Iran International
21 February 2019
Today, February 21st, corresponding to the 2nd of Esfand in the Iranian calendar, has been designated as International Mother Language Day by UNESCO. The purpose of this day is to raise awareness about mother languages, the challenges they face, and ways to preserve and strengthen languages that are vulnerable or at risk of extinction.
According to UNESCO, if urgent action is not taken to preserve vulnerable languages, about half of the more than six thousand languages spoken today will disappear by the end of this century. Among them, 25 Iranian languages and dialects, including various forms of Turkish, such as Khorasani Turkish, Urmari, Taleshi, Vafi, Ashtiani, and Semnani, are considered "at risk" of extinction.
Although the risk of extinction does not threaten major non-Persian mother languages in Iran—such as Azerbaijani Turkish, Kurdish, Baluchi, and Arabic—these languages (particularly Azerbaijani Turkish, which is the focus of this article) face significant challenges. Here are five of these challenges:
The Decline of Turkish and the Spread of the "Fāzari" Phenomenon
The phenomenon of "Fāzari" (a mix of Persian and Azerbaijani Turkish) refers to Turkish infused with Persian vocabulary and grammar, which has lost its structure and vitality. This phenomenon, especially among migrant populations in large cities, poses the greatest threat to Azerbaijani Turkish. It erodes the language from within, leading speakers to gradually forget their mother tongue and replace it with the dominant language (Persian). Two main factors contribute to this: first, the media—especially provincial television channels—that artificially inject Persian words and grammatical rules into Turkish, and second, the educational system, which does not include mother-tongue instruction and fosters linguistic discrimination.Educational Discrimination and Linguistic Sterility
Systematic discrimination, such as the prohibition of teaching Turkish in schools and universities, the lack of academic and research institutions for Azerbaijani Turkish, and the absence of a dedicated language academy, contributes to the weakening and dilution of the mother tongue. The phenomenon of "Fāzari" in oral transmission from one generation to the next, alongside the inability to find equivalents for new topics and concepts, could render the language infertile and stagnant. A language is a dynamic, living phenomenon that needs a suitable ecosystem for growth. The gradual death, or at least stagnation, of languages subjected to linguistic apartheid and discrimination is an inevitable outcome. Lack of intergenerational transmission could eventually reduce a language to a dialect or even lead to its extinction. For example, Mazandarani and Gilaki languages have gradually become dialects over recent decades, especially in urban areas, and can no longer be considered fully distinct languages.Stereotypical and Negative Perception of Non-Persian Mother Languages
Turkish, like other languages, has a rich literary tradition, and prominent poets and writers from Turkic-speaking countries, such as Chinghiz Aitmatov, Nazım Hikmet, Samad Vurgun, and Bakhtiyar Vahabzadeh, have excelled on the global stage. Even Orhan Pamuk, a well-known Turkish novelist, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006. However, according to the prevailing discourse of Iranian officials and elites, non-Persian mother languages, including Azerbaijani Turkish, are seen as weak, lacking potential, and incapable of producing scientific or literary works. For instance, Dr. Javad Tabatabai in a 2013 interview with the magazine Mehrnameh belittled efforts to preserve mother languages, including Azerbaijani Turkish, stating, "What fundamental works of human culture exist in Azerbaijani that they want to create an Azerbaijani school?" Similarly, Dr. Mohammad-Reza Shafiei-Kadkani claimed that non-Persian languages could not produce literature, attributing the call for mother-tongue instruction to foreign conspiracies, particularly by the English.The Security Perception of Mother Languages
While experiences from pro-democracy countries with multilingual educational systems show that teaching in one's mother tongue improves the learning process and enhances national pride and loyalty, in Iran, any attention to mother-tongue education is seen as a sign of separatism. For example, the Academy of Persian Language and Literature, led by Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, has described the promotion of non-Persian languages in education as a "foreign conspiracy" and a threat to national security, opposing it multiple times. This security-minded approach is one of the main obstacles preventing mother-tongue education in schools.Lack of a Standardized Language and Alphabet, and Linguistic Fragmentation
In large countries such as the U.S., Russia, and China, national educational systems and media have played a significant role in reducing the impact of regional dialects by promoting a standardized version of their respective languages. In contrast, in Azerbaijan in Iran, the absence of professional media, an educational system, and a standardized alphabet for Turkish has led to the emergence of various dialects (e.g., Qashqai Turkish and Khalaji Turkish) that struggle to understand each other, threatening to become distinct languages in their own right.
In conclusion, addressing the challenges and threats facing non-Persian mother languages, including Azerbaijani Turkish in Iran, requires decentralizing the management of linguistic and cultural affairs. This includes empowering local experts in the provinces to oversee language policy, establishing an Azerbaijani Turkish language academy, creating educational content in Turkish for schools, and guiding provincial TV networks to promote the use of the language. Unfortunately, under the current political structure, such efforts seem unlikely to succeed.
The link to the original article in Farsi on Iran International:
روز جهانی زبان مادری و پنج چالش پیش روی زبان ترکی آذربایجانی در ایران