Qashqai (also spelled
Ghashghai,
Ghashghayi,
Qašqāʾī,
Qashqa'i, and
Qashqayi) is a
Southern Oghuz or
Western Oghuz Turkic language spoken by the
Qashqai people, an ethnic group living mainly in the
Fars region of
Iran. In the
Encyclopaedia Iranica Qashqai is also regarded as an independent third group of dialects within the southwestern Turkic languages. It is known to speakers as
Turki. Estimates of the number of Qashqai speakers vary.
Ethnologue gives a figure of 1.5 million. The Qashqai language is closely related to
Azerbaijani, and some linguists consider it to be a dialect of that language.