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The '''Azeri''', also referred to as Azerbaijanian [[Turks]], are a Turkic-Muslim people who live in the [[Azerbaijan]], located in a crossroads between eastern [[Europe]] and western [[Asia]]. Term Azerbajanis was first introduced by bolsheviks, with intention to claim northern province of Persia (from [[1936]] - Iran). Thus, referring to term Azerbaijan in historivcal context before 1918 is nonsence. |
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: ''The term "Azeri language" is also sometimes used to refer to a dialect of the [[Tat language]] spoken in Azerbaijan.'' |
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Before [[1918]] muslim population of modern territory of Azerbajdzhan did not have ethnic identification and call themselves just muslims. By 1918 approximately 60% of population were [[Talysh]], whereas Azerbaijanis (or, correclty, Azeri Turks) contituted ca 30% of population. Ethnic cleansing and descrimination on ethnic basis almost completely eliminated Talysh and [[Lezgi]] population. Azeri historians use georgraphical principle in their studies. According to theory of [[Buniyatov]], Azeriz did not change at all during centuries, withstanding all invasions and wars and inherit all territories of nation lived on territory of contemporary Azerbaijan. |
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{{IPA notice}} |
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The '''Azerbaijanian''' language, also called '''Azeri''', '''Azari''', '''Azeri Turkish''', or '''Azerbaijanian Turkish''', is the [[official language]] of [[Republic of Azerbaijan]]. It's called '''az{{IPA|ə}}rbaycanca''' in Azerbaijani. Some dialects of the language are spoken in many parts of [[Iran]] (but most notably in the northwestern areas, known as the [[Iranian Azarbaijan]]), where it is the most popular [[minority language]] and there are more speakers than any other country in the world. The language is also spoken in [[Russia]]'s [[Republic of Dagestan]], south-eastern [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], northern [[Iraq]], and eastern [[Turkey]]. |
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The northern half of Iranian province of Azerbaijan was annexed by the Russians in [[1828]]. Between [[1900]] and [[1918]] approximately one million Azeri Turks migrated to [[Baku]] from [[Iran]]. Total number of Azeri Turks is more than 10 million worldwide, with the majority living outside of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Republic of [[Azerbaijan]] has a population of 5 million, while more than 2 million live in Russia and 1 million living in different CIS contries, mainly in [[Ukraine]], the northwestern region of Iran in the provinces of Ardebil, East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan and Zanjan; the territory of South Azerbaijan. |
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There are approximately between 22 and 50 million native Azerbaijanian speakers. It is a [[Turkic languages|Turkic language]] of Oghuz branch, closely related to [[Turkish language|Turkish]] and also historically influenced by [[Persian]] and [[Arabic]] languages. |
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More than 8 million live in various cities in central [[Iran]] especially in the capital of Tehran. Most analysts state that at least 50% of the city and province of Tehran including the city of Karaj, is inhabited by Azeri Turks. The nomadic Turkic tribes of Afshar, Shahseven, Qarapapaq, Qajar and Timurtash who are spread across Iran are tribes of the Azerbaijanians. There are also 2 million indigenous Azerbaijanians living in the eastern region of Turkey (mostly in Kars and Igdir), 2.5 million throughout the [[Russian Federation]] (mostly in the autonomous republic of [[Dagestan]] and the capital city of [[Moscow]]) 1 million living in northern Iraq (whom are referred to as Turkmens that live mostly in [[Kirkuk]], [[Erbil]] and [[Mosul]]) and 300,000 living in the southern region of Georgia. There are also scattered populations of Azerbaijanians in [[Uzbekistan]], [[Turkmenistan]], [[Syria]] and [[Afghanistan]], including a large diaspora living in [[North America]] and [[Europe]]. |
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== Nomenclature == |
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During the initial period of the Republic of Azerbaijan's independence, the official language of Azerbaijan was called "''Türk dili''" ("Turkish"), but since [[1994]] the older name of the language, "''Azərbaycan dili''" ("Azerbaijanian"), has been re-established. The most important literary magazine of the language published in Iran, ''Varliq'', uses the English term "Turkish" and the Persian term "''torki''" for the language. Most [[Iran]]ians casually call the language ''turki'' or ''torki'', distinguishing it from the [[Turkey]]'s official language, Turkish, by calling the latter a term which can be translated as ''Istanbul Turkish''. Some people also consider "Azerbaijanian" a dialect of a greater "Turkish" language and call it "Azerbaijanian-Turkish". [[ISO]] and the [[Unicode Consortium]], call the language "Azerbaijani". |
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==History and Evolution== |
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: ''For the languages spoken in Azerbaijan before the Turks' arrival, see [[Languages of Azerbaijan]].'' |
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The Azerbaijani language of today was brought in from [[Central Asia]] by the [[Oghuz]] [[Seljuk]] [[Turk]]s. It gradually supplanted the previous languages - [[Tat language|Tat]] and [[Pahlavi language|Pahlavi]] in the south, and a variety of [[Caucasian languages]], particularly [[Udi language|Udi]], further north - and had become the dominant language before the [[Safavid]] dynasty; however, minorities in both the Republic of Azerbaijan and Iran continue to speak the earlier languages to this day, and Pahlavi and Persian loanwords are numerous in Azerbaijani. It became a [[literary language]] early on, with some works from as early as the 11th century. The Russian conquest of northern Azerbaijan 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 [[Arabic alphabet]] to [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] to [[Cyrillic alphabet|Cyrillic]] - while Iranian Azeris continued to use Arabic as they always had. After independence, the Republic of Azerbaijan decided to switch again, to the Latin script, following the Turkish model. |
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==Literature== |
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''Main article'': [[Azerbaijani literature]] |
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Classical literature in Azerbaijanian was formed in [[11th century]] based on [[Tabriz]]i and [[Shervan]]i dialects (these dialects were used by classical Azerbaijani writers Nasimi, Fizuli, and Khatai). Modern literature in the Republic of Azerbaijan is based on the Shervani dialect only, while in Iran it is based on the Tabrizi one. The first newspaper in Azerbaijani, ''[[Akinchi|Əkinçi]]'' was published in [[1875]]. During the [[Soviet Union]] period, Azerbaijani was often used as a [[lingua-franca]] between the Turkic people of the Union. |
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In mid-19th century it was taught in schools of [[Baku]], [[Ganja (city)|Ganja]], [[Sheki]], [[Tbilisi]], and [[Yerevan]]. Since [[1845]], it has also been taught in the [[University of St. Petersburg]] in [[Russia]]. |
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Famous literacy works in Azerbaijani are [[The book of Dede Qorqud]] (which [[UNESCO]] celebrated its 1300th anniversary in [[1998]], written in an early [[Oghuz]] Turkic dialect), [[Koroğlu]], [[Leyli and Mejnun]], and [[Heydar Babaya Salam]]. Important poets and writers of the Azerbaijani language include [[Imadedin Nesimi]], [[Muhammad Suleymanoglu Fuzuli]] (the first writer to write extensively in Azerbaijani, but also in Persian), [[Hesenoglu Izedin]], [[Ismail I]] (the [[Azeri]] king), [[Bakhtiar Vahabzada]], [[Khurshudbanu Natavan]] (female poet), [[Mirza Fatali Akhundov]], [[Mirza Sabir]] (satirist), and [[Mohammad Hossein Shahriar]] (who has more poems in Persian than in Azerbaijani). |
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==Phonology== |
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Based on information at [http://www.azeri.org/Azeri/az_learn/latin_az_sounds.html], Azerbaijani [[phonology]] appears to be: |
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===[[Consonant]]s=== |
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<TABLE BORDER CELLPADDING=2 CELLSPACING=0 WIDTH=50%> |
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<TR> |
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<TD COLSPAN=2></TD> <TD> bilabial </TD> <TD>dental</TD> <TD>alveolar</TD> <TD>velar</TD> <TD>uvular</TD> <TD>glottal</TD> |
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</TR> |
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<TR> |
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<TR> |
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<TD ROWSPAN=2 WIDTH=75> stops </TD> <TD WIDTH=75> voiceless </TD> <TD>{{IPA|p}}</TD> <TD>{{IPA|t}}</TD> <TD> </TD> <TD>{{IPA|k}}</TD> <TD>{{IPA|q}}</TD> <TD> </TD> |
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</TR> |
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<TR> |
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<TD> voiced </TD><TD>{{IPA|b}}</TD> <TD>{{IPA|d}}</TD> <TD> </TD> <TD>{{IPA|g}}</TD> <TD> </TD> <TD> </TD> |
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</TR> |
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<TR> |
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<TD ROWSPAN=2> affricates </TD> <TD> voiceless </TD> <TD> </TD> <TD> </TD> <TD>{{IPA|tʃ}}</TD> <TD> </TD> <TD> </TD> <TD> </TD> |
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</TR> |
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<TR> |
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<TD> voiced </TD> <TD> </TD> <TD> </TD> <TD>{{IPA|dʒ}}</TD> <TD> </TD> <TD> </TD> <TD> </TD> |
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</TR> |
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<TR> |
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<TD ROWSPAN=2> fricatives </TD> <TD> voiceless </TD> <TD>{{IPA|f}}</TD> <TD>{{IPA|s}}</TD> <TD>{{IPA|ʃ}}</TD> <TD>{{IPA|x}}</TD> <TD> </TD> <TD>{{IPA|h}}</TD> |
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</TR> |
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<TR> |
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<TD> voiced </TD> <TD>{{IPA|v}}</TD> <TD>{{IPA|z}}</TD> <TD>{{IPA|ʒ}}</TD> <TD>{{IPA|ɣ}}</TD> <TD> </TD> <TD> </TD> |
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</TR> |
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<TR> |
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<TD COLSPAN=2> nasals</TD> <TD>{{IPA|m}}</TD> <TD>{{IPA|n}}</TD> </TD> <TD> </TD> <TD> </TD> <TD> </TD> <TD> </TD> |
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</TR> |
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<TR> |
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<TD COLSPAN=2> lateral </TD> <TD> </TD> <TD>{{IPA|l}}</TD> </TD> <TD> </TD> <TD> </TD> <TD> </TD> <TD> </TD> |
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</TR> |
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<TR> |
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<TD COLSPAN=2> rhotic </TD> <TD> </TD> <TD>{{IPA|r}}</TD> </TD> <TD> </TD> <TD> </TD> <TD> </TD> <TD> </TD> |
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</TR> |
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</TABLE> |
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===[[Vowel]]s=== |
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<TABLE BORDER CELLPADDING=2 CELLSPACING=0 WIDTH=60%> |
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<TR> <TD ROWSPAN=2> </TD> <TD COLSPAN=2>front</TD> <TD COLSPAN=2>central</TD> <TD COLSPAN=2>back</TD> </TR> |
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<TR> <TD>unrounded</TD> <TD>rounded</TD> <TD>unrounded</TD> <TD>rounded</TD> <TD>unrounded</TD> <TD>rounded</TD> </TR> |
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<TR> <TD>high</TD> <TD>{{IPA|i}}</TD> <TD>{{IPA|y}}</TD> <TD COLSPAN=2> </TD> <TD>{{IPA|ɯ}}</TD> <TD>{{IPA|u}}</TD> </TR> |
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<TR> <TD>mid</TD> <TD>{{IPA|e}}</TD> <TD>{{IPA|œ}}</TD> <TD COLSPAN=2> </TD> <TD> </TD> <TD>{{IPA|o}}</TD> </TR> |
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<TR> <TD>low</TD> <TD>{{IPA|æ}}</TD> <TD> </TD> <TD COLSPAN=2>{{IPA|a}}</TD> <TD COLSPAN=2> </TD> </TR> |
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</TABLE> |
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==Alphabets== |
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Officially, Azerbaijani now uses [[Latin alphabet]], but the "Soviet" [[Cyrillic alphabet]] is still in wide use: see [[Azerbaijani alphabet]]. There is a one-to-one correspondence between the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets for Azerbaijani (although the Cyrillic alphabet has a different order): |
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(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). |
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Before [[1929]], Azerbaijani was only written in the [[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 [[Cyrillic alphabet]] was used, and in [[1991]] the current [[Latin alphabet]] was introduced, although the transition to it has been rather slow. The Azerbaijani speakers in Iran have always continued to use the [[Arabic alphabet]], although the spelling and orthography is not yet standardized. |
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The Azerbaijani language, if written in Latin, transliterates all foreign words to its own spelling. For example, "Bush" becomes "Buş", and "Schröder" becomes "Şröder". |
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== See also == |
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* [[Historical linguistics]] |
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* [[Language families and languages]] |
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== External links == |
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{{Interwiki|code=az}} |
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* [http://www.azargoshnasp.net/~iran/languages/Azari/azarimain.htm Azari, an Iranian language] |
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* [http://www.azeri.org azeri.org] |
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[[Category:Languages of Azerbaijan]] |
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[[Category:Languages of Iran]] |
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[[Category:Languages of Russia]] |
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[[Category:Languages of Turkey]] |
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[[Category:Turkic languages]] |
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[[bg:Азербайджански език]] |
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[[de:Aserbaidschanische Sprache]] |
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[[eo:Azerbajgxana lingvo]] |
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[[et:Aserbaidžaani keel]] |
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[[fr:Azéri (langue)]] |
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[[he:אזרית]] |
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[[ja:アゼルバイジャン語]] |
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[[nl:Azeri]] |
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[[pl:Język azerski]] |
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[[sv:Azeriska]] |
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[[tr:Azerice]] |
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[[zh-cn:阿塞拜疆语]] |
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Revision as of 09:13, 4 June 2005
The Azeri, also referred to as Azerbaijanian Turks, are a Turkic-Muslim people who live in the Azerbaijan, located in a crossroads between eastern Europe and western Asia. Term Azerbajanis was first introduced by bolsheviks, with intention to claim northern province of Persia (from 1936 - Iran). Thus, referring to term Azerbaijan in historivcal context before 1918 is nonsence.
Before 1918 muslim population of modern territory of Azerbajdzhan did not have ethnic identification and call themselves just muslims. By 1918 approximately 60% of population were Talysh, whereas Azerbaijanis (or, correclty, Azeri Turks) contituted ca 30% of population. Ethnic cleansing and descrimination on ethnic basis almost completely eliminated Talysh and Lezgi population. Azeri historians use georgraphical principle in their studies. According to theory of Buniyatov, Azeriz did not change at all during centuries, withstanding all invasions and wars and inherit all territories of nation lived on territory of contemporary Azerbaijan.
The northern half of Iranian province of Azerbaijan was annexed by the Russians in 1828. Between 1900 and 1918 approximately one million Azeri Turks migrated to Baku from Iran. Total number of Azeri Turks is more than 10 million worldwide, with the majority living outside of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Republic of Azerbaijan has a population of 5 million, while more than 2 million live in Russia and 1 million living in different CIS contries, mainly in Ukraine, the northwestern region of Iran in the provinces of Ardebil, East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan and Zanjan; the territory of South Azerbaijan.
More than 8 million live in various cities in central Iran especially in the capital of Tehran. Most analysts state that at least 50% of the city and province of Tehran including the city of Karaj, is inhabited by Azeri Turks. The nomadic Turkic tribes of Afshar, Shahseven, Qarapapaq, Qajar and Timurtash who are spread across Iran are tribes of the Azerbaijanians. There are also 2 million indigenous Azerbaijanians living in the eastern region of Turkey (mostly in Kars and Igdir), 2.5 million throughout the Russian Federation (mostly in the autonomous republic of Dagestan and the capital city of Moscow) 1 million living in northern Iraq (whom are referred to as Turkmens that live mostly in Kirkuk, Erbil and Mosul) and 300,000 living in the southern region of Georgia. There are also scattered populations of Azerbaijanians in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Syria and Afghanistan, including a large diaspora living in North America and Europe.