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| The '''Azerbaijani''' language, also called Azerbaijani Turkish or Azeri, is the ] of ] and a predominant language in ] (notably in ], ], ] and ] provinces in the region of ]). The language is also spoken in Georgia, Iraq, Turkey |
The '''Azerbaijani''' language, also called Azerbaijani Turkish or Azeri, is the ] of ] and a predominant language in ] (notably in ], ], ] and ] provinces in the region of ]). The language is also spoken in Russia, Georgia, Iraq, Turkey and Afghanistan. There are approximately 45 million native speakers of Azerbaijani. The language stems from the Oghuz Turkish branch which also includes Turkish spoken in Turkey and the Balkans, Gauguz spoken in Moldova (eastern Europe) and Turkmen, spoken in Turkmenistan, northeastern Iran and Afghanistan. | ||
| Classical literature in Azerbaijani was formed in 11th century based on Tabrizi and Shirvani dialects (these dialects were used by classical Azerbaijani writers Nasimi, Fizuli, and Khatai). Modern literature is based on Shirvani dialect only. First newspaper "Akinchi" was issued in 1875. Up until early 20th century Azerbaijani was an international language to all peoples of South Caucasus, Daghestan, Turkish Armenia, Kurdistan, and North-West Iran (]). During the Soviet period, Azerbaijani was often used as a lingua-franca between the Turkic peoples of the Soviet Union. | Classical literature in Azerbaijani was formed in 11th century based on Tabrizi and Shirvani dialects (these dialects were used by classical Azerbaijani writers Nasimi, Fizuli, and Khatai). Modern literature is based on Shirvani dialect only. First newspaper "Akinchi" was issued in 1875. Up until early 20th century Azerbaijani was an international language to all peoples of South Caucasus, Daghestan, Turkish Armenia, Kurdistan, and North-West Iran (]). During the Soviet period, Azerbaijani was often used as a lingua-franca between the Turkic peoples of the Soviet Union. | ||
Revision as of 10:03, 3 June 2004
The Azerbaijani language, also called Azerbaijani Turkish or Azeri, is the official language of Azerbaijan and a predominant language in Iran (notably in West Azerbaijan, Ardebil, Zanjan and East Azerbaijan provinces in the region of South Azerbaijan). The language is also spoken in Russia, Georgia, Iraq, Turkey and Afghanistan. There are approximately 45 million native speakers of Azerbaijani. The language stems from the Oghuz Turkish branch which also includes Turkish spoken in Turkey and the Balkans, Gauguz spoken in Moldova (eastern Europe) and Turkmen, spoken in Turkmenistan, northeastern Iran and Afghanistan.
Classical literature in Azerbaijani was formed in 11th century based on Tabrizi and Shirvani dialects (these dialects were used by classical Azerbaijani writers Nasimi, Fizuli, and Khatai). Modern literature is based on Shirvani dialect only. First newspaper "Akinchi" was issued in 1875. Up until early 20th century Azerbaijani was an international language to all peoples of South Caucasus, Daghestan, Turkish Armenia, Kurdistan, and North-West Iran (South Azerbaijan). During the Soviet period, Azerbaijani was often used as a lingua-franca between the Turkic peoples of the Soviet Union. In mid-19th century it was taught as a compulsory subject in all of the schools of Baku, Ganja, Sheki, Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi, Georgia), Erivan (present-day Yerevan, Armenia), etc. Since 1845 it was also taught in the University of St. Petersburg (Russia).
Famous literacy works in Azerbaijani are: The book of Dede Gorgud (2000 UNESCO book of the year) Koroglu and Leyli & Mejnun.
Important Azerbaijani poets and literacists include: Imadedin Nesimi, Muhammad Suleymanoglu Fizuli, Nizami Genjevi, Hesenoglu Izedin, Shah Ismayil Safavi (Khatai), Bakhtiar Vahabzada, Shahriar.
Phonology
Based on information at , Azeri phonology appears to be:
| bilabial | dental | alveolar | velar | uvular | glottal | ||
| stops | voiceless | p | t | k | q | ||
| voiced | b | d | g | ||||
| affricates | voiceless | tS | |||||
| voiced | dZ | ||||||
| fricatives | voiceless | f | s | S | x | h | |
| voiced | v | z | Z | G | |||
| nasals | m | n | |||||
| lateral | l | ||||||
| rhotic | r | ||||||
| front | central | back | ||||
| unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | |
| high | i | y | M | u | ||
| mid | e | 9 | o | |||
| low | { | a | ||||
(The above uses the SAMPA coding scheme.)
Alphabets
Officially, Azerbaijani now uses Latin alphabet, but the "Soviet" Cyrillic alphabet is still in wide use. There is a one-to-one correspondence between the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets for Azerbaijani (although Cyrillic alphabet has 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 written with Arabic alphabet, in 1929–1938 a Latin alphabet was in use (although it was different from the one used now), from 1938 to 1991 the "Soviet" Cyrillic alphabet was used, and in 1991 the current Latin alphabet was introduced, although the transition to it has been very slow.
However, the Azerbaijani speakers in Iran have always continued to use the Arabic alphabet.
Azerbaijanis transliterate all foreign words and transliterate their own words to foreign. Example: Bush → Buş, Schröder → Şröder.