Preliminary Program

Interdisciplinary Conference at USC Taper Hall of Humanities

February 27, February 28, March 1, 2026

Friday, February 27

9:00–10:00 AM
Registration & Coffee

9:30–10:00 AM
Welcome Remarks

Shushan Karapetian, USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies
Razmik Panossian, Armenian Communities Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

10:00–11:00 AM

Historical Precedents for the Expansion of Literacy in Western Armenian (18th–20th Centuries)

Chair: Manuk Avedikyan

Daniel Ohanian
Armeno-Catholic Missionaries and the Expansion of Armenian Literacy in the Ottoman Empire

Astghik Soghoyan
Early Western Armenian Children’s Periodicals: Language, Education, and Literary Identity

Liza Mardoyan
Print Culture: Armenian-Language Publishing and Cultural Resilience in Lebanon’s Armenian Community (1915–2015)

11:00 AM–12:15 PM

Measuring Language Competency at the State Level for Eastern Armenian

Chair: Gegham Mughnetsyan 

Siranush Dvoyan 

Technologies and State Language Policy of the Republic of Armenia

Javier Polatian

Adaptive National Test of Armenian as a Foreign Language in Uruguay

Irshat Madyarov

Measuring Receptive Written Vocabulary Knowledge of Eastern Armenian

Aldo Rodriguez 

National Certification at the A1 Level in Uruguay

12:15–1:15 PM
Language Therapy with Dr. K Live Podcast Recording with Vahe Berberian

1:15–2:30 PM
Lunch

2:30–3:30 PM

Immersion Models for Language Vitality

A Conversation with Michael Hornsby and Nancy Hong 

Moderator: Razmik Panossian

3:30–4:45 PM

Round Table: Non-Standard Adult Learners Beyond Traditional Community Ties

Moderator: Talar Chahinian 

Participants:

Jennifer Manoukian
Language Vitality and the Promise of Armenian Learners Beyond Armenian Communities

Anahit Ghazaryan
Between Resistance and Embrace: Navigating Eastern and Western Armenian Through Memory and Dialogue

Anatolii Tokmantcev
Heritage or Symbol? Language Use Among Russian-Armenian Repatriates

4:45–5:00 PM
Coffee Break

5:00–5:45 PM

Keynote Address

Ruth Kircher
Parental Language Attitudes and (Heritage) Language Transmission across Generations and Geographies

Introduced by Lilit Ghazaryan 

5:45–7:00 PM
Reception

7:00–8:00 PM
Stand-Up 

Saturday, February 28

9:00–10:00 AM
Registration & Coffee

10:00–10:15 AM
Welcome Remarks

USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies
Armenian Communities Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

10:15–11:45 AM

Language Acquisition among Young Learners: Fostering Literacy and Translanguaging

Chair: Lilit Keshishyan

Carla Kekejian
Translanguaging as a Strategy for Armenian Language Vitality: A Narrative Assessment Study with Bilingual Children in Los Angeles

Lilit Ghazaryan
Language as a Toy: Play, Peer Socialization, and Teacher–Child Interaction in an Armenian–English Bilingual Daycare in Los Angeles

Nathalie Karimian
Bridging Pedagogy and Practice in Armenian Language Materials

Nora Sarafian-Tachjian & Sarin Akbas
A Practitioner’s Experience with Armenian Language Acquisition in a Diasporic Bilingual Classroom: Using “The Sun, Moon, and Ribbon” Program

11:45 AM–12:30 PM
Anahid Sarkissian
Ցորենի պարկէն ափ մը խաղիկ / A Handful of Games from the Wheat Sack

Introduced by: TBD

12:30–2:00 PM
Lunch & Showcases 

Concurrent Showcases (Please Choose One)

• Showcase 1: Alexia Hatun:Գրոց Բրոց. գրելու «քէֆեր» որպէս լեզուական ծրագիր Krots Prots: Writing ‘Parties’ as Language Programming
• Showcase 2: Hrayr Varaz, Isabelle & Jenny Kouyoumdjian, Hayk Makhmuryan, Hovig Artinian: «տառ-բառ մաղ-խաղ ակումբ» “word-bite play-slay meet”
• Showcase 3: Vache Hoveyan: Before Language, the Body: Theater in Armenian

2:00–3:30 PM

Round Table: The Gulbenkian Approach: Building a Sustainable Language Ecosystem in the Diaspora

Moderator & Introduction: Razmik Panossian

Participants:

• Tamar Tufenkjian
• Haiganoush Minasian
• Nora Sarafian-Tachjian
• Meliné Barseghian
• Sarin Akbas
• Ani Garmiryan

3:30–4:00 PM
Coffee Break

4:00–5:20 PM

Armenian Language in the Era of Artificial Intelligence

Chair: Maral Tavitian

Artur Ishkhanyan
Algorithmic Sovereignty and the Future of Armenian: Building Language Tools Beyond Extractive AI

Chahan Vidal-Gorène
How Can Artificial Intelligence Support the Transmission of the Armenian Language?

Vicken Asadourian
Arshaluys: A Comprehensive Digital Platform for Armenian Language Revitalization in the Diaspora

Victoria Khurshudyan
Annotation Models for Multivariational Armenian

6:00 PM
Private Dinner for Participants 

Sunday, March 1

9:30–10:00 AM
Registration & Coffee

10:00–10:15 AM
Welcome Remarks

USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies
Armenian Communities Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

10:15–11:30 AM

Living Language through Creative Spaces and Artistic Practices

Chair: Margarita Baghdasaryan

Nairi Khachadourian
Language Vitality through Contemporary Artistic Practice

Nelly Achken Sarkissian
Beyond Fear: Western Armenian as a Living, Evolving Language in the Digital Diaspora

Garine Boghossian
Situating Ագուգաներ, Հիւղեր, Կալեր and Other Lost Terms: Rebuilding Western Armenian Spatial Vocabulary

Hovig Artinian
Comedy as Connection: Armenian Language Use in the Digital Age

11:30 AM–12:30 PM

University-Level Armenian Language Programs: Paris and Los Angeles

Chair: Artineh Samkian 

Anaid Donabedian
Revitalizing Western Armenian from Above: IMAS—Context, Vision, and Milestone Report

Hagop Gulludjian
​​Policies and Politics of Language as the Post-Yeghern Diaspora Enters its Second Century

12:30–2:00 PM
Lunch & Showcases

Concurrent Showcases (Please Choose One)

• Showcase 1: Lia Soorenian & Alexia Hatun Building the Language Activist’s Toolkit: Insights from Ejanish
• Showcase 2: Sarin Akbas & Nora Sarafian Tachijian: Beyond the Basics: Cultivating the Joy of Discovery in Literacy
• Showcase 3: Vachel Hoveyan: Before Language, the Body: Theater in Armenian

2:00–2:45 PM

Keynote Address

Maria Polinsky
From Periphery to Parity: The Value of Armenian Varieties in the Pluricentric World 

Introduced by Zuzanna Fuchs

2:45–3:45 PM

Reach and Resilience of Independent and Local Community Journalism

Moderator: Myrna Douzjian

Jirair Jolakian
The Spirit of Tradition, the Upsurge of Modernity

Rupen Janbazian
«Երկլեզու համայնքային լրագրութիւն սփիւռքի մէջ. «Թորոնթոհայ»-ի պարագան»

3:45–4:15 PM
Coffee Break

4:15–5:15 PM

What About Teachers? Institutions, Narratives, and Insights

Chair: Hrag Papazian

Talar Chahinian & Myrna Douzjian
In Tandem: Teaching Eastern and Western Armenian Standards for Diasporic Fluency

Arus Movsesyan
Western Armenian Teacher Narratives: Between Myth and Mission

5:15–5:45 PM

Closing Lecture

Shushan Karapetian
License to Spell: When Vanity Plates Speak Armenian in L.A.

5:45–6:00 PM
Closing Remarks

Ani Garmiryan, Armenian Communities Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation