Family language policy in the City of Zanjan: a city for the forlorn Azerbaijani

Abstract

The study explores language maintenance and shift patterns from a family language policy perspective in Azerbaijani-Farsi bilingual families in the City of Zanjan, Iran. The city is the capital of Zanjan province which is surrounded by Azerbaijani, Kurdish, and Farsi speaking provinces giving it a specific demographic make-up to explore language maintenance and shift processes from a family language policy perspective. Thirteen parents (six fathers and seven mothers) from upper, middle, and lower socioeconomic statuses were interviewed about their language ideologies, practices, and management with respect to the maintenance of their ethnic language, Azerbaijani, and the official language of the country, Farsi. The findings suggest that despite the parents’ strong attachment to their ethnic language, they promote Farsi at home. The parents’ own and their children’s competence in and knowledge of Azerbaijani has been reportedly declined. The analysis shows that this shift to Farsi at home has its roots in an unfavourable language ecology in which families find themselves.

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