Glottalization in Eastern Armenian

Informant-based data from Eastern Armenian suggest very strongly that glottalization in some Armenian languages extends far beyond the scope of culture word borrowings from neighboring Caucasic and Kartvelian languages. Five glottalic egressives occur frequently in basic vocabulary, including three primary numbers, while aspirated stops are infrequent and sporadic in their occurrence. A companion list from Western Armenian, also informant-based, is presented simply to show contrast; it reveals no glottalization in basic vocabulary yet frequent aspiration. A simple conclusion is that one of these Armenian languages has changed since the time of Proto-Armenian. It is suggested that Eastern Armenian is the one which changed least. Its data are highly relevant to the controversy over possible glottalization in Proto-Indo-European itself