Abstract:

In this paper we examine some major sociolinguistic factors endangering the sustained vitality of Khinalug, one of the indigenous languages of Azerbaijan. Khinalug is spoken by a small isolated community whose members are keen to preserve their language. The community’s positive attitude towards the native language is definitely important in terms of promoting language maintenance. Nevertheless, certain factors in the linguistic ecology of the speech community may potentially trigger tendencies of language replacement, especially among young community members. In particular, economic and social benefits that the state language provides may encourage shifts from balanced to subtractive bilingualism with Azerbaijani dominating not only in formal but also in informal domains. Along with discussing such major factors endangering the vitality of Khinalug, this paper also proposes some measures for preventing shift to Azerbaijani, and, consequently, the potential irrevocable loss of the Khinalug language.

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