The Study of the Relationship Between Linguistic Identity and Place Names (Case Study: The Mountains in Khalkhal)

Geographical names are relatively pertinent components in introducing the historical background of places. In other words, despite the fact that should there be any variation in the culture and language pertinent to a region, geographical names rarely undergo any alteration. For this very reason in some cases, it is observed that there is less consistency between geographical names pertinent to a region and the spoken language of that region. Among such cases, one can find the region of Azerbaijan as an example. The Turkish language is the established language of Azerbaijan, with mostly non-Turkish place names. Therefore, this study seeks to understand the possible relation between URUNYMS in Khalkhal township as a part of Azerbaijan region and the Turkish language spoken in this region. The research method in this study is descriptive-analytical and data collection instruments are based on library resources. This study shows that despite major transformations from Azeri (Tatty) into Turkish in Khalkhal Township, the mountain names have not undergone notable changes and have preserved their original ancient forms. They are geographical words, with suffixes and prefixes, often seen in most other places in Iran. Also, most place names have a spatial distribution in other regions in Iran. Meanwhile, it appears that places names are non-Turkish, and if there has been any changes, it has been a mixture of ancient Azeri and Turkish names.