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Albanian (Gjuha shqipe pronounced [ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ]) is an Indo-European language spoken by nearly 9 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo, but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including the west of Macedonia, Montenegro, and southern Serbia. Albanian is also spoken by communities in Greece, along the eastern coast of southern Italy, and on the island of 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, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Low Countries, Australia, Turkey and the United States.
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Albanian was proven to be an Indo-European language in 1854 by the German philologist Franz Bopp. The Albanian language comprises its own branch of the Indo-European language family, next related Jokl, Norbert, 1963 (posthumous): Die Verwandtschaftsverhältnise des Albanischen zu den übrigen indogermanischen Sprachen. In: Die Sprache 9:113-56. to Armenian and Greek.
Some scholars believe that Albanian derives from IllyrianOf the Albanian Language - William Martin Leake, London, 1814.ANCIENT ALBANIA INHABITED BY ILLYRIANS-Chapter 36 : Turmoil In The Balkans - Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and Greece Part Three - Albaniawhile others,The Thracian language. The Linguist List. Retrieved on 2008-01-27. “An ancient language of Southern Balkans, belonging to the Satem group of Indo-European. This language is the most likely ancestor of modern Albanian (which is also a Satem language), though the evidence is scanty. 1st Millennium BC - 500 AD.” claim that it derives from Daco-Thracian. (Illyrian and Daco-Thracian, however, may have formed a sprachbund, see Thraco-Illyrian.)
Establishing longer relations, Albanian is often compared to Balto-Slavic on the one hand and Germanic on the other, 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.
| Albanian | muaj | i ri / e re | nënë | motër | natë | hundë | tre | i zi /e zezë | i kuq / e kuqe | i/e verdhë | i/e gjelbër | ujk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other Indo-European languages | ||||||||||||
| Sanskrit | māsa | nava | mātṛ | svasṛ | nakti | nasa | tri | kāla | rudhira | pīta | hari | vṛka |
| Persian | māh | no | mādar | xâhar | shab | damāg | se | siā | sorkh | zard | sabz | gorg |
| 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 |
| Romanian | luna | nou/noi | mamă | soră | noapte | nas | trei | negru | roşu | galben | verde | lup |
| Irish | mí | nua | máthair | deirfiúr | oiche | srón | trí | dubh | dearg | buí | glas, uaine | mac tíre, faolchú |
| Welsh | mis | newydd | mam | chwaer | nos | trwyn | tri | du (/di/) | coch, rhudd | melyn | gwyrdd, glas | blaidd |
| Latvian | mēnesis | jauns | māte | māsa | nakts | deguns | trīs | melns | sarkans | dzeltens | zaļš | vilks |
| Ancient Greek | μήν mēn | νέος néos | μήτηρ mētēr | αδελφή adelphē | νύξ núx | ῥίς rhís | τρεῖς treĩs | μέλας mélas | ἐρυθρός eruthrós | ξανθός xanthós | χλωρός khlōrós | λύκος lúkos |
| Bulgarian | месец mesec | нов nov | майка majka | сестра sestra | нощ nošt | нос nos | три tri | черен čeren | червен červen | жълт žălt | зелен zelen | вълк vălk |
| Serbo-Croatian | mjesec месец | nov нов | majka мајка | sestra сестра | noć ноћ | nos нос | tri три | crn црн | crven црвен | žut жут | zelen зелен | vuk вук |
| Lithuanian | mėnesis/mėnuo | naujas | mama | sesuo/sesė | naktis | nosis | trys | juoda | raudona | geltona | žalia | vilkas |
|
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Albanian is spoken by nearly 6 million people mainly in Albania, Kosovo, Italy, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Greece, Turkey, and by immigrant communities in many countries such as Belgium, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Italy, Sweden, Turkey (Europe), Russia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Canada, United States, Switzerland and Australia.
Albanian in a revised form of the Tosk dialect is the official language of the Republic of Albania and the Republic of Kosovo. and is official in the municipalities where there are more than 20% ethnic Albanian inhabitants in the Republic of Macedonia. And it is also an official language of the Republic of Montenegro were it is spoken in the municipalities with ethnic Albanian Populations.
Albanian can be divided into two main dialects, Gheg and Tosk.
The Shkumbin river is roughly the dividing line, with Gheg spoken north of the Shkumbin and Tosk south of it. The Gheg literary language has been documented since 1462. 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 sub-dialects. The main groups are Northern Tosk (Berat, Pojan, Vlorë, Struga) and Labërisht (Labëria). In Greece, the Çam and the Arvanites speak different Tosk sub-dialects. The sub-dialect of the Arvanites is only partially intelligible with other Tosk sub-dialects, such that it can be regarded as a separate language, Arvanitika. A distinct Tosk sub-dialect has been preserved in the Albanian-founded village of Mandritsa in southern Bulgaria. Tosk sub-dialects related to Arvanitika and called Arbërisht are spoken by the Arbëreshë, descendants of 15th and 16th century immigrants in southeastern Italy, in small communities in the regions of Sicily, Calabria, Basilicata, Campania, Molise, Abruzzi, and Puglia. Tosk sub-dialects are spoken by most members of the large Albanian immigrant communities of Ukraine, Turkey, Egypt, and the United States.
Gheg is spoken in Northern Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, and in parts of Montenegro. Each area of Northern Albania has its own sub-dialect: Tiranë, Durrës, Elbasan and Kavaja; Kruja and Laçi; Mati, Dibra and Mirdita; Lezhë, Shkodër, Krajë, Ulqin; etc. Malësia e Madhe, Rugova, and villages scattered alongside the Adriatic Coast form the northmost sub-dialect of Albania today. There are many other sub-dialects in the region of Kosovo and in parts of southern Montenegro, and in Republic of Macedonia. The sub-dialects of Malsia e Madhe and Dukagjini near Shkodra are being lost because the younger generations prefer to speak the sub-dialect of Shkodra.[citation needed]
Gheg and Tosk differ mainly by:
Subdialects may vary based on:
| Standard form | Tosk form | Gheg form | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shqipëri | Shqipëri | Shqypni | Albania |
| një | një | nji / njâ | a/one |
| nëntë | nëntë | nândë | nine |
| është | është | âsht / â | 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 | kênë / kânë | been (part.) |
| dëllinjë | enjë | bërshê | juniper |
| baltë | llum | bâltë / lloç | mud |
| cimbidh | mashë | danë | tongs |
( ˆ ) denotes nasal vowels, which are a common feature of Gheg.
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.
| 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 |
Notes:
| IPA | Description | Written as | Pronounced as in |
|---|---|---|---|
| i | Close front unrounded vowel | i | bead |
| ɛ | Open-mid front unrounded vowel | e | bed |
| a | Open front unrounded vowel | a | Spanish casa |
| ə | Schwa | ë | about |
| ɔ | Open-mid back rounded vowel | o | four |
| y | Close front rounded vowel | y | French tu, German über |
| u | Close back rounded vowel | u | boot |
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 definite article is placed after the noun as in many other Balkan languages, for example Romanian and Bulgarian.
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:
In imperative sentences, the particle mos is used:
However, with verbs in the non-active form (forma joveprore), the verb is often in sentence-initial position:
Early Albanian words borrowed from Greek are mainly commodity items and trade goods, gained through direct contact with the Greeks.
The earliest accepted documentation 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, 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. Surprisingly the Persian 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.
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.
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 shift of PIE *ā to *ō in a supposed "northern group",Comrie, Bernard. "The Indo-European Linguistic Family: Genetic and Typological Perspectives". The Indo-European Languages. ed. Anna Giacalone Ramat and Paolo Ramat. (London: Routledge) 1998. 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.Labov, William. Principles of Linguistic Change, vol. 1: Internal Factors (Oxford, UK: Blackwell) 1994. Admittedly, 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.Hamp, E.P. "Albanian". Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. (Oxford, UK: Persamon Press) 1994: 66-7. However, Albanian is best known for its singular conservatism, having retained the distinction between active and middle voice, present and aorist, three series of tectal consonants before front vowels (e.g., palatals, velars, and labio-velars), and initial PIE *h4 as an h.Mallory, J.P. and D.Q. Adams. "Albanian". Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. (London: Fitzroy Dearborn) 1997: 9.
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 Dacian or Thracian. See also Thraco-Illyrian and Messapian language.
Even the name Albanian is of some dispute. It appears at the first time in the 2nd c. AD in Late Greek as Albanoí (later Byz Gk Arbanitai) and thereafter in similar forms, including obsolete Albanian Arbër/Arbën; however, these last two stem directly from Vulgar Latin *Albanus, most likely borrowed from Greek Albanoí; the adjective too, arbëresh/arbënesh, are derived from Latin albanensis. This same name appears in Slavic and was used to name the town of Labëri "Laberia", from South Slavic labanĭja, from earlier *olbanĭja.
While it is considered established that the Albanians originated in the Balkans, the exact location from which they spread out is hard to pinpoint. Despite varied claims, the Albanians almost certainly came from slightly farther north (Kosovo) and inland (Northwest Macedonia) than would suggest the present borders of Albania, with a homeland concentrated in the mountains. The purely linguistic reasons are listed below.
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 in part from the late Roman province of Dardania from the western Balkans. 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.
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.
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.
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 Durres 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.
Albanian language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Albanian language edition of Wiktionary, the free dictionary/thesaurus
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