Khalaj within the context of language contact

Khalaj, with its numerous linguistic characteristics, has a tremendous significance for comparative-historical-linguistic Turcology and the Theory of Altaic Languages. The future of this language, spoken in villages by a very small portion of the population, is not promising. Khalaj, which served an influential function in the Khalejestan area until recently, has lost this functionality due to radical social changes in the last century. Today, the Khalajs speak Persian outside their communities to a great extent due to the fact that their own language has lost its functionality. There is a variety in terms of the way the language is spoken due to various social dynamics. Therefore, this study will focus on the Talkhab village, which has a larger concentration of the Khalajs population. Field findings will be analyzed by taking the social and structural features into consideration. The impact of Persian over the Khalaj of Talkhab will be analyzed according to Lars Johanson's code copying model. Through this analysis, it will be ultimately indicated that the linguistic and structural reduction process of the Khalaj of Talkhab is at a highly critical threshold due to problems in language acquisition and copies from Persian.