Language Research

The Parliament of Azerbaijan is preparing and discussing a new draft law, which should define the legal basis for the protection of national minorities. The text, according to the Constitution of the State, guarantees equal rights and freedoms for the individuals that belong to minority groups. The draft law's third article states that “no one shall be forced to change its ethnic affiliation”, apart from stressing the fact that “the state will not permit any action aimed at forced assimilation of national minorities”. On the other hand, the representatives of such minorities are obliged to obey the constitution and the laws of Azerbaijan, and respect the rights and freedoms of persons belonging to other nationalities. As regards linguistic matters, the text contemplates the minorities' rights to use their respective languages in education. In those regions where the majority of the local population speaks a minority language, this can be used, along with the state language, by institutions, official bodies, enterprises and organizations. The problems that arise concerning the final wording of the text are related to the definition of “national minority”, which the current version applies to “everybody who is not an Azerbaijani”. (May 26, 2000)

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Updated (December 2003)

LANGUAGES UNDER THREAT

Kuba, situated 200 kilometers north of the capital Baku, is believed to be the home of as many as 15 different languages, all ancient and unique, which are in danger of extinction. These living witnesses to country's history, as they are called, are slowly dying out because people turn their backs to the hardship of life in the mountains.

Although these languages are enormously important to Azerbaijan's history and ethnography, they have been largely ignored by academics¹ and only three (including Lezgin, the most widely spoken) are taught in schools.

Legislation allowing ethnic language-medium education has been in place since the early 90s, but only the larger minorities such as the Lezgins have been able to take advantage of this right.

The Azerbaijani Education Ministry official, Avaz Yusifov explained that other languages are not taught because nobody has ever asked for it. When a collective request will be received, the Ministry will provide the necessary funding, though to find teachers will be extremely difficult.

These endangered languages are: Tat (30,000 speakers), Lezgin (10,000) Khinalug (6,000), Budug (2,000), Kryz (1,800), Elik and Aput (1,500 each), Djek (1,300), and Yerguj (1,000). Most of them are related to the Caucasian languages spoken in neighboring Dagestan, rather than Azerbaijani.

Many other languages have been passed on orally between generations but at present they face extinction. Bearing this in mind, some villagers took the initiative in saving their language. An Azerbaijani language teacher from Budug, currently living in Narimanabad, close to Kuba, started a project to teach the Budug language in the town. He said that if they lost Yerguj and Budug today and Khinalug and Udi tomorrow, they would lose tracks of their own history, and there would be no one to blame but themselves.

Source: Minelres News Archive, November 8, 2003, by Kamil Pirujev, a reporter for Radio France International in Baku, CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, No. 202, October 31, 2003, http://lists.delfi.lv/pipermail/minelres/2003-November/003030.html

¹ A few years ago, a young French scholar named Giles Autillet spent four years going from a village to a village, studying the grammar of Kryz and the other local tongues. He warned of possible danger that these languages will die out.

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