Azerbaijan, Baku, August 1 /Trend, T.Hajiyev/
The current level of the Azerbaijani language is high enough, PhD, Professor Nizami Jafarov told Trend. "The Azerbaijani language especially developed in the different language areas over the recent years - at the level of commonly spoken language, as well as scientific, artistic level, an official language," he said.
August 9, 2001 the National Leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev signed a decree on the establishment of the Day of Azerbaijani alphabet and Azerbaijani language. According to the decree, August 1 is marked in the Republic as the Day of Azerbaijani alphabet and Azerbaijani language.
"The Azerbaijani language became the language of an independent state in the truest sense of the word. The most developed sphere of the Azerbaijani language is publicism, language of the press and media. From this point of view, after the declaration of independence, the Azerbaijani language gained an opportunity for democratic development. After this, strong ties have arisen between the society and press. Formerly the press was only for professionals, but now any ordinary Azerbaijani can speak, tell about his/her achievements or express his/her subjective thoughts, suggestions in the press and on television," said Jafarov.
According to him, an impeccable public policy formed in the Azerbaijani language. "We have done great work to protect our language. It is necessary to note National Leader Heydar Aliyev's activities in this regard. Signed in 2001, the famous decree related to the development of the state language has provided extensive political and ideological possibilities for the development of the Azerbaijani language in the country," said Jafarov.
According to him, all the above-mentioned strengthened ties between the Azerbaijani literary language and thinking, interests and habits of the society. "It was absent before the independence. Today the Azerbaijani language has the possibility of direct contact with the various languages worldwide. If formerly the Azerbaijani language got into contact with other languages worldwide only through the Russian language that was too indirect, now there is an opportunity of direct contact. In this sense, the development of the Azerbaijani language is clear," said Jafarov.
The scientist-linguist also expressed his opinion on the foreign words in Azerbaijani language.
"Using foreign words in our language testifies the development of the Azerbaijani language. If one of the indicators of language development is its resources, the development of thinking of society, another important opportunity for the development is the ties of this language with other languages. There are even some theories that languages develop through contact with other languages. That is, if this system of ties, this network are absent, the development of languages will be impossible. This need is particularly felt at this stage, in a globalizing world," said Jafarov.
According to him, there are also negative aspects of accession of foreign words to our language. "Accession of foreign words to our language, forms of expression by 70 percent is in favor of our language, but it needs to control over other 30 percent: that is, it needs to monitor the abuse of certain words, the use of foreign terms while their analogue exist in our language, as well as the use of ambiguous syntax, etc. The Azerbaijani language has always been a place of frequent use of colloquial Russian words, but they have never moved into the written language. Today's world is a "talking world", so the talking goes to the fore. If formerly, on television and radio, we first wrote the text and then read them, now, if to pay attention, features of colloquial language are more frequently observed even in the press. This, in turn, creates an even closer relationship between writing and speaking. Sometimes the rules, structures that are used in colloquial language enter the written language, contaminating it. Perhaps it is not important. The main thing is that colloquial language is important, and even today we can hear Russian words on television. These elements pollute the language. But there are other elements that serve as the development of language. Is it possible to say not to use the word "parity" and instead to use the word "equality"?", said Jafarov.
Scientist-linguist also expressed his opinion on the use of words, used by other Turkic peoples, in Azerbaijani language.
"Recently, our language has borrowed some foreign words. Some of these borrowings are not necessary, but most of these words are needed. The accession of words such as "image", "exclusive" is a natural case. We should not oppose them because these words contain a new understanding or a new coloring of other understandings and emotions. They bring to the language standards of international thinking. Therefore, the accession of new words to our language is necessary," said Jafarov.
Jafarov raised the issue on the establishment of the averaged language option for all Turkic peoples.
"Serious experts believe that a common Turkic language has been created. We are talking about means of communication, which may be common to the whole Turkic world. Formerly there was an idea that words, often repeated sentences, models of sentences and phonetic variants of various Turkic languages have been specially chosen for the averaged version of the language. An artificial language had to be established based on this. In particular, it was suggested by scientists from Uzbekistan. This version has been thought not in terms of language requirements, not from a linguistic, but a political-ideological point of view. So, if any of the Turkic languages is recognized as a universal means of communication, other Turkic peoples will feel hurt. According to this principle, it was decided to use the words of the various Turkic languages, even those used by a small number of people, such as Khakas, Shor, Tuvan languages. But it was not justified. A consensus has already been made on this issue both during various discussions and at the congresses of the Turkic peoples and linguistic congresses. This function is already implemented by the Turkish language," said Jafarov.
According to him, a common mean of communication amongst various Turkic peoples is the Turkish language.
"Talking to the Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, we mostly use the Turkish language. Mostly the Turkish language is used as a common mean of communication between the Turks, Azerbaijanis and Yakut. But there is another side: we do not believe that we should eliminate the Russian language. The majority of the Turkic-speaking peoples know Russian. So far, the Russian language is used as a universal mean of communication. English will be also included here in future. But as a national event and as a result of several reasons - number of population, language development, opportunities for contact between languages, it would be more preferably to use the Turkish language as a universal mean of communication between the Turkic-speaking peoples," said Jafarov.