Sociolinguistic situation of the Talysh in Azerbaijan

This paper presents the results of sociolinguistic research conducted between August 1999 and October 2000 among the Talysh people living in southeastern Azerbaijan. The goals of the research were to investigate patterns of language use, bilingualism, and language attitudes with regard to the Talysh, Azerbaijani, and Russian languages in the Talysh community. Of particular interest are the correlations between patterns of language use and social isolation. Interviews, observations, questionnaires, and an Azerbaijani Sentence Repetition Test were employed.