The Dikranagerd Mystique, The Armenian Weekly,MA, January 15, 1994

The Dikranagerd Mystique, Part I

BY C.K. GARABED

What is it that distinguishes the Armenians of Dikranagerd from other Armenians? Certainly, they have

their own dialect which has been characterized, by some, as jargon or slang. But other Armenians have their

own parpar as well, yet they are not set apart as emphatically because of it.

Do the Dikranagerdtsis suffer from a separateness complex that can be traced back to the great wall that

enclosed their city of Diarbekr, which has made them so clannish? If you ask them they will tell you that

the great wall was designed not to keep the Dikranagerdtsis in but all others out.

Dikranagerdtsis have a reputation for being kefjis and not without cause. But their kef is not restricted

to formal eating, drinking, and dancing that takes place at a hantes. No, they look to have a good time

even when hard at work; and this is where their language plays a critical part.

To them humor is a way of life and no opportunity is lost to turn an apt phrase or even coin an odd

expression in order to wring out every ounce of humor that is latent in a situation. And why not? The young

are frivolous, yes, and the middle-aged look down with gravity on frivolity. But the oldsters thank God for

each moment of laughter that comes their way. So, if you will, Dikranagerdtsis can be classified as

the “old ones.” And what’s more, they play the part well, as if (true or not), they are all progeny of King

Dikran the Great.

So what if Dikran;s city is truly in a different location from Diarbekr, known in ancient times as Amida?

And so what if the Dikranagerdtsis call themselves Kaghakatsis (city folks)? Even the villagers referred to

themselves as “Kaghkatsis” because they came from the environs of the BIG CITY.

Children of Dikranagerdtsi parents who all spoke their dialect at home were hard-pressed in their youth by

non-Dikranagerdtsis who poked fun at them for their queer way of speaking. But I hereby take it upon myself

to defend the people and their language against their critics. Many of these critics can boast of schooling

beyond the level of many of those they criticize, but true education is often lacking, otherwise they would

appreciate and take great joy in encouraging the preservation of Armenian folklore in which dialects play a

significant part.

You may have heard a Dikranagerdtsi speak of standard Armenian (Ashkharapar) as Krapar. There’s a reason

for this. Krapar (classical Armenian), as the word suggests, is the written language, and so it is not

surprising that Dikranagerdtsis use the word to distinguish the written tongue from the oral tongue, their

parpar.

Admittedly, the Dikranagerdsi dialect is replete with non-Armenian words and phrases, notably Turkish, but

with a liberal sprinkling of Arabic, and some European borrowings, such as banyo, cravat, and furun. To the

charge of mixing Turkish with Armenian, my father’s generation defended themselves on the grounds that it

was the Armenians who beautified the Turkish language. Certainly, the most notable composers and performers

of Turkish music were Armenian, so it’s likely that any Turkish poetry of note was written by an Armenian.

This coincides with the fact that, in the old country, all the artisans were Armenian.

But, back to to the congruence of the Armenian and Turkish tongues—can one deny that the greatest poet who

ever lived, and acknowledged to be the world over, Shakespeare, wrote in a language that was Teutonic in

structure but romance language in content? In other words, the syntax and grammar of English are based on

the German plan, whereas its vocabulary is mostly French-Latin. Who is to say, based on its track record,

that the future of Turkish-Armenian might not have been the language of great artistry?

                                            …To be continued.