Linguistic Manifestations of Azerbaijani Dance Culture

Dance occupies an important place in the spiritual culture of every nation, reflecting symbolic, emotional, individual, and collective dimensions shaped by cultural traditions and social experience. As a significant component of intangible cultural heritage, traditional dances constitute an important field of ethnographic research. Dance should not be regarded solely as a form of artistic expression; it also reflects ritual practices, festive traditions, collective values, and cultural memory as an essential element of spiritual culture. Despite this cultural significance, traditional Azerbaijani dances have thus far received limited scholarly attention within ethnographic studies. In particular, proverbs, sayings, idiomatic expressions, and other folkloric elements associated with dance in everyday language have not been sufficiently examined as independent subjects of academic inquiry. In this context, the present study aims to contribute to the existing literature by examining the role of folk expressions in reflecting the cultural significance of dance in Azerbaijani society. The study is based on materials collected through field interviews with informants, as well as folkloric sources including proverbs, bayatıs, and oral narratives. The article may be of interest to researchers working in anthropology, ethnography, folklore studies, linguistics, cultural studies, and art history.