Azerbaijani is a beautiful and rich language. This language confirms the national identity of our people.
However, some people, particularly the younger generation, grossly violate the norms of speech nowadays. We can see this unpleasant situation not only in our daily lives, in society, in official meetings, but even on TV channels.
Interestingly, at present, the language norms are not only gross violated, but also various dialects and inappropriate words from foreign languages are used on TV shows.
After all, how right is it for a nation with a rich language to experience such situations?
Speaking to Ednews, the People's Writer Elchin Shikhli told that replacing Azerbaijani words with irrelevant ones from foreign languages stems from only illiteracy.
"There are borrowed words in all languages, and this process continues. I do not see anything unusual here. Much of our language is made up of borrowed words. We have been using these words for at least 600-700 years, and it is useless to create new ones. However, replacing our words with foreign words is already due to illiteracy. For example, they say "uje (from Russian)" instead of "already". These are considered "parasite" words. Educated people do not use these words and understand that it is impossible to translate them into our language.
The linguist also touched upon an interesting point. He also noted that some of our citizens still do not understand the meaning of Russian words that have been in our language for years.
"For example, if we go to the store and ask for ice cream, the seller will gape at us. But when we say "marojna" (ice cream in Russian), he/she already understands what we want. However, this does not mean that the word "marojna" is part of the Azerbaijani language."
The People's Writer also spoke about words that are in the Azerbaijani language, but their translation is known by very few people. During the conversation, Elchin Shikhli gave an example of these words.
"If we tell someone what the word "mosaic" is, they will understand immediately. However, in the Azerbaijani language, the word does not mean "mosaic", but "muzayige". This word has passed from Arabic into our language. But few people know that. Besides, we use the word "samovar". Some people strangely replace this word with "qaynavar". The word samovar is of Russian origin and is used in all languages. There are similar words: paravoz, parakhod, etc. However, the word "qaynavar" sounds weird and this is done by pseudo-patriots who allegedly want to distort our language. In general, there is no such word in our language. Obviously, more than 70% of English words come from French. Should the English give up their language now? Having borrowed words in a language is a natural process and existed in all languages."
While asked about the presenters and correspondents who violated the norms of speech on Azerbaijani television, he again stressed that the reason was illiteracy. To prevent this, he advised not just to conduct any propaganda, but simply not to hire those who hold positions of leadership on TV broadcasting companies.
"In the 60's and 70's, we ridiculed those pronouncing dz instead of the letter c ," he said. Because those people would be 1 or 2 out of 1000 people. But now, majority pronounce the word Azerbaijan as "Azerbaydzan". It has been opposite, through which those people ridicule us when we pronounce it correctly. They even think: "Where did this person come from?" Of course, this should be prevented, because the TV programmes are viewed by millions and when those dialects are not censured they din into heads of public."
In conclusion, Elchin Shikhli said that in order to prevent this, we must reprimand the people around us who speak such a dialect.
"This issue must be taken seriously. At the very least, it is enough to reprimand people who speak like that. Then we have to patiently explain them their mistakes. If people do not take this problem seriously, such cases will become more widespread. "
By Rena Murshud
Translated by Elnur Enveroglu