Albanian language

Albanian (gjuha shqipe IPA ) is a language spoken by over 6 million people, primarily in Albania, Kosovo, Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, and the Republic of Macedonia but also in other parts of the Balkans, along the eastern coast of Italy and in Sicily, as well as by emigrant groups in Scandinavia, Germany, Greece, Italy, the UK, Egypt, Turkey, and the USA. The language forms its own distinct branch of the Indo-European language family.

Classification

Albanian was proved to be an Indo-European language in 1854 by the German philologist Franz Bopp. The Albanian language is its own independent branch of the Indo-European language family with no living close relatives. There is no scholarly consensus over its origin. Some scholars maintain that it derives from the Illyrian language, and others claim that it derives from Daco-Thracian (Illyrian and Daco-Thracian however might have been closely related languages; see Thraco-Illyrian). This question is often loaded with political implications, but linguistically, the problem is very open; a recent linguist has even stated that Illyrian and Thracian may have been as close as Czech to Slovak (Paliga, 2002).

How Albanian compares with other languages

Albanian	muaj	i ri	nënë	motër	natë	hundë	tre	i zi / e zezë	i kuq	i verdhë	i blertë / i gjelbër	ujk
Other Indo-European languages
English	month	new	mother	sister	night	nose	three	black	red	yellow	green	wolf
Latin	mēnsis	novus	māter	soror	nox	nasus	trēs	āter, niger	ruber	flāvus, gilvus	viridis	lupus
Italian	mese	nuovo	madre	sorella	notte	naso	tre	nero	rosso	giallo	verde	lupo
German	Monat	neu	Mutter	Schwester	Nacht	Nase	drei	schwarz	rot	gelb	grün	Wolf
Portuguese	mês	novo	mãe	irmã	noite	nariz	três	negro	vermelho	amarelo	verde	lobo
Spanish	mes	nuevo	madre	hermana	noche	nariz	tres	negro	rojo	amarillo	verde	lobo
Romanian	luna	nou/noi	mamă	soră	noapte	nas	trei	negru	roşu	galben	verde	lup
Welsh	mis	newydd	mam	chwaer	nos	trwyn	tri	du (/di/)	coch, rhudd	melyn	gwyrdd, glas	blaidd
Polish	miesiąc	nowy	matka	siostra	noc	nos	trzy	czarny	czerwony	żółty	zielony	wilk
Lithuanian	mėnuo	naujas	motina	sesuo	naktis	nosis	trys	juoda	raudona	geltona	žalias	vilkas
Bulgarian	месец mesets	нов nov	майка maika	сестра sestra	нощ nosht	нос nos	три tri	черен cheren	червен cherven	жълт zhălt	зелен zelen	вълк vălk

Note: Aside from kuq, verdhë, and gjelbër, these Albanian words are directly inherited from Proto-Indo-European. Albanian motër is cognate with the Indo-European root for "mother", unique in having the meaning shift to "sister".

Note: The Albanian words for "yellow" and "green" are very similar to the Romanian and Italian for "green" and "yellow", and several of the other languages show similarities with one of the two words (for example, German gelb, but not grün). Does this show a similarity with Latin or with other languages of the Balkans such as Dacian? The inversion must have occurred when "green" and "yellow" were not considered distinct colours much as we consider both "turquoise" (cyan) and "indigo" (primary blue) to be "blue", with the result that the Albanian words for "green" and "yellow" appear switched relative to the other languages. Note also Albanian words for "red" and "green" show similarities to the Welsh words, both borrowed from Latin coccum "scarlet" and viridis "green".

Geographic distribution

Albanian is spoken by about 6 million people mainly in Albania and Kosovo but also in many other countries, including the Republic of Macedonia, Belgium, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Italy, Sweden, Turkey (Europe), Ukraine, the UK and USA.

Official status

Albanian in a revised form of the Tosk dialect is the official language of the Republic of Albania. Albanian is also one of the official languages of Kosovo, Montenegro, and the Republic of Macedonia

Dialects

Albania has hundreds of dialects. However, the dialects can be divided into two main dialects, Gheg and Tosk. The Shkumbin river is roughly the dividing line, north of the Shkumbin is where Gheg is spoken and south of the Shkubin is where Tosk is spoken. The Gheg literary language has been documented since 1555, but sources say that it existed as a written language since at least 1332. Until the communists took power in Albania, the standard was based on Gheg. Although the literary versions of Tosk and Gheg are mutually intelligible, many of the regional dialects are not.

Tosk is divided into many dialects. The main groups are Northern Tosk (Berat, Pojan, Vlorë) and Labërisht Labëria. In Greece, the Çam and the Arvanites speak different Tosk dialects with the dialect of the Arvanites only partially intelligible with other Tosk dialects. The Tosk dialects are spoken by most members of the large Albanian immigrant communities of Ukraine, Turkey, Egypt, and the United States. Tosk dialects called Arbërísht are spoken by the Arbëreshë, descendants of 15th and 16th century immigrants in southeastern Italy, in small communities in the provinces of Sicily, Calabria, Basilicata, Campania, Molise, Abruzzi, and Puglia.

Gheg (or Geg) is spoken in Northern Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, and in parts of Montenegro. Each area of northern Albania has its own dialect and can be divided into dialect groups: Tirana, Durrës, Elbasan and Kavaja; Kruja and Laci; Mati, Dibra and Mirdita; Lezha, Shkodra, Kraja, Ulqinj; etc. Malësia e Madhe, Rugova, and villages scattered alongside the Adriatic Coast form the northmost dialect of Albania today although, Albanian was formerly spoken in Dalmatia until recently. There are many other dialects in the region of Kosovo and in parts of southern Montenegro, and in Macedonia. The dialects of Malsia e Madhe and Dukagjini near Shkodra are being lost because the younger generations prefer to speak the dialect of Shkodra.

Gheg and Tosk differ mainly by:

rhotacism - Gheg has n where Tosk has r
late Proto-Albanian â + tautosyllabic nasal > Geg low-central or low-back vowel; > Tosk mid-central, or low-front-to-central vowel
Proto-Albanian ô > uo > Gheg vo, Tosk va
infinitival use of verbal adjective preceded in Gheg by me and in Tosk by për të
difference in lexemes, noun plurals, suppletion of the aorist system of the verb

Subdialects may vary based on:

retention or loss of final schwa (-ë)
devoicing of final voiced segments
treatment of intervocalic and final nj
treatment of clusters of nasal + voiced stop
development of anaptyctic homorganic stops after nasals that follow a stressed vowel and precede unstressed -ël or -ër
treatment of vowel clusters ie, ye, and ua
treatment of stressed /e/ before a nasal

Notable lexicological differences between Tosk and Gheg

Standard form	Tosk form	Gheg form	Translation
Shqipëri	Shqipëri	Shqypni	Albania
një	një	nji	one
nëntë	nëntë	nândë	nine
është	është	âsht/isht	is
bëj	bëj	bâj	do
emër	emër	êmën	name
pjekuri	pjekuri	pjekuni	maturity
gjendje	gjëndje	gjêndje	situation
zog	zok	zog	bird
mbret	mbret	mret	king
për të punuar	për të punuar	me punue	to work
rërë	rërë	rânë	sand
qenë	qënë	kjenë/kânë	been (part.)
dëllinjë	enjë	bërshê	juniper
baltë	lum	baltë	mud
cimbidh	mashë	danë	tongs

( ˆ ) denotes nasal vowels, which are a common feature of Gheg.

Sounds

Albanian has 7 vowels and 29 consonants. Gheg has a set of 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.

Consonants

	bilabial	labio- dental	dental	alveolar	post- alveolar	palatal	velar	glottal
plosive
nasal
trill
flap
fricative
affricate
approximant
lateral approximant

Description	Written as	Pronounced as in
Voiceless bilabial plosive	p	en
Voiced bilabial plosive	b	at
Voiceless alveolar plosive	t	an
Voiced alveolar plosive	d	ebt
Voiceless palatal plosive	q	similar to ge ou
Voiced palatal plosive	gj	similar to ha ou
Voiceless velar plosive	k	ar
Voiced velar plosive	g	o
Voiceless alveolar affricate	c	ha
Voiced alveolar affricate	x	goo
Voiceless postalveolar affricate	ç	op
Voiced postalveolar affricate	xh	et
Voiceless dental fricative	th	in
Voiced dental fricative	dh	is
Voiceless labiodental fricative	f	ar
Voiced labiodental fricative	v	an
Voiceless alveolar fricative	s	on
Voiced alveolar fricative	z	ip
Voiceless postalveolar fricative	sh	ow
Voiced postalveolar fricative	zh	viion
Voiceless glottal fricative	h	at
Bilabial nasal	m	an
Alveolar nasal	n	ot
Palatal nasal	nj	Spanish seor
Alveolar lateral approximant	l	ean
Palatal approximant	j	es
Velarized alveolar lateral approximant	ll	ba
Alveolar trill	rr	Spanish hieo
Alveolar tap	r	Spanish ao

Notes:

The affricates are pronounced as one sound (a stop and a fricative at the same point).
The palatal stops q and gj are completely unknown to English, so the pronunciation guide is approximate. Palatal stops can be found in other European languages, for example, in Hungarian (where these sounds are spelt ty and gy respectively).
The palatal nasal nj 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 any of the two sounds phonemically (but tt in butter is pronounced as a flap r in most American dialects).
(1) The letter ç can be spelt ch on American English keyboards, both due to its English sound, but more importantly, due to analogy with Albanian xh, sh, zh. (Usually, however, it's spelt simply c, which may cause confusion; however, meanings are usually understood).

Vowels

Description	Written as	Pronounced as in
Close front unrounded vowel	i	bd
Open-mid front unrounded vowel	e	bd
Open front unrounded vowel	a	Spanish csa
Schwa	ë	lone
Open-mid back rounded vowel	o	fr
Close front rounded vowel	y	French t, German ber
Close back rounded vowel	u	dm

Grammar

Albanian nouns are inflected by gender (masculine, feminine and neuter) and number (singular and plural). There are 4 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):

	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	maleve/malesh	malit	maleve

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	vajzave/vajzash	vajzës	vajzave

The article can be posited either before or 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 -u:
  - 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 doesn't speak English";
s'e di "I don't know".

In imperative sentences, the particle mos is used:

mos harro "do not forget!".

Vocabulary

There are Albanian words which have cognates (of non-Latin origin) in Romanian and there is a theory that the language spoken by the Dacians before the Romanization was a language related to proto-Albanian.

Although there's no documentation on the Albanian language prior to the 15th century AD, it is widely 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, especially Bulgarian. The rise of the Ottoman Empire meant an influx of Turkish words; this also entailed the borrowing of Persian and Arabic words through Turkish. Some loanwords from Modern Greek also exist especially in the south of Albania. Also due to the large population of Roma Gypsies in Albania words such as "jaan" or "xhan" in Albanian and Hindi mean the same thing which literally translates as "my life" or "my soul" but is also used to refer to a beloved one as "darling"

Writing system

Full article: Albanian alphabet

Albanian has been written with many different alphabets since the 15th century. Originally, the Tosk dialect was written with the Greek alphabet and the Gheg dialect was written with the Latin alphabet. They have both also been written with the Ottoman Turkish version of the Arabic alphabet, the Cyrillic alphabet, and some local alphabets.

The modern Albanian alphabet was standardised in 1909, and is based on the Latin alphabet, with the addition of the letters ë, ç, and nine digraphs.

History

The Albanian language has been variously attached to Illyrian, Thracian, and Messapian. Only the latter, to a small extent, has left any evidence that may in any way liken it to Albanian. Consider the Messapic words bilia (Alb bijë "daughter"), brendon "deer" (Alb bri, brî "horn", pl. brirë, brinë), hazavathi 'he pours out' (Alb deh "to make drunk"), klaohi 'listen!' (Alb quaj, quej "to call, give a name"), kos (Alb kush "who"), veinan (Alb vehte "self"), venas (Alb uri, û "hunger"), etc. Messapian settlements are known to have existed along the Adriatic in both Italy and Illyria. Indeed, Messapian has left several words in Italian or in neighboring Italo-Roman languages, including manzo "ox" (cf. Alb mëz, mâz "poney"), northern bagola, bagula (cf. Alb bajgë "dung"), dialectal musso "ass" (cf. Alb mushk "mule").

Even the name Albanian is of some dispute. Appearing in the 9th c. in Greek as the Arvanoi, and thereafter under similar names, including obsolete Albanian arbër or arbën, it had been presumed to stem from Vulgar Latin Albanus, from the southern Illyrian tribal name Albanoí. However, others like Orel attach it instead to a slight corruption of Labëri "Laberia", from South Slavic labanĭja, from olbanĭja. The name Tosk, Alb toskë, was borrowed from Venetian tosko "Tuscan".

The trouble of a homeland for the Albanians becomes all the more problematic. Despite Albanian nationalist claims to the contrary, the Albanians almost certainly came from farther north and inland than would suggest the present borders of Albania. First, Albanian has few early Greek borrowings, and the very word for Greek, gërk, was borrowed from South Slavic; cf. Bulg. grŭk, Serb-Croat gr"k. Similarly, the Illyrian coast is not a likely source since Albanian has no inherited nautical or indigenous sea-faring terminology, and has instead supplemented this absence with subsequent borrowing from Latin or Greek or recent metaphorical lexical creations. Also, Albanian is believed to be the source for a number of grammatical and lexical similarities shared by otherwise dissimilar languages including Romanian, Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian, and to some extent Greek. Also, there is a lack of Proto-Albanian place names in Illyria. Likewise, the word shqa, from Lat Sclavus "Slav" refers only to Bulgarians.

Instead, given the overwhelming amount of shepherding and mountaineering vocabulary as well as the extensive influence of Latin, it is more likely the Albanians come from north of the Jireček line, on the Latin-speaking side, perhaps from the late Roman province of Dardania from the western Balkans. The Northern Albanian Alps are referred to as Bjeshkët e Namena, and this region's name is believed by some to come from Proto-Albanian beškai tâi, giving Alb bjeshkë "mountain", borrowed ultimately from Vulgar Latin pastica "pasture".

Yet, one area in the late Roman province of Praevitana (modern northern Albania) seems to show 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 origin of Albanian.

The period in 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 or middle 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 indemic 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 the largescale palatalization.

After this period followed a period, 7th c. AD to 9th c. AD, in which Slavic borrowings were most common, some of which predate the o-a shift in Southern Slavic, though evidently not as much as Rumanian had made. Following this period was a stage of protracted contact with the Proto-Rumanians, though the borrowing seems to have been mostly one sided - from Albanian into Rumanian. This indicates the Rumanians interacted longer with the Slavs and then moved into an area with a majority of Albanian speakers, since presumably this would explain the one-way borrowing. This places the Albanians in the Western or Central Balkans, probably in the center and the Rumanians further to the East, close perhaps to the Bulgarians. Indeed, the best match for the Slavic cognates borrowed into Rumanian is Middle Bulgarian.

Combined with archaeology and history, it seems likely that the core of Albanian territory lay in a quadrilateral with vertices at Bar, Prizren, Ohrid, and Vlorë during the Middle Ages. Indeed, the center of the Albanians remained the river Mat, and in 1079 AD they are recorded in the territory between Ohrid and Thessalonika as well as in Epirus; Albanian place names from a large portion of Macedonia and parts of Serbia indicate former Albanian territories.

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).

The oldest surviving document written in Albanian is "Formula e Pagëzimit" (Baptismal formula), written 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 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.

References

Encyclopædia Britannica, edition 15 (1985). Article: Albanian language
Huld, Martin E. Basic Albanian Etymologies. Columbus, OH: Slavica Publishers, 1984.
Martin Camaj, Albanian Grammar, Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden
Orel, Vladimir. A Concise Historical Grammar of the Albanian Language: Reconstruction of Proto-Albanian. Leiden: Brill, 2000.

External links

Samples of various Albanian dialects:

Dictionaries:

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