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How did the vowel system of Modern Armenian change from that of Old Armenian?
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Old Armenian possessed a system of seven vowel phonemes: /a/, /e/, /ê/, /ə/, /i/, /o/, and /u/.
In the transition to Modern Armenian, the vowel system underwent simplification, most notably resulting in the reduction of the two distinct /e/ and /ê/ sounds into a single /e/ phoneme. Additionally, the vowel /ə/ in the modern language is characterized as reduced and cannot carry stress.1