Azerbaijani is one of the Altaic languages. Some characteristics of Proto-Altaic include monosyllabic words, agglutination, and consonants and vowels that follow sound harmony rules. Azerbaijani has undergone changes such as borrowing Persian, Arabic, and Ottoman Turkish words and changing affixes. National minorities in Azerbaijan speak languages including Lezgian, Talysh, Udi, Tat, Avar, Khinalug, Haput, and Jek.

1. AZERBAIJANI AS ONE OF THE ALTAIC
LANGUAGES
Aytekin Aliyeva

10. Some Characteristics of Proto-Altaic Language:
 Words were monosyllabic.
 Words could be formed by linking root words and
suffixes. (agglutinative)
 Made out of strong velar and dental consonants joined to
8 different vowels. The vowels were grouped into two
groups of 4, according to an internal sound harmony.
The thick vowels are a , ı, o, u. Thin vowels are e, i, ö, ü.
 Vowels and consonants can be transferred: k => g, d =>
t, u => a etc.

11. Examples
Okhuz is formed of a root “Okh” and a suffix –
uz. “Ok” (h can be omitted) means an arrow.
So Ok(g)uz means : “We are the arrow
people and move as fast as an arrow”
Oghlan, meaning “acquire an arrow” or
equivalently “become an adult” and that’s
why “Oksuz” (öksüz-in Turkish) means an
orphan, a young one who has no adult
person for protection.

12. Mutual Intelligibility
65-90% 72%
Azeri Turkish Gagauz Turkmen
ayaq ayak ayaq ayag
yarpaq yaprak yapraq yaprag
buynuz boynuz buynuð
ulduz yıldız buynus yïldïð
yïldïs
Dialects of Azeri Turkic:
1. Seljuk, Gashgai (both are spoken in Iran)
2. Kumyk (spoken in Dagestan)

14. Alphabetical Reform
• After Arabian Occupation till the end of
1920s (Arabian)
• From 1928 to 1939 (Old Latin)
• From 1940 to 1991 ( Cyrillic)
• From 1991- nowadays (New Latin)

15. Changes in Language
First Period (XIII-XVIII centuries)
1. Vocabulary was rich with loan words:
 Persian and Arabic words
 Ottoman Turkish words (şu, şöyle, kendi etc.)
2. Changings in affixes:
 from -isər to -acaq, -əcək
 accusative case -yi, -yı, -yu, -yü to -ni, -nı, -nu, -nü
3. Defining word comes not first but last:
(daxili-əhli-kamal, fəsli-gül) Example:
Gül-i ruxsârına qarşı gözümdən qanlı axar su,
Həbîbim fəsli-güldür bu axar sular bulanmazmı? (M.Fuzuli)

16. Second Period (XVIII- nowadays)
1. Nationalisation of language- (XVIII century)
2. Formation and development of the national language- (beginning of
XIX-XX centuries) There were 3 movements from the beginning of XX
till 1930:
 Creating a simple, understandable language based on dialect. (Followers of
the magazine “Molla Nasraddin”: J. Mammadguluzadeh- “The Postbox”,
“Gurban Ali bey”, M.A.Sabir “Plougher”etc.)
 Creating a complicated, literary language (Followers of the magazine
“Fuyuzat”: A. Huseynzade- “Concern of Motherland”)
 Creating a simple but dialect-free language (A.Shaig- “Undelivered Letter”,
“Heroes of Our Century”, A.Sahhat- “Poverty is not Shameful”, J.Jabbarly- “Sevil”,
“Almas”)
3. New period:
 Azerbaijani was an official language from 1969 till 1977
 Official Language of The Republic of Azerbaijan from 1995 till now.

17. National Minorities and the Languages They Use

18. • Lezgins 2,2%
• Talyshes 1,0%
• Udis 0,05%
• Tats 0,13%
• Avars 0,6%
• Khinalug People
• Haputs
• Jek

19. Lezgis- Language Lezgian
 Belongs to Northeast
Caucasian language
family, Dagestan group,
Lezgin subgroup
 784,000 speakers
 Spoken in- Kusar, Kuba,
Kabala, Oghuz, Ismailli
and Khachmaz

20. Locations of Lezgins Azerbaijan

21. Talyshes-Talysh Language
• Belongs to
Northwestern
Iranian
language family
• Spoken in
Lankaran,
Astara, Lerik
and Masallı

22. Haputs- Haput Language
• Belongs to Northeast
Caucasian language
family, Dagestan
group, Lezgin
subgroup
(“Shahdagh Group”)
• Spoken in the village
of Mollaisaglı (Kuba)

23. Khinalug- Khinalug Language
• Northeast
Caucasian
language family,
Dagestan group,
Lezgin subgroup
• Users- more than
1500
• Spoken in the
village Khinalug
(Kuba)

24. Khinalug People Now and Then

25. Udis- Udi Language
• Northeast
Caucasian
language family,
Dagestan group,
Lezgin subgroup
• Users - about
5,000 people
• Spoken in the
village of Nij
(Kabala), Oghuz

26. Jeks- Jek Language

27. The Village of Jek (Kuba)
• Belongs to Northeast
Caucasian language
family, Dagestan group,
Lezgin subgroup
• Users11,000 people
• Spoken in The Village
of Jek (Kuba)

28. Avars- Avar Language
• Belongs to the Avar–
Andic group of the
Northeast Caucasian
language family.
• Spoken in Balaken,
Zaqatala

29. Tats- Tat Language
• Belongs to
Southwestern Iranian
language family
• Three group- Moslem
Tats, Christian Tats and
Jewish Tats (or Mountain
Jews)
• Users in Azerbaijan-
18,000 people
• Spoken in some villages
of Absheron, Khızı,
Siyezen, Devechi and
Kuba

30. References
 PhD. Haluk Berkmen, Diversification of Languages
 Robert Lindsay, Mutual Intelligibility Among the Turkic Languages
 The Turkic Languages in a Nutshell
http://turkiclanguages.scienceontheweb.net
 A Brief Exploration of the Altaic Hypothesis
http://linguistics.byu.edu/classes/ling450ch
 Presidental Library of the Administrative Department of the President of the
Republic of Azerbaijan
 Azerbaijan National Encyclopedia. 25 volumes. "Azerbaijan". Baku, 2007, pages
147, 150, 151, 152.