Abstract

This article explores the historical moment in which the concept of a ‘national language’ began to spread among Ottoman Armenians. It does so by examining the establishment of educational associations aimed at changing the language practices of non-Armenophone Armenians in three parts of the Ottoman Empire: Aleppo, Kayseri and Diyarbekir. I argue that these associations were part of a larger cultural nationalist movement that gained momentum in urban centers beginning in the 1840s. Through an examination of the founding principles of the associations, I show how they sought to integrate Arabic-, Turkish- and Kurdish-speaking Armenians into the would-be national community by facilitating their acquisition of Armenian. Historiographically, this article shines a spotlight on the unexamined dynamics of Ottoman Armenian cultural nationalism and language-based identity formation.

摘要

本文探讨了“民族语言”的概念开始在奥斯曼亚美尼亚人中传播的历史时刻。为此，它检查了旨在改变奥斯曼帝国三个地区（阿勒颇、开塞利和迪亚尔别克尔）的非亚美诺语亚美尼亚人的语言实践的教育协会的成立。我认为这些协会是更大的文化民族主义运动的一部分，该运动从 1840 年代开始在城市中心获得了势头。通过研究这些协会的创立原则，我展示了他们如何通过促进亚美尼亚语的习得，试图将讲阿拉伯语、土耳其语和库尔德语的亚美尼亚人融入未来的民族社区。在史学上，