, and Cultural Change” in on Thursday evening, November 15,
at Harvard University. The event was
co-sponsored by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research and
Harvard’s Armenian Students Society.
First-Hand
Observer of Current Conditions
Prof. Vaux spent
August 2001 in Stepanakert, Karabagh’s capital, teaching at the Summer
Institute on Armenian Dialectology and conducting field research on Karabagh
dialects while also traveling throughout the entire region. This gave him a rare opportunity to witness
the changes in the language, demographics, and culture of Karabagh at close
range; and as an expert on Armenian dialects he comes well-qualified to shed
light on this region.
Vaux has done
extensive research on the Armenian language, especially documentation,
preservation, and analysis of nonstandard dialects. He is the author of The Phonology of Armenian and the
co-author, with Prof. Kevork Bardakjian of the University of Michigan, of
forthcoming textbooks of Eastern and Western Armenian.
Speaking to an audience comprised of Harvard students as well as
members of the academic and Armenian communities, Vaux provided a brief
overview of the long and complex history of Karabagh. The earliest references to the region (under its Armenian name of
Artsakh) date back to the Roman historian Strabo and the Armenian Movses Khorenatsi,
who identified the area as the eastern frontier of Armenia. Always a region caught between contesting
forces, in the early 19th century it passed from Persian to Russian
control. Subsequently it was fought
over by Armenia and Azerbaijan after the dissolution of the Russian Empire in
1918 in a preview of the battle that would re-erupt in 1991 after the Soviet
Union collapsed.
Population in Flux
Vaux reported that
the best estimate of the current population of Karabagh is about 140,000 (with
some 55,000 in Stepanakert). However,
he stressed, no one is really sure what the actual population is. Since the war with Azerbaijan, the
population of Karabagh has undergone substantial changes. Armenians who had lived in Karabagh for
generations left for the Armenian Republic; Armenians who had lived in cities
and towns in Azerbaijan relocated to Karabagh; and the entire population of
Azeris who lived in Karabagh is gone.
Vaux found that residents of Karabagh were disinclined to discuss their
former neighbors.
Karabagh Dialect of Armenian
As he frequently does
in the course of his lectures, Prof. Vaux spent some time presenting examples
of an Armenian dialect – in this case that of Karabagh – to the audience, many
of whom were Armenian speakers. He
played a recording of a native Karabagh speaker and showed and read various
words from the dialect to see if members of the audience were able to
understand them. (Most Armenian speakers in America speak either Standard
Western or Standard Eastern Armenian.)
Though several people were able to make out some of the words, it was
clear that the Karabagh dialect would present a challenge to anyone without
experience with it.
Although the Karabagh
dialect is still present in the region, Vaux said that it is disappearing like
all other dialects through slow attrition.
The Yerevan dialect of Standard Eastern Armenian is gradually taking
over as the most prevalent mode of speech in Karabagh even though most Karabaghtsis
will speak the dialect if it is spoken to them.
Threats to Karabagh
Vaux discussed a
noteworthy aspect of modern Karabagh -- the newly constructed and excellent
roads that traverse much of the area and connect Armenia and Karabagh. The condition of the roads, he observed, is
in marked contrast to that of the roads in Armenia itself. However, the good roads have a downside;
they allow people to leave the area easily and emigrate elsewhere. Like in the Armenian Republic, the loss of
population is a problem in Karabagh as well, and one that Vaux feels is
serious. Although thousands of people
have left the region since the war with Azerbaijan, few have moved in.
Vaux addressed a
further threat to Karabagh: the imperiled status of Section 907 of the Freedom
Support Act, a U.S. government provision which has blocked all but humanitarian
aid to Azerbaijan due to their blockade of Armenia. Through the intense advocacy of bodies such as Harvard’s Caspian
Studies Program (which receives funds from the U.S.-Azerbaijan Chamber of
Commerce and a consortium of oil companies), and because of perceived changes
in geopolitics since September 11, Section 907 may not survive. (Since Prof.
Vaux’s talk Section 907 has been waived by President Bush and will be subject
to Congressional review in 2003.)
Throughout his
talk, Prof. Vaux projected pictures of the various areas of Karabagh that he
had visited, including Madaghis, Ashan, Hadrut, Gandzasar Vank, and Stepanakert. It was his first time visiting the region,
and he spoke with admiration of the hospitality and friendliness of the people
there, as well as their generosity to visitors in spite of the hardships they
face.
Following the
talk, Vaux took numerous questions from the audience and continued speaking
with many of them after the question-and-answer period. A reception was followed with refreshments
provided by the Harvard University Armenian Students Society.
More information about NAASR and
its programs for the furtherance of Armenian studies, research, and publication
may be had by calling 617-489-1610, by fax at 617-484-1759, by e-mail at
hq@naasr.org, or by writing to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.