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===Origin===
===Origin===
⚫
Traditionally scholars have seen the Albanian as the descendant of [[Illyrian language|Illyrian]]<ref>Kretschmer, Paul. Sprachliche Vorgeschichte des Balkans, (Parahistoria gjuhësore e Ballkanit), Revue Internationale des e'tudes balkaniquee, vol. II (1935)</ref> while some dispute this<ref>Weigand, Gustav. Sind die Albaner die Nachkommen der Illyrier oder der Thraker? BA III. (1927). ''derives it from Thracian'', Georgiev, Vladimir. Albanisch, Dakisch - Mysisch und Rumanisch. BE 1960/2 ''derives it from Dacian''</ref> claiming that it derives from [[Dacian language|Dacian]] or [[Thracian language|Thracian]]. (Illyrian, Dacian, and Thracian, however, may have formed a subgroup or a [[sprachbund]]; see [[Thraco-Illyrian]].)
Traditionally scholars have seen the Albanian as the descendant of [[Illyrian language|Illyrian]]<ref>Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm. Albaner - Brife, Hanover, 1705 (E.P.Hamp, On Leibniz's Third Albanian Letter - Zeitschrift fur Balkanologie, Je XVI/1, 1981,
M.Reiter, Leibnizen's Albanel - Briefe - Zeitschrift fur Balkanologie Jg. XVI, 1980,)</ref>
<ref>Thunmann, Johann. Untersuchungen über die Geschichte der östlichen europäischen Völker. Laipzig (1774)</ref>
<ref>Kopitar, B.J. Albanische, walachische und bulgarische Sprache. Wien (1829)</ref>
<ref>Hahn, Georg von. Albanesische Studien. Wien (1853)</ref>
<ref>Bopp, Franz. Über das Albanesische in seinen verwandtschaftlichen Beziehungen. Berlin (1855)</ref>
<ref>Camarda, Demetrio. Saggio di grammatologia comparata sulla lingua albanese. Livorno (1864</ref>
<ref>Camarda, Demetrio. Appendice al Saggio di grammatologia sulla lingua albanese. Prato (1866)</ref>
<ref>Miklosich, Franz: Albanische Forschungen. I: Die slavischen Elemente im Albanischen. Wien (1870)</ref>
<ref>Miklosich, Franz. Albanische Forschugen, II: Die romanischen Elemente im Albanischen. Wien (1870)</ref>
<ref>Meyer, Gustav. Albanesische Studien. I - Wien 1882; III - 1892; V - 1896</ref>
<ref>Pedersen, Holger. Bidrag til den albanesiske sproghistorie. (Festskrift til Vilhelm Thomsen). Kobenhavn (1894)</ref>
<ref>Pedersen, Holger. Albanesisch 1905. Rom. Jb. IX (1905). Erlangen (1909)</ref>
<ref>Kretschmer, Paul. Einleitung in die Geschichte der griechischen Sprache, (Hyrje në historinë e gjuhës greke), Göttingen, (1896)</ref>
<ref>Kretschmer, Paul. Sprachliche Vorgeschichte des Balkans, (Parahistoria gjuhësore e Ballkanit), Revue Internationale des e'tudes balkaniquee, vol. II (1935) </ref>
<ref>Thumb, A. Altgriechische Elemente des Albanesischen. IF 26 (1926)</ref>
<ref>Sandfeld, Kristian. Linguistique balkanique, problemes et resultats. Paris 1930</ref>
<ref>Cimochowski, Waclaw. Recherches sur l'histoire du sandhi dans la langue albanaise. LP II, 1950</ref>
<ref>Cimochowski, Waclaw. Des recherches sur la toponomastique de l'Albanie. LP VIII, 1960</ref>
<ref>Cimochowski, Waclaw. Pozicioni gjuhësor i ilirishtes ballkanike në rrethin e gjuhëve indoevropiane. SF 1973/2</ref>
<ref>Lambertz, Maximilian. Lehrgang des Albanischen. Teil I: Albanisch-Deutsches Wörterbuch. Teil II: Albanische Chrestomathie. Teil III: Grammatik der albanischen
Sprache (Berlin: Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften 1954, Berlin 1955, Halle/Saale 1959)</ref>
<ref>Gjinari, Jorgji. Për historinë e dialekteve të gjuhës shqipe. SF 1968/4</ref>
<ref>Gjinari, Jorgji. Mbi vazhdimësinë e ilirishtes në gjuhën shqipe. SF 1969/3</ref>
<ref>Gjinari, Jorgji. Struktura dialektore e shqipes e parë në lidhje me historinë e popullit. SF 1976/3</ref>
<ref>Gjinari, Jorgji. Dëshmi të historisë së gjuhës shqipe për kohën dhe vendin e formimit të popullit shqiptar. SF 1982/3</ref>
<ref>Mayer, Antun. Die Sprache der alten Illyrier. B. II. Wien 1959</ref>
<ref>Tagliavini, Carlo. La stratificazione del lessico albanese. Elementi indoeuropei. Bologna 1965</ref>
<ref>Mihaescu, Haralambie. Les elements latins de la langue albanaise. RESEE 1966/1-2</ref>
<ref>Mihaescu, Haralambie La langue latine dans le sud-est de l’Europe. Bucuresti-Paris: Editura Academiei-Les Belles Lettres (1978)</ref>
<ref>Mann, Stuart E.: An Albanian Historical Grammar ; Hamburg : Helmut Buske Verlag, 1977</ref>
<ref>Çabej, Eqrem. Disa probleme themelore të historisë së vjetër të gjuhës shqipe. BUSHT,SSHSH 1962/4 (In German SA 1964/1)</ref>
<ref>Çabej, Eqrem. Rreth disa Çështjeve të historisë së gjuhës shqipe. BUSHT,SSHSH1963/3 (In Romanian SCL 1954/4)</ref>
<ref>Çabej, Eqrem. Mbi disa rregulla të fonetikës historike të shqipes. SF 1970/2 (In German “Die Sprache”, Wien 1972)</ref>
<ref>Çabej, Eqrem. L'ancien nom national des albanais. SA 1972/1</ref>
<ref>Çabej, Eqrem. Problemi i vendit të formimit të gjuhës shqipe. SF 1972/4</ref>
<ref>Çabej, Eqrem. Karakteristikat e huazimeve latine të gjuhës shqipe. SF 1974/2 (In German RL 1962/1)</ref>
<ref>Çabej, Eqrem. Studime etimologjike në fushë të shqipes.; vëll. II, Tiranë 1976</ref>
<ref>Çabej, Eqrem. Studime etimologjike në fushë të shqipes; vëll. I. Tiranë 1982</ref>
<ref>Desnickaja, A.V. Albanskij jazyk i ego dialekty. Leningrad 1968</ref>
<ref>Desnickaja, A.V. Language Interferences and Historical Dialectology Linguistics, EJ088069 (1973)</ref>
<ref>Desnickaja, A.V. Osnovy balkanskogo jazykoznanija, Cast 1. Leningrad: Nauka Press. 1990</ref>
<ref>Pisani, Vittore L'albanais et les autres langues indoeuropéennes, "Annuaire de l'Institut de philologie et d'histoire orientales etslaves", t. X, Bruxelles, 1950</ref>
<ref>Pisani, Vittore. Les origines de la langue albanaise. SA 1964/1</ref>
<ref>Pisani, Vittore. Sulla genesi dell'albanese. Akten Innsbruck (1972)</ref>
<ref>Ajeti, Idriz. La presence de l'albanais dans les parlers des populations slaves de la Peninsule Balkanique а la lumiere de la langue et de la toponymie. SA 1968/2</ref>
<ref>Ajeti, Idriz. Për historinë e marrëdhënieve të hershme gjuhësore shqiptare-sllave. SF 1972/4</ref>
<ref>Ölberg, Hermann. Einige Uberlegungen zur Autochtonie der Albaner auf der Balkanhalbinsel. Akten Innsbruck (1972)</ref>
<ref>Ölberg, Hermann. Kontributi i gjuhësisë për çështjen e atdheut ballkanik të shqiptarëve. SF 1982/3</ref>
<ref>Domi, Mahir. Prapashtesa ilire dhe shqipe, përkime dhe paralelizma. SF 1974/4</ref>
<ref>Domi, Mahir. Considerations sur les traits communs ou paralleles de l'albanais avec les autres langues balkaniques et sur leur etude. SA 1975/1</ref>
<ref>Katicic, Radoslav. Ancient languages of the Balkans (Trends in linguistics). The Hague and Paris: Mouton. (1976)</ref>
<ref>Riza, Selman. Studime albanistike. Pristina 1979</ref>
<ref>De Simone, Carlo. Gli illiri del Sud. Tentativo di una definizione. “Iliria” (Tiranë) 1986/1</ref>
<ref>Banfi, Emanuele. Linguistica balcanica. Bologna 1985</ref>
<ref>Banfi, Emanuele. Storia linguistica del sud-est europeo. Milano 1991</ref>
<ref>Huld, Martin E. Basic Albanian etymologies. Columbus, OH: Slavica Publishers. (1984)</ref>
<ref>Buchholz, Oda / Fiedler, Wilfried: Albanische Grammatik ; Leipzig : VEB Verlag Enzyklopädie, (1987)</ref>
<ref>Pellegrini, Giovan Battista : I rapporti linguistici interadriatici e l’elemento latino dell’albanese në: Abruzzo. Rivista dell'Istituto di Studi Abruzzesi XIX, 1980</ref>
<ref>Pellegrini, Giovan Battista : Disa vëzhgime mbi elementin latin të shqipes (Some observations over the latin element of the Albanian language), in: SF 1982/3</ref>
<ref>Pellegrini, Giovan Battista : Avviamento alla linguistica albanese (Edizione rinnovata) (1997)</ref>
<ref>Demiraj, Shaban. Gjuha shqipe dhe historia e saj. Shtëpia botuese e librit universitar (Tirane) 1988</ref>
<ref>Demiraj, Shaban. Fonologjia historike e gjuhës shqipe. (Akademia e Shkencave e Shqiperise. Instituti i Gjuhesise dhe i Letersise) TOENA (Tirane), 1996</ref>
<ref>Demiraj, Shaban. Prejardhja e shqiptarëve në dritën e dëshmive të gjuhës shqipe. Shkenca (Tirane) 1999</ref>
<ref>Demiraj, Shaban. Gramatikë historike e gjuhës shqipe. (Akademia e Shkencave e Shqiperise. Instituti i Gjuhesise dhe i Letersise) 2002</ref>
⚫
<ref>Demiraj, Shaban. Gjuhësi Ballkanike. (Akademia e Shkencave e Shqiperise. Instituti i Gjuhesise dhe i Letersise) 2004</ref> while some dispute this<ref>Weigand, Gustav. Sind die Albaner die Nachkommen der Illyrier oder der Thraker? BA III. (1927). ''derives it from Thracian'', Georgiev, Vladimir. Albanisch, Dakisch - Mysisch und Rumanisch. BE 1960/2 ''derives it from Dacian''</ref> claiming that it derives from [[Dacian language|Dacian]] or [[Thracian language|Thracian]]. (Illyrian, Dacian, and Thracian, however, may have formed a subgroup or a [[sprachbund]]; see [[Thraco-Illyrian]].)


===Proto-IE features===
===Proto-IE features===

Revision as of 18:10, 8 February 2010

Albanian
[Shqip] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)
Pronunciation[ʃcip]
Native toAlbania
RegionSoutheastern Europe
Native speakers
7.6 million[1]
Indo-European
  • Albanian
Latin alphabet (Albanian variant)
Official status
Official language in
 Albania
 Kosovo
and recognised as a minority language in:
 North Macedonia
 Montenegro
 Italy
 Serbia
Language codes
ISO 639-1sq
ISO 639-2alb (B)
sqi (T)
ISO 639-3Variously:
sqi – Albanian (generic)
aln – Gheg
aae – Arbëreshë
aat – Arvanitika
als – Tosk

Albanian ([Gjuha shqipe] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), IPA: [ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ], or shqip, IPA: [ˈʃcip]) is an Indo-European language spoken by nearly 7.6 million people,[1] primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, Montenegro, southern Serbia and north-western Greece. Albanian is also spoken by native enclaves in Greece, along the eastern coast of southern Italy, and in Sicily. Additionally, speakers of Albanian can be found elsewhere throughout the latter two countries resulting from a modern diaspora, originating from the Balkans, that also includes Scandinavia, Switzerland, Germany, United Kingdom, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. An estimated two million Albanians are believed to be the total of the diaspora concentrated mostly in Western Europe and North America.

Literary tradition

Earliest undisputed texts

The primary records in Albanian include the "Formula e pagëzimit" (baptesimal formula), dating back to 1462, authored by Pal Engjëlli (or Paulus Angelus) (ca. 1417–1470), Archbishop of Durrës and a close friend and counselor of Skanderbeg. It was written in a pastoral letter for a synond at the Holy Trinity in Mat and read in Latin characters as follows, Unte paghesont premenit Atit et birit et spertit senit ("I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost"). It was discovered and published in 1915 by Nicolae Iorga.[2] The second is Fjalori i Arnold von Harf ("Arnold von Harf vocabulary") in 1469; the third document Ungjilli i Pashkëve ("Easter Gospel") or Ungjilli i Shën Mateut ("Saint Matthew's Gospel") is dated in the 15th century.

Meshari of Gjon Buzuku 1555

The first book in Albanian was written by Gjon Buzuku between 20 March 1554 to 5 January 1555. In Albanian, the book is known as Meshari (The Missal). The book was written in the Gheg dialect in the Latin alphabet with some Slavic letters adapted for Albanian vowels. The book was discovered in 1740 by Gjon Nikollë Kazazi, the Albanian archbishop of Skopje. It contains the liturgies of the main holidays. There are also texts of prayers and rituals and catechetical texts. Every page contains two columns. The initials are decorated. The grammar and the vocabulary are more archaic than in the Gheg text from the 17th century. The text is very valuable from the viewpoint of the history of language. The 188 pages of the book comprise about 154,000 words with a total vocabulary of ca. 1,500 different words, and are a veritable precious source for lexicographers and historical linguists. The archaic text is easily read due to the circumstance that it is mainly a translation of known texts, in particular the Bible. Most of the Gospels of Matthew, Luke and John were translated in the book. It also contains passages from the Psalms, the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Jeremiah, the Letters to the Corinthians, and many illustrations. The consequent character of orthography and grammar seems to indicate an earlier tradition of writing. The Apostolic Library in the Vatican holds the only known copy of the book.

Disputed earliest text

Possibly the oldest surviving Albanian text, highlighted in red, from Bellifortis Manuscript, written by Konrad Kyeser around 1402-1405.

In 1967 scholar Dumitru Todericiu studied microfilms of the Bellifortis text, manuscript 663, preserved at the Musée Condé of the Chantilly Castle in France. This work was written by Konrad Kyeser around 1402-1405. The original Latin context is an astrological one, part of an initiation ritual practiced by young boys when becoming men and a vestige of the ancient phallic cult, very common in the Balkan peninsula. On page 153v Todericiu discovered a text insertion in a strange language. Until then, scholars considered it as a text without actual meaning, written in an artificial language. Believing the words were in Albanian, Todericiu, together with professor Dumitru Polena from Bucharest, after four months' work obtained a modern version of the text[3]:

A star has fallen in a place in the woods, distinguish the star, distinguish it.

Distinguish the star from the others, they are ours, they are.
Do you see where the great voice has resounded? Stand beside it
That thunder. It did not fall. It did not fall for you, the one which would do it.
...
Like the ears, you should not believe ... that the moon fell when ...
Try to encompass that which spurts far ...

Call the light when the moon falls and no longer exists ...

Dr. Robert Elsie, a specialist in Albanian studies, considers that "The Todericiu/Polena Romanian translation of the non-Latin lines, although it may offer some clues if the text is indeed Albanian, is fanciful and based, among other things, on a false reading of the manuscript, including the exclusion of a whole line. [...] Certain evidence, both linguistic and non-linguistic, supports an Albanian origin for the Bellifortis text under study. The incantation and taboo character of such a passage involving initiation rites, however, precludes an interlinear translation. If the Bellifortis text is indeed Albanian, which remains to be proved conclusively, it would be the oldest datable text in that language"[4].

Ottoman period

In 1635 Frang Bardhi published in Rome his Dictionarum latinum-epiroticum, the first known Latin-Albanian dictionary. The evidence shows, moreover, that the study of Albanian has a tradition of 350 years and includes works of Frang Bardhi (1606-1643), Andrea Bogdani (1600-1685), Nilo Katalanos (1637-1694) and others.

Part of a series on
Albanians

History of the alphabet

Main article: Albanian alphabet

The history of the Albanian alphabet is closely linked with the influence of religion among Albanians. The writers from the North of Albania used Latin letters under the influence of the Catholic Church, those from the South of Albania under the Greek Orthodox church used Greek letters, while others used Arabic letters under the influence of Islam. There were also attempts for an original Albanian alphabet in the period of 1750-1850. The current alphabet in use among Albanians is one of the two variants approved in the Congress of Manastir held by Albanian intellectuals from November 14 to 22 November 1908, in Manastir (Bitola, Macedonia).

Standard Albanian

In 1970s the publications in Tirana, followed by republication in Pristina of a book of orthographical rules, Drejtëshkrimi i gjuhës shqipe followed by a widely distributed authoritative dictionary in 1976 "Fjalori drejtshkrimor i gjuhës shqipe", created a considerable degree of phonological normalization as well as spelling reform.

Classification

Albanian was demonstrated to be an Indo-European language in 1854 by the philologist Franz Bopp. The Albanian language constitutes its own branch of the Indo-European language family.

Establishing longer relations, Albanian is often compared to Balto-Slavic and Germanic [5], both of which share a number of isoglosses with Albanian. Moreover, Albanian has undergone a vowel shift in which stressed, long o has fallen to a, much like in the former and opposite the latter. Likewise, Albanian has taken the old relative jos and innovatively used it exclusively to qualify adjectives, much in the way Balto-Slavic has used this word to provide the definite ending of adjectives. Other linguists link Albanian with Greek and Armenian, while placing Germanic and Balto-Slavic in another branch of Indo-European.[6][7][8] Nakhleh, Ringe, and Warnow found that Albanian can be placed at a variety of points within the Indo-European tree with equally good fit; determining its correct placement is hampered by the loss of much of its former diagnostic inflectional morphology and vocabulary.[9]

Origin

Traditionally scholars have seen the Albanian as the descendant of Illyrian[10] while some dispute this[11] claiming that it derives from Dacian or Thracian. (Illyrian, Dacian, and Thracian, however, may have formed a subgroup or a sprachbund; see Thraco-Illyrian.)

Proto-IE features

Although sometimes Albanian has been referred to as the "weird sister" for several words that do not correspond to IE cognates, it has retained many proto-IE features: for example, the demonstrative pronoun *ko is cognate to Albanian ky/kjo but not to English this or to Russian etot.

Albanian and other Indo-European languages
Albanian muaj ri nënë motër natë hundë tre zi kuq gjelbër verdhë ujk
Other Indo-European languages
English month new mother sister night nose three black red green yellow wolf
Lithuanian mėnesis naujas motina sesuo naktis nosis trys juodas raudonas žalias geltonas vilkas
Old Church Slavonic měsęcь novъ mati sestra noštь nosъ tri(je) črъnъ črъvenъ zelenъ žьltъ vlьkъ
Ancient Greek μήν
mēn		 νέος
néos		 μήτηρ
mētēr		 αδελφή
adelphḗ		 νύξ
nýks		 ῥίς
rhís		 τρεῖς
treïs		 μέλας
mélas		 ἐρυθρός
erythrós		 χλωρός
khlōrós		 ξανθός
ksanthós		 λύκος
lýkos
Armenian ամիս
amis		 նոր
nor		 մայր
mayr		 քույր
k'uyr		 գիշեր
gišer		 քիթ
k'it		 երեք
yerek'		 սեւ
sev		 կարմիր
karmir		 կանաչ
kanač		 դեղին
deġin		 գայլ
gayl
Latin mēnsis novus māter soror nox nasus trēs āter, niger ruber viridis flāvus lupus
Irish midhe nuadh máthair siúr oidhche srón trí dubh dearg glas buidhe faolchú
Persian māh nou mādar khāhar shab biní se siāh sorkh sabz zard gorg
Sanskrit māsa nava mātṛ svasṛ nakti nasa tri kāla rudhira hari pīta vṛka

Albanian-PIE phonological correspondences

Phonologically Albanian is not so conservative. Like many IE stocks it has merged the two series of voiced stops (e.g. both *d and *dh became d). In addition the voiced stops tend to disappear when between vowels. There is almost complete loss of final syllables and very widespread loss of other unstressed syllables (e.g. mik "friend" from Lat. amicus). PIE *a and *o appear as a (further e if a high front vowel *i follows) while *ē and *ā become o, and PIE *ō appears as e. The most remarkable is the fate of the dorsals; the palatals, velars and labiovelars all remain distinct before front vowels, a conservation found otherwise in Luvian and related Anatolian languages. Thus PIE *ḱ, *k and *kʷ become th, q and s respectively (before back vowels *ḱ becomes th while *k and *kʷ merge as k). Another remarkable retention is the preservation of initial *h4 as Alb. h (all other laryngeals disappear completely).[12]

Proto-Indo-European Labial Stops in Albanian
PIE Albanian PIE Albanian
*p p *pékʷe/o - "cook" pjek "to cook, roast, bake"
*b b *sorbéįe/o - "drink, slurp" gjerb "to drink"
*bh b *bhaḱeha - "bean" bathë "bean"
Proto-Indo-European Coronal Stops in Albanian
PIE Albanian PIE Albanian
*t t *tuhx - "thou" ti "you (singular)"
ç *ụet-es - "calf" viç "calf"
*d d *dihxtis - "light" ditë "day"
dh *deḱm̥ - "ten" dhjetë "ten"
gj *dlh1gho - "long" gjatë "long", dial. Tosk glatë
*dh d *dhēgʷhe/o - "burn" djeg "to burn"
Proto-Indo-European Palatal Stops in Albanian
PIE Albanian PIE Albanian
*ḱ th *ḱéhimi - "I say" them "to say"
k *ḱreh2u - "limb" krah "arm"
q *ḱleụ - "to hear" quhem "to be called/named", old and dial. Tosk kluhet
ç *ḱent - "to stick" çandër "prop"
s *ḱuk - "horn" sutë "doe"
*ǵ dh *ǵómbhos - "tooth, peg" dhëmb "tooth", Gheg dhâmb
gj *ǵenu - "knee" gju "knee", dial. Tosk glu, Gheg gjû
d *ǵeus - "to enjoy" desha "I loved, wanted"
*ǵh d *ĝhŗsdhi - "grain, barley" drithë "grain"
dh *ĝhed - "to defecate" dhjes "to defecate"
Proto-Indo-European Velar Stops in Albanian
PIE Albanian PIE Albanian
*k k *kápmi - "I take" kam "to have"
q *klau - "to weep" qaj "to weep, cry", dial. Tosk klan
*g g *h3ligos - "sick" ligë "bad"
gj *h1reug - "to retch" regj "to tan hides"
*gh g *ghordhos - "enclosure" gardh "fence"
gj *ghédnịe/o - "get" gjej "to find"
Proto-Indo-European Labialized Velar Stops in Albanian
PIE Albanian PIE Albanian
*kʷ k *kʷehasleha - "cough" kollë "cough"
s *kʷéle/o - "turn" sjell "to fetch, bring"
q *kʷo - "that" që "that"
*gʷ g *gʷŗ - "stone" gur "stone"
z *gʷērhxu - "heaviness" zor "heaviness, trouble"
gj *gʷes - "leaves" gjeth "leaf"
*gʷh g *dhégʷhe/o - "burn" djeg "to burn"
z *h1en-dhogʷhéịe/o - "kindle" ndez "to kindle, turn on"
gj gʷhen - "to hit" gjuaj "to hunt"
Proto-Indo-European *s in Albanian
PIE Albanian PIE Albanian
*s gj *séḱstis - "six" gjashtë "six"
sh *septm̥tis - "seven" shtatë "seven"
sh *pumsos - "body-hair" push "fuzz, nap, pile"
th *suh1 - "swine" thi "boar"
ø *h1ésmi - "am" jam "to be"
d *sụorgéịe/o - "be ill" dergjet "lies ill"
h *selk - "to drag" heq "to pick up, remove", older helq
h *sḱi-eh2 - "shadow" hije "shadow"
Proto-Indo-European Sonorant Consonants in Albanian
PIE Albanian PIE Albanian
*ị gj *ịése/o - "ferment" gjesh "knead"
*ụ v *ụoséịe/o - "dress" vesh "to wear, dress"
*m m *mehatr-eha - "maternal" motër "sister"
*n n *nos - "we" ne "we"
nj *eni-h₁ói-no - "that one" një "one", Gheg njâ, njo
r *ǵheimen - "winter" dimër "winter", Gheg dimën
*l l *h3ligos - "sick" ligë "bad"
ll *kʷéle/o - "turn" sjell "to fetch, bring"
*r r *repe/o - "take" rjep "peel"
rr *ụrēn - "sheep" rrunzë "female lamb"
*ņ e *h1ņmen - "name" emër "name"
*m̥ e *ụiḱm̥ti - "twenty" (një)zet "twenty"
*ļ uj *uļkʷos - "wolf" ujk "wolf", older ulk
*ŗ ri *ǵhŗsdom - "grain, barley" drithë "grain"
Proto-Indo-European Laryngeals in Albanian
PIE Albanian PIE Albanian
*h1 ø *h1ésmi - "am" jam "to be"
*h2 ø *h2ŗtḱos - "bear" ari "bear"
*h3 ø *h3ónŗ - "dream" ëndërr "dream"
*h4 h *h4órǵhiịeha - "testicle" herdhe "testicle"
Proto-Indo-European Vowels in Albanian
PIE Albanian PIE Albanian
*i i *sinos - "bosom" gji "bosom, breast"
e *dụighehs - "twig" degë "branch"
*ī i *dīhxtis - "light" ditë "day"
*e e *penkʷe - "five" pesë "five", dial. Gheg pês
je *ụétos - "year" (loc.) vjet "years, last year"
ja *sélpos - "fat" gjalpë "butter"
*ē o *ǵhēsr - "hand" dorë "hand"
*a a *bhaḱeha- "bean" bathë "bean"
e *haélbhit - "barley" elb "barley"
*ō a *ghórdhos - "enclosure" gardh "fence"
e *ghórdhoi - "enclosures" gjerdh "fences"
*o e *h2oḱtōtis - "eight" tetë "eight"
*u u *supnos - "sleep" gjumë "sleep"
*ū y *suhxsos - "grandfather" gjysh "grandfather"
i *mūs - "mouse" mi "mouse"

Geographic distribution

Albanian is spoken by nearly 6 million people[1] mainly in Albania, Kosovo, Turkey, the Republic of Macedonia, Greece and Italy (Arbereshe); and by immigrant communities in many other countries, notably the United Kingdom, the USA, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Standard

Albanian in a revised form of the Tosk dialect is the official language of Albania and Kosovo; and is official in the municipalities where there are more than 20% ethnic Albanian inhabitants in the Republic of Macedonia. It is also an official language of Montenegro where it is spoken in the municipalities with ethnic Albanian populations.

Dialects

Main article: Albanian dialects

Sounds

Standard Albanian has 7 vowels and 29 consonants. Gheg uses long and nasal vowels which are absent in Tosk. Another peculiarity is the mid-central vowel "ë" reduced at the end of the word. The stress is fixed mainly on the penultimate syllable. Another notable difference between Gheg and Tosk pronunciations is that the Tosk equivalent of the Gheg sound "n" (as in femën, emën etc.) is the sound "r" (femër, emër etc.) It is noteworthy that in loanwords, the Gheg dialect retains the original "n" sound, like in "femen" (Italian "femminile", English "feminine", etc.), while this is not the case with the Tosk, which uses "r" instead ("femër").

Phonetics and Phonology

  Bilabial Labio-
dental 		Dental Alveolar Post-
alveolar 		Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m     n   ɲ    
Plosive p  b     t  d   c  ɟ k  ɡ  
Affricate       ts  dz tʃ  dʒ      
Fricative   f  v θ  ð s  z ʃ  ʒ     h
Trill       r        
Flap       ɾ        
Approximant       l  ɫ   j    
IPA Description Written as Pronounced as in
p Voiceless bilabial plosive p Template:Bold dark reden
b Voiced bilabial plosive b Template:Bold dark redat
t Voiceless alveolar plosive t Template:Bold dark redan
d Voiced alveolar plosive d Template:Bold dark redebt
c Voiceless palatal plosive q similar to geTemplate:Bold dark red Template:Bold dark redou
ɟ Voiced palatal plosive gj similar to tolTemplate:Bold dark red Template:Bold dark redou
k Voiceless velar plosive k Template:Bold dark redar
ɡ Voiced velar plosive g Template:Bold dark redo
ts Voiceless alveolar affricate c haTemplate:Bold dark red
dz Voiced alveolar affricate x gooTemplate:Bold dark red
tʃ Voiceless postalveolar affricate ç Template:Bold dark redin
dʒ Voiced postalveolar affricate xh Template:Bold dark redet
θ Voiceless dental fricative th Template:Bold dark redin
ð Voiced dental fricative dh Template:Bold dark reden
f Voiceless labiodental fricative f Template:Bold dark redar
v Voiced labiodental fricative v Template:Bold dark redan
s Voiceless alveolar fricative s Template:Bold dark redon
z Voiced alveolar fricative z Template:Bold dark redip
ʃ Voiceless postalveolar fricative sh Template:Bold dark redow
ʒ Voiced postalveolar fricative zh viTemplate:Bold dark redion
h Voiceless glottal fricative h Template:Bold dark redat
m Bilabial nasal m Template:Bold dark redan
n Alveolar nasal n Template:Bold dark redot
ɲ Palatal nasal nj Spanish seTemplate:Bold dark redor
j Palatal approximant j Template:Bold dark redes
l Alveolar lateral approximant l Template:Bold dark redean
ɫ Velarized alveolar lateral approximant ll baTemplate:Bold dark red
r Alveolar trill rr Spanish hieTemplate:Bold dark redo
ɾ Alveolar tap r Spanish aTemplate:Bold dark redo

Notes:

  • The palatal stops /c/ and /ɟ/ have no English equivalent, so the pronunciation guide is approximate. Palatal stops can be found in other languages, for example, in Hungarian (where these sounds are spelled ty and gy respectively).
  • The palatal nasal /ɲ/ corresponds to the sound of the Spanish ñ or the French or Italian digraph gn (as in gnocchi). It is pronounced as one sound, not a nasal plus a glide.
  • The ll sound is a velarised lateral, close to English dark L.
  • The contrast between flapped r and trilled rr is the same as in Spanish. English does not have either of the two sounds phonemically (but tt in butter is pronounced as a flap r in most American dialects).
  • The letter ç is sometimes spelt ch where there are technological difficulties with the diacritic, both due to its English sound and by analogy to xh, sh, and zh. (Usually, however, it's spelled simply c or more rarely q. Despite that this is ambiguous, meanings are usually understood.)

Vowels

IPA Description Written as Pronounced as in
i Close front unrounded vowel i bTemplate:Bold dark redd
ɛ Open-mid front unrounded vowel e bTemplate:Bold dark redd
a Open front unrounded vowel a Spanish cTemplate:Bold dark redsa
ə Schwa ë hTemplate:Bold dark red
ɔ Open-mid back rounded vowel o pTemplate:Bold dark redt
y Close front rounded vowel y French tTemplate:Bold dark red, German Template:Bold dark redber
u Close back rounded vowel u bTemplate:Bold dark redt

Grammar

Albanian nouns are inflected by gender (masculine, feminine and neuter) and number (singular and plural). There are 5 declensions with 6 cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative and vocative), although the vocative only occurs with a limited number of words. The cases apply to both definite and indefinite nouns and there are numerous cases of syncretism. The equivalent of a genitive is formed by using the prepositions i/e/të/së with the dative.

The following shows the declension of the masculine noun mal (mountain), a masculine noun which ends with "i":

Indefinite Singular Indefinite Plural Definite Singular Definite Plural
Nominative mal (mountain) male (mountains) mali (the mountain) malet (the mountains)
Accusative mal male malin malet
Genitive i/e/të/së mali i/e/të/së maleve i/e/të/së malit i/e/të/së maleve
Dative mali maleve malit maleve
Ablative mali malesh malit maleve

The following shows the declension of the masculine noun zog (bird), a masculine noun which ends with "u":

Indefinite Singular Indefinite Plural Definite Singular Definite Plural
Nominative zog (bird) zogj (birds) zogu (the bird) zogjtë (the birds)
Accusative zog zogj zogun zogjtë
Genitive i/e/të/së zogu i/e/të/së zogjve i/e/të/së zogut i/e/të/së zogjve
Dative zogu zogjve zogut zogjve
Ablative zogu zogjsh zogut zogjve

The following table shows the declension of the feminine noun vajzë (girl):

Indefinite Singular Indefinite Plural Definite Singular Definite Plural
Nominative vajzë (girl) vajza (girls) vajza (the girl) vajzat (the girls)
Accusative vajzë vajza vajzën vajzat
Genitive i/e/të/së vajze i/e/të/së vajzave i/e/të/së vajzës i/e/të/së vajzave
Dative vajze vajzave vajzës vajzave
Ablative vajze vajzash vajzës vajzave

The definite article is placed after the noun as in many other Balkan languages, for example Romanian and Bulgarian.

  • The definite article can be in the form of noun suffixes, which vary with gender and case.
    • For example in singular nominative, masculine nouns add -i, or those ending in -g/-k/-h, take -u (to avoid palatalization):
      • mal (mountain) / mali (the mountain);
      • libër (book) / libri (the book);
      • zog (bird) / zogu (the bird).
    • Feminine nouns take the suffix -(j)a:
      • veturë (car) / vetura (the car);
      • shtëpi (house) / shtëpia (the house);
      • lule (flower) / lulja (the flower).
  • Neuter nouns take -t.

Albanian has developed an analytical verbal structure in place of the earlier synthetic system, inherited from Proto-Indo-European. Its complex system of moods (6 types) and tenses (3 simple and 5 complex constructions) is distinctive among Balkan languages. There are two general types of conjugation. In Albanian the constituent order is subject verb object and negation is expressed by the particles nuk or s' in front of the verb, for example:

  • Toni nuk flet anglisht "Tony does not speak English" ;
  • Toni s'flet anglisht "Tony doesn't speak English" ;
  • Nuk e di "I do not know" ;
  • S'e di "I don't know".

However, the verb can optionally occur in sentence-initial position, especially with verbs in the non-active form (forma joveprore):

  • Parashikohet një ndërprerje "An interruption is anticipated".

In imperative sentences, the particle mos is used :

  • Mos harro "do not forget!".

Albanian verbs, like those of other Balkan languages, have an admirative mood (Albanian: mënyra habitore) which is used to indicate surprise on the part of the speaker, or to imply that an event is known to the speaker by report and not by direct observation. In some contexts, this mood can be translated by English "apparently".

  • Ti flet shqip. "You speak Albanian." (indicative)
  • Ti fliske shqip! "You (surprisingly) speak Albanian!" (admirative)
  • Rruga është e mbyllur. "The street is closed." (indicative)
  • Rruga qenka e mbyllur. "(Apparently,) The street is closed." (admirative)

Numerals

një – one dy – two
tre – three katër – four
pesë – five gjashtë – six
shtatë – seven tetë – eight
nëntë – nine dhjetë – ten
njëmbëdhjetë– eleven dymbëdhjetë – twelve
trembëdhjetë – thirteen katërmbëdhjetë – fourteen
pesëmbëdhjetë – fifteen gjashtëmbëdhjetë – sixteen
shtatëmbëdhjetë – seventeen tetëmbëdhjetë – eighteen
nëntëmbëdhjetë – nineteen njëzet – twenty
njëzetenjë– twenty-one njëzetedy – twenty-two
tridhjetë – thirty dyzet – forty
pesëdhjetë – fifty gjashtëdhjetë – sixty
shatëdhjetë – seventy tetëdhjetë – eighty
nëntëdhjetë – ninety njëqind – one hundred
pesëqind – five hundred njëmijë – one thousand
një milion – one million një miliard – one billion

Vocabulary

Cognates with Illyrian

See Illyrian languages

  • brisa, "husk of grapes"; cf. Alb bërsí "lees, dregs; mash" (< PA *brutiā)
  • loúgeon, "pool"; cf. Alb lag "to wet, soak, bathe, wash" (< PA *lauga), lëgatë "pool" (< PA *leugatâ), lakshte "dew" (< PA *laugista)
  • mandos, "small horse"; cf. Alb mëz, mâz "poney"
  • mantía "bramblebush"; Old and dial. Alb mandë, mod. Alb mën, man "berry, mulberry"
  • rhinos, "fog, mist"; cf. OAlb ren, mod. Alb re, rê "cloud" (< PA *rina)
  • sibina, "spear"; cf. Alb thupër "bar, stick"
  • sica, "dagger"; cf. Alb thika "knife"

Early Greek loans

Early Greek loanwords borrowed into Albanian were mainly commodity items and trade goods.

  • bagëm "oil for anointment" < Gk báptisma "anointment"
  • bletë "hive; bee" < Greco-Latin < Gk (Attic) mélitta "honey-bee" (vs. Gk (Ionic) mélissa)[13].
  • brukë "tamarisk" < Gk mourikē
  • drapër "sickle" < Gk (NW) drápanon
  • kopsht "garden" < Gk (NW) kāpos
  • kumbull "plum" < Gk kokkumēlon
  • lakër "cabbage, green vegetables" < Gk lákhanon "green; vegetable"
  • lëpjetë "orach, dock" < Gk lápathon
  • lyej "to smear, oil" < *elaiwā < Gk elai(w)on "oil"
  • mokër "millstone" < Gk (NW) mākhaná "device, instrument"
  • ngjalë "eel" < Gk enchelys
  • pjepër "melon" < Gk pépon "melon"
  • presh "leek" < Gk práson
  • shpellë "cave" < Gk spēlaion "cave"
  • trumzë "thyme" < Gk thýmbra, thrýmbē

Gothic loans

Some were borrowed through Late Latin, while others came from the Ostrogothic expansion into parts of Praevalitana around Nakšić and the Gulf of Kotor in Montenegro.

  • fat "groom, husband" < Goth brūþfaþs "bridegroom"[14]
  • gomar "donkey, ass" < *margë < Goth *marh "horse"
  • petk "herder's coat; clothing" < Goth paida; cf. OHG pfeit, OE pād
  • shkulkë "boundary marker for pastures made of branches" < Late Latin < Goth skulka "guardian"
  • shkumë "foam" < Late Latin < Goth scūma
  • tirq "trousers" < Late Latin tubrucus < Goth *þiobroc "knee-britches"; cf. OHG dioh-bruoh

The earliest accepted document in the Albanian language is from the 15th century AD. The earliest reference to a Lingua Albanesca is from a 1285 document of Ragusa. This is a time when Albanian Principalities start to be mentioned and expand inside and outside the Byzantine Empire. It is assumed that Greek and Balkan Latin (which was the ancestor of Romanian and other Balkan Romance languages), would exert a great influence on Albanian. Examples of words borrowed from Latin: qytet < civitas (city), qiell < caelum (sky), mik < amicus (friend).

After the Slavs arrived in the Balkans, another source of Albanian vocabulary were the Slavic languages. The rise of the Ottoman Empire meant an influx of Turkish words; this also entailed the borrowing of Farsi and Arabic words through Turkish. Surprisingly the Farsi words seem to have been absorbed the most. Some loanwords from Modern Greek also exist especially in the south of Albania. A lot of the loaned words have been resubstituted from Albanian rooted words or modern Latinized (international) words.

Script

Full article: Albanian alphabet

Albanian has been written using many different alphabets since the 15th century. The earliest written Albanian records come from the Gheg area in makeshift spellings based on Italian or Greek and sometimes in Turko-Arabic characters. Originally, the Tosk dialect was written in the Greek alphabet and the Gheg dialect was written in the Latin alphabet. They have both also been written in the Ottoman Turkish version of the Arabic alphabet, the Cyrillic alphabet, and some local alphabets.

In 1908 an official, standardized Albanian spelling was developed, based on a Gheg dialect and using the Latin alphabet with the addition of the letters ë, ç, and nine digraphs. After World War II the official language changed in that it adopted the Tosk dialect as its model.

History

Linguistic affinities

The Albanian language is a distinct Indo-European language that does not belong to any other existing branch. Sharing lexical isoglosses with Greek, Balto-Slavic, and Germanic, the word stock of Albanian is quite distinct. Hastily tied to Germanic and Balto-Slavic by the merger of PIE *ǒ and *ǎ into *ǎ in a supposed "northern group",[15] Albanian has proven to be distinct from the other two groups as this vowel shift is only part of a larger push chain that affected all long vowels.[16] Albanian does share with Balto-Slavic two features: a lengthening of syllabic consonants before voiced obstruents and a distinct treatment of long syllables ending in a sonorant.[17] Conservative features of Albanian include the retention of the distinction between active and middle voice, present and aorist tenses, distinguishing the three original series of dorsal consonants (i.e., palatals, velars, and labio-velars) before front vowels, and initial PIE *h4 as an h.[18]

Albanian is considered to have its closest linguistic affinity to and to have evolved from an extinct Paleo-Balkan language, usually taken to be either Illyrian or thracian. See also Thraco-Illyrian and Messapian language.

Linguistic influences

The period during which Proto-Albanian and Latin interacted was protracted and drawn out over six centuries, 1st c. AD to 6th or 7th c. AD. This is born out into roughly three layers of borrowings, the largest number belonging to the second layer. The first, with the fewest borrowings, was a time of less important interaction. The final period, probably preceding the Slavic or Germanic invasions, also has a notably smaller amount of borrowings. Each layer is characterized by a different treatment of most vowels, the first layer having several that follow the evolution of Early Proto-Albanian into Albanian; later layers reflect vowel changes endemic to Late Latin and presumably Proto-Romance. Other formative changes include the syncretism of several noun case endings, especially in the plural, as well as a large scale palatalization.

A brief period followed, between 7th c. AD and 9th c. AD, that was marked by heavy borrowings from Southern Slavic, some of which predate the "o-a" shift common to the modern forms of this language group. Starting in the latter 9th c. AD, a period followed characterized by protracted contact with the Proto-Romanians, or Vlachs, though lexical borrowing seems to have been mostly one sided - from Albanian into Romanian. Such borrowing indicates that the Romanians migrated from an area where the majority was Slavic (i.e. Middle Bulgarian) to an area with a majority of Albanian speakers, i.e. Dardania, where Vlachs are recorded in the 10th c. AD. Their movement is probably related to the expansion of the Bulgarian empire into Albania around that time. This fact places the Albanians at a rather early date in the western or central Balkans.

Latin element of the Albanian language

Regarding the Latin loanwords, the first one who noticed the earlier influence on the Albanian language was Jernej Kopitar (1829) who claimed that "the Latin loanwords in the Albanian language had the pronunciation of the time of Emperor Augustus".[19] This scholar presented cases like "qiqer" ← cicer, "qytet" ← civitas, "peshk" ← piscis, "shëngjetë" ← sagitta etc. where we can see a Latin c- (= /k-/) or /g-/ followed by a front vowel maintained in the Albanian language as a palatal or velar stop. This was confirmed later by Gustav Meyer (1888)[20] and Wilhelm Meyer-Lübke(1914)[21]. Another scholar interested in this problem was Eqrem Çabej, who dedicated a special work[22], where he noticed among other things the indices of the archaic Latin element in the Albanian language. Among them are:

a) Evolution au → a which is noticed in the oldest Latin element of the Albanian language like aurum → "ar", gaudium → "gas", laurus → "lar". This has not happened in later borrowings like causa → "kafshë", laud → "lavd".

b) Evolution o → e, just as in the inherited IE elements of the Albanian language (*nos → "ne", *+oct- → "tetë" etc.) which is noticed in the oldest Latin loanwords like pomum → "pemë", hora → "herë".

c) The drop of the syllable between two vowels (just like in the inherited IE element), e.g. cubitus → "kut", medicus → "mjek", padul → "pyll", while in latter Latin borrowings this is not noticed anymore: paganus → "i pëganë"/"i pëgërë", plaga → "plagë" etc.

d) Palatalization of /tj-/, /dj-/, /kj-/ into /s-/, /z-/, /q-/: vitius → "ves", ratio → "(a)rësye", radius → "rreze", facies → "faqe", socius → "shoq" etc.

Another author contributing in this area was Haralambie Mihăescu, who demonstrated that some 85 Latin words have survived in Albanian, but not in any Romance language (including Romanian). Some of them are "bujk" ← bubulcus, "mërrajë" ← hibernalia, "shelqëror" ← sarcinarius, "tërfurk" ← trifurcus, "qift" ← accipiter, "mushkonjë" ← +musconea, "kulshedër" ← chersydrus, "shpnetkë"/"shpretkë" ← +spleneticum, "shullг"/"shullë" ← solanum.[23]

In addition, he identified 151 other Albanian words of Latin origin which cannot be found in Romanian. Some of them are "mik" ← amicus, "anmik"/"armik" ← inimicus, "bekoj" ← benedicere, "qelq" ← calix (calicis), "kështjellë" ← castellum, "qind" ← centum, "gjel" ← gallus, "gjymtyrë" ← iunctЇra, "mjek" ← medicus, "rjetë" ← rete, "shërbej" ← servire, "shpërej" ← sperare, "vullnet" ← voluntas (voluntatis).[24]

He also noticed that even the earliest words of church terminology in Albanian language present such phonetic changes that testify their ancient borrowing from Latin. Some of them are "lter" ← altare, "engjëll" ← angelus, "bekoj" ← benedicere, "i krishtenë"/"i krishterë" ← christianus, "kryq" ← crux (crucis), "klishë"/"kishë" ← ecclesia, "ipeshkv" ← episcopus, "ungjill" ← evangelium, "mallkoj" ← maledicere, "meshë" ← missa, "munëg"/murg" ← monacus, "i pëganë"/"i pëgërë" ← paganus.[25]

Other authors[26] have shown that in contrast to Romanian, there are also other Latin loanwords in Albanian which show a very ancient sound pattern, from the 1st century B.C.: from (Latin) cingula → "qingëlë" (Alb); from (Latin) vetus, veteris → "vjetër" (Alb) etc. while the Romance languages have inherited these words from (Vulgar Latin) *cingla → "chinga" (N. Romanian) 'belly band, saddle girth', ; from (Vulgar Latin) veteran → "batrân" (N. Romanian) 'old' , etc.

Historical presence and location

While it is considered established that the Albanians originated in the Balkans, the exact location from which they spread out is hard to pinpoint. Traditionally scholars have seen the Albanians as descended from Illyrians, however, from time to time this view has been challenged, very frequently for modern nationalistic reasons[27]

The theory that Albanians were related to the Illyrians was proposed for the first time by a German historian in 1774.[28] The scholars who advocate an Illyrian origin are numerous.[12][29][30][31] There are two variants of the theory: one is that the Albanian language represents a survival of an indigenous Illyrian language spoken in what is now Albania.[32] The other is that the Albanian language is the descendant of an Illyrian language that was spoken north of the Jireček Line and probably north or northeast of Albania.[33]

The arguments for the Illyrian-Albanian connection have been as follows:[12][34]

  • The national name Albania is derived from Albanoi,[35][36][37] an Illyrian tribe mentioned by Ptolemy about 150 A.D.
  • From what we know from the old Balkan populations territories (Greeks, Illyrians, Thracians, Dacians), Albanian language is spoken in the same region where Illyrian was spoken in ancient times.[38]
  • There is no evidence of any major migration into Albanian territory since the records of Illyrian occupation.[39]
  • Many of what remain as attested words to Illyrian have an Albanian explanation and also a number of Illyrian lexical items (toponyms, hydronyms, oronyms, anthroponyms, etc.) have been linked to Albanian.[40]
  • Borrowed words (eg Gk (NW) "device, instrument" mākhaná > *mokër "millstone" Gk (NW) drápanon > *drapër "sickle" etc) from Greek language date back before the Christian era[39] and are mostly of Doric dialect of Greek language,[41] which means that the ancestors of the Albanians were in Northwestern part of Ancient Greek civilization and probably borrowed them from Greek cities (Dyrrachium, Apollonia, etc) in the Illyrian territory, colonies which belonged to the Doric division of Greek, or from the contacts in Epirus area.
  • Borrowed words from Latin (eg Latin aurum > ar "gold", gaudium > gaz "gas" etc[42]) date back before the Christian era,[43][34] while Illyrians in the today's Albanian territory were the first from the old Balkan populations to be conquered by Romans in 229 - 167 B.C., Thracians were conquered in 45 A.D. and Dacians in 106 A.D.
  • The ancient Illyrian place-names of the region have achieved their current form following Albanian phonetic rules e.g. Durrachion > Durrës (with the Albanian initial accent) Aulona > Vlonë~Vlorë (with rhotacism) Scodra > Shkodra etc.[34][39][41][44]
  • The characteristics of the Albanian dialects Tosk and Geg[45] in the treatment of the native and loanwords from other languages, have lead to the conclusion that the dialectal split preceded the Slavic migration to the Balkans[46][47] which means that in that period (5th to 6th century AD) Albanians were occupying pretty much the same area around Shkumbin river[48] which straddled the Jirecek line.[34][49]

However, archaeology has more convincingly pointed to the early Byzantine province of Praevitana (modern northern Albania) which shows an area where a primarily shepherding, transhumance population of Illyrians retained their culture. This area was based in the Mat district and the region of high mountains in Northern Albania, as well as in Dukagjin, Mirditë, and the mountains of Drin, from where the population would descend in the summer to the lowlands of western Albania, the Black Drin (Drin i zi) river valley, and into parts of Old Serbia. Indeed, the region's complete lack of Latin place names seems to imply little latinization of any kind and a more likely spot for the early medieval heart of Albanian territory, following the collapse of the Illyrian province.

Historical considerations

Indeed, the center of the Albanians remained the river Mat. In 1079 AD they are recorded in the territory of the Shkumbin river.[50]

Furthermore, the major Tosk-Gheg dialect division is based on the course of the Shkumbin River, a seasonal stream that lay near the old Via Egnatia. Since rhotacism postdates the dialect division, it is reasonable that the major dialect division occurred after the Christianization of the Roman Empire (4th c. AD) and before the eclipse of the East-West land-based trade route by Venetian seapower (10th c. AD).

References to the existence of Albanian as a distinct language survive from the 1300s, but without recording any specific words. The oldest surviving documents written in Albanian are the "Formula e Pagëzimit" (Baptismal formula), "Un'te paghesont' pr'emenit t'Atit e t'Birit e t'Spirit Senit." (I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit) recorded by Pal Engjelli, Bishop of Durrës in 1462 in the Gheg dialect, and some New Testament verses from that period.

The oldest known Albanian printed book, Meshari or missal, was written by Gjon Buzuku, a Roman Catholic cleric, in 1555. The first Albanian school is believed to have been opened by Franciscans in 1638 in Pdhanë. In 1635, Frang Bardhi wrote the first Latin-Albanian dictionary.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Gheg 4,156,090 + Tosk 3,035,000 + Arbereshe 260,000 + Arvanitika 150,000 = 7,601,090. (Ethnologue, 2005)
    Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International.
  2. ^ in Notes et éxtraits pour servir à l'histoire des croisades au XV-ème siècle (4-ème sèrie, 1453-1576, Bucharest, 1915, p. 194-198).
  3. ^ Dumitru Todericiu, An Albanian text older than the "Christening Formula" of 1462, in "Magazin Istoric", nr. 8, Bucharest, November 1967.
  4. ^ Dr. Robert Elsie, The Bellifortis text and early Albanian in "Zeitschrift für Balkanologie", Berlin, 22 February 1986, p. 158-162..
  5. ^ Watkins, Calvert. "Proto-Indo-European: Comparison and Reconstruction", in The Indo-European Languages, Anna Giacalone Ramat and Paolo Ramat, eds. London: Routledge, 1998.
  6. ^ [1] Mallory, J. P. and Adams, D. Q.: The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World
  7. ^ [2] Holm, Hans J.: The Distribution of Data in Word Lists and its Impact on the Subgrouping of Languages. In: Christine Preisach, Hans Burkhardt, Lars Schmidt-Thieme, Reinhold Decker (eds.): Data Analysis, Machine Learning, and Applications. Proc. of the 31st Annual Conference of the German Classification Society (GfKl), University of Freiburg, March 7-9, 2007. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg-Berlin
  8. ^ [3] A possible Homeland of the Indo-European Languages And their Migrations in the Light of the Separation Level Recovery (SLRD) Method - Hans J. Holm
  9. ^ Perfect Phylogenetic Networks: A New Methodology for Reconstructing the Evolutionary History of Natural Languages, pg. 396
  10. ^ Kretschmer, Paul. Sprachliche Vorgeschichte des Balkans, (Parahistoria gjuhësore e Ballkanit), Revue Internationale des e'tudes balkaniquee, vol. II (1935)
  11. ^ Weigand, Gustav. Sind die Albaner die Nachkommen der Illyrier oder der Thraker? BA III. (1927). derives it from Thracian, Georgiev, Vladimir. Albanisch, Dakisch - Mysisch und Rumanisch. BE 1960/2 derives it from Dacian
  12. ^ a b c Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture By J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams Edition: illustrated Published by Taylor & Francis, 1997 ISBN 1884964982, 9781884964985
  13. ^ Vladimir Orel (2000) links the word to an unattested Vulgar Latin *melettum, which must be a borrowing from NW Greek mélitta. There is no real reason to posit Vulgar Latin mediation. J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams (1997) have the word as a native development, from *melítiā, a form also considered to underlie Greek mélissa; however, this form gave Albanian mjalcë "bee", which is a native word and derivative of mjaltë "honey" (< Proto-Albanian *melita). In any case, the word does not appear to be native to Albanian.
  14. ^ The word fat has both the meaning of "fate, luck" and "groom, husband". This may indicate two separate words that are homophones, one derived from Gothic and the other from Latin fātum; although, Orel (2000) sees them as the same word. Similarly, compare Albanian shortë "fate; spouse, wife" which mirrors the dichotomy in meaning of fat but is considered to stem from one single source - Latin sortem "fate".
  15. ^ Calvert Watkins, "The Indo-European Linguistic Family: Genetic and Typological Perspectives", in Anna Giacalone Ramat and Paolo Ramat, eds., The Indo-European Languages (London: Routledge, 1998) 38.
  16. ^ William Labov, Principles of Linguistic Change, vol. 1: Internal Factors (Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1994) 42.
  17. ^ E.P. Hamp, "Albanian", in Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (Oxford, UK: Persamon Press, 1994) 66-7.
  18. ^ J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams, "Albanian", in Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture (London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997) 9.
  19. ^ Kopitar, B.J. Albanische, walachische und bulgarische Sprache. Wien 1829, (254)
  20. ^ Meyer, Gustav. Die lateinischen Elemente im Albanesischen. (In: Grцbers Grundriss, I; I.Auflage) (1888), (805)
  21. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm. Rumanisch, romanisch, albanesisch. (Mitteilungen des Romanischen Instituts an der Universitet Wien. I. Heilderberg 1914), (32)
  22. ^ Çabej, Eqrem. Karakteristikat e huazimeve latine të gjuhës shqipe. SF 1974/2 (In German RL 1962/1) (13-51)
  23. ^ Mihaescu, Haralambie. Les elements latins de la langue albanaise. RESEE 1966/1, 30
  24. ^ Mihaescu, Haralambie. Les elements latins de la langue albanaise. RESEE 1966/1, 21
  25. ^ Mihaescu, Haralambie. Les elements latins de la langue albanaise. RESEE 1966/1-2
  26. ^ A. Rosetti, Istoria limbii române, 1986, pp. 195-197
  27. ^ The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century By John Van Antwerp Fine Edition: reissue, illustrated Published by University of Michigan Press, 1991 ISBN 0472081497, 9780472081493 (page 10)
  28. ^ Thunmann, Johannes E. "Untersuchungen uber die Geschichte der Oslichen Europaischen Volger". Teil, Leipzig, 1774.
  29. ^ Indo-European language and culture: an introduction By Benjamin W. Fortson Edition: 5, illustrated Published by Wiley-Blackwell, 2004 ISBN 1405103167, 9781405103169
  30. ^ Stipčević, Alexander. Iliri (2nd edition). Zagreb, 1989 (also published in Italian as "Gli Illiri")
  31. ^ NGL Hammond The Relations of Illyrian Albania with the Greeks and the Romans. In Perspectives on Albania, edited by Tom Winnifrith, St. Martin’s Press, New York 1992
  32. ^ Thunman, Hahn, Kretschmer, Ribezzo, La Piana, Sufflay, Erdeljanovic and Stadtmuller referenced at Hamp see (The position of Albanian, E. Hamp 1963)
  33. ^ Jireček as referenced at Hamp see (The position of Albanian, E. Hamp 1963)
  34. ^ a b c d Demiraj, Shaban. Prejardhja e shqiptarëve në dritën e dëshmive të gjuhës shqipe.(Origin of Albanians through the testimonies of the Albanian language) Shkenca (Tirane) 1999
  35. ^ History of the Byzantine Empire, 324-1453 By Alexander A. Vasiliev Edition: 2, illustrated Published by Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1958 ISBN 0299809269, 9780299809263 (page 613)
  36. ^ History of the Balkans: Eighteenth and nineteenth centuries By Barbara Jelavich Edition: reprint, illustrated Published by Cambridge University Press, 1983 ISBN 0521274583, 9780521274586 (page 25)
  37. ^ The Indo-European languages By Anna Giacalone Ramat, Paolo Ramat Edition: illustrated Published by Taylor & Francis, 1998 ISBN 041506449X, 9780415064491 (page 481)
  38. ^ Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture By J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams Edition: illustrated Published by Taylor & Francis, 1997 ISBN 1884964982, 9781884964985 page 11
  39. ^ a b c Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture By J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams Edition: illustrated Published by Taylor & Francis, 1997 ISBN 1884964982, 9781884964985 page 11 link [4]
  40. ^ Çabej, E. "Die alteren Wohnsitze der Albaner auf der Balkanhalbinsel im Lichte der Sprache und der Ortsnamen," VII Congresso internaz. di sciense onomastiche, 1961 241-251; Albanian version BUShT 1962:1.219-227. "Problemi i autoktonisë së shqiptarëvet në dritën e emravet të vendeve," BUShT 1958:2.54-66. Also summarized in Bibliotheca Classica Orientalis (1960):5.20. See their summary at Hamp "Position of Albanian"
  41. ^ a b Çabej, E. "Die alteren Wohnsitze der Albaner auf der Balkanhalbinsel im Lichte der Sprache und der Ortsnamen," VII Congresso internaz. di sciense onomastiche, 1961 241-251; Albanian version BUShT 1962:1.219-227
  42. ^ Çabej, Eqrem. Karakteristikat e huazimeve latine të gjuhës shqipe.(The characteristics of Latin Loans in Albanian language) SF 1974/2 (In German RL 1962/1) (13-51)
  43. ^ Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture By J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams Edition: illustrated Published by Taylor & Francis, 1997 ISBN 1884964982, 9781884964985 (page 11) borrowed words from Greek and Latin date back to before Christian era see also (page 9) Even very common words such as mik"friend"(<Lat. amicus) or këndoj"sing (<Lat. cantare) come from Latin and attest to a widespread intermingling of pre-Albanian and Balkan Latin speakers during the Roman period, roughfly from the second century BC to the fifth century AD.
  44. ^ Cimochowski, W. "Des recherches sur la toponomastique de l’Albanie," Ling. Posn. 8.133-45 (1960). On Durrës
  45. ^ In Tosk /a/ before a nasal has become a central vowel (shwa), and intervocalic /n/ has become /r/. These two sound changes have affected only the pre-Slav stratum of the Albanian lexicon, that is the native words and loanwords from Greek and Latin (page 23) Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World By Keith Brown, Sarah Ogilvie Contributor Keith Brown, Sarah Ogilvie Edition: illustrated Published by Elsevier, 2008 ISBN 0080877745, 9780080877747
  46. ^ The dialectal split into Geg and Tosk happened sometime after the region become Christianized in the fourth century AD; Christian Latin loanwords show Tosk rhotacism, such as Tosk murgu"monk" (Geg mungu) from Lat. monachus. (page 392) Indo-European language and culture: an introduction By Benjamin W. Fortson Edition: 5, illustrated Published by Wiley-Blackwell, 2004 ISBN 1405103167, 9781405103169
  47. ^ The Greek and Latin loans have undergone most of the far-reaching phonological changes which have so altered the shape of inherited words while Slavic and Turkish words do not show those changes. Thus Albanian must have acquired much of its present form by the time Slavs entered into Balkans in the fifth and sixth centuries AD (page 9)Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture By J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams Edition: illustrated Published by Taylor & Francis, 1997 ISBN 1884964982, 9781884964985
  48. ^ The river Shkumbin in central Albania historically forms the boundary between those two dialects, with the population on the north speaking varieties of Geg and the population on the south varieties of Tosk. (page 23) Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World By Keith Brown, Sarah Ogilvie Contributor Keith Brown, Sarah Ogilvie Edition: illustrated Published by Elsevier,2008 ISBN 0080877745, 9780080877747
  49. ^ See also Hamp 1963 The isogloss is clear in all dialects I have studied, which embrace nearly all types possible. It must be relatively old, that is, dating back into the post-Roman first millennium. As a guess, it seems possible that this isogloss reflects a spread of the speech area, after the settlement of the Albanians in roughly their present location, so that the speech area straddled the Jireček Line.
  50. ^ Kazhdan, Alexander (Ed.) (1991). Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford University Press. pp. 52–53. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.

Bibliography

  • General Surveys
    • "Albanian language", in Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th edn. (1985).
    • Campbell, George L., ed. Compendium of the World’s Languages, 2nd edn., vol. 1: Abaza to Kurdish, s.v. “Albanian”. London and New York: Routledge, 2000, pp. 50–7.
    • Hamp, E. P. “Albanian”, in Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, edited by R. E. Asher, vol. 1. Oxford: Pergamon, 1994, pp. 65–7.
    • Price, Glanville, ed. Encyclopedia of the Languages of Europe, s.v. “Albanian”. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998, pp. 4–8.
  • Historical
    • Demiraj, Shaban. "Albanian", in The Indo-European Languages, Anna Giacalone Ramat and Paolo Ramat, eds. London: Routledge, 1998.
    • Fortson IV, Benjamin W. "Albanian", in Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction. London: Blackwell, 2004.
    • Huld, Martin E. Basic Albanian Etymologies. Columbus, OH: Slavica Publishers, 1984.
    • Mallory, J.P. and D.Q. Adams. "Albanian", in Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.
    • Orel, Vladimir. A Concise Historical Grammar of the Albanian Language: Reconstruction of Proto-Albanian. Leiden: Brill, 2000.
    • Watkins, Calvert. "Proto-Indo-European: Comparison and Reconstruction", in The Indo-European Languages, Anna Giacalone Ramat and Paolo Ramat, eds. London: Routledge, 1998.
  • Grammar
    • Camaj, Martin. Albanian Grammar. Wiesbaden, Germany: Otto Harrassowitz.
    • Newmark, Leonard et al. Standard Albanian: A Reference Grammar for Students. Standford: Stanford University Press, 1982.
  • Other
    • Gjinari, Jorgji. Dialektologjia shqiptare. Prishtinë: Universiteti, 1970.
    • Xhelal Ylli, Andrej N. Sobolev, Albanskii toskskii govor sela Leshnja. Muenchen: Biblion Verlag, 2002. ISBN 3-932331-29-X
    • Xhelal Ylli, Andrej N. Sobolev, Albanskii gegskii govor sela Muhurr. Muenchen: Biblion Verlag, 2003. ISBN 3-932331-36-2
Albanian edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
French wiktionary has a page about a term in this article:
Samples of various Albanian dialects
Dictionaries
Keyboard layouts
  • Prektora 1 ISO-8859-1 standardized layout for Windows XP (Albanian language)
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