Everything about Azerbaijani Language totally explained
|pronunciation=/azærbajʤan dili/
|states=,
,
also in parts of neighboring countries such as:
,
,
,
,
|speakers=25 million
|rank=34th (native speakers)
|familycolor=Altaic
|fam1=
Altaic (
controversial)
|fam2=
Turkic
|fam3=
Oghuz
|script=
Latin alphabet in Azerbaijan,
Perso-Arabic script in
Iran, and, formerly,
Cyrillic alphabet (
Azerbaijani variants)
|nation= (northern dialect),
Iraq (southern dialect; official in areas where
Iraqi Turkmen form a majority)
|iso1=az|iso2=aze
|lc1=aze|ld1=Azerbaijani (generic)|ll1=none
|lc2=azj|ld2=North Azerbaijani|ll2=North Azerbaijani language
|lc3=azb|ld3=South Azerbaijani|ll3=South Azerbaijani language}}
The
Azerbaijani language, also called
Azeri,
Azari,
Azeri Turkic, or
Azerbaijani Turkic, is a
Turkic language spoken in
Azerbaijan and northwestern
Iran.
North Azerbaijani is the
official language of the
Republic of Azerbaijan. North Azerbaijani is the name applied to this variety of Azerbaijani in
ISO 639-3 (
azj
) and in
Ethnologue, which is called in Azerbaijan. This variety is also spoken in
Russia's
Republic of Dagestan, south-eastern and eastern
Georgia, north eastern
Turkey and in some parts of Ukraine.
South Azerbaijani is the variety of Azerbaijani spoken in northwestern Iran.
Iranian Azerbaijanis often call it
Azari,
Türki or
Türki Azari. This variety is mainly spoken in the northwest provinces as the dominant language and a
lingua franca:
East Azarbaijan,
West Azarbaijan,
Ardabil,
Zanjan, and in some regions of
Kordestan,
Hamadan and
Markazi. Many Azeris also live in
Tehran,
Karaj and other regions. Generally, Azeris in Iran have been, "a well integrated linguistic minority", according to academics such as anthropologist Patricia Higgins. South Azerbaijani is the name applied to this variety of Azerbaijani in
ISO 639-3 (
azb) and in
Ethnologue.
Azerbaijani is a
Turkic language of the
Oghuz branch, closely related to
Turkish. Azerbaijani is
mutually intelligible with other
Oghuz languages, which include Turkish and
Turkmen.
History and evolution
» For the languages spoken in Azerbaijan before the Turks' arrival, see:
The Azerbaijani language of today is based on the
Oghuz language, spread to Southwestern Asia in the course of the medieval
Turkic migration, heavily influenced by
Persian and
Arabic.
It gradually supplanted the previous Iranian languages—
Tat,
Azari, and
Middle Persian in northern Iran, and a variety of
Caucasian languages in the Caucasus, particularly
Udi, and had become the dominant language before the time of the
Safavid dynasty; however, minorities in both the Republic of Azerbaijan and Iran continue to speak the earlier
Iranian languages to this day, and Middle- and
New Persian loanwords are numerous in Azerbaijani.
The historical development of Azerbaijani can be divided into two major periods: early (ca. 16th to 18th century) and modern (18th century to present). Old Azerbaijani differs from its descendant in that it contained a much greater amount of
Persian, and
Arabic loanwords, phrases and syntactic elements. Early writings in Azerbaijani also demonstrate lingustic interchangeability between Oghuz and Kypchak elements in many aspects (such as pronouns, case endings, participles, etc...). As Azerbaijani gradually moved from being merely a language of
epic and
lyric poetry to being also a language of
journalism and
scientific research, its literary version has become more or less unified and simplified with the loss of many archaic Turkic elements, bulky Iranisms and Ottomanisms, and other words, expressions, and rules that failed to gain popularity among Azerbaijani-speaking masses.
Between ca.
1900 and
1930, there were several competing approaches to the unification of the national language in Azerbaijan popularized by the literati. Despite major differences, they all aimed primarily at making it easy for semiliterate masses to read and understand literature. They all criticized the overuse of Persian, Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, and European (mainly
Russian) elements in both colloquial and literary language and called for a more simple and popular style.
The Russian conquest of the
South Caucasus in the 19th century split the speech community across two states; the
Soviet Union promoted development of the language, but set it back considerably with two successive
script changes - from
Perso-Arabic script to
Latin and then to
Cyrillic - while Iranian Azeris continued to use the Perso-Arabic script as they always had. Despite the wide use of Azerbaijani during the Soviet era, it became the official language of Azerbaijan only in
1978 (along with
Georgian in
Georgia and
Armenian in
Armenia). After independence, the Republic of Azerbaijan decided to switch again to the Latin script, following the Turkish model.
Literature
Classical literature in Azerbaijani was formed in
14th century based on the
Tabrizi and
Shirvani dialects (these dialects were used by classical Azerbaijani writers
Nasimi,
Fuzuli, and
Khatai). Modern literature in the Republic of Azerbaijan is based on the Shirvani dialect only, while in Iran it's based on the Tabrizi one. The first newspaper in Azerbaijani,
Əkinçi was published in
1875.
In mid-
19th century it was taught in the schools of
Baku,
Ganja,
Shaki,
Tbilisi, and
Yerevan. Since
1845, it has also been taught in the
University of St. Petersburg in
Russia.
Famous literary works in Azerbaijani are the
Book of Dada Gorgud, the
Epic of Köroğlu, translation of
Layla and Majnun (Dâstân-ı Leylî vü Mecnûn), and
Heydar Babaya Salam. Important poets and writers of the Azerbaijani language include
Imadeddin Nasimi,
Muhammed Fuzuli,
Hasanoglu Izeddin,
Shah Ismail I,
Khurshidbanu Natavan,
Mirza Fatali Akhundov,
Mirza Alakbar Sabir,
Bakhtiyar Vahabzade, and
Mohammad Hossein Shahriar.
Distribution of native speakers
Since early last century, successive Iranian governments have avoided publishing any statistics on ethnic groups. This policy presents difficulty in providing any statistics on distribution and size of ethnicity in
Iran.
|}
Regions where Azerbaijani is spoken by significant group of people
North Azerbaijani variety 1
Azerbaijan, and southern Dagestan, along the Caspian coast in the southern Caucasus Mountains. Also spoken in Armenia, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia (Asia), Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
South Azerbaijani variety 2
East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan, Ardabil, Zanjan,and part of Kordestan, Hamedan, Qazvin,Markazi and Gilan provinces. Many in districts of Tehran. Some Azerbaijani-speaking groups are in Fars Province and other parts of Iran. Also spoken in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Turkey (Asia), USA. Canada.
Dialects
Despite their relatively large number, dialects of Azerbaijani don't differ substantially. Speakers of various dialects normally don't have problems understanding each other. However minor problems may occur between Azerbaijani-speakers from the Caucasus and Iran, as some of the words used by the latter that are of Persian or Arabic origin may be unknown to the former. For example, the word firqə ("political party") used by Iranian Azeris may not be understood in Azerbaijan, where the word partiya is used to describe the same object. Such phenomenon is explained by the fact that both words have been in wide use since after the split of the two speech communities in 1828.
The following list reflects only one of several perspectives on the dialectology of Azerbaijani. Some dialects may be varieties of others.
Ardabil dialect (Ardabil and western Gilan, Iran)
Ayrum dialect (northwestern Azerbaijan; northeastern Armenia)
Baku dialect (eastern Azerbaijan)
Borchali dialect (southern Georgia; northern Armenia)
Derbent dialect (southern Russia)
Gabala (Gutgashen) dialect (northern Azerbaijan)
Ganja dialect (western Azerbaijan)
Gazakh dialect (northwestern Azerbaijan)
Guba dialect (northeastern Azerbaijan)
Hamadan dialect (Hamadan, Iran)
Karabakh dialect (central Azerbaijan)
Karadagh dialect (East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan, Iran)
Kars dialect (eastern Turkey and northwestern Armenia)
Kirkuk dialect (northern Iraq)
Lankaran dialect (southeast Azerbaijan)
Maragheh dialect (East Azerbaijan, Iran)
Mughan (Salyan) dialect (central Azerbaijan)
Nakhichevan dialect (southwestern Azerbaijan)
Ordubad dialect (southwestern Azerbaijan; southern Armenia)
Shaki (Nukha) dialect (northern Azerbaijan)
Shirvan (Shamakhy) dialect (eastern Azerbaijan)
Tabriz dialect (East Azerbaijan, Iran)
Urmia dialect (West Azerbaijan, Iran)
Yamji dialect (West Azerbaijan, Iran)
Yerevan dialect (central Armenia)
Zagatala-Gakh dialect (northern Azerbaijan)
Zanjan dialect (Zanjan, Iran)
The denoted dialects were traditionally spoken in the given area until recent times. As a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict virtually all Azeris fled Armenia by 1991, which is why Azerbaijani is no longer spoken there.
Phonology
Consonants
/ʧ/ and /ʤ/ are realised as [ʦ] and [ʣ] respectively in the areas around Tabriz and to the west, south and southwest of Tabriz (including Kirkuk in Iraq); in the Nakhchivan and Ayrum dialects, in Jabrayil and some Caspian coastal dialects;
In many dialects of Azeri, /c/ is realized as [ç] when it's found in the coda position or is preceded by a voiceless consonant (as in çörək [ʧœˈɾæç] - "bread"; səksən [sæçˈsæn] - "eighty").
/k/ appears only in words borrowed from Russian or French (spelled, as with /c/, with a k).
/w/ exists in the Kirkuk dialect as an allophone of /v/ in Arabic loanwords.
In the Baku dialect, /ov/ may be realised as [oʷ], and /ev/ and /œv/ as [œʷ], for example /ɡovurˈma/ → [ɡoʷurˈma], /sevˈda/ → [sœʷˈda], /dœvˈran/ → [dœʷˈran]
Vowels
Vowel phonemes of Standard Azeri
Alphabets
In the Republic of Azerbaijan, North Azerbaijani now officially uses the Latin alphabet, but the Cyrillic alphabet is also in wide use, while in Iran, South Azerbaijani still uses the Perso-Arabic script. There is a one-to-one correspondence between the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets for North Azerbaijani (although the Cyrillic alphabet has a different order):
| Aa |
Аа |
| Əə |
Әә |
| Bb |
Бб |
| Cc |
Ҹҹ |
| Çç |
Чч |
| Dd |
Дд |
| Ee |
Ее |
| Ff |
Фф |
|
| Gg |
Ҝҝ |
| Ğğ |
Ғғ |
| Hh |
Һһ |
| Xx |
Хх |
| Iı |
Ыы |
| İi |
Ии |
| Jj |
Жж |
| Kk |
Кк |
|
| Qq |
Гг |
| Ll |
Лл |
| Mm |
Мм |
| Nn |
Нн |
| Oo |
Оо |
| Öö |
Өө |
| Pp |
Пп |
| Rr |
Рр |
|
| Ss |
Сс |
| Şş |
Шш |
| Tt |
Тт |
| Uu |
Уу |
| Üü |
Үү |
| Vv |
Вв |
| Yy |
Јј |
| Zz |
Зз |
|
Before 1929, Azerbaijani was only written in the Perso-Arabic script. In 1929–1938 a Latin alphabet was in use for North Azerbaijani (although it was different from the one used now), from 1938 to 1991 the Cyrillic alphabet was used, and in 1991 the current Latin alphabet was introduced, although the transition to it has been rather slow. If written in the Latin alphabet, all foreign words are transliterated, for example, "Bush" becomes "Buş", and "Schröder" becomes "Şröder".
South Azerbaijani speakers in Iran have always continued to use the Perso-Arabic script, although the spelling and orthography isn't yet standardized.
Nomenclature
In 1992-1993, when Azerbaijan Popular Front Party was in power in Azerbaijan, the official language of Azerbaijan was renamed by the parliament to Türk dili ("Turkic"). However, since 1994 the Soviet era name of the language, Azərbaycan dili ("Azerbaijani"), has been re-established and reflected in the Constitution. Varlıq, the most important literary Azerbaijani magazine published in Iran, uses the term Türki ("Turkic" in English or "Torki" in Persian) to refer to the Azerbaijani language. South Azerbaijani speakers in Iran often refer to the language as Türki, distinguishing it from İstambuli Türki ("Anatolian Turkish"), the official language of Turkey. Some people also consider Azerbaijani to be a dialect of a greater Turkish language and call it Azərbaycan Türkcəsi ("Azerbaijani Turkish"), and scholars such as Vladimir Minorsky used this definition in their works. ISO and the Unicode Consortium, call the macrolanguage "Azerbaijani" and its two varieties "North Azerbaijani" and "South Azerbaijani". According to the Linguasphere Observatory, all Oghuz languages form part of a single 'outer language' of which "Azeri-N." and "Azeri-S." are 'inner languages'.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Azerbaijani Language'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://azerbaijani_language.totallyexplained.com">Azerbaijani language Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
