Endangered Languages Project

ALSO KNOWN AS		Hamshen, Hamschen, Homshetsma, Hemşince
CLASSIFICATION		Indo-European, Armenian, Western Armenian
CODE AUTHORITY		LINGUIST List
LANGUAGE CODE		1ev
DOWNLOAD		As csv

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Information from: “Homshetsma: The Language of the Homshetsma, The language of the Armenians of Hamshen” . Bert Vaux (2007) , Hovann H Simonian · Routledge

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
"relatively large numbers"
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
"The western Hemshinli speak only Turkish, though they preserve a fair number of Homshetsma words, toponyms and family names ... [T]he eastern Hemshinli and northern Homshentsik ... continue to speak Homshetsma in relatively large numbers up to the present day."

LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS: "One eastern Hemshinli noted that when he lived in Istanbul, his Armenian friends from Kayseri referred to his speech variety as ‘bird language’. It is interesting to note in this context that some Armenian groups use the term ‘bird language’ to refer to secret languages."
Scripts (Writing system): Turkish-based
More on Orthography: "In 1995 a native speaker and [Bert Vaux] designed an orthographic system for Homshetsma – which up until that time had possessed only a spoken form."

PLACES: Turkey; Georgia; Russia

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: "[Eastern Hemshinli/Homshetsik] live in the province of Artvin (with smaller numbers dispersed elsewhere in Turkey, Central Asia and Europe)... Northern Homshentsik, the descendants of non-Islamicized Hamshen Armenians formerly of the provinces of Samsun, Ordu, Giresun and Trabzon, [now] live in Georgia and Russia."

PLACES: Turkey

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: North-eastern Turkey; earlier also adjacent Georgia, from where deported to Central Asia; an outlying dialect of (Western) Armenian not listed separately by the SIL.

Ethnic population
150,000
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
"Presently [Hamshenis] mainly inhabit the Black Sea coastal areas of Turkey, Russia, and Georgia and also have smaller communities in Armenia and Central Asia (the latter being the consequence of forced migration from Soviet Georgia in 1944). Together the Russian and Georgian populations consist of approximately 150,000 individuals (Kuznetsov 1995)."

PLACES: Turkey; Georgia; Russia; Armenia

	3rd		2010	Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger			UNESCO Publishing			Paris	http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas	Christopher Moseley (ed.)	Moseley, Christopher (ed.). 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd edn. http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas. (03 June, 2011.)	ll_pub							Turkey	North-eastern Turkey; earlier also adjacent Georgia, from where deported to Central Asia; an outlying dialect of (Western) Armenian not listed separately by the SIL.	41.468, 41.558
0-7007-0656-9			2007	Homshetsma: The Language of the Homshetsma, The language of the Armenians of Hamshen	The Hemshin: History, society and identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey	Hovann H Simonian	Routledge			London	https://www.academia.edu/300652/Homshetsma_The_language_of_the_Armenians_of_Hamshen	Bert Vaux	Vaux, Bert. 2007. Homshetsma: The Language of the Homshetsma, The language of the Armenians of Hamshen. In Hovann H Simonian (ed.), The Hemshin: History, society and identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-7007-0656-9	ll_pub		"relatively large numbers"	10000-99999	"The western Hemshinli speak only Turkish, though they preserve a fair number of Homshetsma words, toponyms and family names ... [T]he eastern Hemshinli and northern Homshentsik ... continue to speak Homshetsma in relatively large numbers up to the present day."	"One eastern Hemshinli noted that when he lived in Istanbul, his Armenian friends from Kayseri referred to his speech variety as ‘bird language’. It is interesting to note in this context that some Armenian groups use the term ‘bird language’ to refer to secret languages."	Vulnerable (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	Turkey; Georgia; Russia	"[Eastern Hemshinli/Homshetsik] live in the province of Artvin (with smaller numbers dispersed elsewhere in Turkey, Central Asia and Europe)... Northern Homshentsik, the descendants of non-Islamicized Hamshen Armenians formerly of the provinces of Samsun, Ordu, Giresun and Trabzon, [now] live in Georgia and Russia."
		4	2012	Paternal Lineage Analysis Supports An Armenian Rather Than A Central Asian Genetic Origin Of The Hamshenis				Human Biology	84		http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol_preprints/2/ https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol84/iss4/8/	Ashot Margaryan and Ashot Harutyunyan and Zaruhi Khachatryan and Armine Khudoyan and Levon Yepiskoposyan	Ashot Margaryan, Ashot Harutyunyan, Zaruhi Khachatryan, Armine Khudoyan and Levon Yepiskoposyan. "Paternal Lineage Analysis Supports An Armenian Rather Than A Central Asian Genetic Origin Of The Hamshenis." In Human Biology, 84: Online: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol_preprints/2/.		150,000			"Presently [Hamshenis] mainly inhabit the Black Sea coastal areas of Turkey, Russia, and Georgia and also have smaller communities in Armenia and Central Asia (the latter being the consequence of forced migration from Soviet Georgia in 1944). Together the Russian and Georgian populations consist of approximately 150,000 individuals (Kuznetsov 1995)."			Turkey; Georgia; Russia; Armenia

Homshetsi

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Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

"relatively large numbers"

Discussion

Homshetsi

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Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

"relatively large numbers"

Discussion

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