The Azerbaijani language is a member of the Turkic language family, primarily spoken in Azerbaijan and parts of Iran. It has two main dialects: North Azerbaijani, spoken in Azerbaijan, and South Azerbaijani, spoken in Iran. The language uses the Latin alphabet, which was adopted in 1991, replacing the Cyrillic script used during the Soviet era. Azerbaijani is the official language of Azerbaijan and is also recognized as a minority language in several neighboring countries. It shares linguistic similarities with other Turkic languages, such as Turkish and Turkmen, facilitating mutual understanding among speakers.