Mann Stuart E. An Armenian Historical Grammar in Latin Characters (Morphology, Etymology, Old Texts)

Luzac, 1968. — 178 p.The satisfactory interpretation of Armenian as Indo-European depends on the amount of evidence that can be brought to bear upon it from other languages. It is a mental process that is sometimes frustrated by ambiguity, and sometimes made difficult by lack of material. These setbacks, however, do not in any way lessen the validity of the methods by which grammatical and lexical forms are interpreted. Without logical assumptions, historical grammar would be little more than a collection of statements.
In the present work the author has seen fit to put forward, however inadequately, a linguistic interpretation of the facts of Armenian grammar, if only to offset in some measure the erroneous dogmas of the early 1900s, and above all to escape from the sterile "positivism" that seems to be the prevailing fashion in linguistics today. The present work begs no questions, and is subject to improvement in the light of further experience. In particular it is hoped that new lines of enquiry will be suggested to Armenian and Indo-European scholars alike.
The present Grammar has been transcribed into a phonemic script representing the earliest ascertainable pronunciation, and in general only the paradigms have been put into archaic spelling. This course has been dictated by the phonetic uncertainties of the oldest writings, especially in regard to the values of initial i and internal u before another vowel, o before internal and final j, a before final j in polysyllables, and the uncertain choice of v (consonant) or w (semivowel) , especially before and after vowels. The morphological differences between Old and Early Middle Armenian are negligible, and any that do occur have been noted.