September 5, 2013 Armenian Language is Subject of 17th Annual Vardanants Day Lecture

Renowned linguist Charles de Lamberterie will deliver the 17th Annual Vardanants Day Armenian Lecture at noon on Thursday, Sept. 19 in the Northeast Pavilion of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building, located at 10 First Street S.E., Washington D.C. Titled “The Armenian Language and its Place in the Indo-European Linguistic Family,” the lecture will be delivered in English.

In recent decades there has been renewed interest in Indo-European linguistics as new theories about the original homeland of the Indo-Europeans have been advanced. Some have recently placed the origins of this linguistic group, which includes the European Romance languages as well as Persian and Armenian, in Anatolia, a region today contained within Turkey.

A professor at the Université Paris-Sorbonne, de Lamberterie has written and lectured extensively on both Armenian and Greek Indo-European linguistics. He was inducted into France’s prestigious Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 2010.

The lecture series is sponsored by the Near East Section of the Library’s African and Middle Eastern Division. It is named after the Armenian holiday that commemorates the battle of Avarayr (451 A.D.). The battle was led by the Armenian General Vardan Mamikonian and his compatriots against invading Persian troops who were attempting to reimpose Zoroastrianism on the Christian state. As a religious holiday, it celebrates the Armenians’ triumph over forces of assimilation.

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