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'Talysh' (also 'Talishi', 'Taleshi' or 'Talyshi') are an Iranian people who speak Talysh language one of the Northwestern Iranian languages. It is spoken in the northern regions of the Iranian provinces of Gilan and Ardabil and the southern parts of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Northern Talysh (the part in the Republic of Azerbaijan) was historically known as Talish-i Gushtasbi.
Talysh has two major mutually intelligible dialects — Northern (in Azerbaijan and Iran), and Southern (in Iran). According to Ethnologue, Azerbaijani is used as literary language and speakers also use Azerbaijani. There are no statistical data on the numbers of Talysh-speakers in Iran, but estimates show their number to be around 1 million. According to Ethnologue some 800,000 Talysh live in the Republic of Azerbaijan [1], bringing the worldwide Talysh population close to 912,000 people[2]. In the thesis Positive Orientation Towards the Vernacular among the Talysh of Sumgayit [3] the number of Talyshs speakers in 2003 is estimated to be at least 400,000 in the Republic of Azerbaijan. According to the official census of the Republic of Azerbaijan, whose figures are in dispute by Talysh nationalists, the number of Talysh people in the Republic of Azerbaijan is 80,000. [4]. According to the Joshua Project, the number of Talysh people worldwide is 1,089,000[5]. According to some sources, the Azerbaijani government has also implemented a policy of forceful integration of all minorities, including Talysh, Tat, Kurds and Lezgins.^[1]. According to Svante. E. Cornell: ''Whereas officially the number of Lezgins registered as such is around 180,000, the Lezgins claim that the number of Lezgins registered as Azerbaijani is many times higher than this figure, some accounts showing over 700,000 Lezgins in Azerbaijan. These figures are denined by the Azerbaijani government but in private many Azeris acknowledge the fact that Lezgins- for that matter Talysh or the Kurdish population of Azerbaijan is far higher than the official figure.'' ^[2].

Major Ethnic Groups of Iran

Contents

Notes

External links

Notes

1. Christina Bratt (EDT) Paulston, Donald Peckham, Linguistic Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe, Multilingual Matters. 1853594164, pg 106
2. Svante E. Cornell. Small Nations and Great Powers. Routledge (UK), Jan 1, 2001, ISBN 0-7007-1162-7, pg 269

External links

★ Ethnologue report for Talysh

★ Positive Orientation Towards the Vernacular among the Talysh of Sumgayit

★ Example of Talyshi Language

★ Talyshi, English-Russian-Azerbaijani_Turkish dictionary