Some spelling features of Medieval Azerbaijani-Turkish manuscripts

Abstract

The Medieval Azerbaijani-Turkish manuscripts have been written in the Turkish language as the Ottoman manuscripts of this period. According to language, there is no exact difference among these manuscripts, either. Though there are more similarities, the Medieval Azerbaijani-Turkish manuscripts are chosen for some spelling features. Among these peculiarities, the features that we chosen attract our attention:

1. Both the long vowels (a, i, u) and the short vowels (e, o, ö, ü) have been signed with the appropriate letters of the Arabic language generally in the Medieval Azerbaijani-Turkish manuscripts. But in the Medieval Ottoman manuscripts, the marking of the short vowels with the diacritics has been preferred by coinciding to the Arabic script rules.
2. The Medieval Azerbaijani-Turkish manuscripts have been copied with the calligraphy as qalam an-naskh. The taliq script and naskh script have been used in the ancient Ottoman texts,too.
3. In the Medieval Azerbaijani-Turkish manuscripts, the mark of sağır nun (ŋ) (nasal n or kafi nun) has been expressed with two letters as kaf and nun. But in the ancient Ottoman texts, sağır nun has been appointed by only the letter It is possible to hap putting three dots above the considered letter in some Azerbaijani-Turkish manuscripts.
4. One or two syllabic words which their ending used with the letter k in the Turkish language and the letter x in the Modern Azerbaijani language had been written with the letter خ xe more in the Medieval Azerbaijani-Turkish manuscripts, and with the letter ﻖ ğaf in the Ottoman manuscripts. For example: - çox//çoh; توﭙﺮاݗ - toprax//toprah; اوخ – ox//oh. The monosyllabics of these words are written as the form of çox, ox in the Modern Azerbaijani Turkish language. Disyllabic words are written with the letter q in the Modern Azerbaijani Turkish language.
5. One of the characteristic spelling features of the Medieval Azerbaijani-Turkish manuscripts is the writing of some words in two or more variants. This feature takes place among the conspicuous features in the ancient Ottoman texts.

It must be noted that, mentioned features are seen in the copies of the same works in Azerbaijan and Ottoman Empire. For example, the copies of the manuscripts in the considered regions of Nesimi Divan have different qualities according to the spelling features.