LANGUAGE POLICY IN TURKEY AND AZERBAIJAN: A COMPARATIVE APPROACH TO THE TWO LANGUAGE REFORMS

Abstract

Language policy refers to a set of decisions made by government or public institutions including language revivers, ethnic leaders, language agencies, or educational policy makers, etc., or refers to their implementations. However, the process of decision making, the methods, and the results alter from one country to another. Stating the failure or successes of a language policy is a difficult task for a sociolinguist because of the absence, scarcity, or unreliability of quantifiable data. However, examining the failures or successes of a language policy and evaluating how effective these processes are for different cultures and different experiences is also an important step for further studies. This paper will attempt to give an assessment of the Turkish and Azerbaijani Language Reforms while comparing the leading linguistic and nonlinguistic factors of each one, as well as describing the process and outcomes of them in order to show why one- Turkish language reform- has been more successful than the other- Azerbaijani language reform. In this respect, after focusing on the historical background, goals, functions, and outcomes of these two language reforms, this article will evaluate and compare the success of these two language policies utilizing some sociolinguistic criteria.