THE LINGUISTIC SITUATION IN GEORGIA ON THE EXAMPLE OF AZERBAIJANIS AND ARMENIAN ETHNIC MINORITIES

Abstract

The aim of this article is to study the linguistic situation in Georgia on the example of ethnic minorities, in particular, the object of the research is the two most numerous ethnic groups living in Georgia in the form of Azerbaijanis and Armenians. In this article I review sociolinguistic terminology related to the research, such as the terms "minority", "majority", "ethnic minority", "ethnic majority", "linguistic situation", "native language", "mother tongue", "first language", "second language", "foreign language", etc. I focused on the survey method from the sociolinguistic research methodology and for this purpose, I compiled a special sociolinguistic questionnaire. Based on statistical data, I use the data of the 2014 census of the population of Georgia. According to the mentioned data, statistics on ethnic and religious grounds have already been established, but it is also interesting to see the linguistic situation in Georgia on the example of Azerbaijani and Armenian ethnic minorities in this regard. In this case, the language used by ethnic minorities is the subject of the study. In this case the subject of research is the languages used by ethnic minorities in Georgia. To describe the linguistic situation, the research area includes the languages used by ethical Azerbaijanis and Armenians in Georgia, primarily Azerbaijani and Armenian as the first language, as well as Georgian and Russian as a second language and English or other European languages as foreign languages.