Language

 

Albanian is a language spoken by about 6 million people, primarily in Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Macedonia but also in other parts of the Balkans, along the eastern coast of Italy and in. The language forms its own distinct branch of the Indo-European language family.

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

Dialects

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 1555. 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, Vlorė) and Labėrisht Labėria. In Greece, the Ēam and the Arvanites speak different Tosk sub-dialects with the sub-dialect of the Arvanites only partially intelligible with other Tosk sub-dialects. The Tosk sub-dialects are spoken by most members of the large Albanian immigrant communities of Ukraine, Turkey, Egypt, and the United States.

Gheg (or Geg) is spoken in Northern Albania, Yugoslav Macedonia, Kosovo, and in parts of Montenegro. Each area of Northern Albania has its own sub-dialect: Tirana, Durrės, Elbasan and Kavaja; Kruja and Laci; Mati, Dibra and Mirdita; Lezha, Shkodra, Kraja, Ulqinj; etc. Malėsia e Madhe, Rugova, and villages scattered alongside the Adriatic Coast form the northmost sub-dialect of Albania today.  Albanian was formerly spoken in Dalmatia until recently.

 

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 "ė" reduced at the end of the word. The stress is fixed mainly on the penultimate syllable.

 

The modern Albanian alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, and consists of 36 letters.

Letters:

A

B

C

Ē

D

Dh

E

Ė

F

G

Gj

H

I

J

K

L

Ll

M

N

Nj

O

P

Q

R

Rr

S

Sh

T

Th

U

V

X

Xh

Y

Z

Zh