Albanian language

Albanian
Shqip
Pronunciation	[ʃcip]
Spoken in
Total speakers	7.6 million[1]
Language family	Indo-European Albanian
Writing system	Latin alphabet (Albanian variant)
Official status
Official language in	Albania  Kosovo  Macedonia  Montenegro and recognised as a minority language in:  Italy  Serbia  Romania
Regulated by	officially by the Social Sciences and Albanological Section of the Academy of Sciences of Albania
Language codes
ISO 639-1	sq
ISO 639-2	alb (B)	sqi (T)
ISO 639-3	variously: sqi – Albanian (generic) aln – Gheg aae – Arbëreshë aat – Arvanitika als – Tosk
Linguasphere
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Albanian (Gjuha shqipe, pronounced [ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ], or shqip [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, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece. Albanian is also spoken by native enclaves in southern 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, Brazil, Canada and the United States.

Contents 1 Literary tradition 1.1 Earliest undisputed texts 1.2 Disputed earlier text 1.3 Ottoman period 2 Standard Albanian 3 Classification 3.1 Origin 3.2 (Old) Albanian 3.3 Proto-IE features 3.4 Albanian-PIE phonological correspondences 4 Geographic distribution 4.1 Standard 5 Dialects 6 Sounds 6.1 Phonetics and Phonology 6.2 Vowels 7 Grammar 7.1 Numerals 8 Vocabulary 8.1 Cognates with Illyrian 8.2 Early Greek loans 8.3 Gothic loans 9 Script 10 History 10.1 Linguistic affinities 10.2 Linguistic influences 10.3 Latin element of the Albanian language 10.4 Historical presence and location 10.5 Historical considerations 11 See also 12 References 13 Bibliography 14 External links

Literary tradition

Earliest undisputed texts

The first record in written Albanian is the "Formula e pagëzimit" (English: baptesimal formula), which dates back to 1462 and was authored by Pal Engjëlli (or Paulus Angelus) (ca. 1417–1470), Archbishop of Durrës. Engjëlli was a close friend and counselor of Skanderbeg.^[2][3] It was written in a pastoral letter for a synod 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 Romanian scholar, Nicolae Iorga.^[4][5]

The second record in written Albanian is the Fjalori i Arnold von Harfit (English: Arnold Ritter von Harff vocabulary), which dates 1469.

The third record in written Albanian language but in Greek letters, is a song recorded on a piece of paper: the piece of paper was retrieved within an old Codex written in Greek: the document is also called in Albanian: Perikopeja e Ungjillit të Pashkëve or e Ungjillit të Shën Mateut (English: The song of the Easter Gospel or The song of the Saint Matthew's Gospel). Although the codex is dated 14th century, the song, written in Albanian by an anonymous writer, seems to be a 16th century writing. The document was found by Arbëreshë people who had emigrated in Italy in the 15th century.^[6]

The first book in Albanian is the Meshari (English: The Missal), written by Gjon Buzuku between 20 March 1554 to 5 January 1555. 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 those in the Gheg texts 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 precious source for lexicographers and historical linguists. The archaic text is easily readable 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. The book 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. In 1930, the book was photocopied for the first time by Father Justin Rrota, who brought a copy to Albania.^[7] In 1968 the book was published with transliterations and comments by linguists.

Disputed earlier text

In 1967 Dumitru Todericiu, a Romanian scholar, studied microfilms of the Bellifortis text, preserved as manuscript 663 at the Musée Condé in the Château de Chantilly 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 textual insertion in a strange language. Until then, scholars had considered the insertion to be 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^[8]:

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 prove[n] conclusively, it would be the oldest datable text in that language".^[9]

Ottoman period

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

In particular, Andrea Bogdani has become known for writing the first Latin-Albanian grammar book.^[10]

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History
Origins · History

Standard Albanian

Standard Albanian is a revised form of the Tosk dialect.

The history of Standard Albanian is intrinsically connected to the dictionaries of the Albanian language that have been drafted over time, since the draft of a dictionary has at its basis the choice over script of words and their orthography.^[11] In 1904 in Athens, Greece, a very important work of Kostandin Kristoforidhi, Lexikon tis Alvanikis glossis (Albanian: Fjalori i Gjuhës Shqipe or English: Dictionary of the Albanian Language), was published.^[11] The dictionary was in Greek script and was followed in 1908 by another dictionary, called Fjalori i Bashkimit written this time in Latin letters (English: The Bashkimi Dictionary).^[11] Another important dictionary was that of 1941 from N. Gazulli.^[12]

After World War II the Institute of Albanian Language and Literature of the Academy of Sciences of Albania dedicated considerable importance to the unification of the two dialects (Gheg and Tosk) into a standardized version of the Albanian language through endeavors in lexicography and orthographical ruling.^[13] The publication of two important dictionaries, both in 1954, an Albanian language dictionary and a Russian-Albanian dictionary, projected the need of a project on orthography rules in the Albanian language.^[13] These rules were eventually published in 1967.^[13]

In 1973 the publication in Tirana and Pristina of a book of orthographical rules, Drejtshkrimi i gjuhës shqipe,^[14] (English: Orthography of the Albanian Language) created a considerable degree of phonological normalization as well as spelling reform. The book was followed by a widely distributed authoritative dictionary in 1976 Fjalori drejtshkrimor i gjuhës shqipe^[15] (English: Orthographic Dictionary of the Albanian Language).

In 1980 the linguists' lexicographical work toward a standardized Albanian language was culminated by the publication of the Dictionary of Today's Albanian language (Albanian: Fjalori i sotëm i gjuhës shqipe).^[13][16]

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.^[17]

Establishing longer relations, Albanian is often compared with Balto-Slavic and Germanic,^[18] 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.^[19][20][21]

Nakhleh, Ringe, and Warnow argued 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.^[22]

Origin

Albanian is often seen as the descendant of Illyrian,^[23] although this hypothesis has been challenged by some linguists, who maintain that it derives from Dacian or Thracian.^[24] (Illyrian, Dacian, and Thracian, however, may have formed a subgroup or a sprachbund; see Thraco-Illyrian.). Given our poor knowledge of these hypthesized ancestors, all this remains sheer speculation.

(Old) Albanian

According to the central hypothesis of a project undertaken by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, Old Albanian had a significant influence on the development of many Balkan languages. Intensive research now aims to confirm this theory. This little-known language is being researched using all available texts before a comparison with other Balkan languages is carried out. The outcome of this work will include the compilation of a lexicon providing an overview of all Old Albanian verbs. As project leader Dr. Schumacher explains, the research is already bearing fruit: "So far, our work has shown that Old Albanian contained numerous modal levels that allowed the speaker to express a particular stance to what was being said. Compared to the existing knowledge and literature, these modal levels are actually more extensive and more nuanced than previously thought. We have also discovered a great many verbal forms that are now obsolete or have been lost through restructuring - until now, these forms have barely even been recognized or, at best, have been classified incorrectly." These verbal forms are crucial to explaining the linguistic history of Albanian and its internal usage. However, they can also shed light on the reciprocal relationship between Albanian and its neighbouring languages. The researchers are following various leads which suggest that Albanian played a key role in the Balkan Sprachbund. For example, it is likely that Albanian is the source of the suffixed definite article in Romanian, Bulgarian and Macedonian, as this has been a feature of Albanian since ancient times.^[25]

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 mḗn	νέος néos	μήτηρ mḗter	ἀδελφή adelphḗ	νύξ nýks	ῥίς rhís	τρεῖς treîs	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	nāsus	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).^[26]

Proto-Indo-European Labial Stops in Albanian

PIE	Albanian	PIE	Albanian
*p	p	*pékʷe/o - "cook"	pjek "to cook, roast, bake"
*b	b	*sorbéi̯e/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)"
*d	d	*dihxtis - "light"	ditë "day"
	dh[* 1]	*pérde/o - "fart"	pjerdh "to fart"
	g	*dlh1gho - "long"	gjatë "long" (Tosk dial. glatë)
*dh	d	*dhégʷhe/o - "burn"	djeg "to burn"
	dh[* 1]	*ghórdhos - "enclosure"	gardh "fence"

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Between vowels or after r

Proto-Indo-European Palatal Stops in Albanian

PIE	Albanian	PIE	Albanian
*ḱ	th	*ḱéh1mi - "I say"	thom "I say"
	s[* 1]	*ḱuk - "horn"	sutë "doe"
	k[* 2]	*ḱreh2u - "limb"	krah "arm"
	ç/c[* 3]	*ḱentro - "to stick"	çandër "prop"
*ǵ	dh	*ǵómbhos - "tooth, peg"	dhëmb "tooth"
	d[* 4]	*ǵēusnō - "to enjoy"	dua "to love, want"
*ǵh	dh	*ĝhedi̯e/o - "to defecate"	dhjes "to defecate"
	d[* 4]	*ĝhr̥sdhi - "grain, barley"	drithë "grain"

1. ↑ Before u̯/u or i̯/i
2. ↑ Before sonorant
3. ↑ Archaic relic
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Syllable-initial and followed by sibilant

Proto-Indo-European Velar Stops in Albanian

PIE	Albanian	PIE	Albanian
*k	k	*kághmi - "I catch, grasp"	kam "I have"
	q	*klau-ei̯e/o - "to weep"	qaj "to weep, cry" (Gheg qanj, Salamis kla)
*g	g	*h3lígos - "sick"	ligë "bad"
	gj	*h1reug - "to retch"	regj "to tan hides"
*gh	g	*ghórdhos - "enclosure"	gardh "fence"
	gj	*ghédni̯e/o - "get"	gjej "to find" (Gheg gjêj)

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	*kʷṓd - "that"	që "that"
*gʷ	g	*gʷr̥ - "stone"	gur "stone"
	z	*gʷērhxu - "heaviness"	zor "heaviness; trouble"
*gʷh	g	*dhégʷhe/o - "to burn"	djeg "to burn"
	z	*h1en-dhogʷhéi̯e/o - "to ignite"	ndez "to kindle, turn on"

Proto-Indo-European *s in Albanian

PIE	Albanian	PIE	Albanian
*s	gj[* 1]	*séḱstis - "six"	gjashtë "six"
	h[* 2]	*nosōm - "us" (gen.)	nahe "us" (dat.)
	sh[* 3]	*bhreusinos - "break"	breshër "hail"
	th[* 4]	*gʷésdos - "leaf"	gjeth "leaf"
	h[* 5]	*sḱi-eh2 - "shadow"	hije "shadow"
	f[* 6]	*spélnom - "speech"	fjalë "word"
	sht[* 7]	*h2osti "bone"	asht "bone"
	th[* 8]	*suh1s - "swine"	thi "boar"
	ø	*h1ésmi - "am"	jam "to be"

1. ↑ Initial
2. ↑ Between vowels
3. ↑ Between vowels and after u̯/i̯/r/k (ruki law)
4. ↑ Cluster -sd-
5. ↑ Cluster -sḱ-
6. ↑ Cluster -sp-
7. ↑ Cluster -st-
8. ↑ Dissimilation with following vowel

Proto-Indo-European Sonorant Consonants in Albanian

PIE	Albanian	PIE	Albanian
*i̯	gj[* 1]	*i̯ése/o - "to ferment"	gjesh "to knead"
	j[* 2]	*i̯uhxs - "you" (nom.)	ju "you (plural)"
	ø[* 3]	*bhéri̯ō - "bear, carry"	bie(r) "to bring"
	h[* 4]	*strehai̯eha - "straw"	strohë "kennel"
*u̯	v	*u̯oséi̯e/o - "to 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)
	ø/^	*pénkʷe - "five"	pesë, Gheg pês "five"
	r	*ǵheimen - "winter"	dimër "winter" (Gheg dimën)
*l	l	*h3lígos - "sick"	ligë "bad"
	ll	*kʷéle/o - "turn"	sjell "to fetch, bring"
*r	r	*repe/o - "take"	rjep "peel"
	rr	*u̯rēn - "sheep"	rrunzë "female lamb"
*n̥	e	*h1n̥men - "name"	emër "name"
*m̥	e	*u̯iḱm̥ti - "twenty"	(një)zet "twenty"
*l̥	uj	*u̯l̥kʷos - "wolf"	ujk "wolf" (Chamian ulk)
*r̥	ri, ir	*ǵhr̥sdom - "grain, barley"	drithë "grain"

1. ↑ Before i, e, a
2. ↑ Before back vowels
3. ↑ After front vowels
4. ↑ After all other vowels

Proto-Indo-European Laryngeals in Albanian

PIE	Albanian	PIE	Albanian
*h1	ø	*h1ésmi - "am"	jam "to be"
*h2	ø	*h2r̥tḱos - "bear"	ari "bear"
*h3	ø	*h3ónr̥ - "dream"	ëndërr "dream"
*h4	h	*h4órǵhii̯eha - "testicle"	herdhe "testicle"

Proto-Indo-European Vowels in Albanian

PIE	Albanian	PIE	Albanian
*i	i	*sinos - "bosom"	gji "bosom, breast"
	e	*du̯igheha - "twig"	degë "branch"
*ī	i	*dīhxtis - "light"	ditë "day"
*e	e	*pénkʷe - "five"	pesë "five" (Gheg pês)
	je	*u̯étos - "year" (loc.)	vjet "last year"
*ē	o	*ǵhēsr - "hand"	dorë "hand"
*a	a	*bhaḱeha- "bean"	bathë "bean"
	e	*haélbhit - "barley"	elb "barley"
*ō	a	*ghórdhos - "enclosure"	gardh "fence"
*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 7.6 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

Standard Albanian, a revised form of the Tosk dialect is the official language of Albania and Kosovo; and is also official in the municipalities where there are more than 30% 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

Sounds

Standard Albanian has 7 vowels and 29 consonants. Gheg uses long and nasal vowels which are absent in Tosk, and the mid-central vowel ë is lost at the end of the word. The stress is fixed mainly on the penultimate syllable. Gheg n (femën: compare English feminine) changes to r by rhotacism in Tosk (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	pen
b	Voiced bilabial plosive	b	bat
t	Voiceless alveolar plosive	t	tan
d	Voiced alveolar plosive	d	debt
c	Voiceless palatal plosive	q	keep
ɟ	Voiced palatal plosive	gj	geese
k	Voiceless velar plosive	k	car
ɡ	Voiced velar plosive	g	go
ts	Voiceless alveolar affricate	c	hats
dz	Voiced alveolar affricate	x	goods
tʃ	Voiceless postalveolar affricate	ç	chin
dʒ	Voiced postalveolar affricate	xh	jet
θ	Voiceless dental fricative	th	thin
ð	Voiced dental fricative	dh	then
f	Voiceless labiodental fricative	f	far
v	Voiced labiodental fricative	v	van
s	Voiceless alveolar fricative	s	son
z	Voiced alveolar fricative	z	zip
ʃ	Voiceless postalveolar fricative	sh	show
ʒ	Voiced postalveolar fricative	zh	vision
h	Voiceless glottal fricative	h	hat
m	Bilabial nasal	m	man
n	Alveolar nasal	n	not
ɲ	Palatal nasal	nj	onion
j	Palatal approximant	j	yes
l	Alveolar lateral approximant	l	lean
ɫ	Velarized alveolar lateral approximant	ll	ball
r	Alveolar trill	rr	Spanish perro
ɾ	Alveolar tap	r	Spanish pero

Notes:

• The palatal stops /c/ and /ɟ/ occur in English as allophones of /k/ and /ɡ/ before front vowels. Palatal stops are phonemic in many languages including Hungarian and Icelandic.
• The palatal nasal /ɲ/ corresponds to the Spanish ñ and the French and Italian gn. 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. The tt in butter is a flapped r for most North Americans and Australians.
• The letter ç is sometimes written ch due to technical limitations because of its use in English sound and its analogy to the other digraphs xh, sh, and zh. Usually it's written simply c or more rarely q with context resolving any ambiguities.

Vowels

IPA	Description	Written as	Pronounced as in
i	Close front unrounded vowel	i	seed
ɛ	Open-mid front unrounded vowel	e	bed
a	Open front unrounded vowel	a	father, Spanish casa
ə	Schwa	ë	a pen, learn
ɔ	Open-mid back rounded vowel	o	law, toss
y	Close front rounded vowel	y	French tu, German über
u	Close back rounded vowel	u	boot

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. Some dialects also retain a locative case which is not in standard Albanian. 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, legen "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).^[27]
• drapër "sickle" < Gk (NW) drápanos/drépanon
• kopsht "garden" < Gk (NW) kā́pos/kḗpos
• kumbull "plum" < Gk kokkúmelon
• lakër "cabbage, green vegetables" < Gk lákhanon "green; vegetable"
• lëpjetë "orach, dock" < Gk lápathon
• lyej "to smear, oil" < *elaiwā < Gk elai(w)ṓn "oil"
• mokër "millstone" < Gk (NW) mākhaná "device, instrument"
• ngjalë "eel" < Gk énchelys
• pjepër "melon" < Gk pépōn "melon"
• presh "leek" < Gk práson
• shpellë "cave" < Gk spḗlaion "cave"
• trumzë "thyme" < Gk thýmbrā, thrýmbrē

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"^[28]
• gomar "donkey, ass" < *margë < Goth *marh "horse"
• horr "scoundrel", horrë "hussy, whore" < Goth hors "adulterer", *hora "whore"
• petkë, petëk "clothes, garment", petk "herder's coat" < Goth paida; cf. OHG pfeit, OE pād
• shkulkë "boundary marker for pastures made of branches" < Late Latin sculca < 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 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.

Script

The Albanian language has been written using many different alphabets since the first records of the 15th century. The history of the writing of the Albanian language is closely related to the cultural orientation and knowledge of certain foreign languages among Albanian writers.^[12] 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. Both dialects also been written in the Ottoman Turkish version of the Arabic alphabet, the Cyrillic alphabet, and some local alphabets. More specifically, the writers from Northern Albania and under the influence of the Catholic Church used Latin letters, those in southern Albania and under the influence of the Greek Orthodox church used Greek letters, while others throughout Albania and under the influence of Islam used Arabic letters. There were initial attempts to create an original Albanian alphabet during the 1750-1850 period. These attempts intensified after the League of Prizren and culminated with the Congress of Manastir held by Albanian intellectuals from November 14 to 22 November 1908, in Manastir (Bitola, Macedonia), which decided the alphabet and a standardized Albanian spelling to be used in the Albanian language. Such alphabet is still the one used today for standard Albanian. The script was largely based on the Latin alphabet with the addition of the letters ë, ç, and nine digraphs.

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",^[29] 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.^[30] 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.^[31] Conservative features of Albanian include the retention of the distinction between active and middle voice, present tense and aorist, 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.^[32]

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 earliest loanwords attested in Albanian are from Doric Greek while the heaviest influence was that of Latin. The period during which Proto-Albanian and Latin interacted was protracted and drawn out roughly from 2nd century BC to 5th century AD.^[33] 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.

According to the central hypothesis of a project undertaken by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, Old Albanian had a significant influence on the development of many Balkan languages. Intensive research now aims to confirm this theory. Albanian is being researched using all available texts before a comparison with other Balkan languages is carried out. The outcome of this work will include the compilation of a lexicon providing an overview of all Old Albanian verbs.^[34]

Latin element of the Albanian language

Jernej Kopitar (1829) was the first to note Latin's influence on Albanian and claimed "the Latin loanwords in the Albanian language had the pronunciation of the time of Emperor Augustus".^[35] Kopitar gave examples such as Albanian "qiqer" from Latin cicer, "qytet" from civitas, "peshk" from piscis, and "shëngjetë" from sagitta. The hard pronunciations of Latin ‹c› and ‹g› are retained as palatal and velar stops in the Albanian loanwords. Gustav Meyer (1888) later corroborated this.^[36] and Wilhelm Meyer-Lübke(1914).^[37]

Eqrem Çabej also noticed, among other things, the archaic Latin elements in Albanian^[38]:

1. Latin /au/ becomes Albanian /a/ in the earliest borrowings: aurum → "ar", gaudium → "gas", laurus → "lar". But Latin /au/ is retained in later borrowings: causa → "kafshë", laud → "lavd".
2. Latin /o/ becomes Albanian /e/ in the oldest Latin borrowings: pomum → "pemë", hora → "herë". An analogous mutation occurred from Proto-Indo-European to Albanian; PIE *nos became Albanian "ne", PIE *oct- became Albanian "tetë" etc.
3. Latin internal syllable becomes lost in Albanian: cubitus → "kut", medicus → "mjek", padul → "pyll". An analogous mutation occurred from Proto-Indo-European to Albanian. The internal syllable is retained In later Latin borrowings: paganus → "i pëganë"/"i pëgërë", plaga → "plagë" etc.
4. Latin /tj/, /dj/, /kj/ palatalized to Albanian /s/, /z/, /c/: vitius → "ves", ratio → "(a)rësye", radius → "rreze", facies → "faqe", socius → "shoq" etc.

Romanian scholar Haralambie Mihăescu demonstrated that

• some 85 Latin words have survived in Albanian but not in any Romance language. A few examples include bubulcus → bujk, hibernalia → mërrajë, sarcinarius → shelqëror , trifurcus → tërfurk, accipiter → qift, *musconea → mushkonjë, chersydrus → kulshedër, spleneticum → shpnetkë/shpretkë, solanum → shullг/shullë.^[39]
• 151 Albanian words of Latin origin cannot be found in Romanian. A few examples include Albanian mik from Latin amicus, anmik or armik from inimicus, bekoj from benedicere, qelq from calix (calicis), kështjellë from castellum, qind from centum, gjel from gallus, gjymtyrë from iunctЇra, mjek from medicus, rjetë or rrjetë from rete, shërbej from servire, shpërej or shpresoj from sperare, vullnet from voluntas (voluntatis).^[40]
• some Albanian church terminology have phonetic features which demonstrate their very early borrowing from Latin. A few examples include Albanian lterll from Latin altare, engjëll from angelus, bekoj from benedicere, i krishtenë or i krishterë from christianus, kryq from crux (crucis), klishë or kishë from ecclesia, ipeshkv from episcopus, ungjill from evangelium, mallkoj from maledicere, meshë from missa, munëg or murg from monacus, i pëganë or i pëgërë from paganus.^[41]

Other authors^[42] have shown that there are other Latin loanwords in Albanian with an ancient sound pattern from the 1st century B.C., for example, Albanian qingëlë from Latin cingula and Albanian vjetër from Latin vetus/veteris. The Romance languages inherited these words from Vulgar Latin: Vulgar *cingla became N. Romanian chinga meaning "belly band, saddle girth" and Vulgar veteran became N. Romanian batrân meaning "old".

Historical presence and location

The origin of the Albanians has been for some time a matter of dispute among historians. Most of them conclude that they are descendants of populations of the prehistoric Balkans, such as the Illyrians, Dacians or Thracians. Little is known about these peoples, and they blended into one another in Thraco-Illyrian and Daco-Thracian contact zones even in antiquity.

The place where the Albanian language was formed is uncertain, but analysis has suggested that it was in a mountainous region, rather than in a plain or seacoast^[43]: while the words for plants and animals characteristic of mountainous regions are entirely original, the names for fish and for agricultural activities (such as ploughing) are borrowed from other languages^[44]

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.^[45]

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 14th century, 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

• Arbëresh language
• Arvanitika
• Gheg Albanian
• Tosk Albanian

References

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• Pellegrini, Giovan Battista : Avviamento alla linguistica albanese (Edizione rinnovata) (1997)
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• Pisani, Vittore. Les origines de la langue albanaise. SA 1964/1
• Pisani, Vittore. Sulla genesi dell'albanese. Akten Innsbruck (1972)
• Orel, Vladimir. A Concise Historical Grammar of the Albanian Language: Reconstruction of Proto-Albanian. Leiden: Brill, 2000.
• Price, Glanville, ed. Encyclopedia of the Languages of Europe, s.v. “Albanian”. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998, pp. 4–8.
• Riza, Selman. Studime albanistike. Pristina 1979
• Sandfeld, Kristian. Linguistique balkanique, problemes et resultats. Paris 1930
• Tagliavini, Carlo. La stratificazione del lessico albanese. Elementi indoeuropei. Bologna 1965
• Thumb, A. Altgriechische Elemente des Albanesischen. IF 26 (1926)
• Thunmann, Johann. Untersuchungen über die Geschichte der östlichen europäischen Völker. Laipzig (1774)
• Watkins, Calvert. "Proto-Indo-European: Comparison and Reconstruction", in The Indo-European Languages, Anna Giacalone Ramat and Paolo Ramat, eds. London: Routledge, 1998.
• Ylli, Xhelal; Sobolev, Andrej N.. Albanskii gegskii govor sela Muhurr. Muenchen: Biblion Verlag, 2003. ISBN 3-932331-36-2

External links

• Learn Albanian
• Albanian Grammar
• Ethnologue report on Albanian
• Modern Greek and Albanian with Japanese translation
• The Albanian language - overview (Archived 2009-10-25)
• Thracian the Albanian language
• Books about Albania and the Albanian people (scribd.com) Reference of books (and some journal articles) about Albania and the Albanian people; their history, language, origin, culture, literature, etc. Public domain books, fully accessible online.
• Doctor John Bassett Trumper discussing the classification of Albanian within Indo-European

Samples of various Albanian dialects

• Scroll down for 3 different Albanian dialects: (Gheg) (Tosk) and (Arbëreshë)
• Albanian (Arvanitika)

Dictionaries

• English - Albanian / Albanian - English
• English - Albanian
• French - Albanian Dictionary

Keyboard layouts

• Prektora 1 ISO-8859-1 standardized layout for Windows XP (Albanian language)