Albanian language

Albanian
[Shqip] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)
Pronunciation	[ʃcip]
Native to	Albania
Region	Southeastern Europe
Native speakers	7.6 million
Language family	Indo-European Albanian
Writing system	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 639-1	sq
ISO 639-2	alb (B) sqi (T)
ISO 639-3	Variously: 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, 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. 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:

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".

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.

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 , 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. 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.

Origin

Traditionally scholars have seen the Albanian as the descendant of Illyrian, though of late this hypothesis has been seriously challenged by linguists, who maintain 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).

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
	ø	*penkʷe - "five"	pesë "five"
	^	*penkʷe - "five"	pês "five" (Some Gheg dialects)
	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"
*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 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)	malicode: sqi promoted to code: sq (the mountain)	malet (the mountains)
Accusative	mal	male	malicode: sqi promoted to code: sq n	malet
Genitive	i/e/të/së malicode: sqi promoted to code: sq	i/e/të/së maleve	i/e/të/së malicode: sqi promoted to code: sq t	i/e/të/së maleve
Dative	malicode: sqi promoted to code: sq	maleve	malicode: sqi promoted to code: sq t	maleve
Ablative	malicode: sqi promoted to code: sq	malesh	malicode: sqi promoted to code: sq t	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)	zogucode: sqi promoted to code: sq (the bird)	zogjtë (the birds)
Accusative	zog	zogj	zogucode: sqi promoted to code: sq n	zogjtë
Genitive	i/e/të/së zogucode: sqi promoted to code: sq	i/e/të/së zogjve	i/e/të/së zogucode: sqi promoted to code: sq t	i/e/të/së zogjve
Dative	zogucode: sqi promoted to code: sq	zogjve	zogucode: sqi promoted to code: sq t	zogjve
Ablative	zogucode: sqi promoted to code: sq	zogjsh	zogucode: sqi promoted to code: sq t	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) / malicode: sqi promoted to code: sq (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).
• 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"
• 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", 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. 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. 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.

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". 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) and Wilhelm Meyer-Lübke(1914). Another scholar interested in this problem was Eqrem Çabej, who dedicated a special work, 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.

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).

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.

Other authors 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

Main article: Origin of the Albanians

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: 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.

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.

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

• Albanian Wikipedia
• Arvanitika

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

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 1
• English - Albanian 3

Keyboard layouts

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