Azerbaijani (/ˌaːzərbaɪˈdʒɑːni/, /-ˈʒɑːni/) or Azeri (/aːˈzɛəri/, /əˈ-/), also known as Azerbaijani Turkish or Azeri Turkish ([ɑzærbɑjdʒɑn dili]), is a Turkic language spoken primarily by the Azerbaijani people, who are concentrated mainly in the South Caucasus geographical region. There are two areas where Azerbaijani speakers are concentrated. One is the Republic of Azerbaijan, where Azerbaijani is the official language. The other is Iran (especially Iranian Azerbaijan), where there are more native speakers than in Azerbaijan, though the language does not have any official status. The language has official status also in Dagestan (a federal subject of Russia), and is also spoken to lesser varying degrees in Georgia, Iraq, and Turkey. Azerbaijani is a member of the Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages. It has two primary divisions, North Azerbaijani and South Azerbaijani, and is closely related to Turkish, Qashqai, Turkmen and Crimean Tatar, sharing mutual intelligibility with each of those languages to some extent. Azerbaijani people in Azerbaijan and Iranian Azerbaijan (and the rest of Iran) refer to their language as Türki which literally means Turkish. In 1992–1993, when Azerbaijan Popular Front Party was in power in Azerbaijan, the official language of Azerbaijan was renamed by the parliament as Türk dili ("Turkish"). However, since 1994 the Soviet-era name of the language, Azərbaycan dili ("Azerbaijani"), has been re-established and reflected in the Constitution because of political reasons. Varlıq, the most important literary Azerbaijani magazine published in Iran, uses the term Türki ("Turkish" in English or "Torki" in Persian) to refer to the Azerbaijani language. Azeris in Iran often refer to the language as Türki, distinguishing it from İstanbul Türki ("Istanbul 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 or Turkish of Azerbaijan"), and scholars such as Vladimir Minorsky used this definition in their works. ISO encodes its two varieties, North Azerbaijani and South Azerbaijani, as distinct languages. According to the Linguasphere Observatory, all Oghuz languages form part of a single "outer language" of which North and South Azerbaijani are "inner languages". History and evolution Today′s Azerbaijani languages evolved from the Eastern Oghuz branch of Western (Oghuz) Turkic[6] which spread to the Caucasus, in Eastern Europe, and northern Iran, in Western Asia, during the medieval Turkic migrations, and has been heavily influenced by Persian. Arabic also influenced the language, but Arabic words were mainly transmitted through the intermediary of literary Persian. Garden of Pleasures by Fuzûlî in Azerbaijani. Early 19th century. There is Shaki khan's seal on it. Museum of History of Azerbaijan Azerbaijani gradually supplanted the Iranian languages in what is now northern Iran, and a variety of Caucasian languages and Iranian languages in the Caucasus, particularly Udi and Old Azari. By the beginning of the 16th century, it had become the dominant language of the region, and was a spoken language in the court of the Safavid Empire. The historical development of Azerbaijani can be divided into two major periods: early (c. 16th to 18th century) and modern (18th century to present). Early Azerbaijani differs from its descendant in that it contained a much larger number of Persian, and Arabic loanwords, phrases and syntactic elements. Early writings in Azerbaijani also demonstrate linguistic 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, stilted Iranisms and Ottomanisms, and other words, expressions, and rules that failed to gain popularity among the Azerbaijani-speaking masses. Between c. 1900 and 1930, there were several competing approaches to the unification of the national language in Azerbaijan popularized by the literati, such as Hasan bey Zardabi and Mammad agha Shahtakhtinski. Despite major differences, they all aimed primarily at making it easy for semi-literate masses to read and understand literature. They all criticized the overuse of Persian, Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, and other foreign (mainly Russian) elements in both colloquial and literary language and called for a simpler and more popular style.

• published: 06 Sep 2015
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