Literature
Azerbaijani Literature refers to the literature written in Azerbaijani, which currently is the official state language of the Republic of Azerbaijan and is spoken by about a quarter of the population of Iran. Its closest relatives are Turkish and Turkmen. Azeri is a dialect of Oghuz branch of Turkic languages, and as such, is mutually intelligible with other Oghuz dialects spoken in Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Russia, the Balkans and the Middle East.
It is worth noting that the Azeri Turkic language came into existence with the invasion and settlement of waves of Turkic tribes from Central Asia over several centuries. The indigenous language of the region above and below the Aras river was a mix of Iranian Tati, Taleshi, and Armenian. With the increasing dominance of Turkic rulers, the language of the region gradually was infused with Turkic, resulting in what is known in modern days as the Azeri language.
Taleshi is still a spoken language in parts of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
As a result of the language policy of the Soviet Union, Russian is also commonly spoken as a second language among the urbane.
Read more about this topic: Culture Of Azerbaijan
Famous quotes containing the word literature:
“I make a virtue of my suffering
From nearly everything that goes on round me.
In other words, I know wherever I am,
Being the creature of literature I am,
I shall not lack for pain to keep me awake.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“The use of literature is to afford us a platform whence we may command a view of our present life, a purchase by which we may move it.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“...I have come to make distinctions between what I call the academy and literature, the moral equivalents of church and God. The academy may lie, but literature tries to tell the truth.”
—Dorothy Allison (b. 1949)