:Azerbaijani language

Historically, the language was referred to by its native speakers as {{lang|az|türk dili}} or {{lang|az|türkcə}},{{cite web|url= http://www.bbc.com/azeri/analysis/2016/08/160809_azer_turk_language | title= Türk dili, yoxsa azərbaycan dili? (Turkish language or Azerbaijani language?) |website= BBC |date= 9 August 2016 |access-date= 15 August 2016|language=az}} meaning either "Turkish" or "Turkic". In the early years following the establishment of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, the language was still referred to as "Turkic" in official documents. However, in the 1930s, its name was officially changed to "Azerbaijani".{{Cite news |last=Goyushov |first=Altay |date=26 September 2018 |title=The Language of Azerbaijan: Turkish or Azerbaijani? |url=https://bakuresearchinstitute.org/en/azerbaijani-turk-dili-yoxsa-az%C9%99rbaycan-dili/ |access-date=23 August 2023 |website=Baku Research Institute |quote=However, in 1936–1937, the situation changed fundamentally. Even though there was no explicit mention of an enactment of state language in local Azerbaijani laws, the term “Turkish” was substituted by “Azerbaijani” in state and court documents. Later in 1956, “Azerbaijani” was given the status of the official state language of Soviet Azerbaijan. This was also mentioned in Soviet Azerbaijan's last Constitution adopted in 1978.}}{{Encyclopædia Iranica Online | last=Doerfer | first=G. | year=2011 | article=Azerbaijan | section=viii. Azeri Turkish | article-url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-viii | volume=3 | fascicle=3 | pages=245-248}} The language is often still referred to as Turki orTorki (Turkish or Turkic) in Iranian Azerbaijan.{{Cite book |last=Rahmati |first=Nemat |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/40415729 |title=Aserbaidschanisch Lehrbuch : unter Berücksichtigung des Nord- und Südaserbaidschanischen |date=1998 |publisher=Harrassowitz |others=Korkut M. Buğday |isbn=978-3-447-03840-9 |location=Wiesbaden |oclc=40415729}} The term "Azeri", generally interchangeable with "Azerbaijani", is from Turkish Azeri{{Cite book |last=Stevenson |first=Angus |title=Oxford dictionary of English |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |isbn=9780199571123 |pages=113}} The 17th century Capuchin missionary Raphael du Mans used the expression "Turk Ajami" in relation to the Azerbaijani language. This term is used by many modern authors to designate the direct historical predecessor of the modern Azerbaijani language (see Middle Azerbaijani language).Larry Clark, Turkmen Reference Grammar, [https://books.google.az/books?id=RMe7KpwS3KsC&pg=PA15&dq=Turk+Ajami&hl=ru&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjTs-TO87vYAhViM5oKHR22BwcQ6AEILTAB#v=onepage&q=Turk%20Ajami&f=false P. 15] The term is derived from earlier designations, such as lingua turcica agemica, or Turc Agemi, which was used in a grammar book composed by the French writer Capuchin Raphaël du Mans (died 1696) in 1684. Local texts simply called the language türkī.Stein, Heidi (2014). "Ajem-Turkic". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830. During "the Isfahan phase of the Safavids", it was called ḳızılbaşī in contrast to rūmī (Ottoman) and çaġatā’ī (Chagatai), due to its close relation to dialects spoken by the Qizilbash.{{cite book |title=In Honor of the Turkologist!: Essays Celebrating the 70th Birthday of Ekrem Čaušević |publisher=Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb |year=2022 |isbn=978-953-175-937-3 |location=Zagreb |pages=103–105}}

{{Main|Languages of Azerbaijan|Languages of Iran}}

File:Azerbaijani Turkish Ghazal Apardi Konlumu by Hasanoghlu.jpg which is considered the earliest known piece of literature in Azerbaijani Turkish by modern researchers, from the anthology Kitab-i Gulistan bil-Turki compiled by Seyfi Sarayi, published in 1391 and kept in the library of Leiden University]]

Azerbaijani evolved from the Eastern branch of Oghuz Turkic ("Western Turkic")"The Turkic Languages", Osman Fikri Sertkaya (2005) in Turks – A Journey of a Thousand Years, 600–1600, London {{ISBN|978-1-90397-356-1}} which spread to the Caucasus in Eastern Europe{{cite book|last1=Wright|first1=Sue|last2=Kelly|first2=Helen|title=Ethnicity in Eastern Europe: Questions of Migration, Language Rights and Education|date=1998|publisher=Multilingual Matters Ltd.|isbn=978-1-85359-243-0|page=49}}{{cite book|last1=Bratt Paulston|first1=Christina|last2=Peckham|first2=Donald|title=Linguistic Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe|date=1 October 1998|publisher=Multilingual Matters Ltd.|isbn=978-1-85359-416-8|pages=98–115}} and northern Iran in West Asia during the medieval Turkic migrations.{{Encyclopædia Iranica Online | article-url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-ix | article=Azerbaijan | section=ix. Iranian Elements in Azeri Turkish | first=Lars | last=Johanson | year=2011 | volume=3 | fascicle=3 | pages=248-251}} Persian and Arabic influenced the language, but Arabic words were mainly transmitted through the intermediary of literary Persian.John R. Perry, "Lexical Areas and Semantic Fields of Arabic" in Csató et al. (2005) Linguistic convergence and areal diffusion: case studies from Iranian, Semitic and Turkic, Routledge, p. 97: "It is generally understood that the bulk of the Arabic vocabulary in the central, contiguous Iranic, Turkic and Indic languages was originally borrowed into literary Persian between the ninth and thirteenth centuries CE..." Azerbaijani is, perhaps after Uzbek, the Turkic language upon which Persian and other Iranian languages have exerted the strongest impact—mainly in phonology, syntax, and vocabulary, less in morphology.

During the period of the Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu states, Azerbaijani Turkic (in the sources of that period, "Turki") gradually began to emerge as a means of literary and poetic expression.Claus Schönig, Turkic languages and literatures in the Timurid and post-Timurid period, in: The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 6, Cambridge University Press, 1986.

→ s. 708–710

During this period, writing in Turkic became fashionable in the court and among poets. The ruler of the Qara Qoyunlu, Jahanshah, was known by his pen name "Haqiqi", and the ruler of the Aq Qoyunlu, Sultan Yaqub, was known for writing poems in Turkic.Mehmet Fuat Köprülü, Türk Edebiyatı Tarihi, İstanbul (Turkish): Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1926.s. 96–101

The great Sufi poet Qasim-i Anvar also accepted Turkic as a literary language and presented highly poetic examples in this language.Gerhard Doerfer, Türkische und mongolische Elemente im Neupersischen, Bd. 2, Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1963. s. 350–352

The Turkic language of Azerbaijan gradually supplanted the Iranian languages in what is now northwestern Iran, and a variety of languages of the Caucasus and Iranian languages spoken in the Caucasus, particularly Udi and Old Azeri. By the beginning of the 16th century, it had become the dominant language of the region. It was one of the spoken languages in the court of the Safavids, Afsharids and Qajars.

The historical development of Azerbaijani can be divided into two major periods: early ({{circa|14th}} 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 masses.

The Russian annexation of Iran's territories in the Caucasus through the Russo-Iranian wars of 1804–1813 and 1826–1828 split the language community across two states. Afterwards, the Tsarist administration encouraged the spread of Azerbaijani in eastern Transcaucasia as a replacement for Persian spoken by the upper classes, and as a measure against Persian influence in the region.{{cite journal |last1=Tonoyan |first1=Artyom |title=On the Caucasian Persian (Tat) Lexical Substratum in the Baku Dialect of Azerbaijani. Preliminary Notes |journal=Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft |date=2019 |volume=169 |issue=2 |page=368 (note 4) |doi=10.13173/zeitdeutmorggese.169.2.0367|s2cid=211660063 }}{{cite book |last1=Karpat |first1=K. |title=The Politicization of Islam: Reconstructing Identity, State, Faith, and Community in the Late Ottoman State |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=295}}

Between {{circa|1900}} and 1930, there were several competing approaches to the unification of the national language in what is now the Azerbaijan Republic, popularized by scholars 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, and European elements in both colloquial and literary language and called for a simpler and more popular style.

The Soviet Union promoted the development of the language but set it back considerably with two successive script changes{{cite web|url= http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/81_folder/81_articles/81_alphabet_changes1.html|title=Alphabet Changes in Azerbaijan in the 20th Century|website=Azerbaijan International|date=Spring 2000|access-date=21 July 2013}} – from the Persian to Latin and then to the Cyrillic script – while Iranian Azerbaijanis continued to use the Persian script as they always had. Despite the wide use of Azerbaijani in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, it became the official language of Azerbaijan only in 1956.[http://news.day.az/politics/249744.html Language Commission Suggested to Be Established in National Assembly]. Day.az. 25 January 2011. After independence, the Republic of Azerbaijan decided to switch back to a modified Latin script.

{{Main|Azerbaijani literature}}

File:Shahriar.jpg, Iranian Azerbaijani poet, who wrote in Azerbaijani and Persian.]]

The development of Azerbaijani literature is closely associated with Anatolian Turkish, written in Perso-Arabic script. Examples of its detachment date to the 14th century or earlier.{{cite book|last=Johanson |first=Lars |editor-first1=Keith |editor-last1=Brown |editor-first2=Sarah |editor-last2=Ogilvie|title=Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC&pg=PA111|pages=110–113 |publisher=Elsevier|date=6 April 2010|isbn=978-0-08-087775-4|via=Google Books}}{{cite web|access-date=5 February 2020|first=Kurtulus|last=Öztopcu|title=Azeri / Azerbaijani|url=https://aatturkic.org/aatt/article/123617|website=American Association of Teachers of Turkic Languages|archive-date=8 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308035305/https://aatturkic.org/aatt/article/123617|url-status=dead}} Kadi Burhan al-Din, Hasanoghlu, and Imadaddin Nasimi helped to establish Azerbaiijani as a literary language in the 14th century through poetry and other works. One ruler of the Qara Qoyunlu state, Jahanshah, wrote poems in Azerbaijani language with the nickname "Haqiqi".{{Encyclopædia Iranica Online | article-url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-x | article=Azerbaijan | section=x. Azeri Turkish Literature | first1=Hasan | last1=Javadi | first2=Kathleen | last2=Burrill | year=2012 | volume=3 | fascicle=3 | pages=251-255 | quote=The 15th century saw the beginning of a more important period in the history of the Azeri Turkish literature. The position of the literary language was reinforced under the Qarāqoyunlu (r. 1400–68), who had their capital in Tabriz. Jahānšāh (r. 1438–68) himself wrote lyrical poems in Turkish using the pen name of 'Ḥaqiqi.'}}V. Minorsky. Jihān-Shāh Qara-Qoyunlu and His Poetry (Turkmenica, 9). Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. — Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of School of Oriental and African Studies, 1954. — V.16, p . 272, 283: «It is somewhat astonishing that a sturdy Turkman like Jihan-shah should have been so restricted in his ways of expression. Altogether the language of the poems belongs to the group of the southern Turkman dialects which go by the name of Azarbayjan Turkish.»; «As yet nothing seems to have been published on the Br. Mus. manuscript Or. 9493, which contains the bilingual collection of poems of Haqiqi, i.e. of the Qara-qoyunlu sultan Jihan-shah (A.D. 1438—1467).» Sultan Yaqub, a ruler of the Aq Qoyunlu state, wrote poems in the Azerbaijani language.{{Encyclopædia Iranica Online | first1=Hasan | last1=Javadi | first2=Kathleen | last2=Burrill | year=2012 | article=Azerbaijan | section=x. Azeri Turkish Literature | article-url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-x | quote=He wrote a maṯnawi entitled Yusof wa Zoleyḵā, and dedicated it to the Aqqoyunlu Sultan Yaʿqub (r. 1478-90), who himself wrote poetry in Azeri Turkish.}} Adapted from {{Encyclopædia Iranica | article-url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/azerbaijan-x-orig | article=Azerbaijan | section=x. Azeri literature | first1=Hasan | last1=Javadi | first2=Kathleen | last2=Burrill | year=1988 | quote=He wrote a maṯnawī entitled Yūsof wa Zoleyḵā, and dedicated it to the Āq Qoyunlū Sultan Yaʿqūb (r. 883-96/1478-90), who himself wrote poetry in Azeri.}} The ruler and poet Ismail I wrote under the pen name Khatā'ī (which means "sinner" in Persian) during the fifteenth century.Mark R.V. Southern. [https://books.google.com/books?id=dGhFQFJZUIYC&pg=PA65 Mark R V Southern (2005) Contagious couplings: transmission of expressives in Yiddish echo phrases], Praeger, Westport, Conn. {{ISBN|978-0-31306-844-7}} During the 16th century, the poet, writer and thinker Fuzûlî wrote mainly in Azerbaijani but also translated his poems into Arabic and Persian.

Starting in the 1830s, several newspapers were published in Iran during the reign of the Azerbaijani speaking Qajar dynasty, but it is unknown whether any of these newspapers were written in Azerbaijani. In 1875, Akinchi ({{lang|az|Əkinçi}} / {{lang|az-Arab|اکينچی}}) ("The Ploughman") became the first Azerbaijani newspaper to be published in the Russian Empire. It was started by Hasan bey Zardabi, a journalist and education advocate.

Mohammad-Hossein Shahriar is an important figure in Azerbaijani poetry. His most important work is Heydar Babaya Salam and it is considered to be a pinnacle of Azerbaijani literature and gained popularity in the Turkic-speaking world. It was translated into more than 30 languages.{{cite web |url=http://umich.edu/~turkish/links/manuscripts/haydarbaba/haydarbaba.htm |title=Greetings to Heydar Baba |publisher=umich.edu |access-date=8 September 2010 |archive-date=5 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180805172258/http://umich.edu/~turkish/links/manuscripts/haydarbaba/haydarbaba.htm |url-status=dead }}

In the mid-19th century, Azerbaijani literature was taught at schools in Baku, Ganja, Shaki, Tbilisi, and Yerevan. Since 1845, it has also been taught in the Saint Petersburg State University in Russia. In 2018, Azerbaijani language and literature programs are offered in the United States at several universities, including Indiana University, UCLA, and University of Texas at Austin. The vast majority, if not all Azerbaijani language courses teach North Azerbaijani written in the Latin script and not South Azerbaijani written in the Perso-Arabic script.

Modern literature in the Republic of Azerbaijan is primarily based on the Shirvani dialect, while in the Iranian Azerbaijan region (historic Azerbaijan) it is based on the Tabrizi one.

An Azerbaijani koine served as a lingua franca throughout most parts of Transcaucasia except the Black Sea coast, in southern Dagestan,Pieter Muysken, "Introduction: Conceptual and methodological issues in areal linguistics", in Pieter Muysken (2008) From Linguistic Areas to Areal Linguistics, p. 30-31 {{ISBN|978-90-272-3100-0}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=n9p4rl09ec0C&q=azeri+lingua+franca]Viacheslav A. Chirikba, "The problem of the Caucasian Sprachbund" in Muysken, p. 74Lenore A. Grenoble (2003) Language Policy in the Soviet Union, p. 131 {{ISBN|978-1-4020-1298-3}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=Nn3xDTiL0PQC&dq=azeri+lingua+franca&pg=PA127] the Eastern Anatolia Region and all over IranKeith Brown, Sarah Ogilvie. Concise encyclopedia of languages of the world. – Elsevier, 2009. – С. 110–113. – {{ISBN|978-0-08-087774-7}}. An Azerbaijanian koine´ functioned for centuries as a lingua franca, serving trade and intergroup communication all over Persia, in the Caucasus region and in southeastern Dagestan. Its transregional validity continued at least until the 18th century. from the 16th to the early 20th centuries,[https://books.google.com/books?id=gxXtKAAACAAJ&q=Nasledie+Chingiskhana] Nikolai Trubetzkoy (2000) Nasledie Chingiskhana, p. 478 Agraf, Moscow {{ISBN|978-5-77840-082-5}} (Russian)J. N. Postgate (2007) Languages of Iraq, p. 164, British School of Archaeology in Iraq {{ISBN|978-0-903472-21-0}} alongside cultural, administrative, court literature, and most importantly official language (along with Azerbaijani) of all these regions, namely Persian.Homa Katouzian (2003) Iranian history and politics, Routledge, pg 128: "Indeed, since the formation of the Ghaznavids state in the tenth century until the fall of Qajars at the beginning of the twentieth century, most parts of the Iranian cultural regions were ruled by Turkic-speaking dynasties most of the time. At the same time, the official language was Persian, the court literature was in Persian, and most of the chancellors, ministers, and mandarins were Persian speakers of the highest learning and ability" From the early 16th century up to the course of the 19th century, these regions and territories were all ruled by the Safavids, Afsharids, and Qajars until the cession of Transcaucasia proper and Dagestan by Qajar Iran to the Russian Empire per the 1813 Treaty of Gulistan and the 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay. Per the 1829 Caucasus School Statute, Azerbaijani was to be taught in all district schools of Ganja, Shusha, Nukha (present-day Shaki), Shamakhi, Quba, Baku, Derbent, Yerevan, Nakhchivan, Akhaltsikhe, and Lankaran. Beginning in 1834, it was introduced as a language of study in Kutaisi instead of Armenian. In 1853, Azerbaijani became a compulsory language for students of all backgrounds in all of Transcaucasia with the exception of the Tiflis Governorate.[https://books.google.com/books?id=jhg_AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA130 "Date of the Official Instruction of Oriental Languages in Russia"] by N.I.Veselovsky. 1880. in W.W. Grigorieff ed. (1880) Proceedings of the Third Session of the International Congress of Orientalists, Saint Petersburg (Russian)

{{main|Azerbaijani dialects}}

File:Reza Shah and Atatürk.jpg and Kemal Atatürk during the Shah's official visit to Turkey in 1934. Reza Shah spoke in South Azerbaijani while Atatürk spoke in Turkish, and the two leaders managed to communicate with each other quite effectively.]]

Azerbaijani is one of the Oghuz languages within the Turkic language family. Ethnologue lists North Azerbaijani (spoken mainly in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Russia) and South Azerbaijani (spoken in Iran, Iraq, and Syria) as two groups within the Azerbaijani macrolanguage with "significant differences in phonology, lexicon, morphology, syntax, and loanwords" between the two. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) considers Northern and Southern Azerbaijani to be distinct languages.{{cite journal |last1=Salehi |first1=Mohammad |last2=Neysani |first2=Aydin |title=Receptive intelligibility of Turkish to Iranian-Azerbaijani speakers |journal=Cogent Education |date=2017 |volume=4 |issue=1 |page=3 |doi=10.1080/2331186X.2017.1326653 |s2cid=121180361 |quote=Northern and Southern Azerbaijani are considered distinct languages by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) (...)|doi-access=free }} Linguists Mohammad Salehi and Aydin Neysani write that "there is a high degree of mutual intelligibility" between North and South Azerbaijani.

Svante Cornell wrote in his 2001 book Small Nations and Great Powers that "it is certain that Russian and Iranian words (sic), respectively, have entered the vocabulary on either side of the Araxes river, but this has not occurred to an extent that it could pose difficulties for communication".A study of Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus, author Svante E.Cornell, 2001, page 22 ({{ISBN|978-0-203-98887-9}}) There are numerous dialects, with 21 North Azerbaijani dialects and 11 South Azerbaijani dialects identified by Ethnologue.{{cite web|access-date=2 February 2020|title=Azerbaijani, South|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/azb|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190605145847/https://www.ethnologue.com/language/azb |archive-date=5 June 2019 |website=Ethnologue}}

Three varieties have been accorded ISO 639-3 language codes: North Azerbaijani, South Azerbaijani and Qashqai. The Glottolog 4.1 database classifies North Azerbaijani, with 20 dialects, and South Azerbaijani, with 13 dialects, under the Modern Azeric family, a branch of Central Oghuz.{{cite book|editor-last1=Hammarström |editor-first1=Harald |editor-last2=Forkel |editor-first2=Robert |editor-last3=Haspelmath |editor-first3=Martin |access-date=5 February 2020|title=Modern Azeric|chapter-url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/mode1262|date=2019 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.3554959 |via=Glottolog 4.1|last1=Hammarström |first1=Harald |last2=Forkel |first2=Robert |last3=Haspelmath |first3=Martin |chapter=Linguistics }}

In the northern dialects of the Azerbaijani language, linguists find traces of the influence of the Khazar language.

According to Encyclopedia Iranica:

{{blockquote|We may distinguish the following Azeri dialects: (1) eastern group: Derbent (Darband), Kuba, Shemakha (Šamāḵī), Baku, Salyani (Salyānī), and Lenkoran (Lankarān), (2) western group: Kazakh (not to be confounded with the Kipchak-Turkic language of the same name), the dialect of the Ayrïm (Āyrom) tribe (which, however, resembles Turkish), and the dialect spoken in the region of the Borchala river; (3) northern group: Zakataly, Nukha, and Kutkashen; (4) southern group: Yerevan (Īravān), Nakhichevan (Naḵjavān), and Ordubad (Ordūbād); (5) central group: Ganja (Kirovabad) and Shusha; (6) North Iraqi dialects; (7) Northwest Iranian dialects: Tabrīz, Reżāʾīya (Urmia), etc., extended east to about Qazvīn; (8) Southeast Caspian dialect (Galūgāh). Optionally, we may adjoin as Azeri (or "Azeroid") dialects: (9) East Anatolian, (10) Qašqāʾī, (11) Aynallū, (12) Sonqorī, (13) dialects south of Qom, (14) Kabul Afšārī.}}

File:E60 Älät.jpg

North Azerbaijani, or Northern Azerbaijani, is the official language of the Republic of Azerbaijan. It is closely related to modern-day Istanbul Turkish, the official language of Turkey. It is also spoken in southern Dagestan, along the Caspian coast in the southern Caucasus Mountains and in scattered regions throughout Central Asia. {{as of|2011}}, there are some 9.23 million speakers of North Azerbaijani including 4 million monolingual speakers (many North Azerbaijani speakers also speak Russian, as is common throughout former USSR countries).

The Shirvan dialect as spoken in Baku is the basis of standard Azerbaijani. Since 1992, it has been officially written with a Latin script in the Republic of Azerbaijan, but the older Cyrillic script was still widely used in the late 1990s.{{sfn|Schönig|1998|p=248}}

Ethnologue lists 21 North Azerbaijani dialects: "Quba, Derbend, Baku, Shamakhi, Salyan, Lenkaran, Qazakh, Airym, Borcala, Terekeme, Qyzylbash, Nukha, Zaqatala (Mugaly), Qabala, Nakhchivan, Ordubad, Ganja, Shusha (Karabakh), Karapapak, Kutkashen, Kuba".

South Azerbaijani, or Iranian Azerbaijani,{{efn|Since Azerbaijan's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, northern Azerbaijani uses the Latin alphabet. Iranian Azerbaijani, on the other hand, has always used and continues to use Arabic script.{{sfn||Mokari|Werner|2017|p=207}}}} is widely spoken in Iranian Azerbaijan and, to a lesser extent, in neighboring regions of Turkey and Iraq, with smaller communities in Syria. In Iran, the Persian word for Azerbaijani is borrowed as {{lang|az|Torki}} "Turkic". In Iran, it is spoken mainly in East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Ardabil and Zanjan. It is also spoken in Tehran and across the Tehran Province, as Azerbaijanis form by far the largest minority in the city and the wider province,{{cite web|url=http://www.minorityrights.org/?lid=5096|title=Azeris|publisher=World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous People |access-date=5 July 2013}} comprising about {{fraction|1|6}}{{cite news|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+ir0052) |title=Iran-Azeris |publisher=Library of Congress Country Studies |date=December 1987 |access-date=13 August 2013}}{{cite book|title=Iran: Country Study Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=joQpzQEACAAJ&pg=PA152|year=2005|publisher=International Business Publications|isbn=978-0-7397-1476-8}} of its total population. The CIA World Factbook reports that in 2010, the percentage of Iranian Azerbaijani speakers was at around 16 percent of the Iranian population, or approximately 13 million people worldwide,{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/iran/ |title=The World Factbook |publisher=Cia.gov |access-date=13 July 2013}} and ethnic Azeris form by far the second largest ethnic group of Iran, thus making the language also the second most spoken language in the nation. Ethnologue reports 10.9 million Iranian Azerbaijani in Iran in 2016 and 13,823,350 worldwide.

Dialects of South Azerbaijani include: "Aynallu (often considered a separate language{{Cite web |title=Äynallu |url=https://turkic.elegantlexicon.com/lx.php?lx=anl |website=Turkic Database}}{{Encyclopædia Iranica Online | first=Michael | last=Knüppel | year=2010 | orig-year=2000 | article=Turkic languages of Persia: An overview | article-url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/turkic-languages-overview}}Doerfer, Gerhard, and Wolfram Hesche. 1989. Südoghusische Materialen aus Afghanistan und Iran. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-344702786.), Karapapakh (often considered a separate language.{{harvnb|Barthold|Wixman|1978|p=627}} The second edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam mentions that it is close to both "Āzerī and the Turkish of Turkey". The historian George Bournoutian only mentions that it is close to present-day Azeri-Türki.{{harvnb|Bournoutian|2017|loc=p. 331 (note 28)}}), Afshari (often considered a separate language{{Encyclopædia Iranica Online | first=Michael | last=Knüppel | year=2010 | orig-year=2000 | article=Turkic languages of Persia: An overview | article-url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/turkic-languages-overview | quote=The Afšār language was once spoken in a wide area in western and southwestern Persia from Kermānšāh to the shores of the Persian Gulf.}}Stöber, Georg (2010). "Afshār". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett(eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830. Linguistically, Afshārī is classified as a dialect belonging to the South Oghuz group of Turkic languages (southwestern branch of Turkic) (Johanson, History of Turkic, 82–3), or else as a dialect of South Azerbaijani (Azeri). As they were embedded in a Fārsī-speaking environment, however, in many cases Fārsī became the mother tongue of the Afshārs. Other groups became bilingual (as in Kirmān). Additionally, the contact between the different languages seems to have transformed the original dialect (cf. Johanson, Discoveries, 14–6). In 2009 a linguistic comparison of different Afshār groups remains outstanding.), Shahsavani (sometimes considered its own dialect, distinct from other Turkic languages of northwestern Iran{{Cite journal |title=On The Dialect of Shahsavan |url=https://turkishstudies.net/turkishstudies?mod=makale_ing_ozet&makale_id=19358 |journal=Journal of Turkish Studies| date=29 August 2024 | volume=11 | issue=11 4 | pages=807–828 | doi=10.7827/TurkishStudies.9295 | last1=Rezaei | first1=Mehdi | doi-access=free }}), Baharlu (Kamesh), Moqaddam, Nafar, Qaragozlu, Pishagchi, Bayat, Qajar, Tabriz".

Russian comparatist {{ill|Oleg Mudrak|ru|Мудрак, Олег Алексеевич}} calls the Turkmen language the closest relative of Azerbaijani.{{cite web |url=https://centrasia.org/newsA.php?st=1241080740 |title=Language in time. Classification of Turkic languages (in Russian) |last=Mudrak |first=Oleg |date=30 April 2009 |website=centrasia.org |language=ru |quote=Распад туркменско-азербайджанского. Несмотря на все уверения, что азербайджанский является ближайшим родственником турецкого, это не так. Наиболее близким к нему (азербайджанскому) является туркменский. Распад этого единства попадает примерно на 1180-й год. Это удивительно. Потому что тогда как раз был конец Империи Великих Сельджуков. <...> Интересная дата – это распад огузской общности и выделение турецкого языка. Это примерно 1030-й год. Это самое начало 11-го века. Это очень интересно, потому что как раз в это время начинается миграция сельджуков. <...> Собственно сердце турецкого языка – это район Рума в Восточной Анатолии, где сидит тюркское население.}}

File:Oghuz Turkic Languages distribution map.png, Azerbaijani, and Turkmen are Oghuz languages]]

Speakers of Turkish and Azerbaijani can, to an extent, communicate with each other as both languages have substantial similarity. However, it is easier for many Azerbaijani speakers to understand Turkish than it is for Turkish speakers to understand Azerbaijani.{{Cite web |title=Azerbaijani (Azeri) |url=https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/silk-road-themes/languages-and-endanger-languages/azerbaijani-azeri |publisher=UNESCO}} Turkish soap operas are very popular with Azeris in both Iran and Azerbaijan. Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran (who spoke South Azerbaijani) met with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk of Turkey (who spoke Turkish) in 1934; the two were filmed speaking their respective languages to each other and communicated effectively.{{Cite book |last=Yelda |first=Rami |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Kbj21wrwwEC&pg=PT33 |title=A Persian Odyssey: Iran Revisited |publisher=AuthorHouse |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4772-0291-3 |page=33}}{{Cite book |last1=Mafinezam |first1=Alidad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PO_s9H5QTp4C&pg=PA57 |title=Iran and Its Place Among Nations |last2=Mehrabi |first2=Aria |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-275-99926-1 |page=57}}

In a 2011 study, 30 Turkish participants were tested to determine how well they understood written and spoken Azerbaijani. It was found that even though Turkish and Azerbaijani are typologically similar languages, on the part of Turkish speakers the intelligibility is not as high as is estimated.{{Cite journal |last1=Sağın-Şimşek |first1=Çiğdem |last2=König |first2=Wolf |date=September 2012 |title=Receptive multilingualism and language understanding: Intelligibility of Azerbaijani to Turkish speakers |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1367006911426449 |journal=International Journal of Bilingualism |language=en |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=315–331 |doi=10.1177/1367006911426449 |issn=1367-0069}} In a 2017 study, Iranian Azerbaijanis scored in average 56% of receptive intelligibility in spoken Turkish.{{Cite journal |last1=Salehi |first1=Mohammad |last2=Neysani |first2=Aydin |date=2017 |title=Receptive intelligibility of Turkish to Iranian-Azerbaijani speakers |journal=Cogent Education |volume=4 |issue=1 |page=10 |doi=10.1080/2331186X.2017.1326653 |s2cid=121180361 |doi-access=free}}

Azerbaijani exhibits a similar stress pattern to Turkish but simpler in some respects. Azerbaijani is a strongly stressed and partially stress-timed language, unlike Turkish which is weakly stressed and syllable-timed.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

Below are some cognates with different spelling in Azerbaijani and Turkish:

The 1st person personal pronoun is mən in Azerbaijani just as men in Turkmen, whereas it is ben in Turkish. The same is true for demonstrative pronouns bu, where sound b is replaced with sound m. For example: bunun>munun/mının, muna/mına, munu/munı, munda/mında, mundan/mından.Shiraliyev M. Fundamentals of Azerbaijan dialectology. Baku, 2008. p.76 This is observed in the Turkmen literary language as well, where the demonstrative pronoun bu undergoes some changes just as in: munuñ, munı, muña, munda, mundan, munça.Kara M. Turkmen Grammar. Ankara, 2005. p.231 b>m replacement is encountered in many dialects of the Turkmen language and may be observed in such words as: boyun>moyın in Yomut – Gunbatar dialect, büdüremek>müdüremek in Ersari and Stavropol Turkmens' dialects, bol>mol in Karakalpak Turkmens' dialects, buzav>mizov in Kirac dialects.{{cite book|author1=Berdiev R.|author2=S. Kurenov|author3=K. Shamuradov|author4=S. Arazkuliyev|title=Essay on the Dialects of the Turkmen Language|location=Ashgabat|year=1970|page=116}}

Here are some words from the Swadesh list to compare Azerbaijani with Turkmen:{{cite web |title=Swadesh list, compare the Azerbaijani language and the Turkmen language |url=https://geo.koltyrin.ru/spisok_svodesha.php?jazyk=azeri&sravnenie=turkmen |website=Linguistics}}

{{see also|Oghuric languages}}

Azerbaijani dialects share paradigms of verbs in some tenses with the Chuvash language,{{cite web |url=https://old.bigenc.ru/linguistics/text/4727638 |title=Khazar language |author= |website=Great Russian Encyclopedia |language=ru |quote=}} on which linguists also rely in the study and reconstruction of the Khazar language.

Azerbaijani phonotactics is similar to that of other Oghuz Turkic languages, except:

• Trimoraic syllables with long vowels are permissible.
• There is an ongoing metathesis of neighboring consonants in a word.{{sfn|Kök|2016|pp=406–30}} Speakers tend to reorder consonants in the order of decreasing sonority and back-to-front (for example, iləri becomes irəli, köprü becomes körpü, topraq becomes torpaq). Some of the metatheses are so common in the educated speech that they are reflected in orthography (all the above examples are like that). This phenomenon is more common in rural dialects but observed even in educated young urban speakers, but noticeably absent from some Southern dialects.
• Intramorpheme q {{IPA|/g/}} becomes {{IPA|/x/}}.

1. Outside Iran, the sound {{IPA|[k]}} is used only in loanwords; the historical unpalatalized {{IPA|[k]}} became voiced to {{IPA|[ɡ]}}, and was only preserved in Iran.
2. {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}} and {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}} are realised as {{IPA|[t͡s]}} and {{IPA|[d͡z]}} respectively in the areas around Tabriz and to the west, south and southwest of Tabriz (including Kirkuk in Iraq); in the Nakhchivan and Ayrum dialects, in Cəbrayil and some Caspian coastal dialects;.Persian Studies in North America by Mohammad Ali Jazayeri
3. Sounds {{IPA|/t͡s/}} and {{IPA|/d͡z/}} may also be recognized as separate phonemic sounds in the Tabrizi and southern dialects.{{Sfnp|Mokari|Werner|2017|p=209}}
4. In most dialects of Azerbaijani, {{IPA|/c/}} is realized as {{IPAblink|ç}} when it is found in the syllabic coda or is preceded by a voiceless consonant (as in {{lang|az|çörək}} {{IPA|[t͡ʃœˈɾæç]}} – "bread"; {{lang|az|səksən}} {{IPA|[sæçˈsæn]}} – "eighty").
5. {{IPA|/w/}} exists in the Kirkuk dialect as an allophone of {{IPA|/v/}} in Arabic loanwords.
6. In colloquial speech, {{IPA|/x/}} (but not intramorpheme {{IPA|[x]}} transformed from {{IPA|/g/}}) is usually pronounced as {{IPA|[χ]}}

Works on Azerbaijani dialectology use the following notations for dialectal consonants:[http://static.bsu.az/w15/Azərbaycan%20dialektologiyası-Meherrem%20Memmedli%202020_1.pdf Məmmədli Məhərrəm Əvəz oğlu. Azərbaycan dialektologiyası. Dərslik. Bakı: Zərdabi LTD, 2019, 352 s.][https://filologiya.az/images/PDF2/muasir%20azerbaycan%20dili%20derslikler/Mahmud%20kaşğari%20kitab.pdf Mahirə Hüseynova. Mahmud Kaşğarinin “Divani lüğət-ittürk” əsərinin qrammatik xüsusiyyətləri.][http://static.bsu.az/w15/Azerbacan%20DIALEKTOLOGIYASI-2019-352-07.02.2019.pdf Məmmədli Məhərrəm Əvəz oğlu. Azərbaycan dialektologiyası. Bakı, “Zərdabi Nəşr” MMC, 2019, 352 səh.]

• Ⱪ ⱪ—{{IPA|[k]}}
• X' x'—{{IPA|[ç]}}
• Ŋ ŋ—{{IPA|[ŋ]}}
• Ц ц—{{IPA|[t͡s]}}
• Dz dz—{{IPA|[d͡z]}}
• Ž ž—{{IPA|[ð]}}
• W w—{{IPA|[w, ɥ]}}

Examples:

• {{IPA|[k]}}—ⱪış {{IPA|[kɯʃ]}}
• {{IPA|[ç]}}—üzüx' {{IPA|[ʔyzyç]}}
• {{IPA|[ŋ]}}—ataŋın {{IPA|[ʔɑt̪ɑŋɯn̪]}}
• {{IPA|[t͡s]}}—цay {{IPA|[t͡sɑj]}}
• {{IPA|[d͡z]}}—dzan {{IPA|[d͡zɑn̪]}}
• {{IPA|[ð]}}—əžəli {{IPA|[ʔæðæl̪ɪ]}}
• {{IPA|[w]}}—dowşan {{IPA|[d̪ɔːwʃɑn̪]}}
• {{IPA|[ɥ]}}—töwlə {{IPA|[t̪œːɥl̪æ]}}

The vowels of the Azerbaijani are, in alphabetical order,Householder and Lotfi. Basic Course in Azerbaijani. 1965. {{lang|az|a}} {{IPA|/ɑ/}}, {{lang|az|e}} {{IPA|/e/}}, {{lang|az|ə}} {{IPA|/æ/}}, {{lang|az|ı}} {{IPA|/ɯ/}}, {{lang|az|i}} {{IPA|/i/}}, {{lang|az|o}} {{IPA|/o/}}, {{lang|az|ö}} {{IPA|/œ/}}, {{lang|az|u}} {{IPA|/u/}}, {{lang|az|ü}} {{IPA|/y/}}.{{Cite journal |last=Zaslansky |first=Matthew |date=2019-10-07 |title=The overabundance of the perfect and the restriction of evidentiality in Standard Azerbaijani: A diachronic study of -(y)Ib and -mIş |url=https://journals.linguisticsociety.org/proceedings/index.php/tu/article/view/4582 |journal=Proceedings of the Workshop on Turkic and Languages in Contact with Turkic |language=en |volume=4 |pages=104–118 |doi=10.3765/ptu.v4i1.4582 |s2cid=211661718 |issn=2641-3485 |quote=The [Standard Azerbaijani Latin] orthography tends to correspond to IPA equivalents in broad transcription, except j = /ʒ/, ş = /ʃ/, ç = /tʃ/, c = /dʒ/, k = /c~k/, g = /ɟ/, q = /g/ (often spirantized as [x] in codas), ğ = /ɣ/, y = /j/, ə = /æ/, ö = /œ/, ü = /y/, ı = /ɯ/. |via=Linguistic Society of America|doi-access=free }}{{Sfn|Mokari|Werner|2017|pp=208–210}}{{Cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=George L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DWAqAAAAQBAJ |title=Compendium of the World's Languages |last2=King |first2=Gareth |date=1991 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-25846-6 |edition=3rd |pages=153–157 |language=en |chapter=Azerbaijani |quote=There are nine vowels: i e æ y œ ɯ u o ɑ. (...) As in Turkish, c = /dʒ/, ç = /tʃ/, ş = /ʃ/, j = /ʒ/, ı = /ɯ/, ü = /y/, ö = /œ/; letters not used in Turkish are ə = /æ/, q = /ɡ/, x = /x/. |author-link=George L. Campbell |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DWAqAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA154 |via=Google Books}}

File:Azeri vowel chart.svg

{{expand section|complete vowel allophonies|date=December 2018}}

The typical phonetic quality of South Azerbaijani vowels is as follows:

• {{IPA|/i, u, æ/}} are close to cardinal {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|i}}, {{IPAplink|u}}, {{IPAplink|a}}]}}.{{sfnp|Mokari|Werner|2016|p=509}}
• The F1 and F2 formant frequencies overlap for {{IPA|/œ/}} and {{IPA|/ɯ/}}. Their acoustic quality is more or less close-mid central {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|ɵ}}, {{IPAplink|ɘ}}]}}. The main role in the distinction of two vowels is played by the different F3 frequencies in audition,{{sfn|Mokari|Werner|2016|p=514}} and rounding in articulation. Phonologically, however, they are more distinct: {{IPA|/œ/}} is phonologically a mid front rounded vowel, the front counterpart of {{IPA|/o/}} and the rounded counterpart of {{IPA|/e/}}. {{IPA|/ɯ/}} is phonologically a close back unrounded vowel, the back counterpart of {{IPA|/i/}} and the unrounded counterpart of {{IPA|/u/}}.
• The other mid vowels {{IPA|/e, o/}} are closer to close-mid {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|e}}, {{IPAplink|o}}]}} than open-mid {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|ɛ}}, {{IPAplink|ɔ}}]}}.{{sfnp|Mokari|Werner|2016|p=509}}
• {{IPA|/ɑ/}} is phonetically near-open back {{IPAblink|ɑ|ɑ̝}}.{{sfnp|Mokari|Werner|2016|p=509}}

The modern Azerbaijani Latin alphabet contains the digraphs {{Langx|az|ov|label=none}} and {{Langx|az|öv|label=none}} to represent diphthongs present in the language, and the pronunciation of diphthongs is today accepted as the norm in the orthophony of Azerbaijani.{{sfn|Əlizadə|2020|pp=10–12}} Despite this, the number and even the existence of diphthongs in Azerbaijani has been disputed, with some linguists, such as {{interlanguage link|Abdulazal Damirchizade|az|Əbdüləzəl Dəmirçizadə}}, arguing that they are non-phonemic. Damirchizade's view was challenged by others, such as {{interlanguage link|Aghamusa Akhundov|az|Ağamusa Axundov}}, who argued that Damirchizade was taking orthography as the basis of his judgement, rather than its phonetic value. According to Akhundov, Azerbaijani contains two diphthongs, {{IPAslink|ou̯}} and {{IPAslink|œy̯}},{{refn|They are /oʋ/ and /œw/ in the dialect of Tabriz.{{sfn|Səlimi|1976|pp=49–51}}}} represented by {{Langx|az|ov|label=none}} and {{Langx|az|öv|label=none}} in the alphabet, both of which are phonemic due to their contrast with {{IPAslink|o}} and {{IPAslink|œ}}, represented by {{Langx|az|o|label=none}} and {{Langx|az|ö|label=none}}.{{sfn|Səlimi|1976|pp=33–34, 44–51}} In some cases, a non-syllabic {{IPAslink|v}} can also be pronounced after the aforementioned diphthongs, to form {{IPAslink|ou̯v}} and {{IPAslink|œy̯v}}, the rules of which are as follows:{{Sfn|Əlizadə|2020|p=12}}

• If the letter {{Langx|az|o|label=none}} precedes {{Langx|az|v|label=none}} and then {{Langx|az|u|label=none}}, forming {{Langx|az|ovu|label=none}}, it should be pronounced as {{IPAslink|ou̯}}, e.g. sovurmaq, {{IPA|az|sou̯rˈmɑx|pron}}.
• If the letter {{Langx|az|o|label=none}} precedes {{Langx|az|v|label=none}} and then any consonant, it should be pronounced as {{IPAslink|ou̯(v)}}, with the pronunciation of the {{Langx|az|v|label=none}} being optional, e.g. dovşan, {{IPA|az|dou̯(v)ˈʃɑn|pron}}.
• If the letter {{Langx|az|ö|label=none}} precedes {{Langx|az|v|label=none}} and then any unvoiced consonant, it should be pronounced as {{IPAslink|œy̯}}, e.g. cövhər, {{IPA|az|d͡ʒœy̯ˈhær|pron}}.
• If the letter {{Langx|az|ö|label=none}} precedes {{Langx|az|v|label=none}} and then any voiced consonant, it should be pronounced as {{IPAslink|œy̯(v)}}, with the pronunciation of the {{Langx|az|v|label=none}} being optional, e.g. tövbə, {{IPA|az|tœy̯(v)ˈbæ|pron}}.

Modern linguists who have examined Azerbaijani's vowel system almost unanimously have recognised that diphthongs are phonetically produced in speech.{{sfn|Səlimi|1976|pp=89}}

{{Main|Azerbaijani alphabet}}

Before 1929, Azerbaijani was written only in the Perso-Arabic alphabet, an impure abjad that does not represent all vowels (without diacritical marks). In Iran, the process of standardization of orthography started with the publication of Azerbaijani magazines and newspapers such as Varlıq ({{lang|az-Arab|وارلیق}} — Existence) from 1979. Azerbaijani-speaking scholars and literarians showed great interest in involvement in such ventures and in working towards the development of a standard writing system. These effort culminated in language seminars being held in Tehran, chaired by the founder of Varlıq, Javad Heyat, in 2001 where a document outlining the standard orthography and writing conventions were published for the public.Azeri Arabic Turk standard of writing; authored by Javad Heyat; 2001 http://www.azeri.org/Azeri/az_arabic/azturk_standard.pdf This standard of writing is today canonized by a Persian–Azeri Turkic dictionary in Iran titled {{lang|fa-Latn|Loghatnāme-ye Torki-ye Āzarbāyjāni}}.{{Cite book |last=Ameli |first=Seyed Hassan |title=لغت‌نامه ترکی آذربایجانی: حروف آ (جلد ۱ |publisher=Mohaghegh Ardabili |year=2021 |isbn=978-600-344-624-3 |language=fa, az }}

Between 1929 and 1938, a Latin alphabet was in use for North Azerbaijani, although it was different from the one used now. From 1938 to 1991, the Cyrillic script was used. Lastly, in 1991, the current Latin alphabet was introduced, although the transition to it has been rather slow.{{cite web |last1=Dooley |first1=Ian |title=New Nation, New Alphabet: Azerbaijani Children's Books in the 1990s |url=https://blogs.princeton.edu/cotsen/2017/10/new-nation-new-alphabet-azerbaijani-childrens-books-in-the-1990s/ |website=Cotsen Children's Library |publisher=Princeton University WordPress Service |access-date=13 December 2017 |language=en, az |date=6 October 2017 |quote=Through the 1990s and early 2000s Cyrillic script was still in use for newspapers, shops, and restaurants. Only in 2001 did then president Heydar Aliyev declare "a mandatory shift from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet" ... The transition has progressed slowly. }} For instance, until an Aliyev decree on the matter in 2001,{{cite web |last1=Peuch |first1=Jean-Christophe |title=Azerbaijan: Cyrillic Alphabet Replaced By Latin One |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1097070.html |publisher=Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty |access-date=13 December 2017 |language=en |date=1 August 2001 }} newspapers would routinely write headlines in the Latin script, leaving the stories in Cyrillic.{{cite web |last1=Monakhov |first1=Yola |title=Azerbaijan Changes Its Alphabet |url=http://www.gettyimages.ae/license/1606170 |publisher=Getty Images |access-date=13 December 2017 |language=en |date=31 July 2001 }} The transition has also resulted in some misrendering of İ as Ì.{{cite journal |translator-last=Dilənçi |translator-first=Piruz |last=Khomeini |first=Ruhollah |title=Ayətulla Homeynì: "... Məscìd ìlə mədrəsədən zar oldum" |journal=Müxalifət |date=15 March 1997 |url=http://www.guneyazerbaycan.com/Archive/15_March_1997-Muxalifet-Khomeyni-Baku.jpg |access-date=13 December 2017 |location=Baku |language=az, fa }}{{cite web |url=https://secretbeyondmatter.com/en/books/5085/Global-Impact-of-the-Works-of-Harun-Yahya-V2/chapter/4658/Articles---2- |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726115103/https://www.secretbeyondmatter.com/en/books/5085/Global-Impact-of-the-Works-of-Harun-Yahya-V2/chapter/4658/Articles---2- |url-status=usurped |archive-date=26 July 2020 |title=Global Impact of the Works of Harun Yahya V2 |last=Yahya |first=Harun |website=Secret Beyond Matter |access-date=23 April 2020 }} In Dagestan, Azerbaijani is still written in Cyrillic script.

The Azerbaijani Latin alphabet is based on the Turkish Latin alphabet. In turn, the Turkish Latin alphabet was based on former Azerbaijani Latin alphabet because of their linguistic connections and mutual intelligibility. The letters {{lang|az|Әə}}, {{lang|az|Xx}}, and {{lang|az|Qq}} are available only in Azerbaijani for sounds which do not exist as separate phonemes in Turkish.

Northern Azerbaijani, unlike Turkish, respells foreign names to conform with Latin Azerbaijani spelling, e.g. Bush is spelled {{lang|az|Buş}} and Schröder becomes {{lang|az|Şröder}}. Hyphenation across lines directly corresponds to spoken syllables, except for geminated consonants which are hyphenated as two separate consonants as morphonology considers them two separate consonants back to back but enunciated in the onset of the latter syllable as a single long consonant, as in other Turkic languages.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

Some samples include:

Secular:

• {{lang|az|Of}} ("Ugh!")
• {{lang|az|Tez Ol}} ("Be quick!")

Invoking deity:

• implicitly:
• {{lang|az|Aman}} ("Mercy")
• {{lang|az|Çox şükür}} ("Much thanks")
• explicitly:
• {{lang|az|Allah Allah}} (pronounced as {{lang|az|Allahallah}}) ("Goodness gracious")
• {{lang|az|Hay Allah}}; {{lang|az|Vallah}} "By God [I swear it]".
• {{lang|az|Çox şükür allahım}} ("Much thanks my God")

{{Unreferenced section|date=October 2020}}

Azerbaijani has informal and formal ways of saying things. This is because there is a strong tu-vous distinction in Turkic languages like Azerbaijani and Turkish (as well as in many other languages). The informal "you" is used when talking to close friends, relatives, animals or children. The formal "you" is used when talking to someone who is older than the speaker or to show respect (to a professor, for example).

As in many Turkic languages, personal pronouns can be omitted, and they are only added for emphasis.

Since 1992, North Azerbaijani has used a phonetic writing system, so pronunciation is easy: most words are pronounced exactly as they are spelled. However, the combination {{Langx|az|qq|label=none}} in words is pronounced {{IPA|az|kɡ|}}, as the first voiced velar stop is devoiced when it is geminated, such as in çaqqal, {{IPA|az|t͡ʃɑkɡɑl|pron}}.{{Sfn|Əlizadə|2020|p=14}}{{Sfn|Səlimi|1976|p=38–39}}

The numbers 11–19 are constructed as {{lang|az|on bir}} and {{lang|az|on iki}}, literally meaning "ten-one, ten-two" and so on up to {{lang|az|on doqquz}} ("ten-nine").

Greater numbers are constructed by combining in tens and thousands larger to smaller in the same way, without using a conjunction in between.

{{reflist|group=note}}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist|30em}}

{{refbegin|}}

• {{Cite journal |last=Əlizadə |first=Solmaz |date=2020 |title=Diphthongization in Azerbaijani Language |url=http://www.aphn-journal.in.ua/archive/30_2020/part_2/4.pdf |journal=Topical Issues in the Humanities: Intercollegiate Collection of Scientific Papers of Young Scientists of Ivan Franko Drohobych State Pedagogical University |volume=2 |issue=30 |pages=10–16 |doi=10.24919/2308-4863.2/30.212274 |publisher=Ivan Franko National University of Lviv |s2cid=224941226 }}
• {{EI2 |last1=Barthold |first1=W. |author-link1=Vasily Bartold |last2=Wixman |first2=R. |title=Ḳarapapak̲h̲ |volume=4 |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/karapapakh-SIM_3922?s.num=4&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopaedia-of-islam-2&s.q=azeri}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Bournoutian |first1=George |title=The Population of the South Caucasus according to the 1897 General Census of the Russian Empire |journal=Iran and the Caucasus |date=2017 |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=324–340 |doi=10.1163/1573384X-20170307}}
• {{cite book|editor-first=Keith|editor-last=Brown|title=Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics|publisher=Elsevier|date=24 November 2005|isbn=978-0-08-054784-8}}
• {{cite journal |last=Kök |first=Ali |date=2016 |title=Modern Oğuz Türkçesi Diyalektlerinde Göçüşme |trans-title=Migration in Modern Oghuz Turkish Dialects |url=https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/egitimvetoplum/356950 |journal=21. Yüzyılda Eğitim ve Toplum Eğitim Bilimleri ve Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi |language=tr |volume=5 |issue=15 |issn=2147-0928 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Mokari |first1=Payam Ghaffarvand |last2=Werner |first2=Stefan |year=2016 |title=An acoustic description of spectral and temporal characteristics of Azerbaijani vowels |editor-last=Dziubalska-Kolaczyk |editor-first=Katarzyna |journal=Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics |volume=52 |issue=3 |doi=10.1515/psicl-2016-0019 |s2cid=151826061 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305567394 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Mokari |first1=Payam Ghaffarvand |last2=Werner |first2=Stefan |title=Azerbaijani |journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association |date=2017 |volume=47 |issue=2 |page=207 |doi=10.1017/S0025100317000184|s2cid=232347049 }}
• {{cite thesis |first=Hüseynqulu |last=Səlimi |date=1976 |title=A generative phonology of Azerbaijani |url=https://archive.org/details/generativephonol00sali |type=PhD |publisher=University of Florida |id=ARK [https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/t1tf4s495 13960/t1tf4s495]. {{OL|18319A}}. |oclc=1045615622 }}
• {{cite book|last=Sinor|first=Denis|title=Inner Asia. History-Civilization-Languages. A syllabus|year=1969|publisher=Bloomington|isbn=978-0-87750-081-0|pages=71–96|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vn-xZ3O1G-cC&pg=PA71}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Schönig |first1=Claus |title=Azerbaijanian |journal=The Turkic Languages |date=1998 |page=248 |publisher=Routledge |location=London}}

{{refend}}

• {{Cite book |last=Mustafayev |first=Shahin |title=Contemporary Research in Turkology and Eurasian Studies: A Festschrift in Honor of Professor Tasin Gemil on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday |publisher=Cluj University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-973-595-622-6 |editor-last1=Lascu |editor-first1=Stoica |editor1-link=Stoica Lascu |location=Cluj-Napoca |pages=333–346 |chapter=Ethnolinguistic Processes in the Turkic Milieu of Anatolia and Azerbaijan (14th–15th Centuries) |editor-last2=Fetisleam |editor-first2=Melek}}
• [https://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/81_folder/81_articles/81_hamburger.html “Language Shifts: ‘Gamburger’ Becomes Hamburger”] Azerbaijan International, Vol. 8:1 (Spring 2000), p. 12.

{{Commons category|Azerbaijani language}}

{{InterWiki|code=az|Azerbaijani}}

{{InterWiki|code=azb|South Azerbaijani}}

{{Wikivoyage|Azerbaijani phrasebook|Azerbaijani|a phrasebook}}

{{Incubator|az|Wikinews}}

• [http://www.learnazeri.blogspot.com/ A blog on Azerbaijani language resources and translations]
• {{in lang|ru}} [http://www.azyaz.ru/ A blog about the Azerbaijani language and lessons]
• [http://www.AZERI.org/ AZERI.org], Azerbaijani literature and English translations.
• [https://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai124_folder/124_articles/124_tribute_ismikhan.html Ismikhan Rahimov: In Defense of My Mother Tongue Azerbaijani] (sentenced to the GULAG for eight years), AZER.com at Azerbaijan International, Vol. 12:4 (Winter 2004), p. 25.
• [http://azerdict.com/ Online bidirectional Azerbaijani-English Dictionary] [broken as of 2022]
• [http://learn101.org/azerbaijani.php Learn Azerbaijani] at learn101.org.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060209020322/http://www.masterliness.com/a/Azerbaijanis.htm Pre-Islamic roots]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071014220553/http://miejipang-jpn2.net/untitled6.html Azerbaijan-Turkish language in Iran] by Ahmad Kasravi.
• including sound file.
• [https://archive.org/details/farhengi-turki-be-farsi/page/n21/mode/2up Azerbaijani (Arabic script) - Persian Dictionary (2009)] (by Mahmud Dast-Pisheh)
• [http://pauctle.com/aztr Azerbaijani<>Turkish dictionary] (Pamukkale University)
• [http://www.funkyazerbaijani.com/learnazerbaijani/ Azerbaijan Language with Audio]
• [http://azerbaijani.azeri.free.fr/index_uk.php Azerbaijani thematic vocabulary]
• [http://azconvert.sourceforge.net/ AzConvert], an open source Azerbaijani transliteration program.
• [http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/81_folder/81_articles/81_index.html Azerbaijani Alphabet and Language in Transition], the entire issue of Azerbaijan International, Vol. 8:1 (Spring 2000) at AZER.com.
• [http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/81_folder/81_articles/81_editorial.html Editorial: Betty Blair, "Alphabet and Language in Transition"]
• [http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/81_folder/81_articles/81_alphabet_changes1.html Chart: Four Alphabet Changes in Azerbaijan in the 20th century] Azerbaijan International, Vol. 8:1 (Spring 2000), p. 13.
• [http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/81_folder/81_articles/81_alphabet_sequence1.html Chart: Changes in the Azerbaijan Alphabet Sequence in the 20th century] Azerbaijan International, Vol. 8:1 (Spring 2000), p. 15.

{{Azerbaijani language}}

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