Sustaining and Cultivating the Armenian Language in the Diaspora
From February 27-March 1, scholars, practitioners and community members gathered at USC for a three-day interdisciplinary conference on the Armenian language, co-organized by the USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies and the Armenian Communities Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. It Takes a Diaspora to Raise a Language: Future Directions for Armenian brought together a diverse group of participants from around the world to explore a central question: How can the Armenian language thrive in the Diaspora?
In her opening remarks, Institute Director Shushan Karapetian reframed the conversation around Armenian language vitality, urging participants to move beyond narratives of decline. “Instead of asking what is disappearing, we ask what is working. Instead of centering fear, we center agency. Instead of rehearsing crisis, we examine creativity,” she said.
Razmik Panossian, Director of the Armenian Communities Department at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, underscored the message of positive change in his opening comments and gave examples of success. He emphasized the importance of a vision that believes in the language, the implementation of a strategy that produces results, and the willingness to allocate the necessary resources.
Educational Practices and Institutions: The Foundations of Language Transmission
Several panels examined the institutions and educational models that have historically sustained Armenian and continue to shape its future. The conference opened with a discussion of how schools, publishing, and religious institutions from the 18th to the 20th centuries functioned as critical infrastructures for language transmission.
A subsequent session examined how Eastern Armenian language competency is assessed and institutionalized at the state level in both Armenia and Uruguay. Other panelists explored how immersive education models can strengthen heritage language learning. A roundtable examined dual-language immersion programs in the Glendale Unified School District and compared them with Breton-language education in Brittany, France.
Teachers were centered in a panel that examined institutional narratives, teaching with both Western and Eastern Armenian in the same classroom, and the lived experiences of Western Armenian educators.
One of the sessions focused on language acquisition among young learners, highlighting play-based pedagogy, translanguaging, and innovative classroom materials such as the Arev Lusine Jabavennere (Sun, Moon, and Ribbons) program as tools for fostering Armenian literacy in bilingual diasporic settings.
The conference also featured an immersive and energized performance by educator Anahid Sarkissian, whose theatrical contribution reinforced the idea that acquiring a language requires imagination and play as much as infrastructure.
The Role of the Family and the Community
Several discussions highlighted the central role of family and community attitudes in sustaining minority languages.
In her keynote address, Ruth Kircher explored parental language attitudes and heritage language transmission, emphasizing the importance of family engagement in maintaining linguistic continuity across generations.
A roundtable discussion also underscored the experiences of adult learners who engage with Armenian through intellectual curiosity, layered identities, repatriation experiences, or negotiated relationships between the Eastern and Western Armenian standards.
Maria Polinsky’s keynote argued for the recognition of Armenian language varieties as equal in value and legitimacy, emphasizing that communities should “prioritize vitality, intelligibility, and inclusivity over purity,” and treat linguistic diversity as a resource within a speaker’s repertoire.
Echoing this perspective, Hagop Gulludjian described the Armenian Diaspora in the West as a multi-dialectal collective where “policies for language vitality must be guided by the goal of coordinating joint efforts between both branches of Armenian.”
Creative Production: Art, Media, and Cultural Expression
Through discussions of contemporary artistic practice, film, lost terminology and social media, panelists raised a central question: Can a language survive through schooling and alternative education alone, or does it require ongoing creative production to remain alive?
This question was further examined during a live podcast recording of Language Therapy with Dr. K., which highlighted Vahé Berberian’s dynamic relationship with the Armenian language and reflected on what it means to be a Western Armenian-speaking actor, writer and comedian whose work also resonates with Eastern Armenian-speaking audiences.
An evening of stand-up comedy by members of the DEMQ show demonstrated how humor can serve as a powerful vehicle for linguistic play and cultural commentary.
Community Initiatives and Language Activism
Interactive showcases during the lunch breaks highlighted hands-on approaches to language activism and pedagogy. Projects such as Ejanish and Krots Prots encourage and engage youth to read, write, and create in Armenian. While workshops on theater as a pre-verbal, embodied pathway into Armenian, and “word-bite play-slay meet” invited participants to expand their “Armenian language possibility portals” through playful experimentation with words, sound bites, and actions.
A panel on independent community journalism emphasized the resilience and adaptability of Armenian-language media in the Diaspora, with presentations by the editors of Nor Haratch in France and Torontohye in Canada.
Technology and Building a Global Language Ecosystem
One panel explored how artificial intelligence and digital technology can support language transmission.
Participants were introduced to CALFA, whose open-source AI models can read and digitize Armenian manuscripts, handwritten notes, and even stone inscriptions on ancient monasteries and church walls. DALiH, an open-access digital linguistic platform builds an annotated corpus of Armenian linguistic varieties—including Classical, Middle, Western, and Eastern Armenian. Arshaluys is designed to support Armenian language acquisition for learners of all levels of fluency across both Western and Eastern Armenian.
A roundtable led by Razmik Panossian highlighted the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s efforts to build a sustainable Armenian language ecosystem across the Diaspora. The discussion showcased initiatives in France, Lebanon, Portugal and beyond, including Zarmanazan, Yertikand Zndoog.
The International Master’s in Armenian Studies in the Armenian language at INALCO in Paris was presented by its Director, Anaid Donabedian.
In her closing lecture, Shushan Karapetian reflected on Armenian’s visible presence in Los Angeles through creative linguistic expression in the form of personalized vehicle license plates, illustrating how language continues to live and evolve in public space and everyday life.
Ani Garmiryan of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation concluded the conference by reaffirming a shared commitment to cross-sector collaboration in sustaining Armenian as a living, evolving global language. The inspirational and poetic lecture was a fitting end. It does indeed take a diaspora to raise a language.