• Naser Nouri

  Author

Iran is a multiethnic and multilingual country. There are 77 languages in Iran. Boundary
between dialects and languages has been taken for granted. Except Persian other Iranian languages are
not bestowed equal and fair quota in educational, governmental and social spheres. Azerbaijani Turkish
is the second largest language of the country. Since the advent of Pahlavi in 1925, Azerbaijani speaking
areas have had the highest rates of migration to central provinces like Tehran, the capital city. This study
investigates the sociolinguistic situation of Azerbaijani Turkish among immigrants in Tehran. To
determine whether Azerbaijani among immigrants is endangered, a questionnaire with 36 questions was
administered among a randomly selected sample of 300 men and women of Azerbaijani immigrants,
scrutinizing a variety of topics, including language spoken with children, different domains of language
use and language attitudes. Drawing upon the model presented by UNESCO to assess language vitality
and endangerment, and based on data extracted from questionnaires, study revealed that
intergenerational language transmission among immigrant families is largely interrupted; Azerbaijani
Turkish loses most spheres of use in immigrant families. Only respondents claimed a strong desire to
preserve their indigenous language, but this view is not matched by the facts. Further research is
required to examine this issue more suspiciously. Findings of this research may inform the linguistic
community and cultural and educational authorities to pave the way for the better sustenance of ethnic
languages.

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