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.