Classical Armenian Grabar words compose significant part of the Yerevan dialect vocabulary. It is the most widespread Armenian dialect today. In the 19th century efforts were made to create a modern literary Armenian language.
In , the prominent Armenian writer Khachatur Abovian completed his Wounds of Armenia novel that was written in Yerevan dialect. The importance of its dialect grew in , when Yerevan became the capital of the First Republic of Armenia. During the Soviet period , the Eastern Armenian language and the Yerevan dialect were heavily influenced by the predominant Russian language and by the late s the Russification was considered harmful to the future of Armenian.
Today, the Yerevan dialect, which is the basis of colloquial Armenian [4] [5] is spoken by at least 1 million people who live in Yerevan. In addition, virtually all dialectics in Armenia, Republic of Artsakh and Georgia's Samtskhe-Javakheti region are influenced by the Yerevan dialect through the educational system.
The historical dialect spoken in Yerevan was usually referred to as Araratian, because Yerevan is located in the Ararat plain. The Araratian dialect was widespread, with rich vocabulary and pronunciation similar to the Classical Armenian.
These factors gave the dialect of the future Armenian capital a special status. It was used as a basis for the literary Eastern Armenian language. According to Prof. Jahukyan, the Araratian dialect had received a dominant position due to geographic, historical, linguistic reasons and was used for inter-dialectal communication. Khachatur Abovian who is considered the founder of the modern Eastern Armenian literary language, wrote in Araratian dialect as he was born in Kanaker , a village near Yerevan then and a district of Yerevan now.
