International Mother Language Day was proclaimed by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in November 1999 (30C/62), “to promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world.”
The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia provides, “The state language of the Republic of Armenia is the Armenian.” Armenian which is the state language has been the mother language of the Armenian people through the ages.
The Armenian language covers all the spheres of life. The literary Armenian is official language of the Republic of Armenia.
The Republic of Armenia promotes to the development of the rules for regulation, word formation, terminology, spelling, speech, transcription and punctuation of the language; provides assistance to preservation of the Armenian language among the Armenians in Diaspora; contributes to unification of the orthography; and ensures free application of the languages of the national minorities of the republic.
The public officials and the citizens of the Republic of Armenia who work in definite spheres of service are obliged to know the literary Armenian.
The official language for the official speeches of persons that represent the Republic of Armenia is literary Armenian, if this does not contradict to the requirements of the procedures in those international instances.
The Republic of Armenia citizens shall ensure the purity of the language.
The RA Law on TV and Radio provides that the official language for the TV and radio programs in Armenia is literary Armenian, except for the cases provided by law. The TV and Radio Companies shall ensure purity of the language.
However currently we have quite a different picture. The language of the programs aired by the Armenia TV and Radio Companies are far from being pure. The public officials and the citizens of the Republic of Armenia who work in definite spheres of service also very often fail to meet their obligations to use literary Armenian.
Today we again have an opportunity to apply to our consciousness, to think about preservation of our Armenian language, which we inherited since ages, and to make sure to pass it to our generations unaffected.
Arpine Yeghikyan,
Source: Iravaban.net
