A brief overview of the history of the literary language of XVI century Azerbaijan

Abstract

The goal of this research is to analyzed the literary language of 16th-century Azerbaijan, with a focus on the integration and functional roles of Arabic lexical units. The study reveals that the frequency of Arabic vocabulary in Azerbaijani literary language significantly increased during this period compared to previous centuries. This rise is attributed to the solidification of classical book stylistics and literary genres, which called for a more extensive Arabic lexicon to meet stylistic demands. Furthermore, it was found that Arabic lexical units were employed with varying intensity across genres; some genres exhibited a high frequency of Arabic terms, while others used them more sparingly. Classical prose, in particular, stand out for its richness in these Arabic elements. In order to provide more context, in the article it is also examined in a brief way the 11th-century Azerbaijani literary language, showing how classical poetic stylistics and literary language interact. This perspective underscores how linguistic elements related to genre, rhyme, weight, form, and structure coalesced to form the distinct styles of the Middle Ages. Overall, it is remarked Arabic lexical elements were instrumental in shaping the stylistic and genre diversity of medieval Azerbaijani literature, marking a defining feature of its linguistic evolution.