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Ethnologue > Web version > Country index > Asia > Azerbaijan > Azerbaijani, North

Azerbaijani, North

A language of Azerbaijan

ISO 639-3: azj

Population	6,100,000 in Azerbaijan (2007). 4,000,000 monolinguals. Population total all countries: 7,473,270. Ethnic population: 6,224,490.
Region	Also in Armenia, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation (Asia), Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.
Language map	Azerbaijan
Alternate names	Azerbaijan, Azerbaydzhani, Azeri Turk
Dialects	Quba, Derbend, Baku, Shamakhi, Salyan, Lenkaran, Qazakh, Airym, Borcala, Terekeme, Qyzylbash, Nukha, Zaqatala (Mugaly), Qabala, Yerevan, Nakhchivan, Ordubad, Ganja, Shusha (Karabakh), Karapapak. Slight dialect differences. Qazakh is not related to Kazakh [kaz]. Significant differences from South Azerbaijani [azb] in phonology, lexicon, morphology, syntax, and loanwords.
Classification	Altaic, Turkic, Southern, Azerbaijani A member of macrolanguage Azerbaijani [aze] (Iran).
Language use	National language. 8,000,000 L2 speakers. Publications. Taught as L2 in Russian language schools.
Language development	Literacy rate in L2: High. Radio programs. TV. Dictionary. Grammar. Bible: 1891.
Writing system	Cyrillic script, widely used in Armenia. Latin script, official script.
Comments	North and South Azerbaijani are spoken by one ethnic group. Each language group is reluctant to accept the written form of the other. Muslim (Shi’a and Sunni).

Also spoken in:

Armenia

Language name	Azerbaijani, North
Population	161,000.
Alternate names	Azerbaydzhani, Azeri Turk, Turkler
Dialects	Kuba, Derbent, Baku, Semakha, Saliany, Lenkoran, Kazakh, Airym, Borcala, Terekeme, Kyzylbash, Nukha, Zakataly (Mugaly), Kutkasen, Erevan, Nakhichevan, Ordubad, Kirovabad, Susa (Karabakh), Karapapak.
Language development	Literacy rate in L2: High.
Comments	Muslim (Shi’a).

Georgia

Language name	Azerbaijani, North
Population	360,000 in Georgia (2007).

Russian Federation (Asia)

Language name	Azerbaijani, North
Population	622,000 in Russian Federation (2002 census).
Region	Southern Dagestan, Caspian coast in southern Caucasus Mountains.

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

CLIFTON, Deborah A.; CLIFTON, John M., editors. 2002. Comments on discourse structures in ten Turkic languages.

CLIFTON, John M., author. 2002. "Alphabets of ten Turkic languages."

KIRK, Peter, author. 2002. "Discourse analysis of 'Zarafat' "Joke"."